Release notes

Version 8.0

New

• New emoji feature automatically converts 70+ text-based emoticons into corresponding Unicode emojis. Use one or multiple text smileys :) ;) ^_^ in the command line, and the matching emotes 🙂 😉 🤣 will be embedded directly in the email.

Fixed

• Fixed issue that rarely caused graceful re-connection to fail for SMTP servers that were using a pure TLS/SSL connection (as opposed to STARTTLS).

Improved

• Full support for Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.
• Improved Windows edition detection—Pro, Enterprise, Datacenter, etc.
• Slightly less memory footprint (in some multi-attachment scenarios).
• The debug output (using DEBUGX command) is enhanced with additional information on character encoding and email priority. Adjusted and rearranged the debug layout for the related information on SMTP (server, port, security, timeout, etc.).
• Many more layout and output adjustments, including consistent error and warning highlighting.
• The default and help layout improvements—multiple help options, links to documentation, ordering information, etc.

Changed

• Minor changes in the logic of software update notifications.

Version 7.0

New

• New TLS option allows selecting how client and SMTP server negotiates the version of TLS or SSL to be used in secure connection when using SSL or STARTTLS commands.
• New IGNORETLSERRORS parameter allows ignoring any certificate errors caused when connecting to a secure SMTP server.

Fixed

• In rare cases, shortcuts in the Windows Start menu were asking for an Installer package instead of launching an app.
• Some scenarios when the Windows MFC error was incorrectly preventing email sending.

Improved

• Full support for Windows Server 2019.
• Greatly improved debugging experience—displays more information and highlights TLS information.
• Improved console output—highlights SMTP server error messages in red, and highlights warnings in yellow, thus allowing pinpoint any problems almost immediately.
• NTLM authentication allows providing a username and a password of another user in the Windows Domain, or for a server that is not part of the Domain.
• Very long subject lines are now folded, to be in accordance with the current rules of RFC.
• Improved TESTHTML command usage experience.
• Reduced the setup file size.
• All external resource connections now use HTTPS (TLS) exclusively.
• More minor tweaks and improvements.

Changed

• The default email text encoding now is UTF-8. Previously, ISO-8859-1 was default encoding.
• The default port is 587 now, instead of 25. SSL connections still use port 465.
• Instead of OpenSSL libraries, febootimail now uses Windows built-in cryptographic API that is secured by Windows Secure Channel (Schannel) security support provider (SSP). It provides the latest security fixes and improvements, such as TLS 1.3 to crypto API via the standard Windows Updates.

Version 6.0

Improved

• Less memory footprint.
• Slight performance improvements.
• Full support for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.
• Debug screen now displays Windows version and build number.
• Greatly improved error handling during client-server communication by showing the last server response.
• OpenSSL libraries updated to the latest version (includes security fixes).
• For all setup files the signature hash algorithm (Digital Signature Algorithm) now uses SHA-2 cryptographic hash function instead of SHA-1.
• Reduced the setup file size.
• Minor tweaks and improvements.

Changed

• Removed the Update Service.

Version 5.2

Improved

• Improved NTLM authentication.
• Includes the latest OpenSSL libraries. Consult the OpenSSL documentation for more details.

Version 5.1

Improved

• Minor UI tweaks.

Changed

• Now the Message-ID header field is generated automatically. NOID command allows removing the Message-ID field.

Version 5.0

New

• IGNOREATTACHERRORS command allows you to send emails while ignoring all file attaching errors (such as Network timeout, Unable to read file, Access denied, Sharing violation, etc.).
• TONAME parameter allows to specify a friendly name both for TO and CC email recipients.
• Optional LOGSUCCESS parameter to log basic history of successfully sent emails.
• Optional LOGFAILURE parameter to log only failed email sending attempts to a specified file.
• Full compatibility with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 both for 32 and 64-bit versions.
• Minor tweaks and fixes across the entire app.

Fixed

• Some security issues regarding SSL and STARTTLS connections. Consult the OpenSSL documentation for more details.

Improved

• Slightly faster email sending speed.
• Improved a timeout error handling and more friendly timeout notifications.
• Improved warning messages about incompatible command line parameters.
• Debug screen now displays error information regarding log file errors.
• OpenSSL libraries updated to the latest version (includes security fixes).
• More minor improvements.

Changed

• UTF8 email text messages without attachments are now sent without an additional multipart/mixed section.
• A friendly name part of the TO, FROM and CC fields in the email header from now on are encoded if they contain international (non ASCII) characters.
• A friendly name part of the FROM and REPLYTO fields are always enclosed in quotes.

Version 4.1

Improved

• Improved HTML image CID generation according to RFC to display cached images correctly on iOS and iPhones.
• In case of SMTP error, a user is directed to a more relevant help topic.
• OpenSSL libraries updated to the current version.
• Minor UI improvement.

Version 4.0.1

Improved

• Installation packages as well as all executables and libraries are now digitally signed with an Authenticode certificate, which allows validation of code authenticity and integrity.

Version 4.0

New

• Introduced 64-bit version of Command Line Email for 64-bit Windows.
• The HIDE command immediately hides the Command Line Email command prompt window.
• Added hidefebootimail.exe executable that works without any screen output window.
• The HELO command allows using a custom client and SMTP communication session initiation greeting.

Fixed

• If OpenSSL libraries were missing, febootimail.exe crashed upon execution.
• If a line contained only a single dot character, the end of the email message was cut on some occasions.
• If an EML file contained a dot in a separate line, sending email with the OPENEML parameter could cut a part of an email following the line with the dot.

Improved

• If attaching of a file fails, the error is shown instead of sending a zero length attachment.
• Content MIME type of email attachments is now specified more precisely.
• In some scenarios the screen output is now colored and provides better visualization.
• If a TEXT value within the configuration file (specified by CONFIG parameter) is put into quotes, the leading and ending space characters are preserved.
• Better installing experience in some scenarios.
• OpenSSL libraries updated to the current version.
• Minor improvements.

Changed

• Windows 98, Me, NT and 2000 are no longer supported. Use Command Line Email v3.2, instead. See FAQ.
• Changed Command Line Email license text to clarify the terms of use of the software.

Note

• Before installing Command Line Email v4.0 a user has to uninstall the previous version.

Version 3.2

Fixed

• When using friendly names with national characters (regional settings for language other than English), sometimes the incorrect quote characters were used.
• If the UF parameter was used after the TO parameter, the beginning of TO field sometimes contained unnecessary commas.
• If no TO recipients are specified, an email header does not contain an empty TO field.
• DEBUG and DEBUGX commands sometimes returned slightly incorrect line break values.
• DEBUGX sometimes produced garbled text at the end of the debug output.
• In rare cases error information was not complete (and contained %1 characters instead of necessary description).
• In rare cases using the OPENEML files led to an application crash.
• If OPENEML and SAVEEML parameters were used simultaneously, it usually led to an application crash.
• If the DIAL parameter is used, a disconnect is now graceful.
• The PRECEDENCE parameter was incorrectly writing two colons in the email header.

Improved

• When some error is experienced during sending individual emails using TOEACH parameter, the application attempts to send the remaining emails instead of quitting.
• On some non-English localizations of Windows, some OS error messages were shown in incorrect character encoding.
• When multiple attachments are specified in a text file (using UF parameter after ATTACH command), they can be separated by line break character only. In the previous application versions also a pipe character had to be used.
• When using the CONFIG parameter, file names used in the configuration file can be put in quotes.
• Unnecessary line break characters are automatically removed when using the UF parameter.
• TO and CC fields are wrapped according to the RFC standard.
• In some cases error information is supplemented by providing OS reported error (e.g., when a file is not accessible).
• Added Febooti Command Line Email icons for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
• OpenSSL libraries updated to the most current version.

Changed

• If available, CONFIRM command uses REPLYTO address instead of FROM address to request confirmation.
• CONFIRM command does not use the friendly name in its header.
• SAVEEML, OPENEML, LOG and other files are not opened in the exclusive access mode anymore.
• Email date is now created without preceding zero, if email is sent before 10^th day of a month.
• If an email date is specified in a custom header, the original email date is not added.
• From now on, the TZ environment variable is not taken into consideration.
• An email MIME boundary now is always written in lower case.
• OpenSSL libraries moved to a separate folder in order not to be in the PATH variable (and thus possibly conflicting with other software).

Version 3.1

Fixed

• Warning messages were not displayed and logged if there were no error messages present at the same time. In some the cases popup window was not displayed.
• The application failed to attach files, if a drive different from the current was used when specifying a file mask.

Improved

• The popup window was modified to better represent the status of email sending operation outcome.

Version 3.0

New

• TOEACH, SPLIT parameter for sending a separate email to multiple individual recipients.
• CONFIG, CFG parameter to store recurrent command line parts in a configuration text file to shorten the command line.
• New GUI registration tool available from the Start menu to facilitate software registration.
• Added Windows compatibility checks considering Microsoft guidelines.

Fixed

• Better reporting on email sending success and failure.
• Bug that caused incorrect encoding of UTF-8 headers.
• Minor misspells.

Improved

• ATTACH parameter now supports file masks, such as *.pdf or *.* or pic?????.jpg wildcards.
• OpenSSL library version update including important bugfixes.
• Improvements in the command line parsing provides better reporting on mistakenly used parameters.
• Improved error handling, new errorlevels added.

Changed

• Command Line Email v3.0 installer replaces help.bat with febootimail-help.bat to avoid confusion with Windows help.
• The Uninstall shortcut removed from the Start menu. Febooti Command Line Email can only be removed using the Programs and Features option in Windows 7 (or Add or Remove Programs in earlier Windows versions) Control Panel as recommended by Microsoft.
• REGISTER, R parameter now takes into consideration whether WAITAFTER parameter is used.

Version 2.0

New

• SSL parameter for establishing secure encrypted connection to SMTP server.
• STARTTLS parameter to establish the secure TLS connection with an SMTP server.
• NTLM, CRAM-MD5, AUTO to provide more authentication methods (AUTH).
• CR, ENTER parameter for adding a line break character right in the DOS prompt.
• SAVEEML, OPENEML for operations with the standard EML files.
• DEBUGX parameter provides a comprehensive report on a Client-SMTP server communication session.
• NOXMAILER parameter allows removing the X-Mailer tag from the email header.
• UF command alias for USEFILE.

Fixed

• On most servers authentication AUTH PLAIN did not work.
• On some servers with slightly different authentication implementation AUTH did not work.
• Redundant charset information is no more added to MIME parts that do not require it.
• Nuls in email messages added with USEFILE switch previously were causing the message breaks. Now the NUL characters are translated into spaces.
• Issues with HTMLFILE switch that on some occasions could not correctly embed images and image links starting with https:// or ftp:// or file:///, etc.
• Friendly names of email sender or recipient could not contain commas.
• Many minor bug fixes.

Improved

• Optimized message processing delays, resulting in better email sending speed.
• Debug output screen layout changed to provide a better report on email sending processes.
• Many minor improvements.

Changed

• When a message text is taken from the USEFILE parameter, UTF-8 encoding is automatically detected and the respective charset tag is added to the message header.
• Command Line Email now is supplied in the MSI installer package which is compatible with the newest MS Windows versions.
• Now administrator rights are required only to install and register the application. Administrator rights are no more required to run the application.
• Update Service now only provides notification on version updates.
• PATH variable is used instead of installing additional Febootimail executable.
• New errorlevels added. Error messages added, removed and modified.
• Many minor changes.

Version 1.3

New

• WAITBEFORE parameter which adds a specified delay before sending operation.
• WAITAFTER parameter which adds a specified delay after sending operation.
• HEADER switch that allows to set custom email headers.

Fixed

• The CR / newline bug that caused a header to appear in the email body.
• The attachments where file names contain comma and semicolon (also, removed undocumented feature that allowed attach multiple files separated by commas. Multiple files from now must be specified using multiple FILE and ATTACH switches).
• Invalid "Content-Transfer-Encoding" in a header.
• Negative time bug occurring when time zone was specified in minutes, e.g., (GMT+05:45) Kathmandu.
• The debug screen was displaying login instead of plain and vice versa when using SMTP authentication.
• The Installer in some specific cases was incorrectly reporting "Can't create a folder".
• Spaces in file names are preserved.

Improved

• Images now keep their original file name case, when using HTMLFILE switch.
• Corrected HTML file parsing (Disposition, Content Type and ID, Image Source) is now compatible with the Mozilla email engine.
• Installer animation.

Version 1.2

New

• TESTHTML command that allows to test .html sending without adding a footer in the trial version.
• LOG parameter that allows to log some general information of the sending process. Added 2 new warnings related to the LOG command: Warning: Can't open log file and Warning: Can't write log file.
• LU and DOUPDATE commands that force check for the updated version.
• DLU and DONTUPDATE commands that suppress checking for a new version even if the auto update is enabled.

Fixed

• Fixed a bug that caused an error on some systems when the DEBUG command was used.
• Added line breaks before the Febooti footer to ensure the correct trial footer formatting in the trial version.
• Minor fixes and tweaks.

Version 1.1

New

• Support for the UTF-16 / UCS-2, UTF-32 / UCS-4 by converting them to the UTF-8 text encoding.
• Option to request a read confirmation.
• New command parameter for the online help access.
• Recipients list can be separated with LF / CR (return / enter key).

Fixed

• The application now sets correct encoding for all email (header, body) parts.
• When sending HTML messages, there are no more duplicate images.
• The REPLY parameter misspelling fixed, the old version still works for backward compatibility.
• Minor fixes and tweaks.

Version 1.0

Features

• Send email from the command line to any number of recipients (may be limited by your ISP SMTP server).
• Send email from the Scheduled Tasks, or any software that can execute external commands, CGI scripts etc.
• Send email using CC (Carbon Copy) and BCC (Blind Carbon Copy).
• Send an email message using a plain text or an HTML message with embedded pictures.
• Set alternate text for email programs that do not support HTML messages.
• Set an SMTP server address and an SMTP server port; the address may be used as a traditional URL (e.g., mail.yourdomain.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g., 10.123.123.123).
• Use a mail server authentication (AUTH PLAIN, AUTH LOGIN) before sending email.
• You can use a friendly name in both the TO and FROM fields. The name appears in the email as a substitute for your email address.
• Unlimited attachments.
• To facilitate batch programming, febootimail provides return codes to check success or failure from environment variable %errorlevel%.
• Ability to set a message priority (HIGHEST, HIGH, NORMAL, LOW, LOWEST, NOT SET).
• Optional reply-to email address and reply-to friendly name.
• Ability to set the message text encoding.
• Ability to set the message comment.
• Ability to set an organization of a sender.
• Ability to take parameters from a text file or files.
• Plain text or MIME encoding (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
• Auto dial (if modem is used).
• Bind IP address (if more than one Interface / LAN card is used).
• Ability to set timeouts manually.
• Optionally, it displays a Windows message box after the message is sent.
• An optional quiet mode to suppress normal output.
• An optional debug mode to view internal variables and SMTP server messages.