Mail Drop 2.0d - by Carl W. Bell
Copyright © 1994-2000 Baylor University

For more Mail Drop information, including the non-development version (1.2d7k, yes it has a "d" in the version number, but it's not a development release), check out the main Mail Drop Web Page.

Disclaimer: This is pre-release software (not even "beta" yet) which means it very likely has bugs and may crash your computer. Use at your own risk. If you do have any problems with it, please let me know.

Here is the "current" version of Mail Drop 2.0. Keep in mind that this is an unfinished product and is missing many basic features, such as printing, saving, address books, and enclosures, so you'll probably want to keep your current e-mail application around for a while. This is being released so that adventurous folks can run it and get a feel for how things are progressing (regressing?), find and report bugs, and provide general feedback, etc.

Note: In case you haven't noticed, there hasn't been an update to Mail Drop in years. Nor will there be any time soon, if ever... Just use Mail.app.

Downloads

• Mail Drop 2.0d04 PPC version, 1.3Mb
• Mail Drop 2.0d04 68K 68K version, 1.1Mb

Notes

• Mail Drop is an IMAP4rev1 client but should work with older IMAP2 servers if there are still any out there anymore.
• Mail Drop 2.0 requires Open Transport. It will not work with MacTCP. You can now download System 7.5.x and Open Transport for free from ftp.apple.com. If there is a lot of demand for it, I may replace OpenTransport with MacTCP in the 68K version. The PPC version will remain OT only.
• Non color capable Macs, e.g., 68000 based Mac SEs, are no longer supported. Black and white (and grayscale) displays on newer Macs should work but may look bad.
• There is a lot of debugging code in the current version. You'll get a warning if you don't have a debugger, such as Macsbug, installed, but you can turn that warning off. Most errors are reported through an alert box, not debugger calls.
• Preferences files are currently saved in the same folder as Mail Drop and not the Preferences folder.
• There is no "fat" version available.
• Setting the "draft" flag on a message will cause the old version of Mail Drop (1.2) to crash when it opens the folder.

To Do

Known Bugs in 2.0d04

• When filing a message, if you expand a folder in the dialog window's list, it expands it in the "Folder List" window instead. For now, expand the list in the "Folder List" first and then file the message.

Release Notes

• Fixed bug where expanding a folder is the "File Message" dialog would expand the list in the "Folder List" window instead.
• Top portions of message windows are no longer collapsible.

• No longer warns you about closing an unsent message when you have, in fact, sent the message.
• When warning about an unsent message, the message window is brought to the front so you know which window the warning is referring to.
• Removed the extra spaces in the FETCH command.
• List of folders in "File Message" window now opens with the selected folder visible.
• Pressing cmd-D in "File Message" window toggles the "Delete original message" checkbox.
• No longer possible to enter more that 63 characters in IMAP/SMTP server fields in Servers prefs.
• SMTP server address no longer allows for multiple SMTP servers. This was an unimplemented feature that I've decided not to implement.
• Removed the IMAP Port field. Eventually, you'll be able to specify a different port in the IMAP server address field (imap.server:port) but for now, the default (143) will be used.
• You can now disable the LOGIN and CRAM-MD5 authenticators although unless there is a problem, you should leave these enabled. The authenticators will be disabled (or re-enabled) the next time you run Mail Drop.
• Fixed bug where expunging would always play the "new mail sound" if there were any recent messages in the folder.
• Put back the old "new recipient" address parsing code.
• Fixed bug where renaming a folder would update its displayed name but not its "full" name which would cause problems if you tried to open the folder before refreshing the folder list.
• Fixed bug in 68K version where the sizes of all messages in a folder window said 0K.
• Fixed bug in 68K version where Mail Drop would constantly check for new messages and flood the server with NOOPs.
• Fixed bug where some encrypted passwords in the preferences file would include a carriage return. This caused the prefs parsing code to truncate the password. Also, the password encryption algorithm has changed.
• Fixed bug where the message body pane would sometimes get hosed when printing.

• Now using imap4.7a c-client version.
• CRAM-MD5 authentication is now supported.
• Folders that are "marked" are now displayed in bold. They may or may not have new messages in them, it just depends on what the IMAP server says.
• "Delete when copying" preference is now saved.
• Modified some preference strings. Some prefs will be read in at startup, but will not be written when Mail Drop quits. (Their replacements will be written instead.) This means that some preferences will be "lost" if you revert to an older version of Mail Drop.
• Changed AppleScript property IDs. Actually, quite a bit of work was done concerning AppleScript support in Mail Drop, but it is still "under construction". I decided to postpone work AS in order to get this version out sooner. (Ha! "sooner" he says...)
• Finished Ultima IX.
• Several libraries are now weak linked. Folks should no longer get the FetchFontInfo error, etc.
• Mail Drop now saves the last preference topic viewed and displays that topic whenever the pref dialog is opened. Topic is saved between sessions as well.
• The "Exclude non-plain/text" feature works now.
• When expunging messages, the message list no longer updates for every message but only at the end.
• Message list now shows sizes in K, Mb, etc., although there is an option to show exact message sizes.
• Finished Deus Ex.
• Can now save and open messages to local files. These are text files but will be opened by Mail Drop as normal messages.
• Saving/restoring window positions and sizes is handled differently, and more memory efficiently now. This should result in a smaller preferences file. Also, window positions are references internally by name, which had a maximum size of 255 characters. There is no longer a maximum size, so folders which have a "full path" > 255 characters (unlikely, but possible) should work correctly now.
• Connections to the server are now closed when the Mac goes to sleep. This will cause folder windows to close.
• Removed the "Monaco Full" font. Mail Drop now uses Monaco as the default message font.
• Changed the "Copy Message" command to "File Message". I'm still unsure about the best terminology for this function.
• The list of messages in the folder window is now a bit more compact if a small font is chosen. Previously, the minimum height was 16, now it is 12.
• Added printing support.
• Upgraded to WASTE 2.0b2. Let me know if there are any text editing related bugs.
• No longer opens two connections to SMTP server when sending messages.
• No longer opens a connection to the IMAP server when sending a message if there has already been a connection (for the X-Authenticated header) unless the admin pref, "Cache username" is false.
• Can now redirect (bounce) messages on to other users. Mail Drop will fetch the full, non-encoded text of the current message, and place it in the body of a new message which you can address to the new recipients. You will not be able to modify the message body. If that's what you want, you should Forward it instead.
• Fixed bug in PPC version when parsing AppleSingle/AppleDouble header. You should no longer get the "missing name" error.
• Now supports old (version 1.2) address book files. This is only temporary until the new address book format is implemented. Also, these old address books are read-only.
• Fixed bug where some tables, especially recipient lists, would sometimes enable menus, e.g., Copy/Clear, even though the table was empty.
• Copy/Paste recipients to/from recipient lists and panes is now supported. Before, you had to paste the actual text into the recipient editor field.
• Added a preference to strip "Received:" header lines before inserting into the header field of incoming messages. ("Return-Path:" headers are also stripped.)
• Holding down the option key while reading a message will open it as if the "Ignore MIME encoding" option were set.

• Fixed bug where the password dialog would flash (actually it is many separate password dialogs opening up because of many connections opening... shudder) and eventually crashes when "Open Inbox at startup" preference is set but "Save password" preference is not.
• There are no longer extra characters added to the "From address" when the user specifies a custom address.
• Increased the amount of text allowed in the transcript window from 20K to 40K chars.
• Added support for IMAP's ALERT notifications.
• Removed call to LMGetKeyTime, so older systems should no longer get an InterfaceLib error message when launching Mail Drop.
• Clicking in the address list of a new message, but outside of and address now implicitly adds an address.
• Clearing the text of an address (or just not entering anything) in the recipient list now removes the (empty) address entry from the list.
• ISO-Latin-1 translation works like it did in the old version, i.e., it is really "Mac-Latin-1" or "MacMail" and not "true" ISO-8859-1.
• Added focus boxes to recipient and enclosure lists in message windows.
• Can now tab between fields in message windows.
• Long recipient addresses no longer draw outside of recipient frame.
• Mail Drop no longer sends both and IMAP CHECK and NOOP command when the user manually updates a folder but instead just sends a NOOP. To force a CHECK, hold down the option key while choosing the menu.
• Cursors, especially busy (beachball) cursors, are working better.
• Outgoing message windows are now closed when the "Close on Send" preference is set.
• Folder sort menus are now updated when folder list is sorted by clicking in the column headers.
• Fixed the X-Authenticated header.
• Sender: address is added to Reply-To: and From: addresses in the "Address reply to:" dialog. Sender address is also added to the "from" pane in incoming message windows. (Option-click to rotate thru from, reply-to, and sender. Single-click to switch between name and address.)
• Added drag and drop support to subject fields of messages.
• User idle timer is reset whenever Mail Drop handles any type of event. This avoids having folders that had previously been closed because of idle tiem, open and immediately close, when a user attempts to reopen it without moving the mouse, e.g., cmd-I or return key.
• Improved drag and drop from From: address panes.
• Added preliminary drag and drop support for recipient tables. You can drag addresses (but not text, yet) in to tables which will add them to the end.
• Changed display of recent and seen messages in the folder window. Recent and unseen messages now have the small diamond/dot icon. Recent and seen messages have a hollow diamond/dot. Unseen (but not recent) messages have a small dash. Recent messages are no longer bold because that was too hard to read.
• Disabled the "Test Window" menu.
• Fixed bug where Mail Drop would not work with IMAP mailboxes that used a delimiter other than '/', e.g., news and Cyrus-ish mailboxes.
• Better drag and drop support from inactive windows.
• Implemented part of the "New Mail To" feature that will allow user to create a new messages addresses to the selected address(es).
• Added the "Bug Report" message feature.
• Added check mark to "Send button" that appears after outgoing messages are sent.
• No longer shows the alert warning of a "null full name" when launching Mail Drop if the folder list is subscribed (which don't need a "full name/path".
• Added "Delete when copying messages" preference.
• Mail Drop now recognizes "?subject=blah" and "name=blah" when handling mailto URLs.
• Increased the minimum height of message entries in a folder window.
• Fixed bug where an extra character was sometimes included at the end of the message body when sending a message.
• Added preliminary support for arbitrary FCC:s, e.g., sent mail folders.
• Changed way of specifying a "Sent mail" folder. Instead of a folder that contains copies of every sent message, you now specify a default FCC: folder that gets added to the recipient list, which you can delete before sending if you don't want to save a copy.
• Icon in menu bar again flashes when Mail Drop sees new mail in a folder but the application is in the background.
• Dotted line that indicates deleted messages no longer covers the icons at the left of the window.
• Date column is now right justified.
• Recipient editor now goes away when you select another window.

• First development release of Mail Drop 2.0.
• This release is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Lester C. Bell.

Contact Info

-cb

Carl_Bell@baylor.edu
Carl Bell's Web Page
The Mail Drop Web Page
Stuff I've Written

Snail Mail:

Carl W. Bell
Information Technology Center
Baylor University
P.O. Box 97268
Waco, TX 76798-7268

Phone:

(254) 710-4065

The Fine Print

Baylor's Fine Print:

This software, data and/or documentation contain trade secrets and confidential information which are proprietary to Baylor University. Their use or disclosure in whole or in part without the express written permission of Baylor University is prohibited.

This software, data and/or documentation are also unpublished works protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. If these works become published, the following notice shall apply:

Copyright © 1994-2000 Baylor University
All Rights Reserved

The name of Baylor University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE, DATA AND/OR DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

When permission has been granted to make copies of this software, data and/or documentation, the above notices must be retained on all copies.

Permission is hereby granted for non-commercial use and distribution of Mail Drop.

Internal c-client code written by Mark Crispin.
Copyright © 1993 by the University of Washington.
Some portions Copyright © 1988 by The Leland Stanford Junior University
Internal Mac OS-dependent code © 1993 by Mark Crispin.
AppleSingle/AppleDouble code © 1994 by Christopher J. Newman.
WASTE text engine © 1993-1996 Marco Piovanelli
CWASTEEdit © 1996-1998 Timothy Paustian
Mercutio MDEF copyright © Ramon M. Felciano 1992-1997, All Rights Reserved.