b1gMail 7.4.1 Beta 1 released

b1gMail 7.4.1 Beta 1 is now available for download at https://github.com/b1gMail-OSS/b1gMail/releases! It is the first version released under the GPL license. As with every beta version: Don't use for productive use!

Before updating, please make a backup of the database and the b1gMail folder including the data folder!

Changes 7.4.0->7.4.1

• All proprietary graphics replaced by free ones and by Font Awesome
• Update of libraries: Smarty to 2.6.32, CKEditor to 4.17.1, Font Awesome to 4.7
• Fax plugin: FPDF to 1.84 and FPDI 2.36. Proprietary FPDI parser library removed.
• minor bug fixes
• Optional: conversion to utf8mb4. New installations are always in utf8mb4.
• Cleanup of code that is only intended for an older PHP version.
• Support for PHP 8.0 and 8.1 (currently experimental, please test!)

New installation

Download complete package. In serverlib rename config.default.inc.php to config.inc.php and version.default.inc.php to version.inc.php.

Update from b1gMail 7.4.0

Just upload the files. No database specific changes were made. In serverlib delete the file version.inc.php and rename version.default.inc.php to version.inc.php. Alternatively call /setup/update.php. In both cases the setup folder must be deleted afterwards.

Update from b1gMail 7.3.0

Call /setup/update.php after the upload.

Update from other b1gMail 7.4 beta versions

You have to update to b1gMail 7.4.0-Beta4 first.

Update from b1gMail versions older than 7.3.0

The update routine goes from 7.0.0. However, this has not been tested and it is therefore recommended to update to b1gMail 7.3.0 first, if you have access to this version.

Update from b1gMail6

If you are already using b1gMail6, please update to b1gMail 7.2.0 first, then to 7.3.0 and then to this version.

Notes

• Before updating, please make a backup of your database and files. No liability for data loss!
• b1gMail 7.4.1 requires at least PHP 5.4
• New installation requires at least MySQL / MariaDB 5.5.3
• After the update please delete your browser cache
• b1gMail 7.4.1 also contains the PremiumAccount and Fax plugin.
• If b1gMailServer is used, please restart the queue service after the update and make sure that the latest version is used.
• The server part of b1gMailServer is currently NOT OpenSource, only the included admin interface.
• Plugins from ThinkClever GmbH are not compatible with the b1gMail 7.4 version. These must be uninstalled before update.
• If the b1gMail installation is still running in ISO character set / Latin mode, it is strongly recommended to convert to UTF-8 format.

Limitations compared with the old commercial version

• The toolbox is currently not available for the free version. License holders of the former commercial b1gMail version can still use the service, see below for more information.
• Update notifications are not available
• Fax plugin: Since the proprietary FPDI parser library is not allowed to be shipped in a GPL project, it was removed with the update of the FPDI class. This removes support for compressed PDF files. If one still needs this, a license must be purchased at https://www.setasign.com/products/fpdi-pdf-parser/pricing/. Alternatively, the last commercial version of the fax plugin can be used if a license was purchased at that time.

Note for users who previously used the commercial version:

The service at b1gMail.org are currently not accessible. This includes the toolbox. If you want to use the toolbox from b1gMail.com, you have to add the following to config.inc.php:

define('B1GMAIL_DLDATE', ''); //Here add dldate
define('B1GMAIL_LICDOMAIN', ''); //Here add licdomain
define('B1GMAIL_SIGNKEY', ''); //Here add signkey
define('TOOLBOX_SERVER', 'http://service.b1gmail.com/toolbox/');
define('UPDATE_SERVER', 'http://service.b1gmail.com/patches/');
define('SIGNATURE_SERVER', 'http://service.b1gmail.com/signatures/');

You get these values from serverlib/init.php of the commercial version.

Character sets

Before converting, be sure to back up the database and files. No liability for data loss!

ISO character set

b1gMail 7.4.1 will be the last version that will still support the old ISO character set or latin1. For a problem-free operation the conversion to UTF-8 format is therefore strongly recommended.

If you are using a version older than 7.4.0:

Saving emails to database causes character set errors, so the file system variant is the safest. Therefore, before conversion, log into the admin area, go to "Settings" " "Mail" and make sure that mail storage is set to "File system". Even if this was already the case, then go to "Tools" " "Optimization" " "File System" and run the "Mail Storage" function (Database -> Files). This is necessary to make sure that there are no more emails in the database, since this storage method has been removed as of version 7.4.0-Beta1.

When updating: After running setup/update.php do not delete the "setup" folder yet but run setup/utf8convert.php first. Allow some time for the conversion.

UTF8MB4

New installations always use UTF8MB4, because the old UTF-8 implementation of MySQL cannot store 4 byte character sets. When updating from an older b1gMail version: run setup/utf8mb4convert.php. You need a little time for the conversion.

Discussion thread: Feedback b1gMail 7.4.1 released