[spambayes-dev] 1.1a1 release candidate for testing

[Tony Meyer]

[Tony Meyer]
> I'm planning to write up a little intro to 1.1a1 (explaining 
> what sort of things would be good to test, how to try out 
> certain new features, etc) in the next couple of days
[...]

A draft of this is attached.  If anyone has the time, it'd be great to get
feedback.

For example:

  * Are there new features etc that I've missed that should also be
included?

  * Are there any features I've included that aren't really important enough
to be in there?

  * Could it be worded better?  I'd like it to be as straightforward as
possible, for the Outlook users <0.5 wink>.

  * What should I call this file, and how should I draw people's attention
to it?  Is putting it in the installer too rude?  (It would be gone by 1.1
final, obviously).

Thanks!

=Tony.Meyer
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The 1.1 release includes a great many changes from the 1.0.x releases.  We
would appreciate users testing as many of these changes as possible, and
reporting the results back to spambayes at python.org (either success or any
problems).  Please be as detailed as possible when reporting problems,
including detailing any error messages and attaching any log files.

Storage Types:
    New database backends (other than the pickle and bsddb options
    available in 1.0.x) are now available, including one using ZODB.
    In addition, Outlook users are now able to select database backends
    other than bsddb.  We would be very interested in hearing from anyone
    (Outlook or sb_server or sb_imapfilter, or any others) willing to try
    the ZODB storage type out.

    To do this with sb_server or sb_imapfilter, you will need to change
    the name of your database files on the main Configuration page, then
    change the type of storage on the Advanced Configuration page.  You
    may get an error at this point - to fix that, stop
    sb_server/sb_imapfilter, manually remove the database files with the
    new names, and restart sb_server/sb_imapfilter.  (This bug will be
    fixed in a future release).

    To do this with Outlook, you need to open (or create) your
    default_bayes_customize.ini file, and put in it the lines:
        [Storage]
        persistent_use_database:zodb

    If you want to convert your existing database, you will need the
    source release and Python, and can use the sb_dbexpimp.py script as
    follows (replace "default_bayes_database.db" with "hammie.db" for
    non-Outlook users):
        sb_dbexpimp.py -e -d default_bayes_database.db -f bayes.csv
        sb_dbexpimp.py -i -f bayes.csv
            -o Storage:persistent_use_database:zodb
            -o Storage:persistent_storage_file:default_bayes_database.fs
    (The second command has been wrapped, but should be entered as one
    long line).  You will also have a CSV version of the database that you
    can safely remove.

Translations:
    If you speak Spanish or French, please try out the translated
    interface, and let us know if there are any problems. This should
    automatically switch to the right language if you are using Windows
    and have the OS language set to French/Spanish; otherwise you can
    manually change the language in your conifguration file - sb_server
    and sb_imapfilter users can find the option on the Advanced
    Configuration page, while Outlook users will have to manually edit
    (or create) their default_bayes_customize.ini file and add in the
    lines, for example:
        [globals]
        language:fr_FR,es_AR

Statistics:
    The statistics have been significantly improved for both Outlook
    and web interface users.  If you could keep and eye on the
    statistics and let us know if there are any problems, or if you
    have any ideas about how the statistics could be further improved,
    that would be great.

Outlook:
    We would appreciate reports about the new notifications tab -
    both whether it works as you expect, and any improvement ideas
    you might have.

    We would appreciate reports about the new ability to move mail
    classified as ham.  In particular, we hope that this will provide
    a solution for those people that need to have rules run *after*
    SpamBayes (copying messages to a remote device, for example).
    You should now be able to have ham moved to a "Ham" folder, and
    have Outlook process rules on messages arriving in that folder.
    We would appreciate knowing whether this does help as expected.

sb_server:
    You should now be able to use POP over SSL (for half of the
    connection), removing any requirement to use tools like stunnel.
    If your mail server supports POP over SSL, it would be great if
    you could test this out (and you get more secure mail as an
    added bonus).  To do this:
        In the web Configuration page, set SpamBayes to connect
          to port 995 of your mail server (e.g. instead of
          'mail.example.com' in the "Remote Servers" option, you
          have 'mail.example.com:995').
        Manually add these lines to your configuration file:
            [pop3proxy]
            use_ssl:automatic
        Restart sb_server.

    If you use the Windows service, it would be great if you could
    do a fresh install of the service, and let us know if the new
    procedures (outlined in the "What's New" document) work better
    for you than the old.

sb_imapfilter:
    If you are a Windows user, you can now use the binary to install
    sb_imapfilter.  If you experience any trouble with the binary
    version, please let us know.

    sb_imapfilter should do a much better job of keeping track of
    messages, and should not need to create nearly as many copies
    of messages.  It should seemlessly work with your old database,
    and not retrain any already-trained messages, or reclassify
    any already-classified messages.  Please let us know if it does
    do this, or if you have any other troubles with it.
    
    If your IMAP server supports logging in with AUTH CRAM-MD5, then
    sb_imapfilter will now attempt to do this.  Reports of success or
    failure of this would be appreciated.