README
1WHAT IS COOLMAIL?
2
3This is.
4
5Coolmail is like xbiff -- it watches your inbox mail file
6and lets you know when you have mail. But unlike xbiff, it can launch
7your favorite mail utility when you click on it, and it has cool
8animated 3D graphics.
9
10I hope you like it.
11
12------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13
14BUILDING COOLMAIL
15
16is easy. Type:
17
18 make - to build coolmail.
19 make install - to install coolmail executable and man page.
20
21The BINDIR and MANDIR are defined in the Makefile, and are set to
22point to /usr/local areas. Most users will have to either change
23these, or become root before typing `make install'. Please see the
24Makefile for further documentation on this.
25
26Support for digitized sound is optional. By default, it is included.
27However, if you don't want this, or if your machine doesn't have a
28/dev/audio device, or if you get errors from make complaining about
29audio.c, you can remove this feature by commenting out the two lines
30near the top of the Makefile which define AUDIO and AUDIO_MODULE.
31
32PROBLEMS
33
34If you can run make with no errors, you can skip this section. If you
35have problems getting coolmail built with the options you want, please
36read on for some possibly helpful things to check.
37
38The environment variable CC must be defined to be an ANSI C compiler.
39You can define it before running make, or you can add a
40"CC=mycompiler" line to the makefile.
41
42The standard X libraries must be in the path searched by your linker.
43If they're not, find out where they are then either add the path to
44your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable, or add it to the LIB_DIRS
45macro in the Makefile.
46
47The standard X header files must be in the path searched by your
48compiler. If they're not, find out where they are then add the path
49to the INCLUDES macro in the Makefile.
50
51For example, on DEC OSF1 systems, INCLUDES in the makefile should be
52set to -I/usr/include/X11, and LIB_DIRS should be set to
53-L/usr/lib/X11. (Thanks to Alasdair Allan for this information.)
54
55If you still have problems, please send me the usual details,
56including: A description of the symptom and when it occurs, what
57compiler and OS you used, including the version numbers, and where you
58got your copy of the coolmail sources. See the section on BUG REPORTS
59AND SUGGESTIONS below for more information.
60
61------------------------------------------------------------------------------
62Usage: coolmail [options]
63
64OPTIONS:
65 -af filename Specifies an audio file (.au format) to use
66 instead of the console bell.
67
68 -e command Specifies a command (usually in quotes) which
69 is used to invoke your favorite mail-reading
70 program.
71
72 -f filename Watch filename, instead of the default mail
73 file, /var/spool/mail/<username>.
74
75 -fr n Number of frames to generate for each animation.
76 Set to an appropriate value for your machine's.
77 graphics performance. The default is 15.
78
79 -h Print some help then exit.
80
81 -int n Check mail every n seconds, instead of the
82 default, 30 seconds. Note: Xbiff fans may use
83 -update instead of -int.
84
85 -mono Monochrome mode.
86
87 -once Ring bell when new mail is first detected, but
88 not when more new mail is detected.
89
90 -v Verbose mode - Coolmail prints some information
91 on startup.
92
93 -vol n Value between 0 and 100 for the volume setting
94 for both the console bell and the audio file.
95 The default is 50.
96
97 In addition, standard X intrinsic arguments are supported.
98
99------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100
101MUCH THANKS
102
103To the following beta testers: Mark Pettit and Paul Henson.
104
105To Randall Sharpe for the sound support patch, and to Dimitrios
106P. Bouras and William K. W. Cheung who developed the audio.c module
107used by Randal.
108
109Thanks Also to the many people who provided feedback (sometimes
110including interesting source code) on previously released versions of
111coolmail, including (but not limited to): Andrew Cook, Alasdair Allan,
112Joerg Mertin, Martijn Loots, and Ami Fischman.
113
114------------------------------------------------------------------------------
115
116BUG REPORTS AND SUGGESTIONS
117
118Please send bug reports and suggestions to me, Byron C. Darrah,
119darrah@kaiwan.com. If that address bounces, try bdarr@sed.hac.com.
120
121I would especially appreciate hearing about which platforms work or
122don't work with the audio support; I personally have only SPARC/SunOS
123and x86/linux systems available to me for testing.
124
125------------------------------------------------------------------------------
126
README.changes
1coolmail - A cool mail notification utility.
2
3By Byron C. Darrah
4Created: 15-Feb-1995, Wed
5
6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7Version: 1.3 - 19-Sep-1995
8
9Changes: - Added three new features based on many requests recieved by
10 email. (Thanks again to everyone who sent feedback, even if your
11 suggestion or request still hasn't been incorporated yet.)
12
13 Coolmail can now play sound files as an alternative to ringing
14 your console bell. See the -af and -vol options in the man page.
15
16 Monochrome displays are now supported. See the -mono option
17 in the man page.
18
19 The number of animation frames generated is customizable. You
20 can adjust it to get your desired animation speed and smoothness.
21
22Files changed: Changed: Makefile, README, coolmail.c, coolmail.man, colors.c,
23 display_list.c, render1.c.
24 Added: Coolmail.ad audio.c
25-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
26Version: 1.2 - 9-Feb-1995
27
28Changes: - Added some quick enhancements based on many requests recieved by
29 email. (Thanks to everyone who sent feedback, even if your
30 suggestion or request hasn't been incorporated yet.) Namely:
31
32 Coolmail now behaves more intelligently if your mail reader doesn't
33 empty the inbox: If your inbox contains unread mail, the flag will
34 be up, and an envelope will appear. If your inbox contains old
35 mail, the flag will be down but the envelope will still be there.
36
37 I also added the -update option (an alias for -int for xbiff people)
38 and a -v option (to print verbose information that v1.1 used to
39 print but v1.2 doesn't print by default).
40
41 Make clean and make new now remove core files.
42
43 Added the "-once" command flag to optionally reduce how often
44 coolmail rings the bell.
45
46 There are many other good suggestions, but I'm short on time, so
47 they will have to wait until the next release.
48
49Files changed: Changed: Makefile, README, coolmail.c, coolmail.man
50 Added: TODO
51-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
52Version: 1.1 - 6-Jan-1995
53
54Changes: - AAAgh! I knew it! V1.0 had serious bugs. I should have tested
55 more. Fixed a bug in Makefile. Fixed bugs in X resource handling,
56 which caused coolmail to (a) sometimes lock up when spawning the
57 child, and (b) bomb if resized while the mailbox was open. Added
58 a `make install' command.
59
60Files changed: Changed: Makefile, README, coolmail.c,
61-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
62Version: 1.0 - 30-Dec-1994
63
64Changes: - Decided to place coolmail under the Gnu Public License (GPL).
65
66Files changed: Added: COPYRIGHT
67-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68Version: 0.92 - 30-Dec-1994
69
70Changes: - Coolmail can now be resized after it is started. Eg: By a user
71 using window manager operations.
72
73Files changed: Changed: coolmail.c, coolmail.man, display_list.h, render1.c,
74 render1.h, display_list.c
75-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
76Version: 0.91 - 10-Dec-1994
77
78Changes: - Coolmail uses X resource manager to set the mail command and
79 inbox if available. The resources coolmail now understands
80 are: geometry, inbox, and mailCommand.
81 - Clicking coolmail while your mail app. is open causes coolmail
82 to check your inbox and raise/lower flag without waiting for
83 the next interval.
84 - Further improved animation by rendevouzing the completion
85 of animation with launching of the mail command.
86 - The images are now scaled to the initial window geometry
87 instead of always the same size.
88
89Files changed: Changed: display_list.c, display_list.h, render1.c
90 Added: coolmail.man
91-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
92Version: 0.9 - 19-Oct-1994
93
94Changes: - Coolmail now watches the inbox even while visiting your mail
95 utility.
96 - The mailbox "post" is now (properly) wood colored.
97 - Smoother animation due to XFlush now being used with every
98 window refresh.
99 - No more zombie processes under Linux
100 - Added this README.changes file.
101 - Wrote a new README file.
102 - Changed makefile.X11 to Makefile so now you simply type "make"
103 to build coolmail.
104 - Makefile no longer assumes you use gcc but uses CC from your
105 environment.
106
107Files changed: Deleted: makefile.X11 (changed to Makefile)
108 Added: README.changes, Makefile
109 Changed: coolmail.c, render1.h, display_list.c, colors.c
110-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
111