root/releases/1.6/0p3/CHANGES-9

This is the most current changes file for PennMUSH. Please look it
over; each version contains new things which might significantly affect
the function of your server.

Unlike the older CHANGES files, these changes are reported in
reverse chronological order (most recent first)

[RLM] is Ralph Melton, a PennMUSH developer
[TAP] is T. Alexander Popiel, a PennMUSH developer
[AKM] is Alan Kree McElrath, sourcehack for GohsMUSH.
[NJG] is Nick Gammon, the Win32 porter
[2.2] refers to code which originated with the TinyMUSH 2.2 developers

==========================================================================

Version 1.6.0 patchlevel 3      January 16, 1996

Fixes:
    * default, edefault, udefault now work like Tiny 2.2, not eval'ing
      their arguments.
    * Many fixes to the extended chat system.
    * Fixed misspelling of Guest in @config.
    * @function on a non-existant object no longer crashes. [TAP]
    * Problems with paranoid dumps not setting the correct dbflags
      corrected. [TAP]
    * Problems with EXTENDED_MAIL crashing when using LOGOUT fixed. [RLM]
    * @warnings for exit-msgs and thing-msgs warned when there was
      no OFAIL on a locked exit/thing, which is silly. [1.6.0p1]
    * Started patching the CHANGES file, like I should.
    * Fixes customize.pl
    * Fixes update-cnf.pl so that 'make update' won't trash player_flags
      (and other repeatable directives) in mush.cnf
    * Fixes game/txt/README

Version 1.6.0 patchlevel 0      January 10, 1996

Major Changes:

        * New version numbering: 1.6.0 patchlevel 0
                                 | | |            |
          Code base version -----/ | |            |
          Major version -----------/ |            |
          Minor version -------------/            |
          Patchlevel -----------------------------/

          Patchlevel is updated when bugs are fixed by patches
          Minor version is updated when a new version of the tar file
            is posted, and may include bugfixes and new features
          Major version is updated when major internals are changed.
          Code base version is never updated. :)

    * New function parser with improved speed, sanity. [TAP]
        * Complete rewrite of destruction code. Undestroying supported
          for all objects, @adestroy works sanely, SAFE is safer,
      better consistency checking. [RLM]
    * Support for 'plural' gender for TinyMUSH compatibility. [2.2]
        * The code has been ported to Win32 (Windows 95, NT), and files
      in the win32/ subdirectory should be used to compile it.
      It runs as a system service. [NJG]
    * Most filenames are now 8.3, to support the win32 port
    * Some options have been moved to the runtime config file
      (dbcomp). Others have been removed entirely.
    * 'make update' will update runtime config directives
    * The chat system has been completely rewritten. Number of 
          channels is limited only by memory, channels are saved
          across shutdowns (modifying source to add channels never
          required), channels can be locked in various ways, 
          non-wizards can create channels, etc.
        * New .cnf directives: chat_database (where to store channels),
          max_player_chans (how many channels can a non-admin create),
      chan_cost (how much does creating a channel cost)
    * The CSRI malloc is now supported and suggested. In addition
      to being extremely memory-efficient, it offers leak detection
      and profiling features.
    * The database format now defaults to quoting text, which is
      less vulnerable to corruption, in particular the loading of
          attribute locks starting with a number. [1.50-15-04,05 TAP]

New Functions:

    * matchall() [2.2]
    * default(), edefault(), udefault() [2.2]
    * aposs() and %a return absolute possessive pronouns [2.2]
    * elements() [2.2]
    * mudname(), version(), starttime() [2.2]
    * stats() is now an alias for lstats() [2.2]
    * ulocal() [2.2]
    * search() is now an alias for lsearch() [2.2]
    * folderstats() returns information about numbers of messages
      in a given @mail folder
    * last() is the counterpart to first(), and returns the last
      item in a list
    * mailtime(), mailstatus(). Suggested by Alaric@WorldOfPain.

New Commands:

    * @emit can be abbreviated '\\', for TinyMUSH compatibility
    * The speech commands (say, pose, @[po]emit, whisper, page)
      can now take a /noeval switch, which prevents them from
      evaluating the message.
    * 'semipose' is an alias for pose/nospace
    * 'INFO' from the connection screen gives version info for
      the MUSH, for use by automated mudlists and the like.
    * @sitelock/name adds names to the banned names file.
    * @enable/@disable guests (and new cnf file directive guest_allow)
    * @decomp now takes /flags and /attribs switches to only decompile
          the creation/flags information or the attribute information.
    * @list/<switch> or @list <switch> lists useful stuff. Currently
      switches include "motd" (same as @listmotd) and "functions"
      (same as @config/functions), for TinyMUSH compatibility.

New Flags:

    * CLOUDY flag on exits provides partial transparency. A CLOUDY
          TRANSPARENT exit shows only the description of the room beyond, 
          no contents.  A CLOUDY but not TRANSPARENT exit shows only 
          the contents, no desc.
    * FORCE_WHITE flag on an ANSI player forces their output to be
      reset to white, necessary for some poor ansi terminals which
      "bleed". [Kalkin]

Minor Changes:

    * @chzone'ing an object to 'none' no longer clears its privbits.
    * OXMOVE attribute is shown to the room you're leaving.
    * Setting and resetting the SUSPECT flag is now logged in wizard.log
    * Various outdated defines have been removed from options.h/dune.h
    * Objects can now use @mail commands, as if they were their owners.
    * As described in the help, HALT'd objects can't evaluate ufuns.
    * Players are now informed of the time and host of their last
      failed connection.
    * Unlinked exits seized with @link are now cleared of privileged bits
    * Various autoconfiguration changes to clean things up.

Fixes:

    * idlesecs() now accepts "me".
    * "pose" (not ":") used to discard everything after an "=".
    * The "entries" entries in help.txt, etc, have been fixed a bit.
    * index(a| |b,|,2,1) now returns a null string instead of "|b"
    * Various memory leaks [1.50-15-01]
    * When fork fails, a non-forking dump is done, and the MUSH
      no longer exits. [1.50-15-02]
    * Soundex() no longer hangs on non-alphabetical. [1.50-15-06]
    * dist2d and dist3d are safer on non-IEEE math systems. [1.50-15-03]
    * mail() now counts messages across all folders
    * Better matching of del_check to add_check [1.50-15-11]
    * PennMUSH now compiles correctly without EXTENDED_MAIL
      [1.50-15-10]
    * Some fixes to unparse.c to stabilize huffman compression
      [1.50-15-09,RLM]
    * Fixes to @boot [1.50-15-08,TAP] [RLM]
    * Fixes to variable exit handling by quick-unparse [1.50-15-07,AKM]
    * Configure now tries to find a full path for uptime(1) so that
          @uptime will work
    * Fixes to forbidden_site and forbidden_name when there's no
      sites/lockout/names file. [NJG]
        * Backspace handling for really dumb terminals improved [NJG]
    * When changing the text of an attribute, its flags are no longer
          reset. [RLM]
        * When seizing a link, coins weren't refunded if the seize failed.
    * Output flushed is now a bit better handled. [TAP]
    * dump.c and extract.c, woefully out of date, have been removed.
    * Dark disconnects aren't shown to MONITOR folks, just admin. [RLM]
    * Being multiply connected doesn't cause pages to you to be
      considered ambiguous [RLM]