ReadMe File for WinSmtp Shareware Release 1.06
----------------------------------------------

WinSmtp is Copyright 1994, 1995, Jack De Winter, Wildbear Consulting

Thanks for the time used to evaluate this product.  A lot of work by a lot
of people has gone into making this daemon work very well on a wide variety
of systems.  Feel free to send any comments about this package to:

winsmtp@wildside.kwnet.on.ca

In addition, there is a WWW page that has been generously provided by my
employer, Software Metrics.  Feel free to access the page to get information
about WinSmtp, but please do not flood the page with tonnes of usage.  I do
have a personal Internet feed, but I do not have a FTP daemon running there
and do not foresee this in the future.  However, you may look at the web page
that is there for up to date information on the products that I write.
The WWW pages are:

//metrics.com/SMTP/index.html/
//wildside.kwnet.on.ca/WinSmtp.html/

There are also copies of the program at the following sites:

wuarchive.wustl.edu
xenitec.on.ca
ftp.cica.indiana.edu

However, as there is a fun process to get it in their directories, it takes
a bit of time to get the new version there.

One of the things that has been put off for a while is an interactive help
page for the daemon.  As most people don't mind asking a couple of questions,
and most of the operation is straight forward, this has not been a high
priority.  However, it will be finished before the v1.06 release.  Please
feel free to send questions in about the operation until this time.  There
are parts of this file that contain help though, and that should always be
your first choice.

The aim of this product is to effectively lower the cost for people out
there.  This can be achieved by having one account on a service provider
and using a Windows-enabled machine to receive and send all of the mail.
As this will save the end-users some money, by not having to use multiple
accounts on a service provider, the modest shareware or commercial fee for
the product will be won back many times within months.

Whenever someone reads something regarding paying a shareware fee, the
usual response is: "yeah, I'll use it but won't pay anything for it".  The
usual response from the programmers are: "hey, we worked on something and
would like to be able to recover our costs for it".  As both, I have to
say that I register all of the shareware that I use.  I know what it is
like to write something and to want to recover costs.  Think of it this
way, the unregistered version is a little trailer for the movie.  If you
like it, you pay and go and see it.  Otherwise you don't.  The onus is
on you.


Introduction
------------
This program is an Internet Mailer Daemon.  The purpose of this product is
not to read mail, but to provide services for the users of a system to read
mail.   To this end, the daemon provides SMTP and POP3 support for sending
and reciving mail.  These services can be used by a front end, of which
there are many, that makes use of the UNIX mailbox or POP3 services
provided by this product.

To send mail, the user can call either the SMTP server and drop the mail
off there, or they can use the 'wrmail' program included with the daemon
to place the data in the proper format and in the proper location.  To
receive mail, the user may either scan the UNIX style mailbox, or they
may also use the POP3 server to access the data.

Future versions of this product will support some of the standard interfaces
for relaying mail, including Microsoft Mail support and CCMail support.
The MsMail support will be included in a 'registered' version and
commercial version only.  After all, there has to be some incentive to
register the product.


Features
--------

This product is currently undergoing beta testing for a possible future
release as both a shareware product and a commercial product.  The current
list of features are as follows:

- easy to read status screen, with output relayed to a log file.
- outgoing mail support though a rmail like interface and SMTP server
  capabilities
- full MX record resolution, including resolution to subnets
- access to incoming mail in mailboxes though the UNIX mailbox type format
  and POP3 server support
- configurable connection methods, and the ability to specify groups of
  connections based on the node or class of nodes
- easy to use method of determining which nodes are not responding
- almost invisible usage without any user intervention (except possibly at
  startup of the daemon program)
- compliant to all of the Internet RFC (protocol specifications) noted below
- easy to use dialogs to access the function for the system
- friendly reporting of connection information in the main window and retry
  information in an easy to access dialog
- friendly support over the Internet
- mailing list and auto-responder support

Shareware Version
-----------------

Currently, the unregistered shareware version of the daemon has the
following limitations:

- only one user can access the system through the POP3 services
- pops up a dialog every time the program is started
- limit of 5 active users within one daemon, as well as other limitations
  with respect to user types
- limited support for the product via the internet
- no options in the retry dialog (to bounce or try again with a given node)
- no connection exceptions used for routing besides the main routing option

Registering the program will eliminate the reminder dialog, increase the
number of POP3 sessions to 10, eliminate all of the other limitations,
and will entitle the user to full support.  The cost for registering the
shareware version will be $50 per unit ($50 USD for everyone outside of
Canada and $50 CDN for everyone inside of Canada).  Based on the input from
the beta testers, this seems to be a reasonable amount to charge.  If you
want a copy of the program on a 5.25 or 3.5 inch disk, there will also be an
ammount added for the shipping and handling of the disk.

Future enhancements will include:
- support for the MAPI protocol
- running as an NT service in Win32 native mode

If you wish to run the commercial version, please send in your registration
as normal, but increase the cost to $100 ($100 USD outside of Canada and
$100 CAD inside of Canada).  The commercial version eliminates all of the
barriers to the number of users and sessions that can be open, limiting them
only to the limits of the computer system.

Configuration
-------------

When the program is run for the first time, it will assume some basic
settings, which you will have to change.  The most important of these is the
SmartHost setting.  This setting determines a computer that will receive
your requests to send mail and will pass mail to you.  It is important to
check with the owners of the computer to make sure that it is okay to use
their computer for this purpose.  While most people will agree to forward
mail for you, they really do appreciate you asking.

At the beginning, the only user that should be active is the root user.  You
will probably want to set up an account for yourself.  Note that the root
user and the postmaster user always have to exist.

Installation
------------

1) Create a directory and unzip the zip file into that directory.  This should
be a temporary directory as you are unzipping compressed files and an
installation program.  When you have unzipped the files, there should
be the files specified in the manifest.txt file, but with a '_' at the
end of the filename.  In addition, there should be this file and a install.exe
file.

2) Go to Program Manager and select the install.exe from the directory that
you unzipped the files to.  Then run the install program by double-clicking
on it.  Basically, you need to run this program in order to install it
properly.

3) The installation process should be self explanatory.  If you have problems,
please contact the address below.

Problems, Bugs, and Comments
----------------------------

Please report and problems and bugs to 'winsmtp@wildside.kwnet.on.ca'.
You help is greatly appreciated and we will fix the bugs and get back to
you as soon as possible.  For problems, we will try to find a solution that
will address your needs.

As to comments, a lot of the things that have been added and changed in the
current version were from people asking about it.  Feel free to ask questions
about SMTP, POP3, daemons, and anything else.  If something is out of the
ballpark for this product, I'll let you know that I condsidered it, and
quite possibly the reasons why the idea was rejected.

Thanks for your support.
Jack De Winter
Wildbear Consulting