2009-09-19 - AtarICQ 0.174 is released! [download]

Important changes in the latest release:

1.  AtarICQ is now able to cope with environment variable FONTSELECT when a full path is submitted instead of a process name. If a full path is sent, aICQ then tries to start the font selector (if not already running).
2. Fixed a bug in the contact list code that under some circumstances would cause a crash when swapping contacts by using up/down ARROWs.
3. Removed a debug messages that was accidently left in the final 0.173-release. It was a text message written to screen/console.
4. Fixad a small bug in the code for manually resorting (by dragging) of the TABs in the message window.
5. New feature added. The shortcut ALT+X will now trigger aICQ to remove all temporary contacts that exist at the time. The main benefit is to be able to quickly sweep your contact list clean from ICQ spammers. (Normally, you have all your contacts on the permanent list)
6. Slightly changed code for evaluating the status of online contacts. Should avoid confusion when it comes to clients using exotic status values.
7. New keyboard shortcut, ALT+H, will toggle the hiding of offline contacts.
8. OVL sources are branched from the 0089 version (newer sources were lost) :(
9. OVL tweaked to cure problem where a large SSI contact list would potentially cause the OVL to hit an infinite loop (thus freezing)
10. Speeded up the automatic requesting of basic user info to reval the nickname of UINs loaded from the SSI list.
11. Fixed a fatal bug which would strike under specific circumstances when requesting basic user info for a UIN, and the server didn't reply. (NOTE: The chase for this particular bug has been going on for 3-4 years, the challenge being that it was very hard to reproduce reliably)
12. OVL will now work better with 68000 CPU (no more odd address access)
13. Improved the routines keeping track of server requests, timeout of data, etc.
14. Fixed a problem with font size in the text input field for outgoing messages, striking under old Single TOS and standard AES/VDI.
15. Cured a small memory leak which happened when requesting extended user info.
16. Changed default behaviour:
    -Hiding offline contacts = OFF
    -Auto switch to new message = ON
17. AtarICQ now keeps track of incoming typing notifications, to be able to let them "time out" after a certain time of inactivity from the other end. This time is currently set to 20 seconds, after which the typing notification icon will be removed.
18. OVL can now successfully send messages to the AIM/ICQ-clone Trillian, which  turned out to be rather picky.

NOTE: At this time (2009-09-19) you might notice that some of your friends from your contact list aren't listed as online despite being very much logged on and available. The reason for this is more than likely that AtarICQ still doesn't posses the ability to update the server side list, hence all contacts not present there might be listed as offline at all times. The only way to solve this is to either use another ICQ client to update the list, or hold your breath until AtarICQ is able to do this.. ;)

AtarICQ is back in business

Yeah, things are actually moving forward again! There have been some changes made to the OVL as well as the client:

* The problem with the OVL locking up during login sequence seems to have been related to differencies between gluestik and "native" STiK/STinG, trapping the OVL in an infinite loop. This problem is now gone!

* Messages sent from Trillian users are now received, whereas we previously only saw incoming typing notifications.

* OVL doesn't cause issues on 68000 hardware anymore, so ICQ is once again available on a plain ST!

* Client will now issue a timeout for incoming typing notifications after 20 seconds. Until now, if someone triggered an incoming typing notification by starting to write a msg, the typing notification icon would stay until a msg arrived or this contact is reported as offline.

So when will there be a new release? Basically things need a little finetuning and wrapping up the final bits and pieces, but sometime during this autumn we hope to have something new to share!

Keep an eye open! :)

Yes, you read it right - the network overlay used by AtarICQ might actually soon be tweaked a bit to overcome the recent problems with logging in to the ICQ server.

At this time it has been cleared up that the problem with the OVL locking up on logging in to server is linked to having a large server side contact list. This can very well explain why some could keep on using aICQ without problems where as others would see the program locking up tight.

Unfortunately, the sources for the latest OVL (0100) seems to have been lost, instead we've started a new branch from the 0089 version. Due to this ordeal we're missing some small details when it comes to the server side list handling, but chances are it will not be noticeable even.

Currently the "new" OVL is being tested for stability but I hope to publish some news on this page very soon, so stay tuned :)

Some people have recently noticed how AtarICQ fails when logging in. Or rather, it locks up right after reporting you are online. It seems the cause for the lockup is more than likely a problem with the server side contact list. This is why some people might never suffer from this at all.

It seems the actual culprit is a buffer inside the aicq.ovl that is too small, hence why those with few people on their server side contact list might be able to use AtarICQ just fine.

This means that the only currently known fix is to remove a couple of contacts from your server side contact list, something that you unfortunately can't do from aICQ. You should be able to manage this from clients such as Miranda, Pidgin, Trillian, etc. if you have access to a PC, Mac or Linux setup.

There are plans being made to supply a decent fix for the immediate problems in the OVL, and hopefully we'll be able to work out a more satisfying solution for the OVL in the future - with better support even for the server side list and such.