Introducing Discus 4.1

Discus 4.1 has been publicly released as an official download for download by existing and new customers. As has always been the case, DiscusWare, LLC offers both a freeware version, which includes basic discussion board functionality, and a professional version, which implements additional access control, user management, and back-end features of particular interest to larger sites or commercial implementations. This document is designed to provide an overview of the installation and upgrade procedures for this new software version.

What's New in Discus 4.1

Discus 4.1 is primarily a feature release, along with a small number of largely transparent, back-end modifications. Significant changes include:

• Spam Blocking Technology: Posting by automated "spam bots" can increase server load, waste bandwidth, and create a headache for board administrators. Discus Professional 4.1 includes features designed to combat spam bots, including the ability to limit the number of URLs contained in a post, blocking of posts with obviously forged referring pages, the ability to use any DNS-based realtime blackhole list (RBL), a collaborative signature tracking system to report and block spam observed on any other Discus Professional board that subscribes to the service, and CAPTCHA validation for public posts and user registration.

• Updated Version Manager: The Version Manager accesses DiscusWare's new online update system, greatly simplifying the patch and upgrade process. This system facilitates upgrades not only to new patch releases, but also upgrades to newer versions of Discus, and upgrades from Discus Freeware to Discus Professional. In addition, the Version Manager contacts an HTTP-based "version server" to inform customers when new versions are available. And finally, the Version Manager has an updated look and feel and includes a report of installed Perl modules.

• Board Summary Screen: The right frame in administration, when the board administrator logs in, will display a summary of the discussion board's maintenance state, including a check to see if the software is up-to-date and a warning if a backup has not been made within the last seven days.

• Automated .htaccess Generation: Exporting banned IP addresses to .htaccess file, greatly improved program diagnostics, blocking of certain attachment types, better error logging, e-mail notification enhancements, better performance benchmarking, ...

View full changelog for: 4.10 official versions | 4.10 beta versions

Availability

Discus Professional 4.1 is available for immediate download by:

• Any customer who purchases a new Discus Professional software license now, or who did so on or after January 1, 2004.

• Any customer who held, or currently holds, a technical support contract with an expiration date on or after March 28, 2006. Support contracts offer free access to new versions of Discus Professional that are announced or are available during the contract's effective period.

• Any customer who purchased a software-only upgrade from Discus 3.1 to Discus 4.0 on or after March 28, 2005.

For existing customers who are not currently eligible to download Discus Professional 4.1, the following options are available:

• Purchase a software-only upgrade. At this time, the upgrade includes Discus Professional 4.1 and 5.0. Since any customer who is not eligible for the upgrade at this time has also surpassed their one year of technical support following a previous purchase, it is important to note that purchasing the software-only upgrade does NOT include any technical support whatsoever. This option is recommended only for those customers who are completely confident that they will not require technical support of any kind with the installation or ongoing use of their software. The cost of a software-only upgrade is $74.95 for one license, $124.95 (total) for two licenses, and $149.95 (total) for three or more licenses. Software-only upgrades can be purchased through the DiscusWare Secure Purchasing Area.

• Purchase an annual technical support renewal. Your new support contract includes technical support and new versions of Discus Professional for one year. This is guaranteed to include both Discus Professional 4.1 and 5.0, and may include future versions of Discus Professional if they are announced within your year of support. Advanced support services, such as telephone support, are also available if you choose to purchase an advanced support contract. You can purchase your support renewal through the DiscusWare website at a cost of $99.95 per implementation per year, or read more about advanced support contracts.

If you believe that you are covered by a free upgrade based on the criteria above, but your download is denied, please contact us including your license number, and we will review your case. Please do not contact us asking for a free upgrade if you know for a fact that you are not entitled to it, however.

First-Time Installation Information

If you have never installed Discus Freeware or Discus Professional before, or you would like to install a completely separate software implementation of Discus 4.10, you can do so as follows.

• Telnet/SSH/Console: For those with a Unix server offering telnet or SSH access, or a Windows server whose console is accessible, the traditional Discus installation procedure remains available.

  • Telnet or SSH installation on Unix
  • Console installation on Windows

  Note: The documentation above points to Discus 4.0 instructions. These links will be updated for Discus 4.1 prior to its initial release. The only difference is that the file name and directory name will indicate Discus 4.1 rather than Discus 4.0.

• FTP: For those with a remotely hosted web server that is accessible by FTP, the traditional Discus FTP installation procedure remains available. Please click here (Discus Freeware | Discus Professional) for FTP installation procedures.

Upgrade Information

If you are currently running Discus Freeware or Discus Professional, you can upgrade to Discus 4.10 and preserve your previous messages, settings, and user accounts.

• For customers running Discus 3.01 or below

  Discus 4.10 can accept upgrades only from Discus 3.10 and above. If you have Discus 3.01 or below, you must first upgrade to Discus 3.1. Then you can upgrade as described below.

• For customers running Discus 3.10

  The following upgrade methods are available to customers running Discus 3.10:

  • Telnet/SSH/Console: For those with a Unix server offering telnet or SSH access, or a Windows server whose console is accessible, the traditional Discus upgrade procedure remains available.

    • Telnet or SSH upgrade on Unix
    • Console upgrade on Windows

  • FTP: For those with a remotely hosted web server that is accessible by FTP, the traditional Discus FTP upgrade procedure remains available through the Version Manager interface. Log in to your discussion board as the board administrator (typically "admin") and navigate to Version Manager. Under the "Updates" tab, click the button for FTP upgrade, and follow the instructions.

• For customers running Discus 4.0

  • Upgrade Script: The recommended upgrade procedure for customers running Discus 4.0 is to use the browser-based upgrade script that is available in both the Discus Freeware and the Discus Professional download areas. Discus 4.1 upgrade script instructions

  • Patch: For those running Discus 4.00.9 or higher, the patch method through the Version Manager can accommodate an upgrade to Discus 4.10 via the patch method. To access this, log in to your discussion board as the board administrator (typically "admin") and navigate to Version Manager. Under the "Updates" tab, select Discus 4.10 as your version, and click the button for a patch. Then follow the instructions. If you do not have Discus 4.00.9, you can patch to that version first, and then patch to Version 4.10.

• For customers running Discus 4.1 beta

  Customers running Discus 4.1 beta should upgrade via the Version Manager's on-line update system, documented in the administration instructions. Customers experiencing difficulty with that system who are running Discus 4.10.b2 or before should visit this document for workarounds to the known issues in the early beta versions.