WWIV Software Services
P.O. Box 720455
McAllen, Tx 78504-0455



/****************************************************************************/

WWIV v4.23 Readme File
Copyright (c) 1988-1993 by Wayne Bell

This READ.ME file contains general comments on WWIV v4.23. If you have
a question/problem not addressed in the other documentation, read through
this file for more information (even if you have already read it).

*> This file also describes registration procedures.

The documentation is all new for v4.23. It uses a "reader" format which
consists of an executable file. The WWIV documentation will also be
available on SDS sites and Support Boards for downloading as WWA1-423.ZIP,
(The printable documentation for sysops and users).

You are encouraged to look through the documentation as new information
is scattered throughout the doc; however, you are especially encouraged
to look at the chapter on the source code which contains information about
the 4.23 defines that have been added to VARS.H and at the chapter dealing
with Fast Setup Information as it will have details necessary for your
setup of the multi-instance software.

Filo is also known as Wig De Moville. Random is also known as
Wayne Bell. If you have suggestions for the next version of WWIV
or the WWIV documentation, please let us know.

WWIV registrants who are on networks SHOULD let their Group or Zone
Coordinators know their registration number. WWIV Software Services
does NOT automatically inform these network administrators of your
registered status.


*************************************************************************


NOTE: When you unzip WWIV using pkunzip v1.1 or later, you should get a
message saying:

Authentic files Verified! # XLD658 WWIV Software Services

If this authenticity statement is not present, or the identifier is not
"XLD658", then you have a copy of WWIV that has been tampered with.
There have been cases of people trying to distribute "hacked" copies of
WWIV that have back doors, trojan horses or other un-nice things. So,
unless you get the above message when unzipping WWIV, you should >NOT<
use the files in the .ZIP file.


*************************************************************************


REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND DISK ORDERING:


You are allowed to use this software for a two month trial period to
determine if you wish to use WWIV as your Bulletin Board Software. If,
at the end of the two month trial period you continue using WWIV, you
MUST register your copy. Registration is $80 for a two-instance BBS.
Additional instances may be ordered on the UPGRADE.FRM.


Once your registration has been received and processed, you will be issued a
WWIV registration number. You should enter this registration number in the
INIT program, section one. Also, write down the number and keep it in a safe
place for reference.

The $80 registration must be in U.S. currency (check or money order only),
payable to "WWIV Software Services". >NO< purchase orders, COD's or
credit cards will be accepted. Persons not located in the USA should use
International Postal Money Orders or checks payable on banks located in
the USA. Please do not send cash. Send your registration payment and
information to:

WWIV Software Services
PO Box 720455
McAllen, TX 78504-0455

You may use the registration form included in the file 'REGISTER.FRM'.
If your check is not honored by your bank, there is a $15 service charge.

Unlike most BBS's, the source code to WWIV is available to registered
users. WWIV is written in Turbo C (TC++ or later), and is about 35,000
lines long. The source code is available >ONLY< to registered WWIV
users.

Modified versions of WWIV may NOT be distributed. The source code to the
INIT.EXE program is not available.

The source code is available to registered users ONLY, and may ONLY be
distributed on AUTHORIZED WWIV Source Distribution Sites. Registering
WWIV will get you a WWIV registration number, plus access to download
the WWIV source code from one or more AUTHORIZED WWIV Source
Distribution Sites, if you have accounts on any, AND you include your
account info on that system in your registration letter.

Registration of WWIV means that all files will be mailed to you via
the postal service. Versions released after you have registered may be
obtained from WWIV Software Services at the cost of $5.00 per disk. All
disks are sent first class mail, and are usually mailed on Mondays.

In a letter accompanying your registration, be sure to include:

1. The address where you would like any correspondence (or diskettes)
mailed.

2. Exactly what you expect (i.e. "I wish to register WWIV ($80). Please mail
me a copy of the source code on a 360k floppy diskettes." Or, "I wish
the source code to the latest (or the next) version mailed to me on 1.44
diskette(s) and have enclosed $5.". Please be sure to indicate whether
you want the source code or a compiled copy. If you have an account on
The Dragon's Den, please indicate your user number. If you have an
account on a WWIV Source Distribution Site BBS (including Amber),
please also list the name(s) of the BBS and your user number(s).

You may use the enclosed 'register.frm' form to register or to order
updates of future releases.


The authorized source distribution systems are:

Node # Name Phone # Modem type
1 Amber 310-798-9993 USR DS/V.32bis
4 Caesar's Palace 310-398-1224 USR DS/V.32bis
2050 The Dragon's Den 210-631-5841 V.32bis
2051 The Dragon's Den II 210-631-9417 V.32bis
2914 Anything Goes 209-491-0782 V.32bis
3314 Erana's Peace 303-755-1884 V.32
3459 The M&M Factory 314-861-1820 USR DS/V.32bis
5284 The Water Closet 512-836-8071 V.32
5401 The Funny Farm (LA) 504-364-1207 V.32bis
5458 Permanent Vacation 514-487-7467 V.32bis
5912 The Garage 509-483-0042 V.32bis
6211 Moon Valley Triangle 602-942-9228 USR DS/V.32bis
6850 FarPoint Station 618-235-9303 USR DS/V.32bis
6961 The Clone Builder BBS 619-728-0541 USR DS/V.32bis
7400 The Funny Farm (East) 704-525-1491 USR DS/V.32bis
7663 Paragon 716-592-5910 USR DS/V.32bis
8135 The Sandbox ][ 801-774-5574 USR DS/V.32bis
8251 The Resource Center 812-877-4342 USR DS/V.32bis
8350 Ko Ro Ba 813-237-0152 USR DS/V.32bis
9800 Maniac Mansion III 908-525-8295 USR DS/V.32bis
9956 Murphy's Law 910-649-7004 V.32bis
13600 Purgatory BBS 306-665-0274 V.32bis

And in Okinawa, Japan (011-81):

856 Shinobi's Sword 611-733-4832 USR DS/V.32bis


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INSTALLMENT PAYMENT PLAN:

WWIVnet and some other WWIV-based Networks require WWIV to be
registerd in order for the node to remain on the network beyond a
60-day trial period. Recognizing that some of our younger sysops
may not be able to afford the registration all at once. The
installment payment plan described in the next paragraph is
offered. Each payment received under this plan is NON-REFUNDABLE.
Each payment extends the trial period for an additional 60-days
until the entire amount has been received. Access to Source Code
and the assignment of a registration number occurs ONLY after all
payments have been made. If you wish to follow this plan, indicate
that in the letter that you send or on the registration form.

The installment payment plan involves 3 payments of $20 each and a
final payment of $25 UNLESS you live in a non-North American country
in which cases the third and fourth payments are $25 each.
Payment 1 $20
Payment 2 $20, due no later than 60 days after the first
payment
Payment 3 $20 or $25, due no later than 60 days after
the second payment.
Payment 4 $25 due no later than 60 days after the third
payment

SETTING UP THE BBS:

Before setting up WWIV v4, you should read through all the documentation.
If, after you have read through the documentation there are some items you
don't understand, don't worry about it. Just go ahead and set up the BBS
anyway. Most likely, along the way, you will be able to figure it out.

Setup and initialization instructions are described in the documentation.
Usually enough information is contained in the chapter on FAST SETUPS for
you to get your BBS initialized and running.

If you experience problems with your modem (i.e. not hanging up on users,
not accepting/answering calls correctly), re-read the chapter on modems
in the documentation. That chapter explains modem setups and configuration
files, and how to make adjustments to them. After you have your system
running, review the documentation again for information on sysop functions
to optimally operate your BBS.

If after playing around with the BBS and reading through the documentation
(again) for any clue to a problem that may still exist, try asking another
sysop you might know for help. If the problem is still not solved, you can
contact a WWIV Support BBS sysop for help. There are a number of support
systems located throughout the United States. The file, SUPPORT.LST, lists
the current support bulletin boards. Sysops of these systems can help you
solve many of the problems you may encounter. They can also acquaint you
with WWIVnet, a network of WWIV bulletin boards which exchange email and
messages across the the United States and several foreign countries.

Whether you contact a WWIV support sysop or the author, Wayne Bell,
directly (see below) about a problem, there are some things you NEED to
indicate. Just saying, "The BBS won't answer the phone" doesn't help
anyone figure out what type of difficulty you may be having. THIS IS
IMPORTANT. Most of the people asking for help don't give enough
information to figure out what the problem is, and it takes a few emails
back and forth to extract the necessary information.

Be sure to indicate what type of computer you are using, and as much
info about your modem as possible (if your problem deals with the
modem). Make sure you indicate what exactly the system did wrong, and
say what you expected it to do. If you can, tell what the system
printed on the screen around the problem area.

If you have a problem which is of a nature that it cannot be handled by
a support sysop, you can attempt to contact Wayne Bell, the author of
WWIV. There are basically three ways to contact him:

1. Call a WWIVnet bulletin board and send email to Wayne Bell. Address
the mail to [email protected]

2. Call Wayne Bell's bulletin board to leave feedback. The number is
310-798-9993, and the BBS supports 300/1200/2400/9600/14400 bps (HST
and V.32/V.32bis), 24 hours per day.

3. If either of those choices is prohibitive (financially or otherwise),
you can send a letter (via US Mail) to Wayne Bell.

The address is:

Wayne Bell
WWIV Software Services
PO Box 720455
McAllen, TX 78504-0455

Of course, sending mail in this manner is the slowest, for obvious
reasons. Therefore, if you can possibly send email through WWIVnet or
call my BBS, do it. Sorry, Wayne Bell does not give out his (unlisted) voice
telephone number. Do NOT address registrations to Wayne Bell as that
will only delay your registration process.



*************************************************************************

UPGRADING FROM VERSIONS OF WWIV v4 before v4.23:

1. Copy in the new strings file. From the distribution archive, copy
SYSOPLOG.STR into the GFILES directory. If the primary operating language
is to be English, copy the ENGLISH.STR into GFILES and RENAME it to BBS.STR.
Otherwise, copy the primary operating language there and rename it to
BBS.STR. Create separate directories for the other language *.STR files.
For example, you might have ENGLISH.STR in GFILES and .\FRENCH\BBS.STR as
well as .\SPANISH\BBS.STR if your BBS was to offer English, French, and
Spanish as language options. As more *.STR files are translated, they will
be made available on SDS and Support Boards. Please REMEMBER to change
the name of the LANGUAGE.STR to BBS.STR before using it.

2. Copy the *.msg files into GFILES. These files contain the menus,
help files and so forth. Since 4.23 offers options not found on the
menus of earlier versions of WWIV, you will want to use these or at
least use them as the basis for making your own menus.

3. Copy the *.MDM file and the *.DAT file into your DATA directory.

4. For information on using the multi-instance aspect of WWIV, see
the Chapter in the documentation dealing with Fast Setups. The
registered sysop may also want to consult the chapter on WWIV source
code, especially the later parts of the chapter which deals with the
#defines available in v4.23.

UPGRADING FROM VERSIONS OF WWIV v4 before v4.22:


1. Convert your userlist. If you are using the standard userrec
structure (32 or 64 sub version), just run INIT, and tell it to convert
your userlist for you. Otherwise, you'll have to modify the CONVERT.C
file included with the source, and compile and run it. See the
'readme.423' file for details on converting your userlist.

2. Copy in the new strings file. From the distribution archive, copy
SYSOPLOG.STR into your GFILES directory. From the distribution archive,
copy ENGLISH.STR into your GFILES directory, but name it 'BBS.STR'.
That is, if you unzipped the archive into the current directory, and
your gfiles directory is C:\WWIV\GFILES, then say:

COPY SYSOPLOG.STR C:\WWIV\GFILES
COPY ENGLISH.STR C:\WWIV\GFILES\BBS.STR

3. Copy in the new menus. Copy menus*.msg into your GFILES directory,
such as "COPY MENUS*.MSG C:\WWIV\GFILES".


*************************************************************************

UPGRADING FROM VERSIONS OF WWIV 4.10-4.12:


To upgrade a previous version of WWIV that is already installed, first
copy the "MODEMS.MDM" file into your DATA directory. Then run the v4.21
INIT program. This will update certain data files with new formats.
You will also probably want to go into INIT section 5, and select your
modem type. Refer to WWIVINIT.DOC to more information.

*************************************************************************

UPGRADING FROM VERSIONS OF WWIV v4 before v4.12:


To upgrade a previous version of WWIV that is already installed, first
run the v4.21 INIT program. This will update certain data files with new
formats. You will also probably want to go into INIT section 5, and select
your modem type. Refer to WWIVINIT.DOC to more information.

You will notice that this version of WWIV has an option for "WWIV
Registration Number". This is a number given to all registered users of
WWIV, indicating that they have registered. If you have registered WWIV
before, but don't know your registration number, contact Wayne Bell
through one of the channels listed above and ask what your registration
number is. You must be sure to indicate your full name and address, as
well as the approximate date (month and year) that you registered WWIV.


*************************************************************************


THANKS TO:


Craig Arnush ([email protected]) - bugged me enough so that I compiled WWIV with
all the crazy optimizations on. Conceived of & wrote the "extended
log". Went through some of the older source code in WWIV & optimized it a
bit for speed & size (and yes, the BBS IS shorter now, due both to his
optimizations and the compiler optimizations).

Dash -Riprock - Wrote the quicksort routine which is now used to sort
the file section. A bit faster. Also wrote the two-way chat routine.

Doug Fields - various miscellaneous things, like supporting logon.ans,
the menu????.ANS. Also for finally figuring out how to type-cast
functions so that there is no more warning when compiling utility.c.

Eric Golden - wrote the new topscreen, set up the WWIV support BBS
network, and bugged me about thousands of little things I needed to
change.

Joseph Rybaczek (Benny Hill) - Kept the WWIV Support Network going.

Wig De Moville (Filo) - Not only came up with new versions of the BBS
documentation, but also re-wrote the network docs, in addition to doing
quite a bit of work in helping to manage the network. Also, is now
handling registrations, too.

Chuck Walden - permitted WWIV Software Services to distribute the 4.23
documentation using the "reader" format.

Dino and The Analog Kid for developing prior versions of the conferencing
mod. Hopefully v4.23 has the best of all features available in their mods.

The Bishop -- permitted some of his mods to be used in v4.23, especially
the routines for moving subs and directories.

8 Ball -- provided impetus for the H)op Command ala his jump mod.

Arc Angel -- led the way in developing multi-line for WWIV.

Hackmaster 'J' for providing PcBoard v14.5 info for drop files.

Starship Trooper for the OS/2 information in the docs. Morgul for the
Desqview information.

Spotnick, Stratocaster, Simon Borduas, and RejeanF for French translations
and menus. Wizord for the Spanish translations.

Jim Wire for participation on the development team and especially for
the multi-instance and file tagging.

The SDS and Support Boards for being such a great group of BETA testers.