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News archive for ARSC

News

2005/11/22
ARSC 3.1 RC 1 released.
Due to stability issues some users reported with the latest releases, I decided to make available a new release candidate of ARSC, which features 2 new mechanisms that hopefully increase stability significantly: another invisible frame was added which updates the user's ping value, thus this is no longer done by the userlist frame, which seemed to be one of the sources of trouble. The other change is that now users are not kicked - they only get flagged as idle, allowing for late pings to reactivate a user. Idle users can be replaced if one logs in from the same IP, or, with idle registered users, if one provides the correct password for that idle user. This way, users won't get kicked if a ping update comes in too late, and on the other hand they can not clog the chat, because they can be replaced.

Please download this version and give it a try, and report stability issues!

Download here: ARSC 3.1 RC 1 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the installation instructions.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/04/25
ARSC 3.0.2 RC 2 released.
The third update to the stable 3.0 branch has been released. This is a release candidate which is expected to be very stable. Everybody is strongly encouraged to update to this version. Stability and performance were again notedly improved. A basic refresh version without any JavaScript was added. A version which utilizes XMLHttpRequest was added. Greek, Spanish, French, Portuguese(Brazil), Jugoslovenski and Dutch language files were added. Two non-critical bugs were fixed. A basic documentation was added.

You can NOT update from 3.0 or 3.0.1 or 3.0.2 RC 1 to 3.0.2 RC 2 by simply copying over the files! You have to install from scratch!

Download here: ARSC 3.0.2 RC 2 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the installation instructions.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/07/13
Wiki had to be removed.
Man, the Internet has changed... I had to remove the ARSC Wiki, it was full of Spam lately.

2005/05/15
ARSC now has a Wiki!
I've set up a Wiki for ARSC, including a Frequently Asked Questions section and a first draft of a User Guide. Feel free to add your own questions, answers, hints, ideas and HOWTO's!

2005/04/13
ARSC 3.0.2 RC 1 released.
The second update to the stable 3.0 branch has been released. This is a release candidate. The focus of this new version is on improved stability and performance, as a chat session with a lot of users some weeks ago showed that there are some issues which causes user to get falsely kicked from the chat.

You can NOT update from 3.0 or 3.0.1 to 3.0.2 RC 1 by simply copying over the files! You have to re-install the database tables!

The new features of this release are:

Dropped auto-logout functionality from browser_push version in order to improve stability,
fixed a bug that prevented httpd processes from correctly terminating,
Switched from microtime (bigint) values to primary key for message index.

Download here: ARSC 3.0.2 RC 1 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/02/21
ARSC 3.0.1 released.
The first update to the stable 3.0 branch has been released!

It is possible to update from 3.0 to 3.0.1 by simply copying over the files, no need to re-install the database tables. But don't forget to put the correct DB connection values back into config.inc.php!

The new features of this release are:

Added dereferer for URLs posted into the chat, in order to avoid session theft (sent in by Henry Heintzmann),
Added support for special chars in room names (sent in by Henry Heintzmann),
Added better color selection HTML (sent in by Henry Heintzmann),
Added bosnian language file (by Amel Hankic),
browser_push version now uses less bandwith (sent in by Zach Bates),
Added support for quick re-login of registered users, if a session did not time out correctly

Download here: ARSC 3.0.1 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/01/18
ARSC 3.0 released.
Finally, the final version of ARSC 3.0 has been released!
The new features of this release are:

Bug #1100688 was fixed (string returned by the sha1() wrapper function for pre-4.3.0 PHP installations is too long),
Fixed wrong function call in add_user admin script,
Added turkish language file

Download here: ARSC 3.0 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/01/08
ARSC 3.0 Release Candidate 1 released.
The first release candidate of the new 3.x branch of ARSC has been released!
The new features of this release are:

Added refresh link to queue frame,
Added auto-install feature to install script,
Install script now detects if ARSC is already installed,
Fixed double-posting of user enter note in browser_socket version,
Added GNU GPL license

This is a release candidate. If no bugs are found, it will be released as the stable 3.0 version.

Download here: ARSC 3.0 RC 1 download page.

Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2005/01/06
On Many-to-Many, Clay Shirky blogged about the betatest of ARSC 3.0, with focus on the InRoomChat features. He also has some feature suggestions like a scroll speed setting and an Atom feed of the chat messages. The latter is quite easy to do using the post-processing filter, and will probably be included in ARSC 3.0 or 3.1.

2004/12/30
ARSC 3.0 Beta 2 released.
The second beta version of the new 3.x branch of ARSC has been released!
Among the new features of this release are:

Many smaller bugfixes and code-cleanups,
Compatible with safe_mode = On,
Compatible with older PHP versions (before 4.3.0, by providing a wrapper for the missing sha1() function),
Compatible with PHP 5,
Re-Introduced socket server,
Re-Introduced text-browser compatible version,
Refined installation script,
Better moderation system with two-leveled message queue,
Ships with additional room 'InRoomChat' and 'Display' user, which allows for a fast and easy setup of a digital backchannel,
Preferred language is autodetected if provided by the browser

As this release of the 3.x branch includes all features of the 2.x branch (and more), it is now the official stable release. Please do not use version 2.3 any longer without good reasons, and please send in language files, patches, bug reports, feature requests etc. for the 3.x branch only!

Download here: ARSC 3.0 Beta 2 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2004/12/07
On ARSC as a social tool / In-Room Chat.
Behind the scenes, ARSC is evolving into a social tool, especially by using it as an "In-Room Chat", providing a digital backchannel on conferences, in class rooms, at meetings etc.

Read this very interesting article by David S. Isenberg: At WTF, and some other meetings I have helped organize, we use a publicly viewable screen that everybody with a WiFi PC can post to. It keeps the distracting hand-waving to a minimum, and creates a direct route to information, e.g., "This link (book, person, idea) is really important to the topic at hand). Manuel Kiessling (with the help of Greg Elin and others) have done the software, now in Release 3.0 to make this possible. My hat is off to them -- it is a magnificent, easy to use, machine-independent tool that has an immediate beneficial effect on meetings that use it. It is the best back-channel I've used. And I am proud I had a small role in helping out.

2004/12/02
ARSC 3.0 Beta 1 released.
Regarding features and stability, it's a big leap from the ARSC 2.x branch to ARSC 3.0. Among the new features are:

Many, many bug fixes,
Compatibility with register_globals = off,
Extensive security tests on all user submitted data,
Moderated rooms,
Private user rooms,
Freely designable layouts for individual rooms and even for individual users,
ID-Cards with guestbooks for registered users,
and many more!

The development of ARSC 3.0 has now switched from alpha to beta state. The new version, 3.0 Beta 1, is well tested, and there are no known critical bugs.

Download here: ARSC 3.0 Beta 1 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the complete list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3.0 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2004/11/06
Wer schon immer mal wissen wollte, wie ein Chat wie ARSC ohne Meta-Refresh auskommt, hier ist eine ganz kurze Erklärung, wie ARSC funktioniert.

2004/08/29
ARSC 3.0 Alpha 2 released. After a way too long time, I have begun coding ARSC again.

Everybody who is into adventures is invited to take part in testing ARSC 3 by downloading the second alpha release.

Download here: ARSC 3.0 Alpha 2 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

Read the INSTALL file.

See the list of changes (CHANGELOG).

Try the demo installation.

If you need help, ask your questions here: ARSC Help Forum

Discuss the new release and the future of ARSC 3 here: ARSC Open Discussion Forum

2003/03/18
Happy Birthday ARSC! Exactly 2 years ago I released the very first version of ARSC.

2003/02/28
ARSC 2.3 released. The next stable version of ARSC, 2.3, is finished. There are no new features included in this version, but a serious bug that stopped the socket server from responding if connected by a client that sends no data was addressed and fixed.

Everybody is stronlgy encouraged to update to the new version immediately!

Download here: ARSC 2.3 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

If you installed ARSC 2.2 lately, then you can update to ARSC 2.3 by simply copying the files over (you have to change the config.inc.php file anew!), without the need to reinstall the database.

2003/02/24
ARSC 2.2 released. The next stable version of ARSC, 2.2, is finished. There are no new features included in this version, but some serious bugs and minor flaws were addressed and fixed. Everybody is stronlgy encouraged to update to the new version immediately!

Download here: ARSC 2.2 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

If you installed ARSC 2.1 lately, then you can update to ARSC 2.2 by simply copying the files over (you have to change the config.inc.php file anew!), without the need to reinstall the database.

2003/02/18
Patch for ARSC 2.1 released Due to a bug that could stop the socket server of ARSC from responding, a patch was relased to fix this issue. It patches ARSC 2.1 to version 2.1p1 (which will be released as a standalone version too soon). Everyone using the socket server of ARSC should apply this patch as soon as possible!
The patch can be downloaded here: Patch 2.1 to 2.1p1.

2003/01/17
New language files: Indonesia and Basa Sunda Ahmad Syukron Surur <as_surur@upi.edu> and Dedi Marhenda <demarda@hotmail.com> have translated the language file for ARSC 2.0 and 2.1 into Indonesia and Basa Sunda. Thanks a lot guys!
They can be downloaded here: Language files download page.
There you will also find a fixed version of the dutch language file for ARSC 2.0 and 2.1 - the one that shipped with the release of ARSC had a bug.

2002/12/30
Mr Clay Shirky wrote a very interesting article about In-Room Chats as a Social Tool. The chat used in the described session is... ARSC!

2002/12/02
Thank you Mr James West from Minneapolis, for sending me Citizen Kane on DVD from my Amazon.com wishlist. I don't have your eMail address, thus this is the only way to tell you that this really made my day!

2002/11/05
ARSC 2.1 released. The next stable version of ARSC, 2.1, is finished. Here is a list of the new features:

Added '/rip *' and '/unrip *'
Optimized admin page and parameter storage format
Added update script for switching from 2.0 to 2.1

Download here: ARSC 2.1 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

If you installed ARSC 2.0 lately, then you can update to ARSC 2.1 without the need of a complete fresh install. Read how to update here.

2002/11/01
ARSC 2.0 released. The next stable version of ARSC, 2.0, is finished. Here is a list of some of the new features:

Fixed 'broken language selection' bug
Added 'change password' page
Added individual user colors
Added lock chat feature
Updated socket server to work with PHP 4.2.3
Added administration page (no more need to edit files for configuration)

See the full list of changes.
Download here: ARSC 2.0 download page.
Please report bugs in this version on this page: ARSC Bugtracker

2002/10/01
Greek language file available <dkoptsis at otenet dot gr> has translated the ARSC language file into greek. This file will work with versions 1.0, 1.0.1 and 1.0.1p1 of ARSC. You can download it from the additional language files directory on my server, or from the SourceForge downloads page.

2002/08/15
Getting strange behaviour with ARSC using PHP 4.2.0. Some ARSC users reported this behaviour of ARSC after a fresh install: After entering an username and starting the chat, you get thrown back to home.php with 'arsc_error=noname' appended to the URL. The problem occurs because in PHP 4.2.0, 'register_globals' has defaulted to 'off'. To fix this, change 'register_globals' to 'on' in your php.ini. You can find more information about 'register_globals' on the PHP Manual page for Register Globals. The solution was found by jeroside at hotmail dot com.

2002/07/22
Over 10.000 ARSC downloads! As you can see on the SourceForge download page of ARSC, we just reached 10.000 downloads!

2002/07/09
2 new language files: Czech and Slovak. Mario Hroš <megasoft dot trinec at seznam dot cz> has translated the ARSC language file into czech, and Radovan Dacej <dacej at luca dot sk> translated it into slovak. Both files are working with version 1.0, 1.0.1 and 1.0.1p1 of ARSC. You can download them from the additional language files directory on my server, or from the SourceForge downloads page.

2002/05/29
'Inofficial' new release. Alexander Komarov <akom at usa dot net> added some nice features to the 1.0.1 release of ARSC. This is what he added/changed:

User selectable text colors
Idle times displayed in the userlist
Actually show the earlier conversation when a new user (re)joins. (I only modified push_js version for this)
Some minor tweaks, like fixing the table schema (int vs bigint, etc)

Unfortunately, my time currently doesn't allow me to check his code and create an 'official' release from it - nevertheless I want to provide his code here for download. So if his enhancements sound interesting to you, go to the download section to find a link to his release.

2002/03/19
New version with fixed security hole. Today I released version 1.0.1p1 of ARSC where the path disclosure vulnerability reported by Ahmet Sabri Alper in his advisory is fixed. Please do not download version 1.0.1 but 1.0.1pl1 instead! See the download section for the appropriate links to the downloadable files.

2002/03/18
Happy Birthday ARSC! 18 March 2001 I released the very first version (0.1) of ARSC.

2002/03/15
Please read carefully! Ahmet Sabri Alper from Olympos Security found a bug with security impact in the current ARSC release. Prior versions may be affected too. Please read his full advisory. I am currently working on release 1.0.1p1 where this bug will be fixed.

2002/03/11
The hungarian translation for the actual ARSC release is now available. Many thanks to Barthazi Andras! Visit the download section to get the files.

2002/02/15
If you look right, you see The Shoutbox - just enter something into the textfield, hit the '>' button, and your text will appear on this page immediately.

2002/02/14
The guys from NextGadget.com have donated me the book XSLT Programmer's Reference 2nd Edition for developing a live support chat solution based on ARSC for their eCommerce portal. The live support tool will be online within the next weeks. Many thanks especially to David Feinberg for a really nice and friendly cooperation. If anybody would take this as a hint, I do write invoices for ARSC consultancy so you can avoid taxes or sort of. You may also have a look at my wishlist at Amazon.de. Donations are a great way to express your gratitude for my software. And if you're using it commercially you're saving yourself huge amounts of money! Just remember that :-)

2002/01/31
We have set up a general mailing list. If you have any questions, ideas or comments, please send an eMail to arsc-help@lists.sourceforge.net.
Marco Morais from Portugal joined the development. Welcome to the team ;-). Nevertheless, more help is still welcome.

2002/01/10
HELP WANTED: This project is looking for Developer(s).

2002/01/08
Added a paragraph about my wishlist.

2002/01/08
Added a link to the list of sites that already use ARSC (this page will take some time to load!).

2001/12/30
Released three new language files: Dutch, Turkish and Italian. Download them from SourceForge.net or from this server.

2001/12/30
Released version 1.0.1 that contains three new languages (French, Espanol, Portuguese-Brazil) and a minor bugfix. Download it from SourceForge.net or from this server.
Added a local download mirror.
Added logos/buttons one can include on his homepage if using ARSC.

2001/12/28
Added the rate form of HotScripts.com.
Added the final logo.

2001/12/27
A first impression of a possible logo is available.

2001/12/14
New language files: French and Portuguese-Brazil.

2001/12/08
Release of the stable version 1.0

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Last update of this page: $Date: 2005-12-13 14:26:04 $ by Manuel

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