MicroPlanet Gravity ("Gravity")

Open Source Usenet News Reader for Windows

Announcement, Support, and Discussion forums. Gravity phpBB Forums were added to the SourceForge Gravity project site. You can access the forums from the SourceForge site (Hosted Apps), or use this Direct Link to the Gravity Forums

ABOUT - GENERAL INFORMATION

The SourceForge UNIX Project Name is "mpgravity"

Gravity is a full featured Windows Usenet online/offline Usenet news client with an extensive feature list including Rules, Scoring, and Filters.

Versions 2.7.1 and above are supported for the Windows XP Operating System. User reports indicate Gravity works well with Windows Vista 32-bit. These builds (2.7.1) are optimized for newer Windows operating system are more stable and faster than the previous versions compiled for Win 9x/2k and inherit the newer Windows look and feel.

Gravity works with Windows Vista (32 and 64-bit) and Windows 7. Users with Administrator Accounts usually do not have problems installing in "Program Files." If you are not administrator install in another location (not in "Program Files") to reduce problems associated with permissions or Vista's User Store Cache and User Account Control (UAC).

We are currently developing a version (2.9) that is fully compatible with modern multi user Windows operating systems. Version 2.9 is in beta testing and we need testers to try it out. Version 2.9 writes databases and settings to the user account folders so that multiple users can use Gravity and have their own settings (and much more). This will be released when beta testing is over.

Gravity has binary decoding abilities, including decoding yEnc and display filters to show complete binaries, if all parts are present. Many Gravity users use the program for binaries. However, Gravity does not include NZB, compressed headers, or multiple connections.

Earlier versions, including 2.7, work on Windows 95 and 98 (and usually XP), but no new features or bug fixes will be done on the earlier versions compiled for Windows 95/98/NT/2K. Users with Windows XP who are still using 2.7 Build 2067 are encouraged to upgrade to new builds.

NOTE: The database structure changes at Build 2.7.1 and higher. You will NOT be able to use version 2.70 and lower executables with the converted databases. You can restore your old databases and settings if you make a backup and save your current executable file before installing.

Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCREs)

All open source versions of Gravity use PCREs (as well as plain text) for rules, filters and scoring. The PCREs are NOT case sensitive by default, including inside Character Classes [...]. The user can force case sensitivity by using the (?-i) PCREs Internal Option within the expression. See the PCRE documentation for more PCRE options. If you are upgrading from an old Gravity version, before 2.7, you may need to edit the Regular Expressions in user rules, filters, and scoring.

Toolbar

A complete set of Toolbar Buttons was added in 2.7.1 Build 9 Beta (January, 2009). Earlier builds had a limited button set, but all buttons have now been restored.

X-Faces

Gravity Displays X-Faces (enable or disable X-Face display in Global Options). The user can post X-Face using Custom Headers, but note the following:

• Gravity can not handle custom headers spanning more than a single line, you must put the X-Face text string on one line.
• The custom header text can not exceed 255 characters. To allow for the "X-Face: " (including the space), the X-Face string itself must be less than or equal to 247 characters.

Spell Checker

Gravity uses a small open source spell checker (MySpell). This was tweaked in newer builds 2.7.1+ and reduces some of the early annoyances.

Compiler

Beginning with Version 2.7.1, the development platform changed to Visual C++ 2005 and MFC. Currently, the platform is Visual C++ 2008 and MFC.

Version Numbers

Gravity open source releases begin with Version 2.7, which was compiled for Windows 9x/2K/NT with MSVC++. Builds compiled for Windows XP with Visual C++ 2005 and MFC are numbered 2.7.1 and higher. The source code and compiled binaries can be downloaded from the SourceForge Project Site

BUGS AND REQUESTS

You can help us improve Gravity. Please report bugs and feature requests at the Gravity phpBB Forums or in the trackers at the SourceForge Project Site. You can also post to Usenet newsgroups (see below).

HELP

Online documentation is in progress. We are currently working on converting and updating the Gravity help file in chm format and creating an FAQ list. (Vista users cannot read the included help without a download from Microsoft).

• The preferred places to report bugs, request features, or get direct support from the developers are the phpBB forums and usenet newsgroups
• Usenet Newsgroups - Most Gravity usenet discussion is in news.software.readers. New Builds are announced in alt.usenet.offline-reader, news.software.readers, and alt.comp.freeware. Or search your favorite Usenet archive.
• SourceForge phpBB Forums: Any discussion is welcome and you can get direct support from the developers. News items and tips are posted. Access the forums from the SourceForge site (Hosted apps), or bookmark this Direct Link to the Gravity Forums
• The SourceForge Project Site also contains bugs and feature request trackers.
• Tom's Gravity Pages - [Alternate Link with banners] has been the unofficial, Gravity information web site for some years. Tom's site and mirror are not updated and the valid information will be moved to SourceForge. The information is about older Gravity Versions and Super Gravity, but much of it applies to new builds. This remains the best place to find tips about using display filters, decoding binaries, rules and more tips. Keep in mind that the regular expression examples were NOT PCREs in those days.
• The old "Gallery" application is not included and not supported. You will see a warning that the program cannot be found. However, Gallery seems to work if you have it. Gallery and GravityBackup can be downloaded from Tom's Gravity Pages Download Directory VHosted on the SDF Public Access UNIX System
• Gravity has a built in Help Menu and Tutorial (Vista users can NOT read the old help format without a download from Microsoft). Note that the help is very old (from the MicroPlanet days). Much of the information is valid and useful, but the reader should be aware they have not been updated to include features added in Versions 2.6 and 2.7.x. and the Regular Expressions were NOT PCREs. We are currently in the process of building a new help in chm format.

LINKS

• Tom's Gravity Pages at SDF Public Access UNIX System
• Tom's Gravity Pages (Prohosting)
• WinFace page WinFace.exe, by Matthijs Laan, can be used to generate an X-face from a bitmap (note: disregard the Gravity patches, they will not work on these versions). You should also be able to find other X-Face generators.
• Perl Compatible Regular Expressions Home Page
• PCRE Man Page RTFM
• Luu Tran's notes to Xnews users is a condensed PCRE manual that dates from around the time that Gravity began using PCREs.
• The Perl docs at perldoc.perl.org usually have a regular expression tutorial. There may be differences with the PCREs used by Gravity, but the basic operations are similar.

CREDITS AND LICENSE

Thanks to the former gang at MicroPlanet; Albert Choy, Tony Edwards, and Marwan Shaban. Credit and thanks go to Al Choy for modifying and releasing the source code and his many unselfish efforts. Richard Wood deserves much credit for joining the project, compiling for newer operating systems, and adding many feature requests and improvements.

The X-Face code is from Matthijs Laan and James Ashton. The PCRE library is by Philip Hazel.

Open Source Contributors

• Albert Choy
• Richard Wood
• John Skeet
• Peter Wall
• Bear Bottoms
• Tom Bates

The Gravity source code and binaries are released under the BSD license.

HISTORY

Gravity has been a popular Usenet client since 1996. Originally, Gravity was shareware, written and developed by MicroPlanet Inc. (incorporated Feb 1995). It was sold briefly to Anawave software, then re-acquired by MicroPlanet. Gravity was chosen as PC Magazine's Editor's Choice in October 1996. MicroPlanet eventually gave away Gravity free of charge.

After October 2001, Albert Choy (Al, Gravity's Godfather), co-founder of MicroPlanet, continued improvements and semi official releases know as "Super Gravity". Many of these enhancements are considered standard in the versions currently in use. Web support and downloads were provided by Tom's Gravity Pages, with some volunteers providing some additional download bandwidth. Al later stripped out propriety or licensed code for release as open source software under the BSD License in December 2003.

Richard Wood took over the code work in 2008 and began compiling the application for newer operating systems, fixing bugs, and restoring functionality.