Strip Club / News: Recent posts

In the last few days I've started laying some groundwork for a new version of this program. Significant portions of the code will be rewritten, as I've learned a lot in the last two years. Things that will be in the program once I'm finished:

-More robust http code, including redirects, as well as brain-damaged servers returning non-standard headers.
-More robust filename handling. Should help reduce collisions as well as pages that use weird URLs for their images.
-More robust image detection. There are at least a few servers out there that have headers that say an image is an HTML file, and working around that at the HTTP level is a pain in the rear. So that'll be done elsewhere.
-Smoother interface. Notable things I'd like to add include multiple tabs/windows, better bookmark support, and overall more responsiveness and less waiting around for downloads.... read more

Simple bug fix release to fix problems with Penny Arcade. That is all.

Somewhere along the line, their server decided to get brain damage and feeds a rather critical header with different case. (Should be 'Content-Type', but their server is returning 'Content-type'.)

The short of it is that it's been fixed already, but I need to make sure I didn't break anything else in the mean time. 0.9.1.2 should be out within the next day.

Just a very small bug fix release, just after I released 0.9.1 I realized I had broken the space-handling code while I was developing it. I was planning on waiting until 0.9.2, but after not making any other chances for a week or so I decided it shouldn't really wait. Ok, one other change, thanks to a friend of mine Strip Club now has an icon! I still have plans for this program, but they'll come later. (Gallery support is still coming, I swear!)... read more

Seems nothing's ever quite right. This is a small maintenence release to fix a couple small bugs and clean up the codebase. However, to ease packaging/compiling, there's a configure script now that also tests for required libraries. You don't need to worry about that if all you wanna do is run the Windows installer.

* Rewrote the core download code to be cleaner and less error-prone
* Fixed several error message typos
* New 'configure' script to make compiling the package a little easier
* More URL parsing bugs fixed (fixes Life of Riley)
* Buttons and menu are properly activated/deactivated while downloading to avoid crashing
* Various logging changes
* Various interface tweaks
* Various memory leaks plugged

After almost a year of sitting stagnant, 0.9 has finally been released! The net code is now a lot cleaner and less prone to 'lockups' where the program would sit for up to minutes at a time waiting for a response. This also has enabled me to put in a nice, shiny cancel button. The full list of changes is as follows:
* Added a "Skip" checkbox to the Edit Comic window, used in Prev/Next Comic, to avoid reading comics that don't update often, or have ended
* Minor code retooling, plugged a couple potential (but unlikely) buffer overruns
* Replacing the SDL net code with vanilla sockets, just as portable (mostly) and easier to control
* Spaces in URLs are now handled properly
* User configurable timeout on all network related functions, defaults to 15 seconds
* Option to delete the host cache on startup, to help reduce stale entries
* There is now a cancel button available during all downloads (yay!)
* You can now close the output window
* New "Error" tab in the output window to replace some of the less severe error popups, automatically raised and shown when an error occurs

Really! I mean it this time! I've got a working codebase, I just need to clean up a few things and make sure it's ready for packaging. You should see it on Sunday at the latest. The changes will be:

* Added a "Skip" checkbox to the Edit Comic window, used in Prev/Next Comic, to avoid reading comics that don't update often, or have ended
* Minor code retooling, plugged a couple potential (but unlikely) buffer overruns
* Replacing the SDL net code with vanilla sockets, just as portable (mostly) and easier to control
* Spaces in URLs are now handled properly
* Now a 15 second timeout on all network-related functions, 0.9.1 will make this user configurable

I recently had to update the .comic file for PA. Short explanation: It wasn't picking up any comic images past 2004. I fixed the pattern so that it should pick up comics until 2099, unless they make a chance to how they store their images. Grab the new .comic file and re-import if you have issues (and you probably will, unless you fixed it yourself!)

Yes, I know I haven't touched this damn thing in a long time, and I'm sorry, but I was having a hard time doing so when it already worked pretty well. However, recently I've been messing with the netcode a little bit and made it a little cleaner (of note, it won't appear to lock up when a connection is being slow). Hopefully I can actually add a cancel button in the next release. It's going to take some rewrites of the http code in order to squeeze all this in here without the code becoming a complete mess (more than it already is), plus I'm away from the computer that was all nice and set up for Linux-to-Windows cross-compiles for a few more weeks, so it may take a bit before you see anything new. (I may just make a source release in the mean time, but the Windows binary release won't be available until January 13th at the earliest.)... read more

A couple of major new features in this release, the main one being that Real Life (as well as any comic that uses a similar system like Mac Hall, Winter, etc) now works! Comic files will be available through the updater by the end of the day.

The other major new feature (suggested by an SF user) is that you can now quickly page through your list of comics with a couple of new buttons added to the interface, instead of having to go up to the menu every time.... read more

Another maintenence release. 0.8 should be coming some time in the next couple of weeks, should add a couple new features.

* Replaced the temp files with GetCacheFileName() calls, to avoid symlink attacks in Linux (affects Windows too, but doesn't plug any holes there)
* Added overflow checking on the HTTP request buffer, on the off chance somebody tries to retrieve a URL 1900+ characters long
* Increased the max amount of images that can be displayed at once from 15 to 30, and added a warning if somehow this max is broken
* Added a check to redownload pages if the cache is missing a 'next' link, as this is usually a sign of a stale page
* Changed "Reset Host Cache" to "Refresh Host Cache", now instead of clobbering the cache it forces a relookup of all hosts
* Donate/Store links no longer require "\&" for Linux, but it is still supported for backwards compatibility reasons
* Fixed a crash from trying to enter an http proxy in the preferences window without the environment variable being set

This comic recently changed both its IP (requiring a reset of the host cache) and the tags used for navigation (requiring a re-import of the new .comic file). Please make sure to update if you have problems.

0.7.4 is mostly a maintenence release, but it adds a couple new features as well.

* Internal recoding to make a few function calls cleaner
* Made the two output widgets at the top no longer ever take keyboard focus (ie other hotkeys should always work)
* Made it so that if a cached Next Link was pointing to the "Latest" link or to the front page, it would force a reload, to make sure the local archives stay linked together properly
* Added "statistical" tooltips to displayed images that display filename, dimensions, and file size
* Added support for http proxies (see readme.txt for details)
* Incorporated several program settings into a new Program Settings window so as not to clutter the menu

Just a small maintenence release to fix Pockybot.

* Bug fix to the URL code to fix Pockybot (Technical: parent paths from the root directory would confuse it)

Mostly a maintenence release, but the Bookmarks are a nice addition too.

* Changed the "window closed?" checks so that they don't think the window is closed when they're really just minimized, or the user switched to a secondary desktop
* Added INSTALL to the source, and redid the makefiles to be more flexible
* Added support for a compressed help file (Linux only)
* Added a per-comic Bookmark to better remember your place (one per comic)

* Added a yellow bar for local work like image/link searching/loading
* Forgot an fclose() call, so the program would eventually choke out its supply of available file descriptors, resulting in nothing new loading and/or sockets refusing to open (old, old bug, just now figured it out)
* Renamed temp files from "temp.(html/txt)" to "/tmp/sctemp.(html/txt)" (Linux Only)
* Minor tweaks to the makefiles
* Fixed the host lookup code, now it spits an error back if it fails instead of blundering through and trying to connect to a host that doesn't exist
* Fixed the export code so it doesn't export properties that are only meaningful (or, indeed, desired) locally

* Redid the host lookup significantly, now keeps a local cache of hostname/address pairs, and looks it up on a per-function basis instead of keeping a global variable (fixes User Friendly, and ucomics, and is just a better design)
* Removed some unneccessary headers from being sent
* Added map-based link searching (fixes User Friendly)
* Added per-comic "Donate" and "Store" menu items (make sure to "Set Default Browser" if the default doesn't work!)
* Program now tracks how many HEAD/GET requests it does, as well as how much it downloads, both total and on a per-comic basis
* Removed the ability to delete the cache from within the program, that code never made me feel comfortable anyway, and it's not that hard to do it manually... read more

* No longer looks up host in "Fully Offline" mode (no reason to...)
* Due to a few email requests, and because I'm a conscientious surfer, the program will now display a splash warning reminding people to support online comics (only one time)
* Fixed another bug in the URL parsing code
* Fixed the help screen being blank if the program was "make install"ed (Linux Only)
* Program now pops up a window telling you where .comic files can be found after initial download

* Added an output bar to display the current URL
* Renamed "Offline" mode to "Download" mode, makes more sense
* Menu is now initialized after main window is first shown, only makes a difference on first run, during initial comic download, so the user can actually see the program working
* Typo fixes
* Fixed a bug in the URL parsing code (fixes Perki Goth)
* Hopefully fixed "delete comic files?" in Windows (still not heavily tested, use with caution...)... read more

* Made some of the more severe errors (unable to connect, unable to resolve host, unable to retrieve remote file, etc) pop up warning boxes instead of only printing errors to the output window
* Debug log is now placed in a directory named "debug" instead of the current working directory
* Added a badly done man page (*nix only)
* Added a check to make sure Strip Club is being run from the proper directory, since it will spew files if run from the wrong location (Win32 only)
* Fixed order of "Category" input in Edit Comic window (will now Tab in the proper order)
* Fixed typo in Makefile.mingw
* Added "Offline" mode! See readme.txt for details...

* Program now remembers Window position and size between sessions
* Fixed Absurd Notions (more newline nonsense)
* Changed image downloading code to check if server is different than referrer, and look up host again if neccessary (doesn't fix anything, but it's good practice)
* Added "install" target to Makefile.linux
* Fixed naming on source archive (oops, had - and _ reversed)

As of April 1st, 2004, Keenspace is blocking the default Strip Club User Agent. Adjust your settings accordingly.

0.5.2 -
* Fixed handling of "../" (parent path) links (fixes Kevin and Kell)
* Added ability to delete comic cache when deleting a comic (use with caution, not heavily tested)
* Changed the default image search pattern again (removed a "/")
* Fixed a crash that would occur if a download link resulted in a long file name (more than 60 or so characters), the label buffer for the progress bar would overflow
* Made main window resizable, yay
* Made the interface more compact
* Added a "Category" property for comics
* Made the image downloading code slightly more robust, no longer relies on the extension, rather looks for Content-Type: header (fixes Evercrest)
* Tweaked image searching code to make it ignore newlines (fixes Megatokyo)
* Other misc tweaks and bug fixes

0.5.1 - (03/28/2004)
* Last minute bug fix to get Something Positive working without making the program crash
* Shrank the main window slightly
* Fixed default Image Search pattern (had an extra space in it)

0.5 - Unreleased in favor of 0.5.1 (available under CVS with the tag Release0_5)
* Automatic download of all .comic files through "Update Available Comics"
* No longer comes with any .comic files, they are instead downloaded off the site upon first running
* Windows NSIS installers will now be provided in addition to the zip, courtesy of Brian Rupe (hazer)... read more

0.4 - (03/27/2004)
* Added "Default Relative URL" option for a comic (eg "d/YYYYMMDD.html" for Keen* comics)
* Rewrote the tag-based link searching code, much cleaner and less error-prone now
* Added text-based link searching (eg GU, 8 Bit)
* Made link searching a little more robust, no longer relies on link to be enclosed in "" (fixes PVP and GU)
* "Latest" link will now always work, since it always points to the base URL anyway
* Fixed a crash that would occur if the image-searching regex wouldn't compile... read more