Polarbar Mailer

1.0 Introduction 1.1 Installation of Polarbar Mailer 1.2 Where can I get Java? 1.3 Where can I get JavaFX? 1.4 Other Installation Issues 2.0 Running Polarbar Mailer 2.1 Setting up Windows Start Menu 2.2 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as default Windows mailto: handler 2.3 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as the default Mac OS X mailto: handler 2.4 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as the default Linux mailto: handler 3.0 How to contact us 4.0 Moving to a FAT file system 5.0 PGP license 1.0 Introduction Thank you for your interest in Polarbar Mailer. This README.TXT file is focused on users who downloaded the zip/gz file and are installing Polarbar Mailer manually. There are package installer's for each platform which make this process a lot easier, but for some, this is their preferred method. If you are using the package installer (MSI, PKG, RPM), most of this information will not be of interest or applicable (except perhaps 2.x topics) to how you use Polarbar. For everyone else, continue reading the sections outlined above that are of interest. 1.1 Installation of Polarbar Mailer ALL users: - Make sure you have a valid Java environment (Java 11 or above), the JAVAFX_HOME environment variable is defined and points to your JavaFX installation. It's very important to have this setup prior to running Polarbar. Existing Polarbar users: - Download the new Polarbar ZIP (or tar.gz) file and unzip/untar, yes, unlike before, unzip/untar it where a new directory named PolarbarMailer will contain the application files for this new version. - Start Polarbar using the executable file found in the PolarbarMailer directory named polarbar.exe (just polarbar for Linux/Mac OS X). - When the installer starts, click on the Mail Data button and choose your existing "Mailer" directory where you have your current Polarbar installation (e.g., the directory named "Mailer"). - Enjoy the new version. New users: - Download the Polarbar ZIP (or tar.gz) file and unzip/untar it which places the contents into a new directory name PolarbarMailer. - Download the new Polarbar ZIP (or tar.gz) file and unzip/untar it where a new directory named PolarbarMailer will contain the application files for this new version. - Start Polarbar using the executable file found in the PolarbarMailer directory named polarbar.exe (just polarbar for Linux/Mac OS X). - Follow the three on-screen steps to creating your first email account. - The settings dialog will then appear, allowing you to define mail servers and change various Polarbar settings to suit your particular requirements. On screen help is available to assist. 1.2 Where can I get Java? The are several places to get the Java runtime needed for the Polarbar Mailer. AdoptOpenJDK is what the Polarbar installers are packaged with. AdoptOpenJDK: (Linux/Windows/Mac platforms) https://adoptopenjdk.net OpenJDK: (Linux/Windows platforms) https://jdk.java.net/ Oracle: (Linux/Windows/Mac platforms) https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html Amazon Corretta Distribution of OpenJDK (Linux/Windows/Mac platforms) https://aws.amazon.com/corretto/ 1.3 Where can I get JavaFX? The best place to get the JavaFX runtime you need for the Polarbar Mailer is from Gluon: Gluon: https://gluonhq.com/products/javafx/ (Linux/Windows/Mac) The Polarbar Mailer is compatible with and tested against JavaFX 11 and 12 using the Gluon distribution. 1.4 Other Installation Issues If you install Polarbar Mailer on a FAT partition, your accounts, folders, address books, drafts, templates, etc., will be limited to names which comply with the 8.3 character FAT filename limitation. 2.0 Running Polarbar Mailer In order to start Polarbar Mailer, you simply need to run the executable named polarbar.exe (polarbar for Linux/Mac OS). This is located in the top level directory of where Polarbar Mailer is installed. It can be run from any directory or using your file manager/finder, double click the executable and Polarbar Mailer should start up. If you run into problems running Polarbar Mailer, try going to a command window, changing to the directory you installed Polarbar Mailer into and running the script file from there. Check the output for messages that may be preventing the application from starting correctly. 2.1 Setting up Windows Start Menu If you are running Windows and would like to have Polarbar in your Start Menu, follow the steps here: a) Open a command prompt b) Change to the directory you installed Polarbar Mailer in c) Run polarbar.exe --ShowIcons d) Exit the command window e) There should now be a shortcut in your Start Menu for Polarbar 2.2 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as default Windows mailto: handler If you are running Windows and wish to use Polarbar Mailer as your default mail program (notably when you click mailto: links on web sites), you first need to register Polarbar Mailer with Windows. To do this, follow the steps here: a) Open a command prompt b) Change to the directory you installed Polarbar Mailer in c) Run polarbar.exe --Install d) Exit the command window e) Click on a mailto: link on a web page and you should see Polarbar open If you want to undo this, use the --UnInstall option in step c). 2.3 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as the default Mac OS X mailto: handler If you are running Mac OS X and wish to use Polarbar Mailer as your default mail program (notably when you click mailto: links on web sites), you first need to register Polarbar Mailer with OS X. NOTE: This is only possible if you are using the package installed version of Polarbar Mailer. You cannot use the "polarbar" script file as a mailto: handler on OS X. If you are using the package installed version of Polarbar Mailer and want to set it up as the default mailto: handler, follow the steps here: a) Open the Apple Mail application b) Under Mail/Preferences, be sure the General panel is being viewed c) Where is says Default mail reader, use the drop down to locate the Polarbar Mailer executable under the directory where Polarbar was installed (/Applications/PolarbarMailer/Contents/MacOS/Polarbar Mailer d) Exit Mail application 2.4 Setting up Polarbar Mailer as the default Linux mailto: handler If you are running Linux and wish to use Polarbar Mailer as your default mail program (notably when you click mailto: links on web sites), you first need to register Polarbar Mailer with Linux. NOTE: This is only possible if you are using the package installed version of Polarbar Mailer (e.g., the RPM). You cannot use the "polarbar" script file as a mailto: handler on Linux. If you are using the package installed version of Polarbar Mailer and want to set it up as the default mailto: handler, for now, the best advice is to search the web for instructions on how to do that for your particular distribution. For example, Ubuntu offers some nice preference panels that makes this very easy to do. Other Linux distributions have varying solutions so it's best to find instructions specific to your installation. 3.0 How to Contact Us The Polarbar Team is made up entirely of volunteers. As such, our only support is through email. You can reach us using the support template in the Polarbar Mailer under Help | Support or through the website at http://www.polarbar.net/index.html 4.0 Moving from long filename system to FAT for sharing among OS's If you want to move it to FAT to share between OS's, you should do the following: Rename the files in your installation that need to be changed (see the list below to identify which files need to be renamed). Before you copy the long filename installation to the FAT drive, you will want to remove the mailer\attachments and mailer\collection subdirectories from your mailer directory and remove the image subdirectory from your Polarbar directory (after copying any customized image files you have to a safe location). Delete the TableOfContents.html and HelpIndex.html files from the doc subdirectory of your Polarbar directory. At this point, you should no longer have any files or directories under your Polarbar directory that have invalid FAT filename characters or names that are too long for a FAT partition (other than temp files such as $$temp$$.$$temp$$(1) or auto.save.file which you can delete). Copy the entire Polarbar Mailer installation from the current drive to the FAT drive. Change your classpath accordingly, as well as the working directory in whatever batch file or startup script used to start the program; Modify your new FAT installation's mailer\jstreet.ini file to add the following line to the end of it: Registration<~>LongFileNames=false (If you have a folder name which is too long or has invalid filename characters for a FAT partition, rename the directory and, if it's a remote folder, then also edit its REMOTEF.IDX entry to match, using any plain ASCII text editor.) Existing long filenames New short names ======================= =============== In the mailer directory: jstreethelp.ini JSTRHELP.INI Account.Index ACCOUNT.IDX (If you have an account name which is too long or has invalid filename characters for a FAT partition, rename the directory and edit the ACCOUNT.IDX entry to match, using any plain ASCII text editor.) templates (subdirectory) TEMPLATE In the mailer\templates subdirectory: *.Template *.TPL In the mailer\drafts\* subdirectories: *.Draft *.DRA In the mailer directory and also in each account's subdirectory: *.AddressBook.html *.ABH Custom.Keystrokes CUSTOM.KYS In each account's subdirectory, just below mailer\maildata: Print Queue (subdirectory) PRINTQ Transaction.Log TRANS.LOG Last15.List LAST15.LST Account.Settings ACCOUNT.SET toolbar.profile TOOLBAR.PRO compbar.profile COMPBAR.PRO compbarp.profile COMPBARP.PRO virtbar.profile VIRTBAR.PRO Remote.Folder.Index REMOTEF.IDX If you have a folder name which is too long or has invalid filename characters for a FAT partition, rename the directory and, if it's a remote folder, then also edit its REMOTEF.IDX entry to match, using any plain ASCII text editor. If you have renamed an account or folder because of the above instructions, then you will need to update any "Sent folder" settings and filters which refer to any renamed accounts or folders, after you start running the program from the new installation on the FAT partition! If you have customized any of the *.gif files in your mailer\image subdirectory, you will need to copy your old customized files from your original partition's mailer\image directory to the new filename in the FAT partition's mailer\image directory, after you have run the program on the FAT partition one time, so that it has created the image directory and its new contents. Here are the image files' names, old and new: Attachments.gif ATTACH.GIF calgif.gif CALGIF.GIF closedenvelope.gif CLOSENV.GIF composetoolbar.gif COMPOSTB.GIF files_closed_sel.gif FILESCSE.GIF files_open.gif FILESOPE.GIF files_open_sel.gif FILESOSE.GIF file_closed.gif FILECLOS.GIF file_closed_sel.gif FILECSEL.GIF files_closed.gif FILESCLO.GIF flagblack.gif FLAGBLAC.GIF flagblue.gif FLAGBLUE.GIF flaggreen.gif FLAGGREE.GIF flagreg.gif FLAGRED.GIF flagyellow.gif FLAGYELL.GIF helptoolbar.gif HELPBAR.GIF logo.gif LOGO.GIF note_ind_attach.gif NOTEATT.GIF note_ind_both.gif NOTEBOTH.GIF note_ind_sticky.gif NOTESTIC.GIF openedenvelope.gif OPENENV.GIF previewmark.gif PREMARK.GIF stickyoff.gif STICKOFF.GIF stickyon.gif STICKON.GIF toolbar1.gif TOOLBAR1.GIF 5.0 PGP license PGP support added via BouncyCastle. BouncyCastle can be found at http://www.bouncycastle.org (The Legion of the Bouncy Castle). LICENSE Copyright (c) 2000 - 2019 The Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.