ReadMe File for WinSmtp Shareware Release 1.07beta1.3 ----------------------------------------------------- WinSmtp is Copyright 1994, 1995, Jack De Winter, Wildbear Consulting,Inc. 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 Special Installation Note: -------------------------- Due to a lot of people not reading or understanding specifications right, a lot of the SMTP daemons out in the world are not properly implemented. Below we list all of the protocols that we obey, and if anyone finds any problems, we will correctly strive to fix them. However, most daemons do not respect the 251 will forward answer to a RCPT TO command. This command is issued to tell the remote SMTP daemon who is to receive the message. The proper responses are 250 local and 251 remote, will forward. However, most deamons do not accept the 251 response. Because of this, you may encounter some problems where the daemon will cut off in the middle of a message and complain about no legal recipients. To get around this problem, we recommend setting the 'use proper forward reply' option to FALSE (unchecked in the system configuration dialog). We have stived to come up with a solution that will allow us to obey the specification while addressing the problems of having to have the daemon work in the real world. 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. Availability ------------ This product is current availble in four forms. Two of these forms are the Win16 versions and are a shareware and a commercial version. The other versions are Win32, with a Win32 NT service version coming up very shortly. 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: http://metrics.com/SMTP/index.html/ http://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. Product Market -------------- 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. Features -------- The current list of features are as follows: - easy to read status screen, with output relayed to a log file. - ability to filter some of the logging information to display and file - ability to specify aliases and forwarding of messages on a user-by-user basis - 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) - ability to work with gateways behind firewalls - 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 - use of Finger and Reverse finger to allow for mail notification responses - ability to specify an always present or transient dialup connection - limiting the methods by which an user can access the system - ability to specify mailboxes that are supplied by the user as DLLs - ability to use secondary virtual domains for enhanced access - ability to restrict the sending of auto-responses to avoid many bounce situations ahead of time Adherance To RFCs ----------------- RFC 821 - Simple Mail Transport Protocol RFC 822 - Internet Mail Format (types of addressing) RFC 876 - Survey of SMTP Implementations RFC 1123 - Requirements for Internet Hosts RFC 1288 - Finger Access Protocol RFC 1153 - Digest Method Format RFC 1460 (obs 1225) - Post Office Protocol - Version 3 RFC 1651 (obs 1425) - SMTP service extensions (ESMTP) RFC 1653 (obs 1427) - SMTP Externsion for Message Size Declaration In addition, this product uses a non-registered extension to the ESMTP protocol. The XTRN command was added to allow for some extra felxibility in the product. This exension is now being written up and submitted to the appropriate Internet boards for approval as a documented extension to the protocol. A protocol specified by Qualcomm for changing passwords from a mail client is also implemented. Please inquire for details. 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 (except for the registered limits of 75 users, 5 mailing lists, and 5 auto-responders), 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 of $5 USD 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 Commercial Version ------------------ 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. In addition, you receive more prompt support than you would as a shareware user and your requests are given a higher priority. 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. 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. Also, you probably want to turn off the use proper forward reply checkbox. To make a long story short, we follow the SMTP specification, but a lot of vendors out there don't. Using the proper responses for one of the commands will cause a lot of servers and clients to not function with WinSmtp. Turning this checkbox and option off will make it work like all of the other SMTP daemons, without the proper command set. 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. Due to the volume of responses and requests, the following hierarchy has been established for responding to requests: - bugs that affect the operability of the system, can cause crashes - new features and changes from Wildbear Consulting - requests from distributor's and OEMs - requests from commercial users - bugs that are low impact (if quick fixes, may be moved up a bit) - requests from shareware users - requests from unliscenced users Contact Information ------------------- If you have any questions, please let us know. We are pleased to answer questions and try and help people out. Thanks for your support. Jack De Winter Wildbear Consulting, Inc. winsmtp@wildside.kwnet.on.ca