Every Mystic BBS archive contains a WHATSNEW.TXT file that tracks the development of Mystic BBS for the version related to that archive.

This page contains notes from the author (g00r00) during the development of Mystic BBS v1.12. It outlines what is a new or changed feature, a bug fix, or something that has been removed.

In order to interpret each entry below, the following key explains the nature of each change that has been noted in the WHATSNEW.TXT for this version of Mystic BBS.

! = Bug fix
+ = New or changed feature
- = Removed

Use the Table of Contents on the right hand side of this page to quickly jump between the notes that relate to each Alpha version of Mystic BBS during this development cycle.

If you spot something you think looks amiss with these notes please contact us using the contact info found on this Wiki.

 ! Mystic now clears the temporary directory after each mass uploaded file,
   just in case a second .DIZ is in an archive.

 + The FS editor DRAW mode now has an Upload ANSI option added to the menu.

 ! Fixed a small bug when ANSI was posted into a NON-ANSI base that could
   cause the converted ASCII to get distorted.

 + When generating quote data, Mystic will no longer wrap the first line into
   the second line if the line is a KLUDGE line.

 + New MUTIL option for [ExportEchomail] entitled "skip_online". If this value
   is set to true, Mystic will not toss new messages posted by them if they
   are currently logged into the BBS.  Combined with "create semaphores at
   logout", this should give users their entire time logged in to edit their
   messages before they'll be sent, even if other users create semaphores.

 ! I accidentally compiled Mystic with a 1000 line message limit.  It has been
   changed to 10,000 lines per message now.

 + Mystic now fully supports unlimited reply tracking, using reply first,
   reply next, and reply to for each message.  This carries over to the
   echomail linking and message base purging/packing as well.

 ! Fixed a bug which could cause NodeSpy's snooping sessions to abruptly end
   in Windows.

 + The CL mci code (clear screen) and any other function based clear screens
   done by Mystic will now send ESC[H to home the cursor before the 2J for
   better compatibility with non ANSI-BBS terminals.

 + Mystic now has internal Xmodem (1K/CRC), Ymodem, Ymodem-G to go along with
   the existing Zmodem protocol.  Similarly to Zmodem, they are configured
   in the protocol editor with the following send/receive commands:

      @xmodem
      @ymodem
      @ymodemg

   A new protocol.dat has been included with the default installation that
   has these new protocols added, so it can be copied over the old
   protocol.dat if you haven't made changes specific to your system.

 + Increased the speed of statistic calculation in Nodespy significantly.

 + Character input within the configuration editors now allows characters
   to be input by the ASCII number or the key itself.

 + Revamped the Login/Matrix settings in the configuration, moving some
   options that were in General that probably made more sense in Login
   options.

 + Mystic can now send client terminals either CP437 or UTF8 data output,
   converting relevant outbound data to UTF8 when selected.  For compatibility
   reasons, data still has to be stored in CP437 encoding within Mystic itself

 + Mystic now has two new options in the Login configuration which go along
   with the UTF8 encoding:

   Default CodePage
   Ask CodePage

   ** READ THIS:
   If you do not understand what these are, set Default to CP437 and
   Ask CodePage to "Detect".  What this basically does is allows users to use
   things like Putty to connect to your BBS, and everything should look and
   work as expected.

   When Mystic starts up, by default a user will have the configured "Default"
   code page.  Then depending on the setting of "Ask CodePage", Mystic will do
   one of the following:

      Detect : Mystic only changes codepage from default if it is able
               to detect a terminal that is likely NOT the default, but the
               user is never prompted.
      Ask    : Mystic will ask the user which Codepage they would like
               to use after detecting ANSI.
      CP437  : Codepage will always be set to MS-DOS (CP437)
      UTF8   : Codepage will always be set to UTF8

   In Linux, the Default code page will actually be what Mystic runs in
   when you run mystic from the command line, too.  In Windows, the Sysop
   side will always execute in CP437, even when a user is logged in that
   has UTF8 enabled (the user of course will still get sent UTF8).

   One other consideration, is that many terminals that use UTF8 are using
   VT102 instead of ANSI-BBS, which means a few things are different - most
   noticably are ANSI clear screen codes.  In ANSI-BBS, the clear screen also
   moves the cursor to 1,1, while in VT102 it does not.  This means its best
   to edit your ANSIs and add a |CL at the very top so Mystic clears the
   screen in a compatible way.

 + When a user selects UTF8 encoding, Mystic will now assume their terminal
   sends VT102 DELETE/BACKSPACE keys rather than the MS-DOS terminal behavior.

 + MUTIL now has a function called to pack and check integrity of file bases,
   and a new header in MUTIL called [PackFileBases] has been added.  Please
   see the default MUTIL.INI in the new installation for more information.

   The old broken filepack in MBBSUTIL is gone now.

 + Mystic now prompts for confirmation when using the (U)pdate DIZ command
   from the file directory listing, to lessen the change that a SysOp injects
   a new .DIZ into an archive without meaning to.

 + New options for the GD "Display a file" menu command.  The old optional
   data where just the filename is supplied continues to work, but now if
   the first character is @ it will expect a few options in the following
   format:

      Format #1: filename
      Format #2: @baudrate@true/false/end@filename

   The @baudrate field specifies the baud rate to display the file.

   The second field defines how file pauses should work.  If set to TRUE
   the file will pause.  If set to false it will not pause.  If set to END
   then it will only pause after displaying the file.

   The final @filename is just the same as the format #1

   For example:
     @38400@end@bogacid1.ans

   The above would display JEDs 250kb ANSImation at 38400 baud, with no
   pauses except for one at the end.

 + New option in Login/Matrix settings: "Login after Apply".  If set to Yes
   Mystic will automatically send the user to the login after they apply for
   a new account through the Matrix.

 + PYTHON is here!  New menu command 'GY' will execute a Python 2.7 syntax
   script.  By default Mystic looks in the script directory for .MPY files,
   using the same logic as MPX.  If you supply a file with no extention,
   Mystic will add .mpy onto it.  If you do not supply a path, then Mystic
   will look in the current theme's script directory, and then the default
   script directory if fallback is enabled.

      Example:

         Command: GY
            Data: testpython

      The above executes testpython.mpy from the Scripts directory

      Example:

         Command: GY
            Data: c:\mystic\derp\herpderp

      The above executes herderp.mpy from the c:\mystic\derp directory, or
      if it is not found and fallback is enabled for the current theme, Mystic
      will look in the default scripts directory.

 + MUTIL now doesn't completely crap out if it does not have access to the
   files it needs on startup in Linux.

 + Mystic is now compiled with FPC 3.0.0 in Windows and Linux!

 ! The /TO: option when posting a new message in a public base was still
   presenting the TO field.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A1 RELEASED -- Feb 9, 2016>

 ! Mystic will not crash when skip_online is set to false during echomail
   tossing.

 ! Added the forgotten prompt 315 to the default prompts

 + Moved the Python intialization code to only execute the first time a
   script is ran, so that if Python is incorrectly installed it will not
   prevent Mystic from loading with an error.

   If you get a "Import error: no module named site" when you DO try to
   execute a Python script, its because you have Python on your system but
   it is not completely installed.  You'll need to set your environment
   variables.  For example if you have Python installed in C:\Python27:

     SET PYTHONHOME=C:\PYTHON27
     SET PYTHONPATH=C:\PYTHON27\LIB
     SET PATH=%PYTHONHOME%;%PATH%

 - Removed the -FCHECK command from MBBSUTIL since MUTIL's file pack
   function now covers the same stuff while it packs bases.

 - Squish message bases have now been removed.  They were never used and
   supporting two aging standards was a waste of time, and annoying.  Now
   that its gone, expect additional polish on the JAM side.

 + MUTIL now has a new function [LinkMessages].  This scours your echomail
   bases and creates reply links between messages.  See MUTIL.INI for more
   details and options (I may be rewriting the msgbase packer too)

 + Message header prompts and display files now have a &A display code
   which returns the "Reply Next" field.

 + A2 will be compiled with increased compiler optimizations to see if
   there are any negative effects.

 + Prompts beginning with a # will now execute a Python script similar to
   MPL and display files:

      @myansi     <- Shows myansi from your theme's text dir
      !mympl      <- Execute mympl.mpx from theme's script dir
      #mypython   <- Execute mypython.mpy from theme's script dir

   In the small case that you ever need to start a prompt with one of
   these characters, you can prefix it with the "dummy" MCI code <pipe>XX

 + DOCS section now has a fully updated mci_display_codes.txt with all
   current codes documented!

 + Mystic now shows a "there are no files in this base" message when a user
   lists files in a base which HAS files, but none that are accessible to
   them.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A2 RELEASED -- Feb 11, 2016>

 + Mystic's menus now generate unique IDs for each menu item, rather than
   referencing by the record order.  This makes using Grid menus MUCH more
   feasible.  When they are loaded and saved for the first time in the menu
   editor they will automatically "upgrade" themselves, so there is no need
   for conversion.

 + Mystic's message reader and FS editor can now handle WWIV, Synchronet,
   PCBoard, Wildcat color codes in addition to the already supported pipe
   and full blown ANSI.

 + Increased max menu items to 99 per menu with 25 commands per item.

 + The Theme editor now has an option to edit menus within the theme. This
   is just an alternative place to find the menu editor.

 + Changed /F Flags inside the menu editor to less confusing /S Settings

 + File base configurations now have a Hatch ACS value to determine who has
   the ability to hatch files from that file base.

 + Message base editor now warns you if you set a QWK network for a message
   base, but then do not set the conference ID.

 + Significantly increased JAM lastread performance on systems with more
   than 100 users.

 + MUTIL msgpack now handles JAM's ReplyNext field when packing.

 + Last read pointers are now stored by the user's permanent index.

 + acs_comment field in MUTIL FILEBONE and FILETOSS have changed to acs_hatch
   so update your .INI files if you use these and want to set hatch ACS in
   those situations.

 + When receiving a node message you can now request to chat with the person
   who sent the message.  Updated prompt 145.  Note the first two characters
   are the characters used in the prompt followed by a space and then the
   text:

      ; Message from another node footer. First word contains input keys, followed by prompt
      145 RC |CR|09Node Message: |01[|10R|01]|09eply, |01[|10C|01]|09hat, or |01[|10ENTER|01/|10Continue|01]|09: |15

 + When editing message text, Mystic will now not resolve color codes so they
   are not lost when converting from ANSI to ASCII stripping colors.  This
   should fix up losing the colors in your signautures if you edit messages

 + Reworked Protocol configuration.  There no longer needs to be a Protocol
   entry for both a Batch and non-batch version of a protocol.  Instead the
   Batch flag specifies if it is a batch protocol or not.  New PROTOCOL.DAT

 + Uploading a message to the FS editor no longer annoyingly asks for a
   filename, unless a Protocol is selected that would require it, or you are
   uploading a file from the local disk.

 + Reworked the file upload function so that it never asks for filenames
   unless it absolutely has to.  The transfer protocol is now the first
   question if a default is not set, followed by the filenames if needed.
   Gone is the display file BLINDUL. Gone is "Blind Upload?" prompt #375

 + Mystic now prompts for ENTER just before a transfer begins, and allows
   an option to abort here.  This was done to give users an option to abort
   if they have a default protocol set.  Replace the old prompt with the
   new one:

      ; Press ENTER to start file transfer  &1=selected protocol
      ; First word is input chars, followed by display text
      065 SQ |CR|09Press |01[|15ENTER|01/|15S|01]|09tart or |01[|15ESCAPE|01/|15Q|01]|09uit your |15|&1 |09transfer: |XX

 + The Upload Base settings in the File Base Settings now uses the File
   base permanent index instead of the record position.  If you use this
   setting you should double check that yours is correct after upgrading.

 + Message and File groups now have unique identifiers associated to them.

 + Mystic's lightbar menus now automatically work with mouse input when
   using a compatible terminal

 + All configuration editors now list everything by unique ID instead of
   record position

 + Cleaned up the remote mouse support in the system configuration so it
   should work much better now in the main pulldown menu.

 + Added a new record-size aware and automatically buffered file I/O class to
   MPL with the following functions:

     FileOpen
     FileEOF
     FileRead
     FileSeek
     FilePos
     FileSize
     FileWrite
     FileWriteBlock
     FileRead
     FileReadBlock
     FileClose

 + Compiled MPL programs greater than 16KB should now run faster, while
   smaller MPL programs should use less memory.

 + When passing -X to execute MPL from command line, Mystic will now longer
   replace _ with spaces in the filenames.  Instead it is expected that you
   use quotations around the arguement if it has spaces.

 + MPL now allows embedded records!!!  For example:

     Type
       Record1 = Record
         A : Byte;
       End;

     Type
       Record2 = Record
         A : Record1;
       End;

     Var
       Test : Record2;
     Begin
       Test.A.A := 10;
     End.

 ! Fixed a small memory leak in the echomail tosser

 + MUTIL now logs the time each process takes to complete which is logged and
   displayed on the screen.

 + Rewrote the message reply linking now that Squish is gone, and it should be
   up to 50% faster now.  Removed the "quick_link" option which at least for
   now (it is now always on).

 ! Fixed a bug with the message base packer that was preventing it from
   properly adjusting the reply linking when renumbering message bases

 + Mystic now uses JAM's third reply field (ReplyTo, ReplyFirst, ReplyNext)
   in all areas of the BBS and its utilities.

 + File base file listings now generate CRC64 signatures that are used for
   increased speed during file duplication scans.  These are stored in .DFX
   files, one for each entry in the file listing.

 + MUTIL mass upload now supports @TEXTDIZ during mass uploads, which is a
   feature of Mystic that can extract embedded @BEGIN_FILE_ID_DIZ tags from
   text files and use them as the file description.  Previously this only
   worked from user uploads to the BBS or the online mass upload.

 + Mystic's online .DIZ processor during uploads and mass upload can now
   parse PCBoard, Wildcat, and WWIV color codes in .DIZ files in addition to
   the already supported PIPE and ANSI.

 + MUTIL's mass upload can now handle .DIZ files with embedded ANSI, PIPE,
   PCBoard, WildCat, and WWIV color codes.  Mystic will translate them into
   ASCII and then apply colors to it using pipe codes, then save it so that
   it shows as intended, but can easily be stripped of color when needed.

 + Rewrote MUTILS mass upload logic so that it is literally thousands of
   times faster than it used to be while doing even more than it was.  Check
   out these differences in speed, its pretty crazy:

      BEFORE: Mass Upload Files    Uploaded 10000 file(s)    DONE 364.29s
       AFTER: Mass Upload Files    Uploaded 10729 file(s)    DONE 0.45s
       AFTER: Mass Upload Files    Uploaded 10729 file(s)    DONE 11.73s

   The first "AFTER" was with .DIZ importing turned off the second was with
   full DIZ importing.  729 files most of which had .DIZ files and then
   10,000 small text files that were scanned for @BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ tags and
   the total was 11.73 seconds, an improvement of 352.56 seconds!  Adding one
   file into a database of 10s of thousands took 8/100th of a second!

 + Files uploaded by FTP will now import DIZ descriptions into the BBS using
   ANSI, Pipe, Wildcat, PCBoard, or WWIV colors, like other areas of the BBS

 + Significantly increased the speed of duplicate file searches in Mystic,
   MUTIL (mass upload, TIC processing), and the FTP server.

 + TIC importing can now handle .DIZ files with ANSI, pipe, etc and even
   embedded @BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ tags like everything else can now.

 ! Fixed a bug that could make the cursor go a little weird when pressing
   the HOME key at the end of the lightbar file lists.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A3 RELEASED -- Feb 18, 2016>

 ! Fixed a small memory leak that could occur when an invalid echomail link
   sneaks into the datafiles.

 + More general performance increases centered around file I/O.

 + Pressing enter on the OTHER tab in CFG would cause a crash in A3.

 + MUTIL now properly merges and regenerates SEEN-BY and PATH kludges with
   proper sorting of SEEN-BY when Mystic is hubbing echomail to downlinks.

 ! Fixed a bug with MUTIL netmail routing when Mystic is hubbing a network

 ! Adding new groups was not correctly assigning an incremented group ID.
   If you have groups created in A3 you'll have to recreate them if it
   have the same ID as another group.

 ! Fixed missing From/To/Subj info in the message reader that I broke in A3

   <ALPHA 1.12 A4 RELEASED -- Feb 20, 2016>

 + MUTIL now removes duplicate SEEN-BY information when tossing messages

 + The GD (display a file) command can now have a " /NEW" appended on the
   end of the command data, which if found, will only display the file if
   its file date is more recent than the user's last login.

 ! Fixed .DIZ importing during online upload and online mass upload that I
   broke when redoing the batch uploads.

 ! Deleting HISTORY.DAT will now also reset the system callers number when
   Mystic attempts to update the history for the first time.

 + You can now move between prompts using up/down keys while simulating
   prompts in the theme editor.

 ! Fixed a bug which could cause the node to lock up in Linux when using
   DI baud emulation codes.

 ! Fixed weirdness in ignore functions from MUTIL mass upload introduced
   in the last alpha.

 + Added a ton of debug logging to MUTIL mass upload since its a rewrite
   so turn loglevel 3 on if you have any problems and send me the results

 + Selecting the hotkey in the menu editor from the list (CTRL+L) now gives
   a brief description of some of the preset hotkey values

 + Minor visual clean ups in the System Configuration that no one will notice
   except for my OCD.

 + The System Configuration now has a General Settings > Config Theme option
   which switches between the Default configuration theme we're all used to or
   a Custom theme.  For now the colors of the custom theme are not
   configurable but some reasonable defaults are in place in the meantime.

 ! Added a "never delete" flag into the User editor which prevents users from
   ever being deleted by a user packer/purger.  This has always been a feature
   but it was mistakenly missing from the user editor.

 + New user flag option "Force password change" will force the user to change
   their password on their next login to the BBS.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A5 RELEASED -- Feb 24, 2016>

 + Mystic's NNTP server now properly auto reformats free flowing lines when
   long messages are posted.

 ! When uploading a message that doesn't contain any content, Mystic was
   sometimes confusing the current line being edited in the FS editor

 + NNTP server no longer logs passwords even with the highest log setting

 + NNTP server now adds TZUTC kludges to echomail posted via newsgroup
   readers.

 ! Fixed lots of issues with FTP upload introduced recently.  FTP uploads
   were not using the base ID to find the file base, and the .DIZ importing
   was broken.  Everything should be back to normal now (hopefully) but I
   will be doing more testing in the future.

 + If the SIZE field is missing from a TIC file, Mystic will now calculate
   the file size by looking at the actual file received.

 + Enabled verbose FTP server logging, similar to NNTP server.  These will
   both be loglevel 3 logs when I switch over to the log rollers soon.

 ! Users marked for deletion that were not yet physically removed were still
   showing up in the user listing.

 + The FTP server now allows files to be deleted via FTP from Mystic's file
   bases, if the logged in user meets the Sysop ACS requirements for that
   base.

 ! Fixed a small memory leak in MIS's server status window.

 + Mystic will now add a DUPE kludge to messages when moving to the bad
   message base using the following format:

     @DUPE <Areatag> <PKT origin> <PKT dest>

 + Added a new Archive viewing system.  This will create a virtual disk space
   of an archive, and allow you to nagivate the archived files, directories
   and even any number of archives within the archive itself.

   You can download and view files from anywhere, even when in an archive
   inside of an archive inside of an archive, etc.  The usual cursor movement
   functions are available, along with remote mouse support and on the fly
   text searching by simply typing.

   Two new files go along with this using the new(er) template format:

     archive_view.ans - Contains the ANSI of the browser UI
     archive_view.ini - Contains all of the prompts and configuration options

   For the moment ZIP, RAR, LZH, and LHA are supported but I am looking into
   additional formats.  For now I think I've covered the most common/needed.

 + Message base global editor now allows you to specify the ANSI flag

 + Minor cosmetic things to MUTIL to expand the status field and add commas

 + Mystic's MUTIL will now refuse to save duplicate messages when tossing
   echomail if the configured dupe message base is not a local type base.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A6 RELEASED -- Mar 1, 2016>
   

 + The Echomail Nodes editor now has functions to /Copy /Paste and /Move
   entries.

 + When using the /Exports editor in the Echomail node configuration, you
   can now add new exports in bulk, by tagging any number of message bases.

 + Mystic now strips leading and trailing spaces from PKT AREA tags just in
   case a poorly formatted message is received with AutoCreate enabled.

 + When simulating prompts in the Prompt editor, Mystic will now show the
   PromptInfo codes in their formatted place

 + Added some new permanent debug logging to Message Purging function

 + Mystic's message packer no longer recalculates the "date arrived" field
   when packing bases.  Some 3rd party stat tools use this and not the date
   the message was written for stat generation, and this could throw off its
   reporting from date ranges.

 ! Fixed ANSI gallery crash in Linux 64-bit version

 ! Fixed broken ANSI display baud emulation in 64-bit Linux version

 ! Fixed quirkiness causing Pi version to sometimes crash on login.

   <ALPHA 1.12 A7 RELEASED -- Mar 11, 2016>
   

 ! Fixed Pi crashing in A7 on login from MIS

 + Cleaned up the BINKP server authentication logging to be a little more
   clear when describing what its doing.  It should be much easier to
   understand even with full debug logging on.

 ! (Hopefully) fixed issues with Shell, BBS events not honoring the day of
   the week during execution. Reduced the resources used by the event system

 ! User editor was not properly saving the "Never delete" flag

 + Added "getuser" and "onekey" functions into Python and updated the
   testpython.mpy in the default install.  This will continue to be updated
   as new functions and features are added and I need to test them.

 + New menu command *T opens the theme editor

 - Removed all door menu commands except for DD and D3.  The old ones will
   continue to work for now, but there are only 2 commands (DD and D3) to
   execute a DOS or Door32 door.  Mystic creates all drop files now for any
   door execution.

 + %0 now gives the socket handle on door command lines in Linux (like it does
   already in Windows)

 ! Deleting file bases using the file base editor was not properly deleting
   the data files when selected to do so.

 + File Base editor now has a /Reset command similar to the Message Base
   editor that will reset the file listings in the base, while maintaining
   all of the other important details (user scan settings, echo exports).

 ! Fixed a problem with duplicate file searching in Linux, but *everyone*
   should make sure they run the MUTIL file base packer so Mystic can
   regenerate indexes for their file listings.

 + Lots of UTF8 cleanups.  Mystic now has a Local CodePage option which is
   used as the default when the -L command is used (local login).  This
   allows separate defaults local console vs an incoming caller.

 + UTF8 was not working in -CFG mode. It now uses the local codepage.

 + INSTALL program for OSX now defaults to using UTF8 and no longer bleeds
   screen data after viewing update/whatsnew.

 + ReWrote the group changing code.  Calculation of the number of bases per
   group should be much faster now.

 + MUTIL will now honor the local codepage and run in UTF8 in Linux/OSX

 + MIS will now honor the local codepage and run in UTF8 in Linux/OSX

 + NODESPY will now honor the local codepage and run in UTF8 in Linux/OSX

 ! Fixed kludge lines bleeding into ANSI in some ANSI message posts

 ! Fixed a bug sometimes causing OSX to error with "Cannot find MYSTIC.DAT"

 + FILES.BBS importer now has a few new options to help speed things up as
   well as support more variations in formats.  See Wiki or MUTIL.ini for more

 ! The uploader name would show the date in listings when a file had zero
   lines of description (a situation Mystic itself cannot create)

 ! After tossing nearly 3 million echomail messages, I think I finally found
   a bad memory reference which I hope could be the cause of some strangeness
   seen by one or two systems over the past year or so.  Fixed either way.

 + Local Codepage now defaults to UTF8 in OSX (OSX defaults to UTF8)

 + INSTALL will now exit if the any of the directories already exist instead
   of letting you reinstall over.  Sorry for those who like this option I
   will probably as a Yes/No at a later date.

 + Local Codepage now defaults to UTF8 for Pi (Jessie defaults to UTF8)

 + NodeSpy terminal now also supports CTRL+I and CTRL+D to delete after I
   realized that Apple keyboard have no INSERT key.  Apple is so weird...

 ! Some fixes for screen artifacts in OSX and Pi, things look very pretty
   and although no one uses it, the OSX version is really coming along!

   <ALPHA 1.12 A8 RELEASED -- Mar 25, 2016>
   

 + Rewrote the online Mass Upload which should have some minor speed
   improvements when adding a large amount of files but its still no where
   near as fast as MUTIL (at the cost of using WAY less memory).

 ! Fixed another bug in the MUTIL massupload in Linux which was causing it
   to generate file indexes for Windows system (case insensitive) and would
   result in creating duplicate file list entries.

 ! Fixed a bug with placing Netmail messages in the wrong Netmail base that
   was introduced in A8.  This did not break netmail just made things weird.

 + Mystic Windows now disables the "X" close button in the Window so you can't
   force close Mystic and create ghost users.  Should have done this years ago!

 + MUTIL now has a second type of log rolling.  While the existing type rolls
   by file size, logs can now also roll by day.  Daily logs will have a date
   stamp appended to them, for example "mutil.20160329.log" and after a certain
   number of days, the oldest file will be erased.

 ! Fixed a bug in the new ZIP viewer code which would cause crashes while
   viewing certain ZIP files or during uploads when importing FILE_ID.DIZ

 + An "id" option can be set in NodeSpy's general stanza which will append
   onto the Window title when running.  For example, if:

     [General]
       id = My BBS

   Then the Window titles will have the ID appended, such as:

      "NodeSpy/Main (My BBS)"

 ! Fixed a NNTP lockup bug that I introduced in an earlier alpha

 + NNTP server now will trim blank lines off of the beginning of the message
   instead of just the end.

 ! (Hopefully) fixed file searching crashes in Windows XP.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A9 RELEASED -- Mar 30, 2016>

 + Added three new menu commands for creating and evaluating semaphores
   from within the menu system.  @NODE can be replaced with the node number if
   desired.  See Wiki for more info:

      !C - Creates the semaphore filename in optional data
      !D - Delete the semaphore filename in optional data if it exists
      !E - Check if semaphore filename exists and set result in "OK" ACS.

 + When copying a message from one base to another, Mystic will rebrand the
   message using the real name if the destination has the real name flag.  In
   order words, if a user posts to AGN_BBS on AgoraNet and then copies that
   message to BBS_CARNIVAL on FidoNet, Mystic will strip and regenerate all
   kludges and origins as it were posted to FidoNet.  It already did that, but
   now it will also change the From name to the user's real name when it can.

 ! After uploading a message, Mystic's user action would still be set to
   "Transfering files".  Fixed.

 ! Fixed a potential exploit added in the 1.12 alphas earlier.  TO BE VERY
   CLEAR it is not an exploit that would compromise any data, just one that
   could be used to cause a corruption in data files.  Please upgrade
   immediately if you're using a 1.12 Alpha prior to A10.

 ! Fixed a problem with uploads related to xfer.log

 + New command line option for Mystic -CP<mode> to override the default code page
   for that session.  IE: ./mystic -CPutf8 will force UTF8 default output
   regardless of the default setting.  Any -CP that does not contain UTF will
   cause Mystic to default to CP437

 <ALPHA 1.12 A10 RELEASED -- April 4, 2016>

 + Mystic now has an option to add [ANSI] prefix to message subjects of ANSI
   messages, found in the Message Base Settings.  This can be set to off, on,
   or echomail only.

 + Mystic will now strip all [ANSI] tags and RE: prefixes prior to replying
   to a message, and recalculate/re-add them as required when saving the
   reply message.  That means if you reply to a message with an ANSI tag but
   the reply contains no ANSI, the [ANSI] tag will be removed from the subject

 + Mystic now has a new option in Message Base Settings: "Add Re: Prefix"
   when on will add "Re:" to the subjects of replies (as Mystic always has) or
   when off it will strip Re: and not add.

 ! Netmail and private message bases will no longer be listed and readable
   in the NNTP server even if the SysOp configures it show up via NNTP.

 + New command line option for the "mystic" binary: -PATHS.  This will open
   Mystic's "System Directory" configuration so that the root paths can more
   easily be changed when copying Mystic between operating systems such as
   Windows to OSX, etc.

 + QWK Path is is now also listed in the System Directories configuration

 + New message scans should now be much more efficient when updating last
   read pointers.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A11 RELEASED -- April 18, 2016>

 ! Fixed an issue that would cause file scans to fail if the data files for
   the first file base were missing.

 ! In Windows, SysOp macros are now executed by pressing CTRL+F1-F8 keys,
   because the F1-F8 keys are now used in the ANSI editor, etc.

 ! Some cleanups to the ANSI message uploaded, when uploading multiple ANSI
   files into the message editor.

 ! Fixed a bug with downloads when trying to download during a file scan or
   search.

 + Extended the amount of time Zmodem receive gives to start uploading from
   30 seconds to 90 seconds.

 + Zmodem no longer retries to send the ZFIN header while waiting for the
   OO marker at the end of a transfer session, for quicker ending of
   transfers for implementations that appear to not send OO (SyncTerm).

 + Adjusted Zmodem timings in certain places to allow for more time for
   users to respond to things like Overwrite prompts before timing out.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A12 RELEASED -- April 28, 2016>

 ! Fixed remaining known issues relating to new file listing indexing which
   should in turn fix any strangeness experienced with tagging and
   downloading files.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A13 RELEASED -- May 3, 2016>

 ! Fixed problem in socket functions when output buffers were filled that
   could cause loss of data during Zmodem, FTP, and BINKP transfers.

 + Improved reliability of ANSI detection in Windows

 + Added a keypressed function to Python engine

 + Added a bit more error logging during echomail exporting in some cases

 ! Found some debug stuff in the display file function which was causing
   Mystic to do a lot more work than it should have been doing.

 ! Fixed an issue in lightbar/grid style menus when doing key jumps with the
   new menu command IDs.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A14 RELEASED -- May 15, 2016>

 + Pressing backspace as the first key while editing a field in the
   configuration editors will now automatically erase the entire input data.

   Let me know if you do not like this change.

 + Pressing ESCAPE during string input within the configuration editors will
   now restore the default string and exit the input.

 ! Fixed an obscure bug in the menu system that is hard to explain and that
   no one would ever likely find! :)

 + Added a little more debug logging to echomail processing, but this is
   probably temporary.

 + Mystic now prints a message if Python is executed when it is not detected
   on the system.

 + Mystic now prints a message if Python fails to initialize when executing
   Python.

 + Mystic's echomail export function will now check the configured echomail
   domain of the message base, and the domain of the destination address. If
   the domains do not match, Mystic will log and refuse to export the message

 + Mystic will now refuse to let you edit a user in MCFG's user editor if
   the user is currently logged into the BBS.  This capability is on the TODO

 + Mystic now immediately updates the online username as soon as they log in
   as opposed to waiting until the first menu.

 + New menu command -B will break the current menu execution chain, when using
   commands stacked by hotkey.  In other words, if you have 4 commands all
   with the same hotkey, and you call -B on the second one, only the first
   and second command will run, the 3rd and 4th will be skipped because the
   -B menu command breaks the chain of commands.

 + Mystic's PKT reader will now handle the 65535 auxNet format which appears to
   not be in the FSC, and I have no idea where it comes from but Mystic should
   now handle it correctly.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A15 RELEASED -- May 23, 2016>

 ! Fixed a problem exiting the prompt editor introduced in last alpha

 ! Mystic now properly populates auxNet for point systems in PKTs.

 ! Fixed a pretty big bug when acting as an echomail hub with multiple
   downlinks that used raw PKT mail instead of compressed bundles.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A16 RELEASED -- May 28, 2016>

 ! Fixed an issue with Python get_user that I broke in last alpha.

 + Duplicate file scans are now case insensitive even in Unix environments, due
   to many older DOS systems creating .TIC files that do not match the actual
   case of the filename.  YOU MUST RUN MUTIL FILEBASE PACKER ONCE TO REGENERATE
   NEW FILE BASE INDEXES AFTER UPGRADING TO ALPHA 17 IN LINUX, OSX.

 ! MUTIL will now more graciously handle a configured invalid duplicate
   database size value.

 + Specifying a 0 or negative value for dupe database size in MUTIL will now
   disable dupe tracking entirely.

 + MUTIL will now refuse to run if the semaphore directory does not exist.

 + MUTIL now creates a mutil.bsy file in the semaphore directory.  If this file
   exists, MUTIL will refuse to run - preventing multiple instances of MUTIL to
   be executed at the same time.  If the BSY file has existed for more than a
   day, MUTIL will remove it and run as expected.

 + FIDOPOLL now creates a "fidopoll.bsy" in the Semaphore directory while its
   running.  This works in the same way as MUTIL does to prevent multiple
   instances of itself from running.

 + MIS now creates a "mis.bsy" in the Semaphore directory while its running.
   This works the same way as MUTIL and FIDOPOLL to prevent multiple instances
   of itself from being executed.

 + FIDOPOLL and MIS BINKP now use a .BSY file system.  These files are created
   alongside the .out files when queuing and sending mail for a node.  If the
   .BSY file already exists for that node, Mystic will not queue mail for that
   node.  If the .BSY file is more than a day old, Mystic will assume the .BSY
   file was accidentally left over from a stopped process and will exchange
   mail for that node as requested.

 + MUTIL echo export will now create and check for .BSY flags when exporting
   messages.  It will wait for up to 3 minutes for all downlinks to NOT be
   busy prior to exporting, while flagging any echomail nodes as owned by
   MUTIL as they become freed up by other processes.  This continues until
   MUTIL "owns rights" to every echomail node, so that it can toss mail without
   interfering with any other mail process (BINKP server, client, FTP, etc).

   If the 3 minutes expire, MUTIL will exit because it cannot process mail when
   nodes are exchanging by BINKP/FTP.  MUTIL will not remove semaphores in this
   case, so the cycle can continue until the export is processed successfully.

   Like other areas, if a .BSY flag stays for more than a day, it will
   automatically be removed and assumed to be a result of a stuck process.

   This system works hand in hand with BINKP server and FIDOPOLL (and even
   BINKD) so that no nodes will transfer mail when MUTIL is tossing mail
   to them, and MUTIL will not toss mail while a node is picking up mail.

 + MUTIL tossing to downlinks during importing now works the same as the
   export system described above.

 <ALPHA 1.12 A17 RELEASED -- June 3, 2016>

 + MPL programs now load entirely into memory.  As a result, the current
   maximum size of a compiled MPX file is now 128KB instead of being
   unlimited, but this can be easily increased if needed.  This move increases
   execute parsing speed by about 20%, but MPL is still about 60-80% slower
   than Python (in 32-bit.  64-bit MPL is much closer to the same speed).

 + Rewrote the archive viewing functions for a massive speed up.  A ZIP file
   that contained 15,554 files and 1,198 directories was imaged by the viewer
   in *47 MILLISECONDS* in A18 but took 10.5 SECONDS in A17.  HUGE
   DIFFERENCE!

 + FIDOPOLL now has a "killbusy" command which will delete any existing .bsy
   flags for all echomail nodes.  Note that this does not remove the program
   specific bsy files for MUTIL, MIS, FIDOPOLL, etc, just the echomail nodes.

   For now you can also run "killbusy all" and it will kill even the .BSY
   flags for the various tools such as MIS MUTIL and FIDOPOLL.  But this is
   undocumented and HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED to use.  In no circumstance should
   a .BSY file ever be removed when MUTIL MIS or FIDOPOLL is running.  This is
   a convience feature because the BSY system is new and may have quirks.

 + MPLC now properly syntax errors when attempting to assign a default value
   to a record variable.  This mistakenly compiled in 1.11 but did not work.

 + Added a "mis.log" in the logs directory which gives some very basic status
   during startup and shutdown of MIS when its running in DAEMON mode in Unix

 ! This is part bugfix and part new MPL feature.  You can now do this with
   records and arrays and records within records.  Another huge win for MPL:

   Type
     TestRec = Record
       Key  : Integer;
       ATest: Array [1..25] of Integer
     End
   Var
     Test : TestRec
     B    : Integer;
   Begin
     Test.Key             := 10;
     Test.ATest[Test.Key] := 5;

     B := Test.ATest[Test.Key];

     WriteLn ('B=' + Int2Str(B));
   End.

 + The prompt editor will no longer erase the entire prompt if the first key
   pressed is the backspace key.  The other configuration editors will retain
   this functionality though.

 + Added a "Waiting for BUSY nodes" message to MUTIL import and export, so
   people do not kill MUTIL process thinking it locked up while its waiting.

 + MPLC now has many new compiling options.  -ALL now compiles all files in
   the current directory AND ALL SUBDIRECTORIES.  New options are:

     MPLC [path/file] Compile one script [path/file]
     MPLC -ALL        Compile all scripts in current directory and subdirs
     MPLC -C          Compile all scripts in current directory
     MPLC -P [path]   Compile all scripts in [path]
     MPLC -R [path]   Compile all scripts in [path] and its subdirectories

 ! Fixed a bug that could cause MIDE to lock up when including files.

 + MIDE and MPLC now only update the screen status every 10% when compiling
   a while, instead of every 1%.  The scaled back update makes compilation
   more than twice as fast on my system.  Big win!

 + MPLC will now track all encountered errors during compilation, and will
   print an error summary to the screen after all files have been processed.

 + If the first word in a MPL source file is "library", MIDE and MPLC will not
   compile the source file and instead will report an immediate "success". This
   can be used so that if you create an include library, it will only be
   compiled when its included by a program, and not as a stand-alone MPS file
   when encountered by MPLC.