To: info-vax@sri-kl@mc
Subject: BULLETIN

A new version of BULLETIN is now available.  BULLETIN is a bulletin program
that I wrote to use under VMS until DEC comes up with their own.  (A
description follows after the next couple of paragraphs.)  The new version
fixes the BBOARD feature, which breaks under VMS V4.0, plus a few random bugs. 
Some of the new features are: 

The command /NODE has been created to the ADD command in order to add bulletins
to other DECNET nodes.  All features of the ADD command will apply to the
bulletin added to the other DECNET nodes. (i.e. /BROADCAST, etc.)
The command /EDIT has been created to the ADD command (similar to SEND/EDIT in
MAIL). System bulletins displayed upon logging do not run off the end of screen
if they are too large.  Instead, the output is stopped at the end of the screen
and awaits a prompt. 
Bulletins written by the FILE command include a header comment (controlled
by the /HEADER qualifer).

A few minor changes:
The /BELL qualifier has been added to make it optional whether to include a bell
with a broadcasted bulletin.
A user can now enable prompting for reading non-system bulletins by using
the SET READNEW command rather than adding a BULLETIN/READNEW line in his login,
thus eliminating an addition image execution.
BULLETIN/SYSTARTUP is no longer necessary.  (SHUTDOWN bulletins are
automatically deleted).

(Future plans:  I'm in the process of modifying bulletin to work with multiple
bulletin boards files.)

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Description of BULLETIN utility:

Easy to use utility to submit and read bulletins. Similar to mail utility.
Users are notified of bulletins only once.  They're not forced into reading
them every time they log in.

SYSTEM bulletins are displayed in full.  Only privileged users can submit them.
Any non-privileged users can submit non-system bulletins.  Only the "subjects"
of these bulletins are displayed at login.  The user can decide if the
bulletins are worthwhile reading. (There is also an optional feature which, if
installed, will ask a user upon logging in whether he or she wants to read
the non-system bulletins or not, and if so, they are automatically displayed. 
The alternative is to let the user manually enter the commands in order to read
the bulletins.) 
Privileged users can broadcast their bulletin to users that are logged
in.  This allows you to get your message across to both logged in users
and non-logged in users.
Bulletins have expiration dates and are deleted automatically.
Privileged users can specify "SHUTDOWN" bulletins, i.e. bulletins that get
deleted after a system shutdown has occurred.
An optional feature allows non-system bulletins to be created by users of
other systems connected via networks.  This "Bulletin Board" feature is on
several computers on the ArpaNet.  This is accomplished by sending mail
to the dummy user BBOARD. (These bulletins expire after 7 days).
There is also a much more sophisticated optional feature which allows adding
bulletins to DECNET nodes from within the BULLETIN the utility (see the
ADD command).
This bulletin program does not create lots of files.  It needs only 3 data
files.  Neither does it create any additional processes (all events are
triggered by people logging in).

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Our VAX is not directly on the ArpaNet, so if you desire the sources, send
me your request and I will send the sources via mail.

There are some command procedures for installation included.  However, they
are pretty crude, as I have not had time to write something more sophisticated.
(P.s. If you already have an old version of the bulletin utility, you should
create the version in a different directory, as the command procedure is not
smart enough to delete obsolete files.)

						Mark R. London
						MRL%PFCVAX@MC

