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Awasu Personal Edition Changelog

What's new in Awasu Personal Edition 3.3 RC1

Nov 29, 2022
  • This is a maintenance release, with mostly bug fixes and performance improvements, and since it's been a while since the last release, the support period for the paid versions has been extended. So, if you purchased (or renewed to) version 3.2, you'll be eligible for this version.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.2 (Apr 26, 2018)

  • This release is faster, slicker and just damn prettier than ever before, with numerous improvements, in particular, to the search engine

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.2 RC1 (Mar 12, 2018)

  • The Personal Edition can now subscribe to SSL feeds.
  • Worked around a problem that was stopping the help file from showing in Awasu Admin.
  • Forced unused disk space to be reclaimed after optimizing the archive database.
  • Improved how Awasu downloads images from web sites that prevent hot-linking.
  • Added work-arounds for running under Wine on Linux.
  • Fixed some memory leaks.
  • Fixed a possible crash.
  • Updated the installer for 3.2.
  • Minor UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.2 RC1 (Mar 12, 2018)

  • The Personal Edition can now subscribe to SSL feeds.
  • Worked around a problem that was stopping the help file from showing in Awasu Admin.
  • Forced unused disk space to be reclaimed after optimizing the archive database.
  • Improved how Awasu downloads images from web sites that prevent hot-linking.
  • Added work-arounds for running under Wine on Linux.
  • Fixed some memory leaks.
  • Fixed a possible crash.
  • Updated the installer for 3.2.
  • Minor UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.1.1 Beta (Jan 18, 2018)

  • Search engine improvements:
  • Added an option to update the search index only when Awasu is idle.
  • Search results can now be filtered by their read/unread state.
  • Add state:read or state:unread to the query string.
  • Optimized how the search index gets updated.
  • Optimized post-processing of search results.
  • Search channels now defer updating until after the search index has been updated.
  • Made the "update all channels" processing smarter about how it handles search channels.
  • Improved UI responsiveness when adding, updating or deleting search agents when Awasu is under load.
  • Fixed pagination of search results.
  • Fixed the links to move backwards and forwards through search results when the search query contains special characters.
  • Fixed a crash if searches are run in rapid succession.
  • Fixed a possible crash if a search was run while the search index was being updated.
  • Shutdown improvements:
  • Numerous optimizations to the shutdown process, to make it quicker and more responsive.
  • Fixed several possible crashes during shutdown.
  • Minor changes and bug fixes:
  • Optimized how long it takes to close the Program Options dialog and process any changes.
  • Stopped the archive database files from becoming too large.
  • Added a menu item to re-open the last channel.
  • Added a menu item to the Downloaded Files window's context menu to hide all files for a channel.
  • Show the correct number of files queued for download.
  • Only do auto-discovery in the New Channel Wizard for downloaded feeds.
  • This fixes the problem of a "do you want to run this program" dialog coming up if a plugin channel generates an invalid feed.
  • Set the "last run" time correctly when a report is run.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping links from being dragged in from Internet Explorer.
  • Fixed a problem that was causing internal house-keeping processes to finish early.
  • Updated the $/feedItems/get API call to return item states.
  • Allowed the number of search results returned by $/search/query to be limited.
  • Updated the $/channels/get API call to allow how the generated page should be encoded.
  • Replaced {%ITEM-METADATA% awasuId} in the templates with {%ITEM-ID%}.
  • Allow a custom template to be specified in a call to $/channels/get (in the POST data).
  • Tightened up the check that restricts API response template files to be in the correct directory.
  • Optimized string handling.
  • Minor fixes for translated versions.
  • Minor optimizations.
  • Minor UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.4 Beta (Mar 24, 2017)

  • Minor changes and bug fixes
  • Added support for additional image types e.g. PNG.
  • Added support for MP3 sounds.
  • Web-bugs are no longer downloaded for offline reading.
  • Web-bugs are now removed from the channel summary pages.
  • Ctrl-Back and Ctrl-Delete now work in edit boxes.
  • Awasu now figures out whether to email out reports as HTML or plain-text.
  • Awasu now checks for common tags when trying to auto-detect HTML.
  • Tightened up how non-English email subjects are handled.
  • Channel summary pages are now generated synchronously by default (outside the UI).
  • Added the ability to limit the number of feed items shown in a channel summary page.
  • <nobr> and <o:p> are now shown in feed content, by default.
  • Improved how Awasu gets online via a proxy.
  • Improved how Awasu Admin detects Awasu users when logged into a domain.
  • Fixed a problem that was often stopping the Channel Wizard from successfully auto-discovering feeds.
  • Fixed a problem with auto-discovery that was stopping relative URL's from being handled properly.
  • Python now only looks in the Awasu installation directory when loading external modules.
  • Limited the size of attachments that can be emailed.
  • Fixed a problem that was storing redundant feed items in the archive database.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping Awasu from receiving API requests correctly if another copy of Awasu was already running in another session.
  • Channel images are now clickable in the channel summary pages.
  • The Tasks Pane is now updated after a channel is deleted.
  • Plain-text item titles are no longer HTML-stripped in the channel item pane.
  • The Program Options dialog now shows the number of files queued for download.
  • The Downloaded Files window now offers a "Open file location" menu item.
  • Fixed a problem with processing metadata modules for feeds that have a BOM.
  • Metadata module processing no longer logs an error for malformed feeds.
  • Awasu tries to handle malformed UTF8 better when replacing SGML entities.
  • API requests can no longer save the result in a file.
  • Removed Mozilla as an option for the embedded browser.
  • I know some of you are using this, but it uses a third-party control that hasn't been updated for years, and can no longer be considered secure. If you really, really, really want to use it, shoot me an email and I'll tell you how to turn it back on.
  • Tried to minimize the effect of a problem in reading the output generated by an external process (this typically manifested as a "the channel produced no output" error).
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping Awasu from starting automatically when Windows starts.
  • Awasu now checks if a user-defined temp file directory actually exists before trying to use it.
  • Fixed a problem with how the image download proxy is started.
  • Added a way to stop the browser from showing the XML response when submitting API requests.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping some predefined template parameters from working when generating report files, FTP upload URL's, etc.
  • The currently-selected channel filter is now always activated when closing the Organize Channel Filters dialog.
  • Tightened up how drag-and-drop is handled.
  • Show search agents in the My Searches window in their configured colors.
  • Search agents in the My Searches window now show the number of results they have.
  • Allow the number of search results show per page to be configured.
  • Fixed the search form to allow queries of unlimited length.
  • Fixed the search form to encode some special characters correctly.
  • Allow search channels to be created using a search query of unlimited length.
  • Got enclosure links in the channel summary pages working again.
  • Removed support for the awasu:// and feed:// protocols.
  • Work around malformed feeds and only use a GUID as a permalink if it is a URL.
  • Awasu Admin now only loads the current user into the UI if they have actually used Awasu.
  • Upgrades must now be done unelevated if Windows folder redirection is active for the user.
  • Fixed several possible hangs.
  • Fixed several memory leaks.
  • Fixed a problem that was sometimes stopping the Crash Reporter from displaying correctly.
  • Fixed a crash when clicking on an item in the sidebar.
  • Fixed a crash if too many channels are imported into the Personal Ediiton.
  • Fixed a crash when handling authenticated feeds.
  • Fixed a possible crash when invalid arguments are passed into a template parameter.
  • Fixed a possible crash during startup.
  • Fixed a problem that was causing Awasu and plugins to become zombies if Awasu crashes while plugins are running.
  • Fixed a possible crash caused by other applications maybe sending Awasu a rogue message.
  • Fixed a possible crash in Awasu Admin if an operation is cancelled just as it finishes.
  • Fixed a crash in Awasu Admin if an operation is done twice.
  • Miscellaneous UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.3 Beta (Mar 5, 2016)

  • Minor changes and bug fixes:
  • Stopped the embedded browser from running in compatibility mode.
  • Awasu now tries to locate an available port if the default one (2604) is unavailable.
  • Fixed issues when working with file/directory paths that contain Unicode or punctuation characters.
  • IE dialog boxes are now disabled by default.
  • Template parameters that use "time_t" encoding now return "0" if the value is 0 (instead of an empty string).
  • Disabled relative link translation for "data:" image links.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping the "unsafe content removed" indicator from being shown.
  • Downloaded enclosure URL's are now percent-decoded before generating the filename they will be saved to. Invalid characters are also now replaced.
  • Awasu API responses are now always flagged as UTF8.
  • Awasu API calls no longer return HTTP 204.
  • Tightened up how SGML entities are encoded/decoded.
  • A new "attr" encoding type is now supported for template parameters.
  • This should be used when inserting HTML/XML attributes, and forces single/double quotes to be encoded.
  • Changed some template parameters:
  • CSS-FILENAME is now CSS-URL
  • APP-BASE-DIR is now RESOURCES-URL
  • ITEM-IMAGE is now ITEM-IMAGE-URL
  • Tightened up how HTML for related links is generated.
  • Changed the way item hashes are calculated.
  • Added support for a pluggable memory allocator.
  • Fixed an error in calculating how the number of days left in a trial is shown.
  • Restricted the characters allowed in the Awasu API token.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping windows from auto-opening at startup.
  • Error notifications are now always logged, even if notification balloons are disabled.
  • User can now be manually added to Awasu Administration.
  • Miscellaneous UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.2 Beta (Mar 26, 2015)

  • Numerous UI improvements.
  • A new email engine, that lets you use third-party services like Gmail and Hotmail.
  • Improvements in the search engine, to give better results.
  • User tools now have access to all of a feed’s metadata, making it easier to export content out, or integrate Awasu into another service.
  • Support for a new range of plugin channels and hooks.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.1 Beta (Nov 5, 2013)

  • The API has also been beefed up, and you can expect some really cool applications in coming releases that let you control your Awasu.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.1 Alpha 2 (Sep 23, 2013)

  • Awasu API:
  • New Awasu API entry points
  • $/workpads/create - creates a new workpad.
  • $/workpads/update - updates the configuration for a workpad.
  • $/workpads/delete - deletes a workpad.
  • $/logs/activity - returns the Awasu Activity log.
  • $/logs/error - returns the Awasu Error log.
  • $/userInfo - returns information about the user account Awasu is running under.
  • Other changes
  • Upgraded the Python script for accessing the Awasu API.
  • Added a PHP script for accessing the Awasu API.
  • The Awasu API now supports compressed responses.
  • Split the $/workpads/list functionality into $/workpads/list and $/workpads/get (these now work in the same way as the corresponding channel and report functions).
  • The HTML template for $/workpads/list now links to each individual workpad.
  • $/workpads/list now returns information about custom fields.
  • $/buildInfo now returns the build options (add a"verbose=1" parameter).
  • Tweaked the way $/buildInfo returns the expiry date (for expiring builds of Awasu).
  • $/channels/list now returns the number of new and unread items.
  • $/channels/list now returns the number of update errors.
  • $/channels/list now returns the channel GUID's.
  • $/stats now returns the number of channels currently updating.
  • $/reports/list now includes the flag that controls whether the report post-processing command is visible or not.
  • Awasu API arguments can now be specified in the HTTP POST data.
  • Awasu now uses a special token (generated each time it starts) in the cases where the token must be embedded in HTML (e.g. the search page).
  • The Awasu API token is now encrypted in CONFIG.INI.
  • The character # is now no longer allowed in Awasu API token.
  • Added a muppet header to the $/stats and $/reports/list XML response files.
  • The JSON response for $/channels/cleanup now has a root node.
  • The JSON response for $/search/query and $/feedItems/get now return the text type for each text field.
  • Fixed a problem with how Unicode text was being returned in JSON responses.
  • Fixed some errors in the JSON template files.
  • Changed the way Awasu responds if channel/report/workpad API's are called but no objects are selected.
  • In particular, this means that $/channels/delete id=* no longer returns an error if there are no channels.
  • Changed the way a channel's auto-update enabled flag and interval are passed in and out of the Awasu API.
  • {%BUILD-DATE%} and {%EXPIRY-DATE%} now respond to the standard timeZone=... and format=... parameters.
  • Added a new {%IS-AWASU-SERVER%} parameter to the $/buildInfo templates.
  • The Awasu API now recognizes "@" to mean the default workpad when creating reports and channels.
  • $/channels/create now expects search channel score cutoffs to be between 0 and 1.
  • HTML template files are now marked as UTF-8.
  • The Awasu API no longer returns channels that are in the process of being deleted.
  • Tweaked some Awasu API error messages.
  • Other changes:
  • User-defined metadata nodes are now stored in the archive database (not CONFIG.INI).
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping ampersands from appearing in item titles.
  • Fixed incorrectly-generated links in search results for searches done within Awasu.
  • Informational messages about enclosure downloads are no longer recorded in the Error Log.
  • Minor UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0.1 Alpha 1 (Sep 23, 2013)

  • Awasu API:
  • Completely reworked the HTTP engine for the Awasu API.
  • Added HTML templates for many API requests.
  • Added a new $/channels/errors API call.
  • Added a new $/stats call to get Awasu stats.
  • Added a new $/channels/cleanup call to get channels that are eligible for cleanup.
  • The Awasu API now supports requests for a favicon.
  • All API request parameters are now decoded correctly.
  • Fixed the handling of special characters in search queries that come in via the API.
  • Awasu no longer responds to API requests when it is shutting down.
  • Stopped API responses from being converted to UTF-8 twice.
  • The channel GUID is now included in the output for API calls $/channels/stats and $/channels/list.
  • The $/channels/list API call now returns the path to a channel hook's .HOOK file (not its script).
  • Custom fields are now included in the response for $/workpads/feed.
  • Awasu no longer exposes passwords in logs or API calls.
  • Fall back to XML format when returning an error for an unknown API request.
  • Added an HTML format for generic API responses.
  • Minor changes and bug fixes:
  • Channel error logs are now persisted across sessions.
  • Awasu now fixes up the HTML when FTP'ing or emailing reports, changing references to local resources to links that will work from a remote browser.
  • Added support for encode=href in templates (values are encoded in a way that's suitable for ).
  • Added support for {%??...%} and {%!!...} in templates (the value must be present and have a boolean value of true/false).
  • Added the ability to limit the number of items included in a report.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping negative search result filters from working.
  • Channel config files are now flushed to disk before channel hooks are invoked.
  • Channel hooks now receive the channel's home URL when being invoked.
  • Worked around a problem when there are multiple network cards with the same MAC address.
  • Awasu now sets the preferred display name when importing channels.
  • Fixed a problem where deferred search index updates could get lost if the update window ends while the update is in progress.
  • Added the MOTW to HTML and template files.
  • Worked around a UI hang when clicking on items if My Channels is set to show unread item counts and channels are showing "new items only".
  • Stopped search results from being converted to UTF-8 twice.
  • Removed the limit on search query lengths.
  • Fixed a possible crash when dragging toolbars.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping the Open channel context menu item in the Downloaded Files window from working.
  • Query parameters are now passed through to application plugins correctly.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping error-mode channels being shown, even if "always show error-mode channels" is turned on, if a folder-based filter is active.
  • The new items for a channel are cleared if the channel's summary page is requested via the API.
  • Added more info to the Awasu stats in the About box.
  • Updated the crash handler to recognize Windows 8.
  • Fixed a problem that was occasionally causing deleted channels to appear in My Channels.
  • Fixed an occasional deadlock.
  • Fixed some internationalization problems.
  • Miscellaneous optimizations.
  • Minor UI changes.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 3.0 RC1 (Jan 26, 2011)

  • Removed the Google Search application plugin.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping emails with no subject from being sent.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping non-admin users from resetting their own UI.
  • Fixed a problem that was stopping the roaming and local data directories from being opened from the About box if the current user has special characters in their account name.
  • Added Awasu Administration to the Start Menu.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.4.2 Alpha 2 (Jan 30, 2010)

  • The main additions are the ability to get channel summary pages and reports via the HTTP API, as well a web-based interface into Awasu’s search engine. The API is getting pretty extensive now – you could pretty much leave Awasu running in your server room and access it solely via a browser

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.4.2 Alpha 1 (Nov 30, 2009)

  • The change log is a little short but this is because a huge amount of work has gone into laying the ground-work for the insanely awesome new API that will let third-party programs extract information out of your Awasu, even from another computer! The next release should be out in a much shorter time and will add some cool new features on top of what’s there now and in the meantime, some really amazing plugins will be coming out soon that take advantage of the features offered by the new API.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.4.1 Alpha 3 (Jul 5, 2009)

  • The third and final 2.4.1 alpha release [?] is now available here.
  • This release finishes off the new features for user tools and send-to tools, mostly by implementing a UI so you can actually use them now It also includes the usual swag of minor enhancements and bug fixes (although not too many of the latter - we must be getting close to zero defects ).
  • Just a few more minor changes to come and that’ll be the 2.4.1 release.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.4.1 Alpha 2 (May 24, 2009)

  • This release contains a bunch of features and bug fixes requested by people over recent months, as well as the start of a big upgrade in what user tools and send-to tools can do .

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.4.1 Alpha 1 (Apr 6, 2009)

  • This release contains some cool new features that people have been asking about for a while:
  • the ability to run reports at specified times
  • the ability to automatically provide authentication details when visiting web pages that come from a password-protected feed
  • better handling of channels that are not opened for a long time

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.2.4 (Nov 20, 2006)

  • A completely revamped and improved UI.
  • Folders in the My Channels window.
  • Search channels that let you monitor the results of a search query as a feed.
  • Support for multiple workpads.
  • Print and Print preview functionality.
  • Support for the middle mouse button.
  • Numerous other optimizations, improvements and enhancements.

New in Awasu Personal Edition 2.2.3 Alpha 1 (Jun 9, 2006)

  • Optimizations
  • UI change to the status bar