Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1995  16:05  EST
From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe Kermit-370 Version 4.3.1

After a lengthy period of testing, version 4.3.1 of Kermit-370 is now released for general use on all the supported platforms. The new version is available in the form of updates relative to the base source files for 4.3.0, which remain part of the package. These updates include both generic and system-specific changes. They are summarized below and are described in somewhat more detail in the respective BWR files ik*.bwr in the distribution. The updates themselves are in ik*.upd. The generic changes (common to all variants) are as follows:

Kermit-370...

SPECIAL NOTE for sites that plan to use one of the alternate-language versions of Kermit-370: all the language-specific files were replaced last November in anticipation of release 4.3.1. The old ones are not compatible with 4.3.1, so be sure to get the current ik0v*.pkt file.

The following changes have been made to the CMS variant:

Kermit-CMS...

The MUSIC variant has undergone major changes. Not least of these is a new, automated procedure for installing Kermit. The procedure, called IKMINS, is included in IKMKER.INS in the distribution. Additionally:

Kermit-MUSIC...

There are no TSO-specific changes, just the generic ones listed above.

There are two CICS-specific changes:

Kermit-CICS...

Other projects are pending for Kermit-CICS, awaiting volunteers to help implement the necessary code. In particular, the external drivers for spool files and arbitrary MVS data sets still need work. Anyone interested in helping should contact John Chandler <JCHBN@CUVMB.BITNET> or <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>.

Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the new release. Above all, thanks to Christian Robert and Paul Parker for all their help in upgrading Kermit-MUSIC, and to Bert Morton for contributing the CICS 3.3 compatibility code.

The new features are applied to the 4.3.0 source code using the appropriate update program. The new files are available via anonymous ftp from kermit.columbia.edu, directory kermit/b, text mode, and also from KERMSRV@CUVMA on BITNET (EARN (CREN) ):

 System      Updates       Documentation
  VM/CMS      ikcker.upd    ikcker.bwr
  MVS/TSO     iktker.upd    iktker.bwr
  CICS        ikxker.upd    ikxker.bwr
  MUSIC       ikmker.upd    ikmker.bwr

Please send requests for additional information by e-mail to kermit@columbia.edu.

IBM Mainframe Kermit 4.3.1 / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu