*** NOTE: This file is not updated for the 1.2.5 release ***

   ================================================================
				README

			   -- LysKOM 1.1 --

       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Lysator Academic Computer Association
   ================================================================

Contents:
	What is LysKOM?
	How do you set up a LysKOM server?
	Changes since version 1.0.	


			   What is LysKOM?

  This is the README file for the server of the electronic conference
system LysKOM, version 1.1.

  LysKOM has a lot in common with netnews, but LysKOM is intended for
local discussions (instead of worldwide).  LysKOM consists of a server
process and several client programs.  The server process maintains a
data base of persons, conferences and articles.  The clients connect
to the server and let the users browse the database for unread
articles.  Currently the only protocol available for connections is
TCP/IP, but rewriting the server and clients for using e.g. DECNET
should be trivial.

  LysKOM is much faster than netnews - almost as fast as irc! - but
like in netnews the articles are saved so that you don't have to be
logged in to receive the news.

  As mentioned above, you need a client to be able to do something
useful with LysKOM.  As of now, there is only one client that has been
released.  It is written in elisp (and thus requires GNU Emacs to run)
and its language is Swedish.  It should be easy to translate to
english since all text strings are collected in one source file.  The
client is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.lysator.liu.se
(130.236.23.254) in the directory pub/lyskom.  Don't forget to fetch
the documentation for it at the same time - it is well worth reading
it!  (If you know Swedish... :-)

  A LysKOM server has been running at Lysator since July 25th 1990.
You can connect to it and test it out if you like to get a feel for
what LysKOM is.  The IP address of the server is kom.lysator.liu.se.
Of course, you need a client to test it.



		  How do you set up a LysKOM server?

  Installation instructions are in the file INSTALL.   Instructions
for maintaining a LysKOM server are in the file doc/ADMINISTRATION.
Some other documentation, such as the specification for the
server-client protocol is also in the doc directory.

  If you find a bug, please send your bug reports to the email address
bug-lyskom@lysator.liu.se, but before you do, please check the file
doc/known-server-bugs.

  Note that we are developing a new server-client protocol called
Protocol B (the current one being named Protocol A).  We have
discovered a few things which we want to do but can't since Protocol A
is too limited.  Work on Protocol B has commenced, but it might well
take another year before we release a Protocol B server and clients.
We will fix bugs in programs using Protocol A, but we will probably
not do many enhancements to them.


		      Changes since version 1.0.

  This is a short list of the more significant changes. All changes are
(or at least should be) noted in the ChangeLogs.

* New services: get_last_text, find_next_text_no,
  find_previous_text_no, create_anonymous_text.

* Some memory leaks have been found.

* Some other bug fixes.