»»» Aliazer V0.9 beta «««
                               copyright © '97 by
                            Mario 'padrino' Cattaneo

1. Introduction
   ------------

The description of this archive is rather easy. It consits of (for now)
different executables which allow you to convert the alias files of some
mailer programmes to the ".addressbook" of YAM 1.3.x. Currently supported are
elm and pine. In the future there will probably be only one binary (if there
seems need for it) to do all the jobs... Please note, that the executables found
in this archive are in beta stage! They don't handle errors and depend very
much on the user giving the the correct syntax! I would suggest that the
outputfile given should be in RAM: as the programme might crash, if the source
file is bugy or of a wrong type.


2. Disclaimer
   ----------

This software is provided AS IS. Neither do I claim it bugfree (or complete) nor
do I give any warranty at all. Any damage that might happen to your system by
using this package is not my fault. Use this software at your own risc!

Be warned, THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE!!!


3. It does and does not
   --------------------

3.1. What this software does :-)
     -----------------------

- It converts elm or pine (for now) alias files to YAM 1.3.x .addressbook-file
- It handles comments containing spaces!
- It should work with any alias file created (non manually changed)
  with the supported mailers
- It converts elm groups to YAM lists!

3.2. What this software does NOT! :-(
     ----------------------------

- It does not handle names containing spaces (would this make sense? :)
- Number of email addresses per group/list is limited to 40 (no shareware
  limitation ;^)
- FCC of pine is not supported... well, does YAM support it?
- If you did edit the source files by hand, and did it not 100% like the mail
  soft would (e.g. TABS, syntax), conversion will probably be bugy, or your
  Amiga might even crash.
- The entries will not be sorted.


4. Requirements
   ------------

Of course you need an Amiga, well UAE should work, too ;-)

Additionally you need at least:

- AmigaOS 2.x (not included ;)
- ixemul.library V41.1 (not included either)
- enough free memory :)

5. Usage
   -----

   Usage should be very easy, as the options are not really a lot ;-)
   Start it from shell by typing:

   elm2yam sourcefile destinationfile

   or :-)

   pine2yam sourcefile destinationfile

   *NOTE* You MUST specify source- AND destinationfiles (I would suggest maybe
   you should use RAM as destination... for the safety of your HD ;)


6. FEEDBACK
   --------

This software (of course) is FREEWARE... BUT :-)
If you like it *please* have a look at my others project, which can be found at
http://fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de/~cattaneo/projekte.e.html or aminet. There are:

- TinyMWBCollection
- SmileFonts
- MagicMenu2MUI
- pad-Diavolo (prerelease)
- ...

And If you like those (or at least some) too, please contact me, write me a
postcard, just FEEDBACK, feedback...

Mario Cattaneo
Paul-Marien-Straße 6
D-66111 Saarbrücken
GERMANY

E-mail: maca@coli.uni-sb.de
IRC-nick: padrino (most time #AmigaGER...)
Homepage: http://fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de/~cattaneo/


7. Future
   ------

As this software is a kind of "ones used only soft". I don't know if there will
be any updates (at least is successfully converted my database ;). It will
totally depend on the `FEEDBACK' I get.

Of course I have some ideas, like:

- error handling (checking) :-)
- sorting the entries
- removing the limit of email adresses per list/group
- joining output with existing YAM .addressbook
- mixing output (integrating) with existing YAM .addressbook
- puting all into one conversion tool
- supporting more mailers (source and destination)
- get rid of the need for ixemul.library (it is not really needed :)
- a user interface?! I guess not :)


8. History
   -------

   V0.9 beta: initial release (08/29/1995)