Dawn
E-Mail address manager for UNIX
Version 4.0 Beta 1, March 15 1998

1. What This Program Does: 

This program converts an ASCII list of E-Mail addresses with 
Nicknames or without, to the Netscape format address book and 
back. It can also sort adresses by E-Mail address or by 
Nickname. In short, it's an E-Mail address manager 

This version of Dawn, 4.0, that is, is designed to work with 
Netscape Communicator version 4.0x and Netscape Navigator 3.x 
in i386 Linux and Sun release 4.1.

2. Origins of this program: 
The idea for this program was conceived in winter of 1996. 
The first beta of Nacwonaf, as it was then called, came out in 
March. 1.0 never found its way to the final version. The idea 
of calling it Dawn came with growth of this program. Now that 
this program will not just be for Netscape and not just convert
addresses, it needed a new name. I have this E-Mail address 
manager named Dawn E. Underwood. Perfect, I thought! With his 
permission, Dawn 3.0 was born. With the development of 4.0, 
Dawn UNIX began its existance.

3. How to Use This Program 
I tried to make usage of this program as easy as possible. 
Nevertheless, I recommend you read these notes. 

3.1. System Requirements 

     Linux 2.0.27 on a Pentium (probably any Linux with ELF capability)
     Whatever the requirements are for Netscape 4.0 and/or 3.0 
     Netscape Communicator 4.x (nonbeta) or Navigator 3.x
     Around 40 disk space to download (Less after installation) 

3.2. Installation 
This section describes how to install Dawn. You do not need to be root.

3.2.1. Downloading 
Since you are reading this file, you have downloaded Dawn already.

3.2.2. Uncompressing
Simply use tar (and gzip) to unzip the archive. (something like "tar 
xvzf dawn-linux-4.0b1.tar.gz". A directory called "dawn" 
will be created if it doesn't already exist in the directory 
you are uncompressing from.

3.2.3. Installing
That's it, you can run the program right here and now!

3.3. Starting the program
To start, just type "dawn"

3.4. What to do after starting the program 
This section describes sorting, saving files, etc. 

3.4.1. Converting addresses 
3.4.1.1. Regular Convert
You can open a file in either text format or Netscape (3.x or 4.x) 
format. Dawn will guess what format the file is in by looking 
at the extention. More about that later. It will look the same 
on your screen in all cases. Then you can save the file in any 
of these formats once again. In the meantime, you can sort and 
perform other actions. If you wish to learn more about 
converting, read the menu descriptions below. 

3.4.1.2. Extraction
If you have a regular file that has some addresses that you 
want to extract, you can do that. Rename your file so that the 
last four letters of its name are ".xtr" then open it in Dawn. 
Dawn will search through the file for "@" characters and assume 
that the text around it is an E-Mail address. Since Dawn has no 
way of knowing what the name or nickname is, Dawn assigns the 
address as the nickname as well. You can now save the file into 
any format and work with it as usual.

3.4.2. Edit Mode 
Unfortunately, in Dawn's present interface, you cannot delete, 
edit, or cut text (yet). An Edit Mode is not implemented in the 
UNIX version. Therefore, you will have to do all your editing 
in your mail program or a text editor such as vi.

3.4.3. Menus
The menu system in Dawn is rather primitive. The menu is 
displayed at all times and you access its items by typing in 
the letter in parentheses near each item and pressing <ENTER> 
or <RETURN>. If you type in an invalid letter, nothing will 
happen and you will not be notified.

     Open - Displays a textfile or Netscape file, or extracts addresses from 
      a file. If the extention of the file is .htm or .html, a Netscape 3.x 
      format is assumed. If the extention is .ldif, a Netscape 4.x format is 
      assumed. If the extention is .xtr, it is assumed that a user wishes to 
      perform an extraction. Otherwise, a textfile with addresses one per 
      line is assumed. You don't see any list of files, so you must know what 
      file to open. A nonexistant file will give you an error.
     Save - Saves. If the extention of the file is .htm or .html, a 
      Netscape 3.x format is assumed. If the extention is .ldif, a 
      Netscape 4.x format is assumed. Otherwise, a textfile with addresses 
      one per line is assumed. You don't see any list of files, so you must 
      know what file to save to. An existing file will be overwritten without 
      permission
     Exit - exits, asking you if to save. 
     Sort by NickNames - Puts addresses in alphabetical order by Nicknames 
     Sort by E-Mail Addresses - Alphabetizes by E-Mail address

3.4.4. Quitting the program
Type X or x to exit.

3.5. How to get the converted file into Netscape or Internet Explorer
You have two options. Netscape 3.x format and 4.xx. If you have 
Netscape communicator 4.xx,you may use either format, although the
the one especially for Netscape 4 is more reliable. 
3.5.1. That done and over with, type in S to save.  
3.5.2. Open Netscape Communicator 4.x or Navigator 3.x.
3.5.3. Select "Address Book" from the Communicator menu in 4.x or 
       from the Window menu in 3.x. 
3.5.4. Select "Import" from the File menu 
3.5.5. Choose the ldif (Netscape 4.x) or html (Netscape 3.x or 4.x) 
       file name you saved the coverted address book under and click "ok" 
3.5.6. Enjoy! 

3.6. Getting Netscape and Internet Explorer addressbooks to open in Dawn 
You need to open the addressbook in Netscape and click 
File | Save As and save it as any .ldif (for Netscape 4.x) or .html 
(for Netscape 3.x) file you want. Then you can open the file in Dawn. 

3.7. Sorting addresses 
You may sort addresses either by Nickname or by address. Just select 
the appropriate item in the menu. 

4. What's New 
This is the first release of Dawn for UNIX

4.1. What's new since Dawn 3.1 for Windows
     A new extraction algorithm was added.

5. Known issues, problems, bugs, limitations, and workarounds
You are welcome to report bugs by E-Mail at zakharin@voicenet.com 

	The interface is very primitive. It relies onb Key Presses.
	There is no way to tell Dawn what format a file is in other than the extension.
		Be sure to change the extention of a file you want to extract from to .xtr
	If you open a file that is not of the format in the extention, you may receive a Segmentation Fault
	If you type in an invalid command, nothing happens
	Very few errors are trapped
		Report any errors to zakharin@voicenet.com
	The limit for any files handled by Dawn is 32000 characters (really 31998)
	The limit for all the addresses combined and for all the nicknames combined (including the separators) is 16000 characters each (about 12000 excluding the separators)
	The limit must not be exceded during any operation
		For Netscaoe 4.x, each entry is about 140 characters plus the text of the entry
	If the limit is exceeded, unpredictable things may happen
	You must be sure to have an empty line in the end of all files fed into Dawn.
	Internet Explorer format is not supported
		There is no Internet Explorer for the version of UNIX I work in.
	Netscape 3.x files and directions were not tested in UNIX
	There is no help other than this file
		Read this file carefully: It probably has everything you need.

5.1. Error Messages
Few errors in Dawn are presently trapped. These will not cause 
Dawn to quit. If the reason for a message is
not found below, refer to the bug report address above. The 
only error type trapped at present is the File handling group 
of errors. A brief Error Message will be provided and you will 
be given a chance to type in another filename. You can also 
quit by pressing Ctrl+C (or the break key combination set for 
your system). The following is a list. The question Mark (?) 
means the message will not show up as shown and it is not 
known how it will sow up:

File is Busy (?)        - The file you are trying to write to is currently being executed
Bad Address             - The file points outside your accessible address space
Permission Denied       - Access or Execute for the file is not allowed
Filename too long       - The name you typed in was too long
Not a directory         - A directory in the path you typed is really a file
Not Enough Space        - Dawn ran out of available memory
Read-only file system   - The filesystem you are trying to save a fike to is Read Only
Link Loop (?)           - The path you typed in has a symbolic link loop referring back to itself
No space left on device - A file could not be saved. The disk is full

There may be cases of untrapped errors which cause the program 
to quit, or worse yet, to hang. If that happens, refer to the 
bug-report address above. The best way to get rid of Dawn when 
it's hanged is to press Ctrl+C or your machines Break sequence 
or to kill its process.

6. Upcoming features
Many improvements in security and stability will have to be made 
before Dawn is released as version 4.0. Additionally, 
UNIX-speciffic program format support, as well as Internet Explorer 
and some Windows Programs' format support will be added. Some 
interface improvements are going to be made. A better online help 
will be provided and the code will be released under the FSF GNU GPL 
(Free Software Foundation GNU General Public License).

7. Other services by me 
For more information, E-Mail zakharin@voicenet.com or visit my 
homepage at http://www.voicenet.com/~zakharin 
7.1. QLML 
The Quantum Leap Mailing List is a mailing list dedicated to 
bringing you information about Quantum Leap the TV show. To 
subscribe, go to my homepage.

7.2 Other Programs
Execute the file sphere in this package to see a listing.

8. Terms of this software 
Future versions of Dawn for UNIX with source code will be released 
under the FSF GNU GPL (Free Software Foundation GNU General Public 
License). For now, this program is still free, but I would 
appreciate it if you would send something to me, like a comment, 
at zakharin@voicenet.com. Copyright 1996 - 1998 Boris Zakharin all 
rights reserved. 

End Of File. 
