SpamGobbler...
Download and Release Notes
Please read the following release notes carefully before downloading. In line with all software available at this site, while every effort has been made to provide reliable and useful software, SpamGobbler is available entirely at the user's own risk. The author (Robert J Warren) cannot be held responsible for accidental or unexpected damages.
#0.196
This version has been defined as "alpha", not "beta" or "stable". This is not because it has visible bugs in it, but because it is not quite as complete as the author (I) would prefer. Some of the limitations are beyond immediate control. Others are due to the limitations of the programming systems available for Linux or even a lack of knowledge about programming in Linux. What follows is a list of issues with the current version:
This version of SpamGobbler is therefore more appropriate for private use and not for use in public places, unless of course there is no problem in exposing your e-mail account passwords, a case which is very unlikely. However, even with its limitations, SpamGobbler is a Godsend! I cannot stop people sending me enormous amounts of spam, but now I can really get rid of it quite quickly. Hopefully, it will serve you equally well.
Download
After unzipping the SpamGobbler.zip archive provided (below) for download, you will find a number of files within the single folder "SpamGobbler". In Ubuntu, you can copy this folder and its contents anywhere you like (e.g. on the Desktop). Just double-click on the (normally) diamond-shaped icon with "SpamGobbler" written underneath, and away you go.
In Kubuntu (and perhaps with all KDE versions of Linux), there is a problem, certainly with the latest "Edgy Eft" release. Something has occurred at the interface between Runtime Revolution (the programming system used for the main graphical interface of the SpamGobbler) and the Linux interface. The "defaultFolder", instead of being reported as the very folder where the program is, is reported as corresponding to RunRev's "$HOME" variable, for example "/home/username". This means that the program cannot discover where to read and write its own complementary files! Nevertheless, this can be anticipated in Kubuntu, and if you want to run SpamGobbler, just make sure that you put the SpamGobbler FOLDER on the Desktop, and nowhere else.
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In order to preview and delete e-mails, it was necessary to employ the Rebol scripting system to supplement the Runtime Revolution programming used for SpamGobbler's main interface. E-mail facilities are not available in Runtime Revolution, and the graphical user interface facilities of Rebol itself are still heavily under development. Thus, a combined solution for SpamGobbler was adopted. Unfortunately, since Rebol uses scripts (texts), the password information required for logging in the user's accounts remains exposed. If anyone knows how to log in to an e-mail account using an encrypted password in a Rebol script, please let me know. So far, I have not found a solution. And although provision has been made for hiding passwords in SpamGobbler in the future, the option in "Preferences" has absolutely no effect at the moment.
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When previewing or deleting e-mails, it would be nice if the user had the capacity of cancelling the operation if necessary. At the moment, I have not been able to program this, but I think it might have a solution. Hopefully, with a bit more study, this can be introduced in the future.
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When the Rebol module deletes e-mails, the logical thing to do would be to open the mailbox concerned, delete all the e-mails required within it, and close the mailbox. Unfortunately, this was found not to work in practice. The only solution apparently was to open and close the relevant mailbox for each e-mail requiring deletion, making the whole process considerably slower. This may be a bug in Rebol, or perhaps it requires a special technique or workaround. Whatever, it is to be hoped that a solution emerges in the future so that SpamGobbler's deletion process can be made more agile.
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If you are not using either Ubuntu or Kubuntu, but you are desperately swamped with spam and you would like to try using the SpamGobbler, all is not lost! First of all, download this little test program:
testdefaultfolder.zip
Unzip it to the SpamGobbler folder, and run it. If the path shown in the first box ("Default Folder") does NOT correspond to the path of the SpamGobbler folder (e.g. /home/username/Desktop/SpamGobbler) then make a note of what this path is. If convenient to do so, you can then copy the CONTENTS of the SpamGobbler folder WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE PROGRAM ITSELF to this location. You should then be able to run the SpamGobbler program from the Desktop (or anywhere else for that matter), but it will create its files and expect to find its files at the location you copied its complementary files to.
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The Rebol module provided with SpamGobbler is particularly suitable for Ubuntu Linux. If you are using a different kind of Linux and the module provided does not appear to work, navigate to the following site and download Rebol VIEW for your particular Linux:
http://www.rebol.net/builds/
Copy the "rebol" module from the dist/view folder to the SpamGobbler folder, replacing the original.
As described above, you can quickly adapt SpamGobbler to work on systems other than Ubuntu/Kubuntu Linux. Here is a screenshot of it running in Puppy Linux for example. Copy the SpamGobbler folder to "my-applications" as normal. Download the "Linux x86" Rebol VIEW module, and replace the "Linux Ubuntu x86" module (the file "rebol") in the SpamGobbler forlder with it.
The shell call for the e-mail program in Puppy is simply "mozmail".
#0.197
The release notes for this version are the same as those for #0.196 (see below), except that:
1) Deletion of spam should now work correctly for both types of e-mail account configuration.
2) The Rebol module provided is no longer specifically for Ubuntu: it should work on all Debian Linuxes.
