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LetterRip v2 Change History

LetterRip v2.1.2 Changes

Important: The internal format for the subscriber list files changed in 2.1. You cannot go back to LetterRip 2.0.1 or earlier after upgrading to LetterRip 2.1 without first exporting the subscriber lists. If you need to go back, export the subscriber lists using LetterRip 2.1 and then import the exported subscribers using the older version.

Fixed a "wrong state" connection error that is sometimes seen when a connection is retried. If a connection to the first domain of an MX record fails, a retry is attempted with the other domains of the MX record. However, occasionally the following error would be seen on the retry connection:

smtp send: ERROR!! a call was issued in the wrong state (-3155)

This prevented the retry from succeeding with the next entry in the MX record.

LetterRip v2.1 Changes

Important: The internal format for the subscriber list files has changed. You cannot go back to LetterRip 2.0.1 or earlier after upgrading to LetterRip 2.1 without first exporting the subscriber lists. If you need to go back, export the subscriber lists using LetterRip 2.1 and then import the exported subscribers using the older version.

Subscriber lists have been optimized to improve performance during accesses and searches. This is especially apparent with large subscriber lists (1,000 and up). This greatly improves the performance of searches and lookups of subscribers via AppleEvents.

For example, a processor that needs to find a subscriber can be over 100 times faster with a list of 50,000 subscribers.

Searches performed using AppleEvents no longer require as much memory.
The server now ignores "RE>" in the subject when looking for commands. Previously, it would only ignore "Re:" and "Fwd:".
The first 20 lines of messages sent to the requests address are now scanned for commands. This allows messages that contain commands in multipart/alternative part format (for example MS Outlook Express) to be properly processed.
Messages that have a MIME content type of multipart/alternative are no longer considered to contain an enclosure. Some mailers (notably, Microsoft's Outlook Express) use multipart/alternative to include an HTML version of the message.
Messages that contain the MS-Attachment or X-MS-Attachment headers indicating a non-MIME enclosure from Microsoft Internet E-mail/MAPI - 8.0.0.4211 are considered to contain an enclosure.
The administrator's name is now included in the To header in bounced mail digests.
Text displayed in a number of dialogs has been reworded for improved clarity.
A Return-Path header is no longer inserted in outgoing messages.
If a Return-Path header exists in an incoming message, it is removed from the outgoing message. This primarily happens when messages have been read from a POP account.
Incoming and outgoing mail files are now given the file creator type of BBEdit. This allows the files to be double-clicked and viewed without launching the server. Be sure to quit the LetterRip Server before viewing mail files.
Leading and trailing spaces are now stripped from addresses entered in a Subscriber entry.
The Connect dialog now defaults to the Password field if the Domain field already has default text.
Detection of maximum recipients exceeded for a remote host has been enhanced.
Email Admin has been updated to 1.1. It adds a command (find) to return subscribers that contain any string in their email address.

LetterRip v2.0.1 Changes

LetterRip Server now responds to the SMTP VRFY command. LetterRip Server responds to only the following addresses:

  • postmaster
  • postmaster@server_domain
  • postmaster@ip_address
  • postmaster@[ip_address]

This feature allows LetterRip Server to easily work with PageSentry to monitor the operation of a server.

Added the option to include (or exclude) List headers for a given mail list. List headers consist of: List-Software, List-Subscribe, and List-Unsubscribe. The List-Subscribe header is never included in private lists. By default, List headers are not included. List headers are included for existing lists.
Changed all references to Messages Headers to Message Banners.
Fixed a bug that occurred if the data being imported had a leading or trailing space. If a space character preceded or followed the address, the address would be skipped.
Fixed a bug that could occur when reading the Mailer Daemon Strings file. If the last line ended with a carriage return, the line would not be used.
Fixed a bug where an existing address could be changed to an invalid address using AppleEvents.
Fixed a possible memory leak that could occur when responses to requests address messages are generated.
Fixed a LetterRip Administrator bug seen when renaming either a mail list or subscriber list and the new name was either the same or only had a case change from the previous name.
Fixed a problem with digest formatting. A blank line (that was accidentally removed) has been inserted between the first line of the digest and the first line of the table of contents.
Fixed a problem with processors written in AppleScript. AppleScript could crash if too many incoming messages were being processed at one time.
Fixed a problem that could occur when adding addresses via AppleEvents. Invalid addresses are no longer allowed (as is already the case with email subscribes and importing).
Fixed a bug where occasionally two digests would go out with the same digest number. This would only occur if the LetterRip Administrator connection remained open and a change was made to the associated mail list during the time the two digests were sent.
Fixed the -off account so it is available with private lists. The -on account remains unavailable with private lists.
Fixed a problem that occurred when any setting in the TCP/IP control panel was changed (even the Name Server address). Previously, all TCP listeners (SMTP or Admin) were taken down and the server could no longer accept incoming messages via SMTP.
Fixed a mail loop problem that would occur if the administrator's email address was postmaster@, listmaster@, or root@ at one of the server domains.
Fixed a crash that could occur if the server was quit while waiting for a processor to initialize.

LetterRip v2.0 Changes

LetterRip now supports headers and footers for messages. There are settings for each list in the General Mail List setup.
All new text files are now given a file creator type of BBEdit. Existing files are not changed.
A tool for getting information about Mail Exchanges has been added. This tool can help track down email delivery problems.
Extensive support for Apple Events has been added.
Examples for AppleScript and Frontier are included.
Message processors can control the processing of incoming messages. Processors are a powerful addition to LetterRip that can easily extend its capabilities. Processors can be written in any language including AppleScript, Frontier, and C. Ready-to-run processors are included. Example processors are included for AppleScript, Frontier, and C.
The Confirm Subscribe processor is included. This processor allows subscription requests to be confirmed.
The Email Admin processor is included. This processor allows complete list administration via email.
The Send Mail processor is included. This processor sends messages as automated responses to requests for a specific document.
The Anti-Spam processor is included. This processor excludes messages from specified addresses or domains.
If an error occurs in LetterRip Administrator when connecting to a remote server (for example, a bad password or the server is down), the connection dialog is automatically shown again.
LetterRip Server can now be a foreground application. Use the utility "Change LetterRip Server" to change LetterRip Server from a background application to foreground and vice versa.
Text can now be found in the log window using the Find menu item.
Added "Force POP Connection" to the "Server" menu to force a POP connection. This is only enabled when the server is configured for POP and is currently serving.
Text entered in the Find dialog is now saved globally. This allows using the same find string in different subscriber list windows without having to reenter it for each window.
Every list now automatically has two addresses which can be used to manage subscriptions. The accounts are named with the name of the list and -on and -off. For example, if the list is [email protected] , then any message sent to [email protected] subscribes the sender and a message sent to [email protected] unsubscribes the sender. This feature is only available for servers receiving mail using SMTP.

The server is more tolerant when examining messages sent to a list address. Commands must now be followed by either a space or a tab (if any) in order to be qualified as a command. For example, the following is no longer considered to be a command:

Information on the latest stuff

A command preceded by "Re:" or "Fwd:" in the subject can now processed as a command. Previously, the following subject would not be processed as a subscribe command:

Re: subscribe somelist somebody

This should make web subscriptions that require a confirmation simpler for the subscriber.

A command preceded by a quote (") is now processed. Previously, the following example would not be processed as a subscribe command:

"subscribe somelist somebody"

LetterRip now quotes up to the first 20 lines of the original message if a request fails (for example, bad command, bad list name, or already subscribed).
Exporting now shows a progress dialog if it takes longer than 3 seconds.
The X-List-Subscribe and X-List-Unsubscribe headers have been changed to List-Subscribe and List-Unsubscribe to comply with the final Internet standard.
List-Subscribe and List Unsubscribe headers have been added to digests.
Multiple domain support has been enhanced. The requests address is now supported for all represented domains. Therefore a list address of <[email protected]> will receive commands at <[email protected]> and a list address of <[email protected]> will receive commands at <[email protected]> all on the same server.
At startup, any mail that cannot be read in either the Incoming or Outgoing folders of the Mail Queue folder is renamed to "Corrupted Incoming" or "Corrupted Outgoing".
The relevant subscriber list is specified in bounced mail messages.
Several optimizations have been made to significantly improve the performance of large lists. Specifically, looking up addresses in a subscriber list is much faster. This speeds up processing time (posts, subscribes, unsubscribes). Optimizations of the queuing logic when sending mail have also been made. Previously, the server would appear hung while processing and queuing a message sent to a large list. These changes also improve the performance of smaller list, but the results are not as dramatic.
The LetterRip server mail no longer sends bounced mail to itself using TCP/IP. These messages are now handled internally. You will no longer see the SMTP send or recv log entries from these message, but you will still see the processing log entries. This may let you reduce the number of incoming threads allocated to your server. Performance may be improved on busy servers.
Incoming connections can now be set to 1. The minimum used to be 2.
Dates shown in the log now properly display the month and day for the given system setting. Previously, a system setting of yy/mm/dd would result in a log entry of yy/mm.
The administrator address shown at the bottom of the Server Settings dialog no longer uses the server domain if no domain is entered. This address is independent of the LetterRip server.
SMTP FROM headers that are longer than 255 characters are now managed properly.
Added capability to do MIME quoted-printable responses. This allows accented characters in the responses.
The installer now updates the SIZE resources if they have been changed.
Low memory situations are managed better when the server is starting up. The server could unexpectedly quit if too little memory was available at startup. An alert is now displayed explaining why the server could not be started. In addition, the server displays an alert at startup warning of low memory.
Fixed a bug with one bad address causing several addresses to be marked as bad. This was primarily (although not limited to) seen with juno.com.
Fixed a minor problem with the font used in text entry fields and list views.
Fixed a minor problem that is seen when the server domain is changed but example addresses in open windows (e.g mail list window) are not updated.
Fixed a bug when a subscriber list is created in the mail list window, but it is not disabled when selected from the digest subscriber list in the Digest tab.
Fixed a bug that occurred when attempting to launch and connect to the local server either by launching the LetterRip Administrator in the same folder or selecting "Launch Local Server". The dialog stating your password is incorrect would sometimes appear.
Fixed a bug that occurred when quitting the local server and the administrator was connected to a remote server. The administrator would needlessly disconnect from the server.