Date: Mon, 1993 Oct 18 13:51 EDT
From: "John F. Chandler"  <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe VM/CMS Kermit-370 Version 4.3
Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit, CMS Kermit
Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370
Xref: VM/CMS Kermit, Also see VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370

This is to announce CMS Kermit Release 4.3.  The sources have not been
completely rewritten, but numerous fixes, extensions, and improvements
have been inserted.  Parts of the source have been resequenced:
IK0DEF.ASM, IK0CMD.ASM, IK0KAN.ASM, IKCUTL.ASM, and IK0PRO.ASM, and any
local mods affecting these parts will need to be changed accordingly.
The changes in 4.3 include all updates formerly available in IKCKER.UPD
plus a number of new ones.  As with previous releases, all CMS-specific
files begin with IKC, and generic Kermit-370 files begin with IK0 (I K
Zero).  See the file IKCKER.INS for installation instructions.  Most of
the distribution files have been replaced, including IKCKER.INS, plus
the assembler sources and the "beware", help, and update files.  Release
4.3 is also being issued in the companion TSO, MUSIC, and CICS variants
(see the separate announcements for details).  Anyone interested in
helping to port Kermit-370 to still other operating systems should
contact John Chandler <JCHBN@CUVMB.BITNET> or
<JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>.

For a list of generic additions, see the generic Kermit-370 announcement
IK0KER.ANN.  The following is a list of CMS-specific updates added since
Release 4.2, including many that were already available in the
intermediate releases.

1) New, automated installation procedure.

2) New, more flexible on-line help facility with a separate subfile
   available for each subcommand.  This can be used in connection with
   the CMS help menu system or with Kermit's internal help processor
   (or both).  The old-style, single help file is also still available.

3) Kermit-CMS now invokes CMS commands in a way that closely matches
   the behavior of commands entered directly to CMS.

4) Now comes with a file of sample auxilliary EXEC's for use with Kermit
   (IKCAUX CMD).  These include KERMAIL, KERMPRT, and PC.

5) No longer considers it a file name collision if the new file being
   received is to have the same name as a file on a read-only extension
   of the destination disk.

6) Can now reject a file that is too large to fit in the destination
   SFS directory.

7) Now explicitly releases its SCBLOCK when it exits.  (Before CMS 5,
   that is necessary.)

Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the
new release.