/code/icar/iCAR 0.6 | 07 Jan, 2004 | comments

So, I’ve gotten off my lazy tochis and released what I’d like to call the most anticipated release in the history of iCAR. (For those unfortunate souls not in the know, iCAR is the iChat Auto-Reply.) This history is admittedly short, but I do not lie when I say that I’ve received more dismayed/inquiring/angry emails and support requests regarding iCAR’s Panther compatibility than any other single bug in the history of my public programming experience.

It would be good to note that this release not been tested for an instant under Jaguar with the iChat AV beta. Beyond this uncertainty, I have substantial reason to believe that it will in fact not work under Jaguar. It will most definitely not work with iChat 1.0 (don’t even try). For the AV beta on Jaguar, use 0.5; for iChat 1.0, use 0.4.

The changes, then:

  • AppleScript and Unix errors are reported more visibly
  • AppleScript path and Unix command retain values more effectively
  • preview of manual reply in preference pane
  • auto-reply window is now a utility panel
  • AppleScript path and Unix command take effect immediately after browsing
  • removed menu item (if you really miss this, email me and I’ll bring it back)
  • more tokens are parsed (%f, %l, %s)
  • manual reply string is now saved with attributes (style)
  • more environment variables (iCAR_status, iCAR_statusmessage, iCAR_timingmode)
  • no reply is sent if iChat is set to the default available status (that is, “Available”)
  • compiled for Panther — fixes many crasher bugs on 10.3, probably will not work on Jaguar
  • support for iChat 1.0 removed

My to-do list is in the Readme if you’re really that interested.

iCAR elsewhere: Pygmy Software, SourceForge, Freshmeat, MacUpdate, VersionTracker, MacShareware.

Finally, please allow me to plug my donation page again. I do a lot of work on software like iCAR, and I do it all for free, but I’m sure you can imagine the glowing feeling I get inside when someone appreciates my work enough to buy me a drink. Now that I mention it, I think only one user has donated for iCAR so far, so etch your name into the bathroom wall of history and help open-source Mac software to continue.

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