Awasu 3.0.2.alpha1

IMPORTANT: This is an alpha release (what's this?). Some features may not be complete and there will probably be bugs!

You must be already running 3.0.1.

To install:

• Read the release notes below first!
• Backup your Awasu installation directory and keep it, even if the alpha appears to work correctly.
I say this every time, but this time I really mean it! There have been extensive changes in this release, so if you have problems and need to go back to 3.0.1, it will be tricky to do so since there have also been database changes.
• Unpack one (!) of the following zips on top of your existing installation:
  • Personal Edition
  • Advanced Edition
  • Professional Edition
• Download and unpack this file into the Awasu installation directory.
• Run admin.exe to upgrade your database (this will be quick).
  If you find that Awasu Admin won't start (with an error complaining about the application or side-by-side configuration being incorrect), download and run the installer from here (yes, even if you have 64-bit Windows), and try again.
• If you like to be tidy, delete the following directories:
  • $/AppPlugins/GoogleSearch/
  • $/AppPlugins/Syndic8/
  • $/AppPlugins/YahooGroups/
  The services are no longer support by their respective providers, so the extensions have been removed from Awasu.

Optimizations

• Optimized the feed parser.
• Optimized how channel summary pages are generated.
• Optimized how Awasu checks if it has seen feed items before.
• Optimized the shutdown process.

Search engine

• The search engine now only returns the most recent revision of each search result (unless the channel it came from is tracking revisions).
  This removes a lot of the noise from the search results.
• Decode SGML entities correctly when converting HTML into plain-text e.g. for search result excerpts.
• Removed the Search in URL option.
  Unfortunately, the underlying search engine just wasn't handling this properly, so the option was removed. Use the site: filter to restrict search results by web site.
• Clicking on a search result shows it in its parent channel summary page (if possible).
• Fixed a problem with pagination of quoted search queries.
• Use the short-form parameter name in the search query page template.
• Fixed a possible crash if a search was made before all the channels had finished loading.
• Fixed a possible crash when indexing content.

Minor changes and bug fixes

• Worked around a problem introduced by IE11 that was causing channel updates to get stuck.
• Fixed a problem that was sometimes stopping offline images from working.
• Reworked how channel housekeeping works, so that it always gets done, even on a heavily loaded system.
• Moved the channel housekeeping work from Awasu Admin to the main Awasu program, where it is done automatically. This means that Awasu no longer nags you to optimize the database - woo hoo!
  It is still recommended that you run Awasu Admin and optimize the database from time to time, but it is no longer essential.

• Fixed a problem that was sometimes stopping enclosures from being downloaded on large Awasu installations.
• Enclosures are now automatically deleted correctly, even if their parent feed item has been purged from the archive database.
  Thanks to Tom Stewart for psychically figuring this one out. Raymond Chen would've been proud.
• Enclosures are now automatically deleted based on the prevailing settings at the time of their download (instead of when the cleanup is done).
• Enclosure housekeeping is now done periodically (instead of just at startup).

• Fixed a crash when running Awasu Admin non-elevated for a portable user.
• Reset the UI for the logged-on user if the selected user is a portable one.

• Any pending channel updates are cancelled when a blackout period starts.
• Fixed a problem that was stopping item content filters from being applied if their auto-download had been disabled.
• Standardized how Awasu sniffs for HTML and XML.
• Increased the default log file sizes for Awasu Server.
• Plugin channels, application plugins, channel hooks and esync services now support the following aliases for parameters recognized by Awasu:
  • DownloadUrl => Download URL
  • DownloadUrl_UserName => Download user name
  • DownloadUrl_Password => Download password
  • DownloadUrl_UtcOffset => Download UTC offset
  • ScriptTimeout => Script timeout
• Parameters for plugin channels, application plugins, channel hooks, esync services and smart subscribes are now case-insensitive.
• The process used to download articles for reading offline is now run at a lower-priority.
• Empty HTTP responses are now handled correctly.
• Fixed a potential crash when adding text to the clipboard.
• The {%ENCLOSURES-SAVEDIR%} template parameter now returns the configured save directory for enclosures, not the effective one.
• The $/channels/get API call now correctly encodes plain text content.
• The $/channels/folders/delete API call now allows all folders to be deleted (use id=*).
• Awasu no longer attempts to download embedded images (i.e. that are using the data: protocol) for offline reading.
• Removed the GoogleSearch, Syndic8 and Yahoo Groups extensions.
• Miscellaneous optimizations.
• Miscellaneous UI changes.