Dada Mail Changelog for version 2.x

2.11 Alpha 10

Download 2.11 Alpha 10

2.11 Alpha 10 tar.gz Distribution

https://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=13002&use_mirror=osdn&filename=dada-2_11_alpha_10.tar.gz

2.11 Alpha 10 zip Distribution

https://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=13002&use_mirror=osdn&filename=dada-2_11_alpha_10.zip

Download 2.11 Alpha 10 Notes

The majority of changes in this release deals with stability and documentation.

2.11 Alpha 10 New Features

Clickthrough Tracker - Works Again

The Clickthrough Tracker works again and the URL's are now (mostly) just string of numbers, instead of attempting to save the enitre URL you're redirecting to. This is a pretty good thing.

Email Message Templates - Advanced Templating Syntax Supported!

Email Message Templates can now support HTML::Template::Expr syntax

Beatitude

2.11 Alpha 10 Changes

Default Mail Settings

The, -odq sendmail flags are set by default. If mail sending isn't working, try taking these flags off, it may be an incompatibility.

I'm in sort of a tough spot, since these flags don't always work, but having them on makes life easier for the mail server.

I think I'm siding on the mail server in this case.

2.11 Alpha 9

Download 2.11 Alpha 9

2.11 Alpha 9 tar.gz Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_9.tar.gz

2.11 Alpha 9 zip Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_9.zip

2.11 Alpha 9 Notes

2.11 Alpha 9 Broken Things

Things are broken - this is an alpha release - don't use for production work, please.

Some things we know are completely busted:

Clickthrough Tracking

The clickthrough tracker won't work - the redirect tags are never parsed. These will return soon enough.

Update Subscription

I'm not sure if the Update Subscription extension works. It doesn't know about multiple fields and using it will most likely erase any information saved in these fields. The Multiple Subscribe Extension should work just swimmingly, though.

2.11 Alpha 9 Changes

DADA::App::Error Error Messages

Most, if not all of the error messages that were in the DADA::App::Error module have been moved out of the module and into the, dada/DADA/Template/templates directory. Each error message has its own template file. Most, if not all of the error message file names start with, "error_".

Email Templating

Email Templates now use HTML::Template (yes, for plain text emails too) for the backend, instead of random and dispersed simple regexes that have been in use for 8 or so years. Depending on the email being sent out, list settings and subscriber information is automatically passed to HTML::Template to be used when outputing.

Currently, only the HTML::Template way of doings things is supported, but adding HTML::Template::Expr is a possibility.

Care has been given to allow a graceful backwards compatibility with older email templates and most older email templates will work without problem. One exception is the, "List Invitation" email template - this template should be reverted to the default that's shipped with this release.

For more information, see the documentation for, screen in DADA::Template::Widgets - it's currently the wrapper around HTML::Template for Dada Mail.

Cleanup/API Changes:

Send a List Invitation - moved!

The, Send a List Invitation feature is still a part of Dada Mail, but it's functionality has been moved from it's own stand-alone administration screen to a part of the Add Email steps. After verification of new subscribers, you now have the choice of subscribing or inviting the verified addresses.

Black Lists

There's been some confusing amongst... amongst myself in some of the terms used in Dada Mail - one of them is the, "Black List" - is it, "Blacklist", or, "Black List?"

I've decided on, "Black List". Some list settings are named, "black_list_*" and some are named, "blacklist_*"

These currently won't change, but the error paramaters have. They should all be, black_list

screen API

The DADA::Template::Widgets screen subroutine has gone through significant changes - one of the largest is the move from passing paramaters in a hash, to passing paramaters in a hashref. All the old paramaters will work (and there's a slew of new, optional ones, but these paramaters must be passed in a hashref. So:

 print DADA:Template::Widgets::screen(-screen => foo.tmpl); # No!
 print DADA:Template::Widgets::screen({-screen => foo.tmpl}); # Yes!

Email Template tags: [plain_list_subscriber_link] and friends, REMOVED

The idea behind the tags (like): tags: [plain_list_subscriber_link] was stupid and their use is now dropped. Use list_subscriber_link instead. The only difference is that for HTML email messages, [list_subscriber_link] will not automatically become a clickable link - you'll have to make that yourself.

2.11 Alpha 9 New Features

Email Message Templates: Now allow subjects, other headers to be set

The email message templates in the list control panel under, "Manage Copy -> Email Templates" can now have their Subjects and in some instances To: and From: phrases editable.

Email Message Templates: New syntax

Many of the email message template tags have been modified - most of the modifications are simple and make sense. A small rundown:

Anything that has to do with a list setting, now has, list_setting. appended to it. For example:

Anything that has to do with a subscriber now has subscriber. appended to it. For example:

Documentatoion still needs to be written concerning these changes. Old email templates should work, as they are auto-translated to this new syntax.

Auto-Created Error Log

If you don't set an error log, one will now be made for you, automatically. The rub on this is errors made during compile time won't be logged.

2.11 Alpha 9 Bug Fixes

2.11 Alpha 8

Download 2.11 Alpha 8

2.11 Alpha 8 tar.gz Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_8.tar.gz

2.11 Alpha 8 zip Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_8.zip

2.11 Alpha 8 Notes

Subscriber Fields

This release sports a very large new feature: Multiple subscriber fields. For an overview of this feature, do see:

dadamailproject.com/support/documentation-dada-2_11-alpha_8/subscriber_fields_in_2_11.pod.html

2.11 Alpha 8 New Features

Multiple Subscriber Fields

No, really - it's in there. Check it out. You'll need the SQL backend. For a large list of improvements, do see:

dadamailproject.com/support/documentation-dada-2_11-alpha_8/subscriber_fields_in_2_11.pod.html

Of note, this feature also has the below features that relate to it:

Dada Bridge

White List Support

White List support is back after a little break. The white list is a sublist of Dada Mail list that allows you to specify a list of addresses that are allowed to subscribe. It's basically the opposite of the blacklist.

More SQLite support

SQLite is now completely up to par with the other backends. I doubt I'd suggest it as a backend, but it's an option and is used for testing.

Gravatar Support

This support is very spotty and probably is broken at the moment. Go go alpha code. More information:

http://site.gravatar.com/

Batch Sending ETA Calculator

Added a silly calculator to tell you how long a sending will probably be. It's in AJAX

Mail Monitor Enhancements

Trace Debugging

The Config variable, $DEBUG_TRACE is now populated with a few module names, example: DADA_Mail_Send. Setting this name to a value of, 1 will print many lines in your error log for things pertaining to the DADA::Mail::Send module.

A word of warning about using the $DEBUG_TRACE stuff - the implementation isn't very complete for any module and what's implemented may not make sense to anyone but me. Be aware: Thar be dragons.

(partial) Support is current there for the DADA::Mail:Send, DADA::Mail::Mailout and DADA::App::Subscriptions modules.

2.11 Alpha 8 Changes

CSS

Font sizes have been changed from px to em's.

Templates

Removed the following templates:

Added:

2.11 Alpha 8 Bug Fixes

2.11 Alpha 7 - Released 9/25/07

Download 2.11 Alpha 7

2.11 Alpha 7 tar.gz Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_7.tar.gz

2.11 Alpha 7 zip Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_7.zip

Notes

This is a features-focused release. Most of the relevent bugs that cropped up in the 2.10.15 release of Dada Mail should be patched up in this version of Dada Mail (2.11 Alpha 7) but aren't verified.

Please refer to the 2.10.16 changelog for specifics on bugs fixed. The 2.10.16 release is a bugfix-only release and should be the current distribution used for production websites.

2.11 Alpha 6 Required for Plugins/Extensions!

Most all plugins and extensions currently shipping in the 2.11 alpha 7 build of Dada Mail will need to be run with 2.11 alpha 7. No other previous version of Dada Mail will work.

ALL Plugins/Extensions shipping with 2.11 alpha 7

All the plugins/extensions available for Dada Mail (by me) are available in the 2.11 alpha 7 release. Furthermore, any restrictions on list size, or max # of lists has been lifted. This is to help you test the program out and find bugs.

Do note that this is an ALPHA release and is known to not always work correctly. It SHOULD NOT be used on a production server

New Features

Also see the New Features docs for 2.11 alpha 6.

SQL Table Optimizations

The MySQL, Postgres and SQLite tables have been optimized for performance and speed. Most of the changes deal with the data TYPE of the different fields. You may want to study the new schemas and see how they differ to the old schemas that were shipped -

The old schemas should work with this new alpha, so if you don't want to update your SQL tables that deal with Dada Mail, it's not required.

The MySQL schema has indexes added to the schema. These schemas are not verified and need to be tested. Feedback welcome!

More SQLite Work

If the SQLite backend didn't work (it wasn't actually working for us) try this new alpha version. We're probably keeping SQLite along for SQL backend testing purposes, as it's dead easy to use for such a task.

If you were testing the SQLite backend, note that the entire schema is probably completely different. We're now basing it on the MySQL schema, instead of the Postgres schema.

Minor Restore Lists Changes

In the popup menus in the Restore Lists screen, you can now see how many entries are available for each saved backup.

2.11 Alpha 6 - Released 6/25/07

Download 2.11 Alpha 6

2.11 Alpha 6 tar.gz Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_6.tar.gz

2.11 Alpha 6 zip Distribution

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11_alpha_6.zip

Notes

Bug Fixes:

This is a features-focused release. Most of the relevent bugs that cropped up in the 2.10.14 release of Dada Mail should be patched up in this version of Dada Mail (2.11 Alpha 6) but aren't verified.

Please refer to the 2.10.15 changelog for specifics on bugs fixed. The 2.10.15 release is a bugfix-only release.

2.11 Alpha 6 Required for Plugins/Extensions!

Most all plugins and extensions currently shipping in the 2.11 alpha 6 build of Dada Mail will need to be run with 2.11 alpha 6. No other previous version of Dada Mail will work.

ALL Plugins/Extensions shipping with 2.11 alpha 6

All the plugins/extensions available for Dada Mail (by me) are available in the 2.11 alpha 6 release. Furthermore, any restrictions on list size, or max # of lists has been lifted. This is to help you test the program out and find bugs.

Do note that this is an ALPHA release and is known to not always work correctly. It SHOULD NOT be used on a production server

New Features

Also see the New Features docs for 2.11 alpha 5, if you're usually running 2.10.14.

Plugin-Specific Variables Configurable in the Config.pm/.dada_config file

Some of the plugins/extensions currently supported are:

See also the $PLUGIN_CONFIGS Config.pm variable.

Beatitude (Mail Scheduler)

Added method to run plugin from a URL to be used for cronjobs

See the Beatitude Docs, most specifically the,

plugin variables.

The method to do so should be the same for Beatitude (Mail Scheduler), Mystery Girl (Bounce Handler) and dada_bridge.pl

Support for FCKeditor (preliminary).

See the $Plugin_Config-{FCKeditor_Support}> var in dada/plugins/scheduled_mailings.pl for more information.

--run flag dropped

You don't need to use the --run flag when running scheduled_mailings.pl from the command line.

dada_bridge.pl

Added method to run plugin from a URL to be used for cronjobs

See the dada_bridge.pl Docs, most specifically the,

plugin variables.

The method to do so should be the same for Beatitude (Mail Scheduler), Mystery Girl (Bounce Handler) and dada_bridge.pl

Subscription and Unsubscription confirmation requests via email are now logged

You'll see lines, such as these in the Dada Mail usage log ($PROGRAM_USAGE_LOG)

    [Wed Jun 20 03:55:04 2007]  listname        12.34.12.34     Subscription 
Confirmation Sent for listname.list     user@example.com, remote_host:, 
ip_address:120.0.0.1
    [Wed Jun 20 04:05:38 2007]  listname        12.34.12.34     Unsubscription 
Confirmation Sent for listname.list     user@example.com, remote_host:, 
ip_address:120.0.0.1

To let you know what's happening.

Mystery Girl (Bounce Handler)

Added method to run plugin from a URL to be used for cronjobs

See the Mystery Girl Docs, most specifically the,

plugin variables.

The method to do so should be the same for Beatitude (Mail Scheduler), Mystery Girl (Bounce Handler) and dada_bridge.pl

"Breadcrumbs" navigation on the top of the administration screen

List-specific Bounce Score Card, instead of Global Bounce Score Card

Note! Your old scorecard is probably not going to be of much use anymore;

Viewable Scorecard

View Log of specific email address bouncing

Helpful to see why they may be bouncing.

List Archives

More Options to Protect Email Addresses (reCAPTCHA MailHide)

We've enabled the use of the MailHide CAPTCHA idea for email addresses in the list archive messages. You also have the option to use no protection at all, or keep the default protection scheme (called, SPAM-me-not)

More information on Mailhide:

http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/

See also the Config.pm variable, $RECAPTHCA_MAILHIDE_PARAMS

The options to protect email addresses in the list's archives is availabl ein the list control panel under, Manage Archives - Archive Options - Advanced

Dada Mail Backends

SQLite support added

Should work for Session information, list subscribers, settings and archives.

New CAPTCHA Engine choice: reCAPTCHA

We've added support for the reCAPTCHA project in Dada Mail. Here's more information on it:

http://recaptcha.net/

In Dada Mail, see the following variables:

SQL schemas saved in a different location.

The following locations hold the various SQL table schemas needed for the SQL backends:

POP3 engine changed to Mail::POP3Client - SSL POP3 connections supported

Originally, we were using Net::POP3, but have now moved to Mail::POP3Client.

Amongst other things, you can now connect to a POP3 server via SSL and also set the type of authentication scheme you want to use.

You'll see the options in the Manage List - Sending Options - SMTP Options, as well as in Mystery Girl and dada_bridge.pl.

New Email Message Tag: [originating_message_url]

Used specifically in the, "Send a Webpage" screen, using this tag in the message itself, will have the tag be replaced with the actual URL you're getting the message source from. For example, in your message, you can write:

 <p> 
  <a href="[originating_message_url]">
   If you cannot see this message, click here!
  </a> 
 </p>

New Module: DADA::App::POP3Tools

DADA::App::POP3Tools Holds all the stuff needed for POP3 connections and replaces the various, independent schemes in dada_bounce_handler.pl, dada_bridge.pl and the DADA::Mail::Send module.

2.10.14 Stable - Released 5/9/07

Download 2.10.14

2.10.14 tar.gz distibution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_14.tar.gz?download

2.10.14 zip distribution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_14.zip?download

New Features in 2.10.14

There are no official new features in 2.10.14 of Dada Mail, when compared to 2.10.13. This is a bugfix only release.

Bug Fixes in 2.10.14

These bugs appear in at least the 2.10.13 version of Dada Mail and should be fixed in the 2.10.14 release.

2.10.14 Beta 1 - Released 4/20/07

Download 2.10.14 Beta 1

tar.gz distibution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_14-beta_1.tar.gz?download

zip distribution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_14-beta_1.zip?download

All download mirrors:

https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13002&package_id=102361&release_id=502753

Bug Fixes

All bugs are known to be fixed, but require testing and verification.

2.11 Alpha 5 - Released 05/09/07

This is a features-only release and doesn't contain bug fixes. For a bugfix-only development release, do see 2.10.14 beta 1,

Download 2.11 Alpha 5

This is a features-only release and doesn't contain bug fixes. For a bugfix release, do see 2.10.14 Stable.

2.11 Alpha 5 is basically based on Dada Mail, version 2.10.13 (again, NOT 2.10.14)

2.11 Alpha 5 tar.gz distibution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11-alpha_5.tar.gz?download

2.11 Alpha 5 zip distribution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11-alpha_5.zip?download

New Features

See the New Feature in 2.11 Alpha 4 - it's basically the same.

2.11 Alpha 4 - Released 4/21/07

This is a features-only release and doesn't contain bug fixes. For a bugfix-only development release, do see 2.10.14 beta 1,

Download 2.11 Alpha 4

tar.gz distibution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11-alpha_4.tar.gz?download

zip distribution:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_11-alpha_4.zip?download

New Features

$MAILOUT_AT_ONCE_LIMIT

This variable sets how many different mailouts may go out from an installation of Dada Mail at one time. Conservatively, this is set to, 1 by default.

There are a few reasons why you wouldn't want to set this to any higher limit, one being that there's a possibility that there is a limit on how many email messages you are allowed to go out in a specific period of time.

Another reason is that sending out too many messages at once may cause the server your running to be overloaded.

$MAILOUT_STALE_AFTER

$MAILOUT_STALE_AFTER sets, in seconds, how long a mailout can go with no mailing activity until Dada Mail itself won't automatically restart it. The default, 86400 seconds is one full day.

This variable attempts to safegaurd you against having a dropped mailing that you've, "forgotten" about restart, "mysteriously" and unintentionally.

A mailout may still be restarted if this limit has been surpassed, but it must be done manually, through the list control panel.

Sending Monitor Index Refreshes Every 60 seconds

This should allow you to keep tags on all your mailings for a list at once, without having to visit each individual screen.

This screen will also reload a mailing, if necessary (just like the individual screens)

Pause a Mailing

You now have the ability to pause a mailing, instead of simple stopping a mailing. A stopped mailing cannot ever be restarted, a paused mailing may be restarted with ease

Mailout Queueing Support

WIth the Mailout At Once Limit, Dada Mail now supports queueing of awaiting mailouts.

More Information on New Features

See The writeup here:

http://dadamailproject.com/support/documentation-2_11-alpha4/FAQ-mailing_list_sending.pod.html#multiple_mailouts_at_the_same_time

for a brief overview on how pausing and queueing work in Dada Mail.

2.10.13 Stable - Released 3/7/07

Download 2.10.13

tar.gz distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13.tar.gz?download

zip distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13.zip?download

2.10.13 RC1 - Released 3/4/07

Download 2.10.13 RC 1

tar.gz distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13-rc1.tar.gz?download

zip distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13-rc1.zip?download

Bug Fixes

1673762 2.10.12 - alt. Charsets not set correctly.

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1673762&group_id=13002&atid=113002

2.10.13 Beta 1 - Released 2/5/07

Download 2.10.13 Beta 1

tar.gz distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13_beta1.tar.gz?download

zip distro:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13_beta1.zip?download

New Features

New Plugin: multi_admin_subscribers.cgi

multi_admin_subscribers.cgi is a plugin to allow you to administrate subscriptions/unsubscriptions for multiple lists at one time.

Note: Most likely, this plugin will only be distributed with Pro Dada/The Magicbook in the future, but is released in this beta distribution for testing purposes.

More information:

multi_admin_subscribers.cgi.html

Bug Fixes

1673762 2.10.12 - alt. Charsets not set correctly.

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1673762&group_id=13002&atid=113002

1657018 2.10.12 - multiple backups cannot be made in the same second

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1657018&group_id=13002&atid=113002

[ 1654672 ] 2.10.12 - utf8 unsupported in Charsets for HTML/emails

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1654672&group_id=13002&atid=113002

1654671 2.10.12 - Content-Transfer-Encoding not always set

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1654671&group_id=13002&atid=113002

1654669 2.10.12 - No Date: header set in outgoing emails

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1654669&group_id=13002&atid=113002

1648447 2.10.12 - unencoded strings in Archives

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1648447&group_id=13002&atid=113002

1647628 2.10.12 - Precedence Header not set

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1647628&group_id=13002&atid=113002

2.10.13 Alpha 1 - Released 1/21/07

Download

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13_alpha1.tar.gz?download

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mojomail/dada-2_10_13_alpha1.zip?download

New Features

FAQ Added - Email Sending

See:

http://dadam ailproject.com/support/documentation/FAQ-email_sending.pod.html

SMTP Engine moved from Net::SMTP to Net::SMTP_auth

Net::SMTP_auth allows us to choose which exact SASL authentication method to use, Net::SMTP would just try to make a best guess.

Note that we are shipping with a module called, Net::SMTP_auth_SSL that allows the same functionality over an SSL/TSL connection. This is not a CPAN module, but a tweak of Net::SMTP_auth to use SSL connections.

CAPTCHA enabled for, "Send Archive to a Friend" Feature

Marked at Experimental.

CAPTCHA Config.pm variables changed

By default, the CAPTCH stuff uses a True Type font called, "StayPutt.tff" that's included with Dada Mail. This should make much better CAPTCHA images than the default GD fonts

Manage Subscribers : Add has File Upload Status Bar Widget for File Uploads

The process of uploading a file and processing a file has now been split. This may help with large lists amd timeout problems.

dada_bridge.pl - easier crontab setting

It's no longer necessary to have to set the crontab to run dada_bridge.pl as a command line script, you can simply now set a URL for the crontab to visit. This also means you do not have to tweak the environment that dada_bridge.pl runs in, to run correctly as a cronjob.

See:

dada_bridge.pl.html#setting_the_cronjob_the__easy_way

New Extension: AJAXed Subscription Form

See:

ajax_include_subscribe.cgi.html

Test Suite Available

The Dada Mail test suite is available to use in the regular distribution. It can be run using the, prove command or the included web-based Dada Mail extension. More information:

dada_tester.cgi.html

Bug Fixes

Beatitude (scheduled_mailings.pl)

auto_pickup.pl

Dada Mail

2.10.12 - Released 12/15/06

New Features

SMTP Settings

Bug Fixes

Mailing List Sending/Sending Monitor

List Invitations

Email Blacklists

MySQL/PostSQL-specific

dada_bridge.pl

Magicbook

Beatitude (scheduled_mailings.pl)

multiple_subscribe.cgi

2.10.11b

A few small, yet quite annoying bugs were found in the 2.10.11 distribution - 2.10.11 has just a few notable bug fixes:

Bug Fixes

2.10.11

Do see the changes for the 2.11 alpha series - all changes made in 2.11 alpha will also be for 2.10.11.

Feature: Sending Monitor

Mailing List Messages can now be monitored via the list control panel in great detail.

Note: The addition of this feature has also come with the removal of other features that this feature intends to replace (and do so, in a much better way). If you are looking for these features, note that they have been removed:

More information on this feature can be found at the following places:

Technical Details:

NOTES.pod.html#autopickup_of_mail_sendings

Nerdy Perl API Overview:

Mail_MailOut.pm.html

Mailing List Sending FAQ (goes over how to use this feature):

FAQ-mailing_list_sending.pod.html

auto_pickup.pl extension docs (extension that makes use of this feature):

auto_pickup.pl.html

Program Changes

2.11 alpha 1

There are MANY changes between this version and the 2.10 series. Please see:

    http://dadamailproject.com/features/2_11_dev/index.html
    
for details of the new features.

See the, "NOTES" for various things concerning this specific version of Dada Mail.

Being a alpha release, there are known bugs and some unknown bugs. If you do use this version, makes sure to understand that it will be a rocky way.

2.10.10

SECURITY

TEMPLATING

ARCHIVES

ADMINISTRATION/LOGINS/SESSIONS

USABILITY

MISC.

MAIL SENDING

2.10.9

Changes/New Features

(Note: there was an introduction of a white list feature in the alpha versions of 2.10.9 - this has since been removed from 2.10.9 stable.)

Note: yet again! There was integration of some sorts of SpamAssassin into the dada_bridge.pl plugin in the alpha versions. This also has been removed for 2.10.9 stable

Bugs Fixes:

2.10.8

Changes/New Features

Bug Fixes

2.10.7

Changes/New Features

Fixed Bugs

2.10.6

Features

Bugs Fixed:

2.10.5

Features

HTMLArea has been replaced with FCKeditor. HTML WYSIWYG editing is now available for:

Bug Fixes

2.10.4

Features

RSS feeds are now 2.0, up from .91; Atom feeds are now 1.0, up from .03.

2.10.3

Bugfixes

Details

2.10.2

Bugfixes

Details

New Features

There's a new archive editor in plugin form, called archive_editor.cgi For more information, see:

archive_editor.cgi.html

2.10.1

Bugfixes.

Details

Feature Changes

$ADMIN_MENU - Added entries for extensions (currently commented out)

sub/unsubscription notices is now *on* by default.

New Config.pm variable: %LIST_SETUP_INCLUDE -

Appends %LIST_SETUP_DEFAULTS - useful in outside config files

Manage Copy -> Email Messages - Made changes so you can hit the big read button to revert all your email messages to the default.

The SQL tables for the archives have changed - there is now a different one for MySQL and Postgres. More details in, "NOTES"

added a dada_subscribers_plaintext2sql.pl script in dada/extras/scripts

2.10

Bugfixes.

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13002&atid=113002&set=custom&_assigned_to=0&_status=2&_category=100&_group=100&by_submitter=&summary_keyword=2.9.2&order=artifact_id&sort=DESC&submit=Browse

Features

Changes from 2.10 Beta 2 and 2.10 rc1

The only changes have been bug fixes and code cleanup to beta 2. Changes from 2.10 Beta 1 and 2.10 Beta 2 Main Changes:

Send a List Message and Send a Webpage

Send a List Message and Send a Webpage screens now have a new widget to allow you to, Archive but DO NOT Send a message. This is a stop gap for the missing feature of adding/editing an archive. Messages can also be backdated, so this should provide a way to add in old messages.

Send a Webpage

The Send a Webpage screen now also has an option to just write an HTML document, instead of having to point a URL of where a document may live. The web-based WYSIWYG editor is hooked up to this as well.

Admin: View Archive

The Archive Index screen has been templated out, finally. It's been slightly redesigned - using a table instead of a ordered list to show all the archives available. There's also a new function to, "purge all archive messages". If you have the DB File backend, this will actually delete the archive's db file, which may help if the archive file is completely corrupted.

The individual archive screens now has a link to the publically available version of the archive message and a note saying that the admin view may be different than the view you're seeing there.

There's also a small new feature to allow you to see the source of the message itself (works only with the SQL backend)

Ongoing CSS/Layout Changes

- default CSS file has been simplified and reorganized into meaningful categories, making things easier to find and change

- improved XHTML compliance

- improved structural markup (many things out of table-based layouts for greater CSS-based design control)

- added structural groupings to the templates, following in the footsteps of the CSS Zen Garden <http://csszengarden.com>, for greatly enhanced CSS customization and control. (All new id's and classes are listed in the default CSS file.) Changes from 2.10 Alpha 1 and 2.10 Beta 1

General code cleanup - getting ready for a solid release! New Features

New Discussion List Option:

Send message posters a copy of the message they've sent the discussion list. Bug Fixes for Dada Mail 2.10 Alpha 1

For an up-to-date list, please see the BugTraq New Features Sending Options

Time between batches can now be less than a second. Archiving

Viewing Attachments supported.

Inline Images support.

Security - Archived messages are pruned of javascript exploits before being viewed.

Discussion messages will show a link to the message being replied to.

The Iframe that holds the HTML version of the archived message can now be turned on/off by a per-list setting.

Previous/Next Links corrected.

Styled quoted text (for plaintext messages)

Email addresses in archives are encoded to stop email harvestors. dada_bridge.pl

CC, Bcc Infinite Loop Bug Solved.

Initial moderation supported -

Moderators in Dada Mail: a sublist of email addresses that can also send to an announce-only or discussion list without having to be on the subscription list itself. dada_bounce_handler.pl

unsubscribed message sent to list owner and former subscriber Message Sending

"I'm sure" and "Open in a New Window" checkbox options now available in the, "Send a Webpage" and "Send a List Invitation" screens. List Messages

[list_confirm* tags are, "Correct" HTML Templates

Furious combed through for syntactic correctness and neatness. Should be almost 100% XHTML compliant. Deprecated Items Removed

The %STYLE hash in Config.pm has been completely removed.

checklist() javascript function removed.

2.9.2

Bug Fixes

Summary
  1. 2.9.1 - link in unsubscribe mail is escaped
  2. 2.9.1 - minor typos
  3. 2.9.1 - SMTP sendings does not have a FROM envelop unless...
  4. 2.9.1 - mailing finished notification has wrong email?
  5. 2.9.1 - batch conf emails do not have a name in the To headr
  6. 2.9.1 - pages not linking properly
  7. 2.9.1 - list control panel Add Subscribers - problems
  8. 2.9.1 - (plaintext backend) Subscribers with UPPER case...
  9. 2.9.1 - fast list switching doesn't work for plugins
  10. 2.9.1 - Test "Send a List Invite" is not a test
  11. 2.9.1 - Locating Net/DNS.pm problem
  12. 2.9.1 - New list screen uses error css for help msgs
  13. 2.9.1 - "Send a List Message" Subject textfield...
  14. 2.9.1 - SASL test does not escape HTML charactors

2.9.1

Bug Fixes:

2.9.0

Changes Bug Fixes for Dada Mail 2.9 RC 1

Fix for the optimize_mime_parser subroutine, will stop all those tmp files from accumulating;

Changed the help links URL, and the version to release candidate status.

Added the $HELP_LINKS_URL and applied it.

Removed the "default content type" thing, cause it didn't work that well, and everyone was confused. So it was stupid.

Speling Errors:

s/doesn't exists!/doesn't exist!/g; s/sytems/systems/g; s/boilderplate/boilerplate/g;

Fix for uploaded files not attaching properly when filenames have spaces in them.

Added Path Info shortcuts to the redirect stuff;

Changed the restart mailing at x to NOT work when you have the messages being sent by the cron job - (no current way to save that info in the mail scheduler - doh!)

Docs Added. Lots of Docs added.

Issues encountered with 2.9 beta 2

You may find that you get tmp files that accumulate in the same directory that you have the mail.cgi in. These files are harmless, but very annoying.

Here's how to fix that.

New Features/Bug Fixes for 2.9 Beta 2

MIME Parsing Optimized

There are now three ways you can optimize MIME Parsing if you should want to.

The three ways are:

faster

less memory

no tmp files

The default is, 'no tmp files'

See the entry for, $MIME_OPTIMIZE in the Config.pm file.

I also explicitly set the $PROGRAM_USAGE_LOG to write by default.

:: Bug fixes

Removed the double, '//' in the Template path;

Fast List Switcher is now invisible if you only have one list;

Reworded the zap sigs in the advanced archive options to sort of sorround the entire new concept;

The SASL test should now be inline, instead of spawning it's own, no formatted screen.

The missing Date::Format and friends CPAN modules should be included in the Dada Mail perllib by default; Fixed problems dealing with errors regarding the removed, "setup_list" subroutine;

Fixed some sloppy coding regarding all the Path Info stuff;Deleting a list should work again;

Creating a back link should work again;

Typo in dada_bridge.pl regarding the infinite loop test has been fixed.

New Features/Bug Fixes for 2.9 Beta 1

Dada Mail 2.8.16 alpha is now Dada Mail 2.9 beta 1.

This means:

No more new features. Please, no more.

From now on, only bug fixes/completing features:

From Server 500 errors

to the smallest, "use of uninitialized..." warnings

Picky layout annoyances fixed.

Usuability highlighted.

Things should work, or they will be pulled out.

Basically, anything that would stop the program from shipping.

I foresee many many problems with the archiving viewing of Dada Mail - 500 errors, the whole bit - read on for more changes.

Just to make light on this change log, this is what's *new* in the latest beta, not all the features of Dada Mail. Haha... um hmm...

:: Test Suite Revised.

I added a Email Formatting test -

This *should* allow us to test multipart/alternative message creation, with attachments a little easier, since we'll all be using mostly the same information and the same attachments. I tested to my liking using Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and Apple's Mail.app. I attached screenshots.

http://dadamailproject.com/images/testing/testsuite_apple_mail.gif

http://dadamailproject.com/images/testing/testsuite_gmail.gif

http://dadamailproject.com/images/testing/testsuite_hotmail.gif

http://dadamailproject.com/images/testing/testsuite_yahoo.gif

If the test suite message does not work as it does above, I need to know what the mail reader is. Please, for the sake of simplicity, do not apply the list template to outgoing messages. I'll hardwire this in... later...

:: New Features

:: Rewrote the while, "Send an archived message"

Should work now and should be very slick. I'm very happy with it.

:: Fast List Switching!

If you have more than one list, log into one using your Dada Mail Root Password. On the left hand menu, you should have a little pulldown menu to allow you to select another list to switch to. Hitting, "switch" will bring you to the list control panel of the list you selected, seeing the screen you were on at the previous list. It's cool. It'll save you time. It'll help out.

:: Archives

OK, this is going to be long - there's been much work:

First off, there's been support added to save the raw text of an email message that's been sent. In the past, messages were saved in some weird, bastardized version. If, (and only if!) you're using the SQL backend (which I *highly* recommend!) for the archives, Dada will save the raw message for you. Speaking of which, the SQL table schema has changed. It now looks like this:

CREATE TABLE dada_archives ( list varchar(32), archive_id varchar(32), subject text, message text, format text, raw_msg text );

Consult your previously created table and make the appropriate changes - basically, add the new column - pretty painless. If anyone knows how to make this table better (read: faster), please get in touch - I'm not the master of SQL.

I tried doing this with the db_file backend, but, basically, the db_file would get corrupted in mysterious ways. I hit my head on that one for a really long time. I can't figure out if it's the base64 encoded attachments that screw with something, or if it's just the size of the message. Archive Backups are created just fine. Odd.

I also realized that putting this in would break backwards copatibility. So, there you go. Upgrade to the SQL backend, if you can. There's a import script called, "dada_archive_dbtosql.pl" in dada/extras/scripts. Read the instructions. Let me know if it still works *grin*

.: Archive "Blurbs"

I made it easy to show part of an archived message in lots of places in Dada Mail. For example, the default screen will now show a snippet of the last archived message, and a link to view the rest. It's handy.

The list page shows the last ten (by default) archives and a snippet from them. It's just a lot more interesting than a boring list. In a glance, I can get a little better of an idea on what the list is all about.

.: Viewing Archives.

Ok, so there's support added to save the raw email message, I also added a whole heap of support to view this raw message - which means, convert the raw message into something like HTML. Very nontrivial and as cool as my implementation is, it does not support:

*Attachments

Fetching images that are needed in a HTML message that are attached to the message itself

Saying that, Archives should now:

Handsomly show Plain Text Messages - converted to HTML for viewing in a web browser.

Easily show complex - and I mean, Web Page complexity scale complex HTML messsages and sing at the same time. No easy task. The way I solve that problem was to embed an iframe into the archive page, and have the extremely complex HTML message reside in that, instead of trying to embed an HTML message in an HTML message. This doesn't work. If there's stylesheets in the embedded HTML message, it'll be contracted into the host page - things break all over the place. Different web-based mail readers solve this problem differently - a good read -

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/cssemail/

And they all suck. I don't want to use an iframe - but it seemed like the best way to control layout. The body of the message is embedded in the archive page itself - not just in the contents of the iframe - so hopefully that'll be good for search engines.

The iframe idea is also somewhat slow, since two different versions of the email message have to be parsed out. It's also nigh impossible to control the size of the iframe without using some Javascript trickery. Don't know if I want to go that route - maybe?

I need some opinions on that.

Archives should also show multipart/alternative messages easily too, instead of just puking the contents for you to try to read. Sorry about that...

I also added some logic to the archives, so that they parse out the mailing list message templates out of the email message for display. It just looks really weird to get instructions to unsubscribe from an email list you're reading in an archive.

To take full advantage of this, reload your email message templates. This is easily done by logging into your list control panel, navigating to:

Manage Copy -> Email Messages

Clearing all your Email Message Templates and hitting the green button. When the page refreshes, you should have the default templates. Hopefully.

This WILL not retroactively work for already archived messages - sorry;

Here's some changes done:

Mailing List Message Template - PlainText

I goofed. There's a pretty standard signature break symbol thingy, that looks like this:

--

It's officially known as,

newline dash dash space newline

It was in prior versions of Dada Mail,

newline dash dash newline

So that's been fixed.

So that's the signature mark, the place where you message ends, and the signature begins is usually where your unsubscription information starts.

But, in Dada Mail, by default, there's also the little blurb on the top that says that unsub instructions are located at the bottom! What to do about that?

I decided to make something called the, "opening" mark. Yes I know. I'm quite the visionary. Here's the format:

newline underscore underscore space newline

OR: __

Ah ha! Sneaky sneaky!

So, Dada Mail, at least, will look for this line and think that anything before it is a part of the mailing list template, and not really your message. Of course, if you don't use it, everything should be fine. Honestly.

Mailing List Message Template - HTML

So what about the HTML? Sorry, but:

--

looked stupid in HTML, so I made the:

<!--opening--> <!--/opening-->

"opening" comment pair (anything inside is a part of the message template, and not the message) and the:

<!--signature--> <!--/signature-->

"signature" comment pair. Again, completely local to Dada Mail. Use them, reap the benifits; ignore them, life as it was;

From my tests with Spamassassin, these comments aren't flagged as bad things. Which is good!

Again, something you don't need to worry about, but it's there.

.: Email Message Formatter

I've done extensive work on the email formatter for Dada Mail - DADA::App::FormatMessages.

This is new as of a few alphas ago, but it's totally new in Dada Mail Land. Basically, you feed a message you want to send with Dada Mail and it takes care of annoyances, like adding the list template to your message, makes sure that everything that needs to be there, is there, creates the sub/unsub links - things like that. Should produces less code everywhere else.

For example, it now will create a multipart/alternative message for you, if you give it only an HTML message - it'll also wrap the mailing list template around *both* of them correctly. It's really slick. It does more. And it's nothing you have to worry about;

.: Batches Enhancement

Added support for receiving a email batch notification every x batches, instead of every single batch;

Sounds like a silly little feature, but what if you wanted to set batches at... 1 email every 1 second. Without this feature, you'd be deluged with batch notifications. Now you can set batches to be 1 email every 1 second, and get a batch notification every 500 batches. *whew*. Was about 4 new lines of code for both the smtp and sendmail routines. Well worth it.

.: Templates

Take a gander at: /dada/DADA/Template/templates

There's a whole slew of template files... 71 files? 360k of (mostly) HTML? Dada Mail is templated to the max. Have fun playing with them all.

Speaking of which, I went through about... all of the HTML templates and made sure they were pretty strict in formatting, which means they should pass through your local xHTML validator without too much trouble. They're not perfect - they never will be - honestly, but it's darn close.

.: css changes

The default css in the list template is now inline, rather than external:

Pros:

Faster this way one less program call,

Won't be marked as spam by AOL,

Cons:

Stupid.

Sometimes it's smart to be stupid.

.: Breadcrumb Navigation Aids

In many of the list/archive screens of Dada Mail, I've added breadcumb links to help with navigating everything. These screens should be easy and useful to use. Hopefully, that helped!

.: Subscriber Help Screen

I added a link to the default HTML screen confirmation message, it links to a page that looks like this:

http://justinsimoni.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/subscriber_help/announce/

Which gives basic support on how to add the list owner to an address book/ whitelist. Why? It's a defensive measure. You want your messages to be delivered. Usually, when you add an address to your addressbook, it really really really makes these changes a whole lot better on very strict systems.

Don't like it? Take off the link.

Oh! and view the source of that screen, all the email addresses mention should be skewed so not to be picked up by spambots! The code is based off of:

http://dadamailproject.com/perl/spam_me_not.pl

Which is in itself a rewrite of a rewrite of this thing:

http://www.zapyon.de/

Thank them.

Anyways, I really really need help in this screen - I need directions to add as many major mail readers as possible, including some big holes like:

Outlook Outlook Express

Please please get back to me with clear, consice directions - I don't have access to these programs, so I'm going blind.

.: Syndication

I added support for Atom feeds.

Atom:

http://www.atomenabled.org/

Why did I do this? Basically, I realized: What are the archives? Why, they're a collection of messages, with good, pertinent information, sorted by date. What's a weblog - why, it's very similar! Why not make the archives as similar to a weblog as possible? People are familiar with that interface - let's emulate it, add value to the content you already have! Huzzah! What a great idea!

So, we've got rss *and* atom feeds, we've got ping'ing capabilities, we've got search-engine friendly URL's - we've got some great resources added to your site, everytime you send a list message - it's almost as if the email message is the icing! I'm just really excited about all this...

Here's a real example of the atom feed created by Dada Mail:

http://justinsimoni.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive_atom/announce/

Neat.

:: Formatting Email Messages

Problem: Mail Filters flag messages created by Dada Mail

And it's not just Dada Mail, but, more than ever, Mail messages need to be made sure they're created very well - which means, very cleanly and strictly. If you have an HTML message, it has to be a full HTML document, not just text formatted using HTML. Weird, I know.

Also, you need to make the HTML message be a part of a multipart/alternative message - which means, there HAS, and I mean, HAS to be a plain text version of your HTML message, For example:

http://spamassassin.apache.org/tests_3_0_x.html

MIME_HTML_ONLY, Message only has text/html MIME parts, scores 1.204 local. That's. Huge.

Luckily, Dada Mail will now look for both of these things, and "correct" them automatically. Another thing you don't have to deal with. Take more time writting a killer email message.

Other things that should be mostly sorted out are;

TO and From always have a, "Real Name" ( From: does not include a real name NO_REAL_NAME 0.124 0.178 0.336 0.007)

Things like that.

.: Path Info, Instead of Query Strings

Many, many many of the Query Strings in Dada Mail - and not only in email messages, use a path info, instead of a query string. Here's a real example:

Query String Version:

http://justinsimoni.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?flavor=archive;list=announce;id=20040604025003

Path Info Version:

http://justinsimoni.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/announce/20040604025003/

Both of these URLs go to the same screen.

The Path Info version is more compact

The Path Info version is more clear

The Path Info version is way more search-engine-friendly

The Path Info masquerades like it's a directory structure

Another example:

Query String Version:

http://example.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=n&l=announce&e=justin%40example.com&p=8911234

http://example.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/n/announce/justin/example.com/8911234/

Slightly shorter. Nicely shorter.

The email address is also now embedded within the URL, instead of being blatantly encoded in - notice the, %40 in the query string version. %'s in URL's are a big no-no for some services, like AOL. Hopefully, that problem is fixed now;

:: Deprecated

the DADA::App::Guts::open_database subroutine has been completely removed. This will most likely break many plugins/extensions that aren't currently bundled.

dada_send.pl is still removed. Yeah, dada_send.pl

Removed the "HTML_and_text" - Plaintext version is created from HTML in the "Send a List Message" basic screen. This is done automatically for you.

:: Removed - For Now

I had to take the "Resend Archived Message" and, "Edit Archived Message" from the program. I need to rethink how these work...

If you need to do any editing, do so *before* upgrading to this beta. Edit is going to be hard to implement, because a MIME editor is non trivial - like, how exactly do you edit a MIME message created by the "Send a Webpage" screen? Answer: You don't. :)

The resend an archive would be simpler, but you wouldn't get a preview of your message, or be able, (again) to edit the message slightly. Hmm...

I removed support for the, "attached images are part of the HTML message", "feature" - did it ever really work? I rewrote the rest of the sub send_email screen that I left alone - what a mess that was. I simplified the message creation to the bare minumum and added the Email formatting test.

If it passes for most all people, we'll talk about this feature again - it wouldn't be really too hard, but I'm thinking it's useful for about 1 person - and that ain't me...

New Features/Bug Fixes For Alpha 4

The following issues were looked at and worked on. A few other issues may have been fixed, but not noted here.

Manage Subscribers / Add brings up an empty screen

Manage subscribers / View / View Options tells you always you have no one subscribed to your list.

Manage Subscribers - Options gives an error about a wrong template, it askes for subscription_options.tmpl iso subscription_options_screen.tmpl

If I go to an archive from a list page I get a syntax error in the bottom part of the page where the subscribe/unsubscribe is supposed to be..

syntax error in <TMPL_*> tag at list_subscribe_form.tmpl : 7. at DADA/perllib/HTML/Template.pm line 2288.

When the discussionlist (dada_bridge) options screen is on , in the right hand upper corner the 'Logged in as root' is not showing, on all other screens it is.

By the way, how do I change this red color, I can't find it in the CSS... ( should be #root_login_msg id )

In the Archived Message : Edit screen, I still think one button should be called 'Clear Changes' and one 'Save Changes'.

Another 'Edit Archived Message' button just doesn't make sense....to me that is...

Also the edit window on this screen is very narrow compared to the screen with the current message below it. (less than half on my screen)

Also on the Customize email messages screen, the memo boxes are very narrow, now we got the space...let's use it !

The new email tag [list_confirm_(un)subscribe_link] is not mentioned in the tag table.

The administration link shows again, due to previous problems (can't recall what exactly) and on your advice we set it at 2:

I also did some work on the CSS, the left menu should look a bit better - I'm still working on some of the admin buttons that appear on the lower left side - a lot of massaging of the sourcecode needs to be done, but that can be done later - write first, optimize later.

I also added a Test Suite to help with squashing bugs; at the moment, there's only a layout test to see what the Stylesheet is doing.

New Features/Bug Fixes For Alpha 3

Before I get into this, I want to state that the mail.cgi script has been almost entirely rewritten and the program has seen more work done to it in the last 3 weeks than it has in the last 6 months. This will be a major major release.

:: HTML Template Optimizations.

Optimizations for *most* of the templated out screens. Here's what's going on:

Dada Mail is using something called HTML::Template"

http://search.cpan.org/~samtregar/HTML-Template-2.7/Template.pm

to do the templating tasks for the HTML screens. It does a really really good job. Kudos to the HTML::Template team. Some, not all, the templates use a add on to HTML::Template called HTML::Template::Expr:

http://search.cpan.org/~samtregar/HTML-Template-Expr-0.04/Expr.pm

- it allows you to evaluate statements, and lots of other goodies. The problem is that using it has a speed penalty.

By default, Dada Mail was using HTML::Template::Expr for all of it's HTML templating needs - it should now only use HTML::Template::Expr when absolutely necessary.

:: Email Formatting

Formatting of Email Messages has been completely overhauled. I've been working on a module called, DADA::App::FormatMessages that will, hopefully, handle all the needed formatting of email messages in a centralized space - instead of how it's been working now, where each messge was formatted separately, which is sort of the dumb way of doing things.

Here's some things that this new little wizbang thing handles:

.: MIME messages - as complex as you want -

This means, you can have a multipart/alternative message - a message with both a PlainText and HTML version and have the correct formatting applied to both versions.

.: List Templates Applied Correctly

OK - not to confuse, but there are Email Templates Dada Mail uses - for example, the Mailing List Template, which usually has the unsubscription instructions placed at the bottom; there is also the List Template - which is what's used for HTML screens - what you see in your browser.

Support has been added to apply the List Template over the Mailing List Template correctly. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but here's a scenario:

You Send a Webpage - getting the message information from a URL. The info you get is a complete HTML document. DADA::App::FormatMessages will parse in the Mailing List Template in the *body* of the complete HTML document, instead of wrapping around the entire HTML document like a dumb script would. Pretty slick.

Ok, now say you want to apply the List Template to this Mailing List Message. Here's a problem - both your document and the List Template are full HTML files!

DADA::App::FormatMessages is smart enough to pick out the content of the Mailing List Message and apply it to the List Template, instead of wrapping an HTML document in an HTML document.

:: Template Changes.

By default, List Templates use the Default List Template - meaning, what you see on the default screen of Dada Mail (http://example.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi)

This option can be changed in Manage Appearance -> Edit Template in the List Control Panel. It can also be changed *back* to using the default, and can also be overrided to only use the default in Config.pm's %LIST_SETUP_OVERRIDES. It's a good thing.

You'll also notice in the Edit Template screen you now have the option to, "Apply the list template to HTML email messages". This means, *all* HTML messages sent by Dada Mail for this list. Pretty slick.

.: Templates: XHTML 1.0 Transitional

I was getting a lot of flack from people around the Intarweb about Dada Mail's reliance on templates that are taking advantage of table-based hacks, circa 1999. It made me feel bad, since people scoffed in their ivory towers, saying,

"Yeah, the guy can sling some dirty Perl code, but he doesn't know the first thing about xHTML/CSS" and this is certainly not true. I've been making xHTML/CSS sites before it was even stylish to do so! *before* Mozilla 1.0!. But Dada Mail didn't get any of that goodness, because it's a really complex program with hundreds of files, and HTML strewn about the place and, and and let's see YOU make such a program, Mr. I coded my weblog in xHTML/CSS based on someone elses template! But in reality, egg was on me, since the HTML shouldn't have been strewn about the place. But who knew Dada Mail was going to be about 10 times the size it was since the 2.0 release? Not I!

The template used for Dada Mail version 2.8.15 is basically the same template that was in version 1.0. The interesting thing is that template was using pretty advanced techniques to get that cool, black hairline border at the time (Queue in, "Back in my day!" jokes...) .

But, things sure do change. So, I refreshed Dada's Templates to use xHTML, with a nice CSS-based layout, got rid of the brown, gave it some red and made the entire layout a little more spacious. Since there's much less code, the interface should come down the pipe a little faster.

.: Need feedback on the following:

* Formatting correctly Does anything look completely wrong? * Usability? Is the new template easier to work with? If not, what needs changing?

Screenshots, HTML/css examples very much appreciated.

If you're wondering how the CSS gets applied to the template, going to a URL like this:

http://example.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/css

Will bring you back the CSS needed for the templates. Slick, huh? This should help me not have to embed the CSS in the template files themselves and be able to share most of the CSS between the list and admin templates. This also means you can:

Change *just* the CSS in a format you're comfortable with

Change *just* the xHTML

.: Default List (user) Template and Default Admin Templates are now out of the DADA::Template::HTML module

You can now find both the List Template and Admin Template in the dada/DADA/Template/templates directory, under:

default_list_template.tmpl

and

default_admin_template.tmpl

respectively.

You can find the default css under:

default_css.css

If you'd like to play with that.

There's a file called, "default_js.js" - don't use.

:: More screens templating out.

I've completely lost count of what screens of the mail.cgi are templated out, but it's now, "most". A quick check on that directory tells me it's: 292k in size. Which is a lot.

So, to answer the question, "Why is the HTML in Dada Mail embedded in the code?" The answer is, "It's mostly not."

To answer the question, "I'd like to translate Dada into another language - how do I do that?" The answer is, "Translate the template files, you're 90% there".

To see how much of a size saver it is to template out the files, let's compare past versions of the mail.cgi file:

2.8.15: 280k 2.8.16 alpha 1: 248k 2.8.16 alpha 2: 240k --------------------- 2.8.16 alpha 3: 184k

So, almost 100k slimmer than 2.8.15 - and with all these new whizbang features. I think we're on the right track.

:: New email tags.

The [list_subscribe_link] tag and friends would produce different URLs depending on the context they were used in. For example. If you knew offhand what the email address you were sending from was, this tag would have the full URL to subscribe to the list, including the pin.

This is confusing and really a bad idea, when, for example, you're running a discussion list, where reply's of a message will hold someone's copy of this subscribe/unsubscribe link and send it to other people. These other people have to only click the link to sub/unsub YOU. Which is bad.

So: Here's the change:

[list_subscribe_link], [list_unsubscribe_link] and friends will only have enough information to send a confirmation for subscription/unsubscription. There's a new set of tags called:

[list_confirm_subscribe_link], [list_confirm_unsubscribe_link] (and friends)

Which holds the pin number to sub/unsub you off a list.

The default email messages, located in the Config.pm have been reflected to work with this new system - you may have to manually change your email templates if you're upgrading from an older version. Use the default ones as a guide.

:: RSS Changes.

Ok, this is exciting:

Dada Mail now supports XML/RPC! Basically, when you send out a message that gets archived, Dada Mail will ping sites that support this service to come and check out your changes. This is usually for weblogs and the ilk, but Dada Mail's archives are very similar to entries in a weblog. Why not have services, like Technorati spider Dada Mail created archives, like they do web log archives? Why not indeed! Now, they should be able to, no problem.

Kind of neat.

This option can be turned on under, Archive Options -> Advanced under, "Ping/Notify Site Update Services". The list that's shown can be changed in the Config.pm array, @PING_URLS. When this is turned on, you may notice a slight delay in getting the, "your list message is underway!" screen when sending a list message. This is when Dada Mail is pinging.

If you see this option greyed out, it means you need to install the XMLRPC::Lite CPAN module - it's something I can't bundle in Dada Mail.

:: VERP Support!

VERP stands for, Variable Envelope Return Paths. Here's more information:

http://cr.yp.to/proto/verp.txt

Dada Mail supports encoding VERP, Mystery Girl supports decoding VERP.

This should help in two instances:

It should help Mystery Girl parse bounces, since the email address that was sent to is encoded in the headers it receives. Neat.

This should also help people who are having trouble with AOL not giving them the address that a complaint originated from. This address will now be encoded in the To: header of whoever receives the complaint. Hopefully. If not, it will be encoded in the Return-Path of the headers you receive with the complaint. Neat.

:: New way to send messages (Sort of)

There's a problem sometimes with Webservers killing the sending process of Dada Mail. It's really stinky, because you don't even get a error log report about this, it just sort of, "happens" This is usually not very welcome.

To workaround that, there's a new option in Sending Options -> Advanced entitled, "Schedule List Mailings to be sent by a separate process."

Checking this option will, instead of sending the message right away, save the message as a schedule - the same kind use by Beatitude - marked to be sent *right away*

Near the checkbox to turn this option on, you'll see the, "NOTE:" that states, "Make sure to set the cronjob correctly, or your mailing list messages will never be sent!"

Here's the instructions on how to do that:

If you have Beatitude running, and it's working really well, there's the cronjob set for that, you don't have to do anything else. You're done.

If not, you have to set a cron job that looks something like this:

 0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /usr/bin/perl /home/myaccount/www/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi --run >/dev/null 2>&1

Notice it's the mail.cgi script itself you'll be running.

Most likely, you'll also have to change the mail.cgi's use lib() statement just like you would for Beatitude:

scheduled_mailings.pl.html#configuration.

Given the above setup, mailing list message will be sent after about a ten minute pause, but the web server won't really have any role in it. As long as your unlimit() is, "unlimited", I don't see a reason that the sending process would ever get killed.

Note! That scheduled mailings created via Dada Mail will remove themselves once they're done sending. This is normal.

I was going to make a whole, complicated system to queue up messages, and send at appropriate times, but I realized I already had a whole complicated system that sort of does what I need in DADA::MailingList::Schedules

Note! that this option doesn't at all make Beatitude obsolete - you can't edit this schedule, once you've made it, nor, can you view it, set the time - yadda yadda. It's sort of a specific schedule, for a specific task.

:: Send a List Message Screen Changes

There's a new option entitled, "Plain Text - HTML Version will be created"

This will, quite simply, create an HTML Version from a plain text version and send both as a multipart/alternative mailing. Not very exciting, except, since you can now set HTML messages to apply the list template - you can set up Dada Mail for someone who has little or no experience creating HTML, and have them sending out really professional looking messages just by typing in some plain text. Neat. A good fallback for people having trouble installing HTMLArea.

:: Mystery Girl Changes

See, "VERP" above

:: Beatitude Changes

Like most of mail.cgi, Beatitude now formats it's messages using DADA::App::FormatMessages. This took a few hundreds lines out of Beatitude, which is what we were looking for.

I also added a new flag called, "--check_deletions" that should help in checking if messages that are supposed to be deleted, actually were. Add it to your command line and Beatitude will wait 5 seconds, open up a new POP connection and check and see if the messages that were supposed to be deleted were. If they weren't, it'll try once again.

New Features/Bug Fixes For Alpha 2

HTMLArea Integration

HTMLArea, a browser-based HTML editor comes with Dada Mail now! Here's how to get it working:

* Upload the htmlarea directory into your public html directory. * Note this location. * Set the Config variable, $HTMLAREA_URL to the URL of where the htmlarea directory is. That's it.

You'll see the HTMLArea inline editor by going to the ``Send a List Message'' screen in the list control panel and clicking, ``Advanced''.

Send a Webpage now applies the Mailing List Template

A long standing bug, we hope that this is now fixed. Please kick the tires and let us know if anything falls off.

Changelog

(I know this is rough, it'll get slicker as the development cycle ramps up)

:: Bug Fixes

Restore List Functionality:

I fixed a race condition where the program was trying to fix a corrupted db file while using the corrupted db file. Naturally, this didn't work. Traced it and squashed it.

s/psuedo/pseudo/g

:: New Features:

State is kept using the CGI::Session module:

http://search.cpan.org/~sherzodr/CGI-Session-3.95/Session.pm

If the prereqs exist. Currently, this means, CGI::Session/Data::Dumper loads up correctly and Perl 5.6.1 If these prereqs aren't there, Dada will use the former system, which isn't half bad.

If you have a plugin that is giving you errors when using this alpha, you may have to tweak them like so:

:: OLD CODE:

use CGI; my $q = new CGI;

my %login = $q->cookie(-name => $LOGIN_COOKIE_NAME); my $admin_list = $login{admin_list} || undef; my $admin_password = $login{admin_password} || undef;

my $root_login = check_list_security(-Admin_List => $admin_list, -Admin_Password => $admin_password, -IP_Address => $ENV{REMOTE_ADDR}, -Function => 'log_viewer');

::NEW CODE:

use CGI; my $q = new CGI;

my ($admin_list, $root_login) = check_list_security(-cgi_obj => $q, -Function => 'log_viewer');

Which is nice, little less code, little more transparency.

All Session/State code has been moved from dada/DADA/App/Guts.pm to dada/DADA/Session.pm, an OO module.

Cookie/Session now expires after 1day.

:: Developer Docs

I've added the list of needed CPAN modules for Dada Mail and my personal ToDo list into the dada/extras/developers directory, just in case you were wondering what I do.

:: GUI

The following screens have been templated out of the main, mail.cgi script:

Delete List Delete List Successful List Options

mail.cgi is now a whole lot slimmer:

2.8.15: 280k 2.8.16 alpha 1: 248k 2.8.15 alpha 2: 240k

All in all, the diff -u file for mail.cgi itself is about 3800 lines long :)

Version 2.8.16 alpha1 02/21/05

:: Bug Fixes

(as far as I know, these bugs are fixed, if they're not, let me know)

[ 1070637 ] 2.8.15 - dada_bridge.pl contains estranious set lib paths [ 1076411 ] 2.8.15 - archive search producing error [ 1075515 ] 2.8.15 - Help Link URLs are incomplete [ 1095349 ] 2.8.15 - Misc Typos [ 1124419 ] 2.8.15 - Button Styles needs to be removed from the Config [ 1072837 ] 2.8.15 - dada_bounce_handler.pl - line 2140 [ 1087666 ] S_PROGRAM_URL skipped when logging in [ 1070269 ] 2.8.15 - congrats screen encrypted password warning msg [ 1070242 ] 2.8.15 - template directory not found [ 1077969 ] 2.8.15 - Solaris and Exclusive locks [ 1077154 ] 2.8.15 - SQL archives trying to delete archive backups

* programming 500'ing if you send a blank message - fixed.

* Send a Webpage not applying list template - fixed. (archives are most likely still funky)

* s/existance/existence/g

:: New Features

SASL Login Check added in Sending Options -> SMTP Options, (somewhat rough - need feedback)

HTMLArea integration for inline HTML editing - see the Config.pm docs.

Batch and Finished Mailing emails now have:

ETA (in batch completed emails) - not a very good estimate, though. Total time a mailing took copy of mailing list message as an attachment, instead of inline (with code showing)

Gmail/gmail.com added to list stats.

Config.pm variable - $ALTERNATIVE_HTML_TEMPLATE_PATH

MIME::Tools a part of distro - no need to install separately. (need to make a note of this in the docs if it works out)

:: dada_bridge.pl

Reply-To is explicitly set to the sender of a message to a group list if the Reply-To is not set to the list address.

Messages are deleted off the POP server in a separate loop - may relieve problem of messages not being removed properly.

Added flags, --test pop3 --help --verbose to script (see the dada_bridge.pl docs for more information)

pop3 passwords are now encrypted in the list settings using the cipher key - you will have to reset your pop3 passwords for dada_bridge.pl

:: GUI

The following screens have been templated out of the main, mail.cgi script:

Send a List Message Send a List Message (advanced) Send a Webpage View List Sending Options -> SMTP Options Manage Script (About Dada Mail) the Create a New List form (not an easy Admin Javascript

Some of these screens may not be functioning properly because of the migration to the outside templates - need feedback.

mail.cgi is now a whole lot slimmer:

2.8.15: 280k 2.8.16 alpha 1: 248k

Buttons:

button styles that were in the Config.pm, undef, "Artsy Buttons" are now deprecated (need to make note of that in the Config.pm itself!). They have been replaced by the following CSS classes:

$STYLE{default_submit} -> input.plain

$STYLE{green_submit} -> input.processing

$STYLE{red_submit} -> input.cautionary

$STYLE{yellow_submit} -> input.alertive

:: dada_send.pl

Removed completely.

2.8.14

Bug Fixes:

2.8.13

Bug Fixes

New Features

Changes

2.8.12b

Bug Fixes

2.8.12

Bug Fixes

Changes

2.8.11

Bug Fixes

2.8.10

Bug Fixes

2.8.10 beta3

Name Changes

The Program has been renamed, "Dada Mail". The following test has also been changed in the program:

For More Information, please see Upgrading Dada Mail from Mojo Mail 2.8.9 and below

2.8.10 beta 2

New Features

Updated CPAN Perl Modules

Mail::Address

1.56 -> 1.60

2.8.10 beta 1

2.8.9

2.8.8

2.8.7

There was some problems with the clickthrough tracker, clickthroughs would redirect to the Mojo Mail support page by accident! This has been resolved.

Exim support added to the Bounce Handler

2.8.6

2.8.5

The MOJO::MailingList::Subscribers::baseSQL::print_out_list() method was printing a newline without a defined filehandle. I doubt this affected anything, but it has been fixed.

The "Get HTML Code" form didn't "Set" anything in some instances, since there was a minor bug in the javascript. This has been fixed.

There was some debug code that has been taken out of the MOJO::MailingList::Subscribers::baseSQL::print_out_list() method and the view_list subroutine in mojo.cgi.

The Errors-To mail header isn't printed in any email messages by default. This header has been deprecated for quite some time now. You can still enable this header in Sending Options -> Advanced screen, it's list settings key is print_errors_to_header

The Sender mail header is now supported by MOJO::Mail::Send

You now have the option of setting the Sender() method in Mail::Bulkmail. This will set the Sender: and Return-Path header in email messages to the admin_email address. From the Mail::Bulkmail docs:

 Stores the Sender address of this mailing. Must be a valid
 email address, unless Trusting is set. Really really should
 be a valid email address anyway.
 
 Sender is mainly used when speaking SMTP to the server,
 specifically in the RCPT TO command. The spec defines
 "Sender" as "he who send the message" (paraphrasing), which
 may not actually be who the message is from. 2.00 used the
 From address as the Sender. 
 
 You should specify this, but if you don't then the From value
 is assumed to be the sender.
 
 $bulk->Sender('jim@jimandkoka.com');
 print $bulk->Sender; 
 
 If this value is not set, then Mail::Bulkmail will place a
 Sender header equal to the From value. 
 
 Note that the ultimate receiving SMTP server is expected to
 place a Return-Path header in the message. This Return-Path
 value will be set to the value of the sender of the message,
 either ->Sender or ->From. This, in turn, will be the address
 that bounce backs go to. You should not set a Return-Path
 header yourself, because bad things will result.
  
(hat tip: Finn Smith)

Mail::Bulkmail has been upgraded from 3.05 to 3.09. It's changelog is located here: http://search.cpan.org/src/JIMT/Mail-Bulkmail-3.09/Changes

2.8.4

Errors occuring when trying to preview a template, creating a new archived message and when viewing your list in a new window are fixed. Ugh.

The Black List screen wasn't showing correctly if you're backend is one of the SQLs. This was because of an error in the SQL statement itself. This has been fixed.

"Mailing Sent" messages can be sent, even when batching ins't enabled. This will work for SMTP mailings as well.

2.8.3

Some pesky CGI subroutines were still not converted to CGI method calls.

This affected the "Add Subscribers" control panel, and the "Create a new List" control panel.

2.8.2

Security Fix - There was an issue when setting the "REFERER_CHECK to '1' in 2.8 and 2.8.1. Doing so would actually circumvent mojo's security when logging into a list control panel. Bad news. This has been fixed, although setting it seems to break logging into Mojo Mail using a Mozilla-based browser. Please note.

I've done some more work on cookies being set correctly. Another, slightly related problem is with HTML forms in Mojo Mail, which seemed to NOT get auto-escaped, as the CGI.pm docs said they would be. I thought this was some sort of odd condition with setting the charset, but it isn't. The way I fixed the form values not being auto-escaping is by changing every subroutine call to CGI.pm subroutines to method calls. For some odd reason, I think mixing the two styles is a bad idea.

I "fixed" the cookie problems by setting a throwaway cookie before the cookie I really want set. For some reason, CGI.pm wasn't writing the cookie value correctly.

mojo_send.pl has be recommitted because insanity in the community. The version provided in this distro should also work for version 2.8 and 2.8.1.

I found that if you have a list name that has a double qote (") in the name itself, mail using this address may not always be sent, since the To: header wouldn't be formatted correctly. I've fixed this problem, and if you had problems with receiving subscription notices, password emails, etc, a funky email address may be why.

2.8.1

  1. /22/03

    mojo_send.pl was taken out of the distribution. A note was put in its place to kindly tell people the.. obvious.

    Bug Fixes

    Editing Email Messages via the list control panel sometimes causes an Internal Server Error. This should be fixed.

    Some users have been complaining that it is impossible to actually log into the list control panel. After the password information is entered into Mojo, the user is now refreshed into the list control panel, instead of being redirected. This was suggested by an anonymous user. Thanks anonymous user, (whoever... you, are).

    There was a formatting error in the "Advanced Sent a List Message" page. Apparently, version 2.91 of CGI.pm doesn't autoescape double quotes.

    The %SQL_PARAMS hash in MOJO::Config looks like this:

     %SQL_PARAMS = ( 
 database         => '',
 dbserver         => '',           
 port             => '',           
 dbtype           => '', # 'mysql' for 'MySQL', 'Pg' for 'PostgreSQL'  
 user             => '',          
 pass             => '',
 
 subscriber_table => 'mojo_subscribers',
 
 ) unless keys %SQL_PARAMS;

    The addition of the needed 'subscriber_table' key, and a little help on how to set the 'db_type' value.

    Debug code dealing with [redirect] tags has been taken off.

    Content-type header tags were, in some instances, NOT printed. This has been fixed.

    You don't have to explicitly set the $S_MOJO_URL if you use an outside config file now.

    setting $LIST_IN_ORDER to "1" should do as advertised with Plain Text Lists. It's still HIGHLY (bolded, underlined) recommended that you not set $LIST_IN_ORDER to "1" if you're using a Plain Text list.

2.8 BETA 1

2.7.3 alpha3

2.7.3 alpha2

2.7.3 alpha

2.7.2

Black lists should be working for everyone again.

Bulk Mailing Precedences can now, um, NOT be set. The can also be successfully default in %LIST_SETUP_DEFAULTS

The From: header in all messages sent are now escaped when the have double quotes in them. A bug has been sent to the maintainer of Mail::Tools about this.

The newest version of Mail::Address has been put into Mojo Mail.

A simple check has been placed on the Advanced Mail Settings "add the -f flag" setting. If the effective uid isn't the same as the reail uid, an warning is presented.

2.7.1 beta3

Lists in the popup menus and on the default page are now in alphabetical order (an amazing world we live in today) - this is a sorta bug - fixed.

calling Guts::open_database with a list name that doesn't exist creates a blank db with nothing in it. I couldn't believe there wasn't a check to see if the db being called actually exists. It does now.

many instanced where "use of uninitialized errors" warnings where plugged

Amazingly enough, I'm having good luck running Mojo Mail with the '-T' flag, I don't really know why! :)

2.7.1 beta2

email, pin, list and flavor params given to Mojo Mail are filter to prevent XSS.

Messages were getting archived even when archiving was turned off - fixed.

When creating a new list and an error was encountered when filling out the form, the user was redirected to the default page - fixed.

there was a bug in the add_to_email list function in MOJO::MailingList::Subscribers::PostgreSQL that would come up if you tried to subscribe to a list. This has been fixed. This bug would only affect people using PostGres as their backend.

POP3 passwords are now Cipher encrypted in the list settings database. YOU WILL NEED TO RECONFIGURE THE POP3 PASSWORD IF YOU USE POP-BEFORE-SMTP AUTHENTICATION.

The program setup check has been fixed, it should now come up if the program wasn't setup correctly. Furthermmore, more information about the setup can be viewed, with hints on what, if anything, is wrong. ( $MOJO_URL?f=setup_info ) Funnily enough, if you didn't setup the $MOJO_RUL variable correctly, you won't be able to see any of the setup info.

Cipher keys can be reset for all lists. ($MOJO_URL?f=reset_cipher_keys)

For security and functional reasons, this line:

 use CGI::Carp "fatalsToBrowser";

in mojo.cgi has been commented out. DNS lookups would return a Software Error, even when the DNS lookup succeeded.

It is still suggested that if you have problems configuring the script that you uncomment this line FOR TESTING PURPOSES and then, comment it again.

2.7.1 beta1

small formatting bug fixed in "need_to_login" error screen

password changes are now confirmed when a new password has to be sent out to the list owner.

passwords saved in the browser's cookie are now encrypted much stronger using CipherSaber encryption

The Return-Path Header Can now be set on a list basis.

2.7

Lots of things. Too many to remember.

2.6.8

There's a new module, called MOJO::Template::Widgets for making widgets. All it has now is a subroutine called list_popup_menu() That'll give you a select box for all the lists. This is used throughout the site and previously, ever instance had slightly different code. No more!

Test messages were being archived in some instances. no more!

The SMTP option sometimes couldn't be set. No more!

Some HTML Sybtax errors have been fixed.

2.6.7

Some email messages were being sent blank. No more!

There's a new variable in the Config.pm file called:

$DEFAULT_ADMIN_SCREEN

set to:

$MOJO_URL.'?flavor=send_email';

perhaps you can figure out what it does.

2.6.6

2.6.5

2.6.4

  1. 06/01/02

    Added a file upload form to add() so you don't have to cut and paste in everything

  2. 05/25/02

    Tweaked how Config.pm imports an outside config file.

    the [subscriber_email] should work now.

    print_out_list List::* wasn't allowing you to pass the filehandles for any of the SQL's

    added a new method in MOJO::MailingList::Subscribers

    write_plaintext_list()

    write_plaintext_list() will write your subscriber list in a plain text format and return the filename. What's the point? It makes sense if you're using on of the List::*SQL's as the subscriber database. mojo::send_list_to_admin was just using the subscription list name and sending that, well, that isn't around when you're using a SQL backend.

    in MIME::Lite, set both $PARANOID and $QUIET to '1' in hopes that errors it's throwing will stop, even though they shouldn't be throwin' the errors.

    fingers crossed.

    exists does work correctly on some of the DB File formats. took one instance of 'exists' out and changed it to defined, which should be alright

  3. 05/08/02

    $SMTP_ADDRESS is really just a default setting, each list can issue it's own SMTP server to use, changed the code to reflect this idea. This was a little whacky in Mail.pm where it would look at the $SMTP_ADDRESS variable instead of $self->{list_info}->{smtp_server} which does get set to $SMTP_ADDRESS by default.

    turned off the check_setup() list directory test for WinNT folk. Beware! I don't know why the stat() file tests aren't working, I guess they're not implemented as well on WinNT systems ?

2.6.3

  1. 04/22/02

    Added a filter in MOJO::Mail::Send::clean_headers to change CC headers into Cc headers

    tweaked mojo_send.pl to look at the Cc header instead of CC

    'mail_group_message_to_poster' and 'add_reply_to' checkboxes should 'stick' or 'unstick' now

    in mojo.cgi::mojo_send_options()

    The Config.pm file now checks a an absolute path instead of a file handle to see if there's a outside config file.

    you are using an outside config file, aren't you?

    Added documentation for the multiple_subscribe mini script

    The Config.pm.pdf link should be fixed in the docs

    added the following mime thingies to the Config.pm file:

            '.doc'  => 'application/msword',
        '.xls'  => 'application/x-msexcel',
        '.ppt'  => 'application/x-mspowerpoint',
        
        '.mp3'  => 'application/octet-stream',
        '.mov'  => ' video/quicktime',

2.6.2

  1. 04/14/02

    typo in $NOT_ALLOWED_TO_POST_MESSAGE corrected

    cookies are set with a path of '/' since some servers where actually setting the wrong path

    line 129 in mojo_send.pl was missing 'new'

     my $mh = MOJO::Mail::Send->new(\%list_info);

    Guts::check_for_double_email should obey whatever $Config::EMAIL_CASE is set to.

Version 2.6.1

  1. 04/09/02

    fixed a bug in mojo_send.pl in the send_back_email() sub:

    425: To => $From_address,

    changed to:

    425: To => $From_address->address,

    a few other places like this were changed as well.

    added a Mojofied FormMail script to the distro.

    fixed a bug in mojo_stats.pl pertaining to the list_option_form() that's now called via an OO interface.

Version 2.6

  1. 4/06/02

    Added a sample FLA subscription form as an example on how to use Mojo Mail using Flash.

    2. Version 2.6 BETA
  2. 3/30/02

    Added a test to see if Mojo is set up correctly when default() is called in mojo.cgi, should stop lots of people from getting a Server Error when they try to make a list in a dir that doesn't exist.

  3. 3/27/02

    Mail::BulkMail mergeing was clobbered... fixed.

    MIME_HUSH is actually implemented! (wow!)

    There is PDF version of the Config.pm docs... Just because I have a Mac and I can.

    Stylesheet applied to docs

    More docs written

    Southpark == funny tonight

  4. 03/26/02

    in mojo_send.pl, fixed $To_address->address to read @To_addresses at:

    327: $mh->do_not_send_to([@To_addresses]);

    in Mail.pm, the List-Headers should work correctly again.

    lists were getting escaped twice when making subscription/unsubscription links - this has been fixed

    black lists were only working for the first black listing, this only seems to have problems with PlainText.pm, this has been fixed.

    new list passwords were NOT being created when a list owner asks for a new one, something got clobbered, this is fixed.

    the list's shortname was used in a whole bunch of places where the list_name should have been used. This has been fixed.

    the functions, user_error() and check_list_security() have been moved into Guts.pm, along with my roommates who 'forget' to pay the @home bill

    I don't know why I created this, but the Admin Control Panel is now, (get this) plugin-able

    You can now, with just a bit of moxy, roll your own Admin Control Panel Screen to do just, about, anything. There are two examples in mojo/scripting_examples/admin_plugins/ One is useless, but gives you a good overview on how this all works, the other one allows you to all your list settings This is fantastic, cause now more specific features can be created, without bogging down the piggy mojo.cgi script. This is a good thing. I wonder if anyone will make any...

  5. 03/25/02

    I'm using sort of a 'make me a distro' script to automate the process of making ... a distro.

    working good. perhaps I'll make an installation one too!

    The distro shouldn't have those annoying '.DS_Store' files, thanks to the new make_distro thing I made

    The Config.pm is now set up to read from a outside config file, so people don't have to redo the Config.pm file everytime they want to upgrade. yes. you are welcome. it's set to read the config file at $ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/mojo_config

    if you need to change that, change it in the Config.pm file, I suggest your home directory and then .mojo_config I have to do some research on how you find a home directory via a CGI script. Any help == welcome

    this file can have any $variables, @arrays or %hashes that are in the Config.pm file except things that are between BEGIN {} brackets. Those cannot be changed after runtime, sorry.

    the config file can be as simple as:

            $MOJO_ROOT_PASSWORD = 'pa$$word';
        
        $FILES      = '/home/account/mojo_lists';
        
        $MAILPROG = '/usr/sbin/sendmail';
        
        $MOJO_URL ='http://mysite.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi';

    added the '$TMP' variable to the Config.pm file for temporary file... stuff.

  6. 03/24/02

    The Config.pm comments have been converted into pod so I don't have to write two different versions of the same things

    There's a new variable in the Config.pm file, called $PLAIN_TEXT_ENCODING which has been set to 8bit by default.

    added the '%LIST_SETUP_OVERRIDES' hash to the Config.pm to override any set list pref.

    added the 'mail_group_message_to_poster' setting

  7. 03/22/02

    um, you should be able to set add_sendmail_f_flag via "Sending Options : Advanced..." for real now

    cleanup of mojo_send.pl a bit

    mojo_send.pl should now recognize if you send to a list using the CC: header

  8. 03/20/02

    List::MySQL now has Unix Line Endings

    MIME::Type.pm and MIME::Types.pm have been added to the distro

  9. 03/15/02

    in mojo.cgi, in the list_invite() function, $mh->mass_send is spelled correctly.

    in Mail.pm the do_not_send_to method should work

    added the 'add_sendmail_f_flag' pref to allow you to add the -f flag to the $MAIL_SETTINGS variable in sendmail sending

    MOJO::Mail::Send::clean_headers takes off extra newlines from the ends of mail headers

    pray that fixes that mojo_send.pl send problem

    10. O3/03/02

    More cleanups,

    All Config variables are in UPPERCASE

    all modules now are in MixedCase, CONFIG.pm is now Config.pm

  10. 03/02/02

    new methods in MAIL.pm

            list_type
        bulk_test
        bulk_start_email 
        bulk_start_num
        do_not_send_to

    these take the place of similar-named headers, which really didn't make much sense anyways

    $mh->do_not_send_to(['justin@example.com']);

  11. 03/01/02

    MAIL.pm

    usage of:

            $fields{send_via_smtp}

    has been replaced with:

            $self->{list_info}->{send_via_smtp}
            $self->{list_info} is set in the new() method:
            my $mh = MOJO::Mail::Send->new(\%list_info);

    same with:

            Strip-Headers          (strip_message_headers)
        List_Sleep             (bulk_sleep_amount)
        Bulk_Amount            (mass_send_amount)
        List_Batch             (enable_bulk_batching)
        Batch_Notification     (get_batch_notification) 
        Finished_Notification  (get_finished_notification)

    new function in MAIL.pm:

    _make_list_headers

    this function creates the following headers:

            Organization
        List
        List-URL
        List-Owner
        List-Unsubscribe
        List-Subscribe
        List-Archive                    (show_archives)

    which means, you don't have to set these anywhere else. This really cleans up some messes in mojo.cgi

    new function in MAIL.pm:

    _make_general_headers

    which (at the moment) makes default headers for:

     From
 Errors-To

    and also makes sure they're escaped as in accordance to some hard to read RFC, i'm sure

    I'm beginning to put defaults for list stuff in the CONFIG.pm file (what a concept) instead of just peppered everywhere, looks like this right now:

    
 use_pop_before_smtp => 1,
 smtp_server         => $smtp_address,
 add_reply_to        => 1,
 precedence          => 'list', 
 charset             => 'English (en)   iso-8859-1',
 content_type        => 'text/plain',
 priority            => 3,
 archive_show_month  => 1,
 archive_show_day    => 1,
 archive_show_year   => 1,
 archive_index_count => 10,

    this can really clean up the open_database() function in Guts.pm

    MIME::Lite has been upgraded to 2.117

    Mail::Address has been upgraded to 1.43

    Mail::Bulkmail is still at 2.05 on CPAN, the version of Mail::Bulkmail in the mojo distro has 2 bug fixes that aren't available in the CPAN version (crazy, eh?)

  12. 02/28/02

    There is now a MySQL module in the distro. The PostGreSQL schema works for this module

    In mojo_send.pl, you can now turn on and off the Reply-To header, weee

  13. 02/27/02

    added documentation for the bounce handler

    took off all Return-Path headers in mojo.cgi and mojo_send.pl cause they're useless (i think)

    all Error-To: headers are set to the admin_email

  14. 02/25/02

    in mojo_send.pl, the 'To: is the same as the From:' check is now case insensitive, as is the test to see if a message is being sent out by either the admin or list owner in send_announce_email() and send_group_email()

    mojo_send.pl now used the new subscribe_link() and unsubscribe_link() functions from Guts.pm

    for group mailings, mojo_send.pl does not leave a trail of Re: Re: Re:'s (and there was much rejoicing) it also looks for AW:

    I added instructions for sendmail in the mojo_send.pl pod

  15. 02/09/02

    $file_chmod works now as advertised! (and there was much rejoicing)

    the List Information screen now shows the list's short name, which is WHAT YOU WANT TO USE FOR mojo_send.pl

  16. 02/03/02

    new function in MAIL.pm,

    mass_send_bulk_smtp()

    Hopefully, this will take some more heft out of the main mass_send() subroutine

    new sub, sub _pop_before_smtp() and with that, POP-before-SMTP Authentication support. This should help people use an SMTP connection, instead of, *sigh* sendmail

    Some of the Net Modules will be bundled in the download

    the MAIL object can now have stuff passed to it, like this:

    my $mh = MOJO::Mail::Send->new(\%list_info);

  17. 02/02/02

    new function in MAIL.pm, _strip_fields()

  18. 02/01/02

    I'm trying to slim down the mass_send() function,

    a new function, called _email_batch_notification has been created to move the email batch notification stuff out of the mass_send() function (amazingly enough)

    ditto with _email_finished_notification()

    ditto with _mail_error_no_start_email()

    ditto with _mail_error_no_start_num()

    #lines of mass_send() before: 460 #lines of mass_send() after: 354

    still too too many lines...

    added a new variable to CONFIG.pm, '$mime_hush' to try and quiet down MIME::Lite, calls the MIME::Lite->quiet() method if set to 1

    plain text messages with no attachments are now sent as 'quoted-printable' instead of binary(?)

  19. 01/29/02

    CONFIG.pm tweaks, $LOG{mailings} is now defaulted to 0, $list_in_order is defaulted to 0

    new function, message_id() in Guts.pm returns an id based on the date.

    two new functions in Guts.pm,

    subscribe_link() and unsubscribe_link() that return a url to sub and unsub.

  20. 04/14/01 through 01/01/02

    updates for this period have not been recorded, but they are many. yes, i'm lazy.

Version 2.5

  1. 04/12/01

    Mailing your lost password works again! yes yes yes, I have no no no idea what was going on.

    also, having the passwords saved as rot13 encrypted didn't go over when you wanted to allow the root password to log into lists, but this is now fixed. Thanks everyone who yelled at me.

  2. 04/08/01

    I started making a the list subscribe url a bit smaller, without totally changing the way I do things, I just truncate what the variables are called, and see if those are passed, or their longer cousins:

    Long Version:

    http://dev.skazat.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=unsubscribe&list=big_list&email=justin@example.com&pin=1234

    Short Version:

    http://dev.skazat.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=u&l=big_list&e=justin@example.com&p=1234

    seems to make a noticable difference, although my example is still over 70 characters long, This is a cutoff point, at least for terminals.

  3. 04/08/01

    I added a lock file for unsubscriptions to the list. A lock file will stop anyone trying to unsubscribe from a list while someone else is doing the same thing a bit before. People are having lists wiped out, and I think there is a race condition in the remove_from_list() subroutine. The routine now goes something like this:

    Create a lock file that will stop anyone from doing what's in between opening this file, and closing this file.

    open the list open a temp list

    copy over all addresses in the list into the temp list, unless we don't want them anymore

    close both lists

    #######################

    open the temp list, open the list

    copy what's in the temp list to the real list.

    close the lock file.

    If this subroutine is busy, the script will sleep one second, for ten times while waiting for the lock to clear. it gives up after that, and returns 'too busy' - I also added another user_error error that prints that the server is too busy.

    
=item B<4/4/01>

    The unsubscribe feature for the admin side was broken. easy fix, forgot to tell it what list to do the axes in.

    I'm also changing the fiule structure a bit to be more unix-centric, all files will be in the mojo directory, like the mojo_extras directory.

  4. 3/29/01

    Tweaked the POD docs in all the modules. wee.

    I also added the '$mime_paranoid' variable to the CONFIG.pm file to be used with the $MIME::Lite::PARANOID variable in MIME::Lite. From the docs of MIME::Lite:

     If true, we won't attempt to use MIME::Base64/MIME::QuotedPrint, 
 even if they're available. Default is false.

    That means you don't need the MIME::Base64/MIME::QuotedPrint modules no mo.

    I also added the $NPH variable to CONFIG.pm, specifically for Windows servers. It seems that cookies aren't set or sent back correctly to M$ IIS without no parse headers turned on. This is done by setting $NPH to one. The only place I'm using this is in the login() function in the mojo.cgi script, that looks a bit like this:

     
 print $input->redirect( -uri      => $location,
                         -COOKIE   => $cookie,
                         -nph      => $NPH, 
                         );
  5. 03/27/01

    well, if you hadn't noticed, there are a *few* examples of mojo helper scripts, check check it

    also, added a new 'list invite' feature.

    Also, changes made to modules are logged in the modules that are changed, in POD format.

  6. 03/1/01

    I've been working on the port of mojo to NT, I want to keep only one version of the script if possible.

    I changed all code that's similar to this:

            print "Location:$mojo_url?flavor=change_info&done=1\n\n";

    to this:

            print $input -> redirect(-uri=>"$mojo_url?flavor=change_info&done=1");

    I also added the nph' flag for the redirect when the cooie is being passed to the script, like this:

        print $input->redirect( -uri      => $location,
                            -COOKIE   => $cookie,
                            -nph      => 1, 
                                               );

    This seemed to make M$ IIS happier.

  7. 03/4/01

    fixed a problem with the archives, the back link on the archive indexes was fumbled in some circmstances,

    in Archive.pm, what used to read

            $back    = ($stopped_at - ($iterate*2));
        
is now changed to: 
        
        # let see if we're at some weird halfway between point
        my $mod_check = $stopped_at % $iterate; 
        my $fixer; 
        my $full_stop = $stopped_at; 
        
        if($mod_check > 0){ 
                # substract it from the iterate 
                $fixer = $iterate - $mod_check; 
                $full_stop +=  $fixer; 
        }
        
        $back    = ($full_stop - ($iterate*2));

    which will give you what you want. and I feel cool.

  8. 03/1/01

    spelling errors, little things, getting ready to release mojo mail 2.4.7 stable

  9. 02/20/01

    totally redid how Mojo Mail deletes emails. we'll see of it works :)

  10. 02/13/01

    general code cleanup,

    Change/Tweak log, for Mojo Mail, 2.4.6 beta

  11. 02/7/01

    fixed a few instances wher i was checking the value of something, and if it wasn't true, would give it a default value. The prolem was, I tried to do this testing for 0 as a valid value and my way went capoot. something like:

            my $foo = 0; 
        
        my $bar = $foo || "something else";
        
        print $bar;

    The abovecode would always say 'something else"

    egg on my face.

    this fixed a funky bug on the main page people were having (hopefully it fixed it)

    I also changed how attachments worked in the control panel, There are two ways they can be done, and I'm keeping it that way, since ones bound to not work for some people, and vice versa. I also added some CONFIG.pm things to customize file attachments:

     ######################################################################
 #                                              .: File Attachments :. 
 # To add an attachment to a list message in Mojo Mail form the control panel, 
 # we have to upload it via the web browser. There's two ways we can do this, 
 # one is to save the information in the $FILES directory and then open it up, 
 # attach it, and then delete it, the other involves some magical qualities of
 # CGI.pm and MIME::Lite, probably coupled with your server's /temp file, if 
 # you can use it. 
 # setting $attachment_tempfile to '1' uploads, saves, attaches and then deletes 
 # the file, setting it to '0' does it magicaly. I suggest 1, unles you want to 
 # play around with it. 
 
 
 $attachment_tempfile = 1;
 
 ######################################################################
 # These are the MIME types Mojo Mail understands, the file ending is on 
 # the left, what MIME type it maps to is on the right. feel free to add your own. 
 
 %mime_types = ( 
 '.gif'  => 'images/gif', 
 '.jpg'  => 'image/jpg',
 '.png'  => 'image/png',
 '.jpeg' => 'image/jpeg',
 '.pdf'  => 'application/pdf',
 '.pdf'  => 'application/psd',
 '.html' => 'text/html',
 '.txt'  => 'text/plain',
 );
 
 
 ######################################################################
 # In case nothing up there matches what someone is trying to upload, there's 
 # a default MIME type, for a last ditch guess. Some mail readers are 
 #sophisicated enough to figure out what an attachment is without its MIME
 # type, but don't count on it.

    $default_mime_type = 'text/plain';

  12. 02/05/01

    rewrote the ENTIRE send_email(); mojo.cgi function, in hopes of making it clearer, increase it functionality and lessen its footprint.

    um, its got more functionality that's for sure. Its actually fuckin awesome. it now has two modes, 'Basic' and 'advanced',

    Basic is pretty much the same as what its been, advanced is a whole nother cookie.

    In advanced, you're allowed to reset the 'From', 'Reply-To' and 'Errors-To' to your fancy, you can also set the precedence and priority. I also added attachment support for as many attachments as you think your little MTA can handle.

    And finally I addd the feature of creating a seperate version of your mailing in Text and/or HTML. You can also say if you want this message to be archived or not from the send a list message form. That's alot of stuff.

    With that, i also snuck in support for X-Priority header in MOJO::Mail::Send.pm and also added a select box to Sending Options -> Advanced for a Default Priority.

    In group options, I made it a decision to add the [group name] to the beginning of the header, since someone is bound to ask me how to turn that off.

    I've also been playing around with the idea of usgin CGI.pm to make my checkboxes in the control panel

    It's a whole lot cleaner that what I've been doing, if its less code, I don't know, but it looks cool, and that's what counts :) I have never used the EXP ? true : or_this thingy before, I'd like to report that it works! :)

    I added a new function in Guts.pm, called webify_plain_text() -

            sub webify_plain_text{ 
        
        my $string = shift; 
        
        $string =~ s/>/\&gt;/g;
        $string =~ s/</\&lt;/g;
        $string =~ s/\n\n/<\/p><p>/gi;
        $string =~ s/\n/<br>/gi;
        $string = urlify($string);
        return $string; 
        
        }

    kinda makes a string of plain text readable in a browser, cute name eh?

    There was also a bug in the MAIL::Bulkmail module, concerning the date, the fix is:

    "Go to line 714, this is it:

            ($diffhour = sprintf("%03d", $hour - $ghour)) =~
        s/^0/\+/;

    Change it to this:

            ($diffhour = sprintf("%03d", $diffhour)) =~ s/^0/\+/;

    You're just changing the "$hour - $ghour" to "$diffhour" and that's it. Bug repaired, and even done correctly this time."

    I changed that in the version I bundle, and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Mail::Bulkmail :)

  13. 02/1/01

    I added some documentation on tweaking the mojo.cgi script itself, check it out.

    fixed a small bug in a screen like this: http://dadamailproject.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=subscribe&list=mojo_mailers

    where the flavor is set to 'subscribe', there is a list that is real, but there is no email address or pin. The source just ddin't have two hidden HTML field tags:

    <input type=hidden name=flavor value=subscribe> <input type=hidden name=list value=$list>

    fixed a bug dealing with the archives, some people were having trouble deleting archived messages, all I had to do was reset the $| variable where the delete function was called...

    really weird.

    fixed a bug in mojo_send.pl when you try to send email to a list that doesn't exist. I noticed that it would email the person trying to send to that list saying 'hey, its not there' and then do it again, and again and...

    the problem was that after it sent the error, it would write a warning using warn() and then die. when the program dies, the mail gets put back into the que to sent again, where it will die...

    the fix was just to put exit() instead of die.

    in mojo_send.pl

            228 $mh -> send(%mailing); 
        229 #and we go!
        230 warn("Mojo Mail $ver ERROR \- Attempt to 
                        send a list message to an unknown list 
                        ($email_list) by means of mojo_send.pl"); 
        231 exit;