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                          S o c k e t M a n a g e r

                           Network socket manager

                          by David Thomas,  1996-8
                         version 1.11 (22 Dec 1998)
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 Purpose ___________________________________________________________________

  SocketManager is a utility which allows you to remove dead network
sockets.  Typically this will be needed when an application crashes and
leaves one or more sockets open.

  If you are running a server and it terminates without first closing its
listening socket then that socket will remain in use indefinitely.  This is
annoying with servers that are expected to run on a specific port, such as an
FTP server, for example.  SocketManager allows you to safely identify and
close the socket so that the server program may be used again without needing
to resort to a complete reset.

  This potentially a very dangerous program  it can crash the whole system
with a single click.  Use it with care and dont let it get into the wrong
hands.


 Usage _____________________________________________________________________

  When you load SocketManager it will not immediately show itself on the
desktop, instead it will wait in the background until you press Ctrl-S, upon
which it will open its main window.  Note that many applications use Ctrl-S
themselves, so SocketManager may not respond if another program has the input
focus.

  The main window lists all of the sockets that SocketManager can find out
about  those marked as being active.  The remainder of the sockets, such
as those that have been closed and are pending removal will not be listed.

  Those sockets that SocketManager believes have been abandoned will
highlighted in red.  Any sockets which it thinks are servers it will
highlight in blue.

  A menu is available from the main window which provides two choices:

    Resolve     This controls whether numeric IP addresses will be resolved
                into full host names.  This is a slow operation, so it is
                off on startup.

    Services    This controls whether port numbers are turned into their
                equivalent port names.  Again, this is a slow operation so
                it is off on startup.

  The list will not automatically be updated when sockets are created or
removed by an application; to update the list press Ctrl-S again.  However,
it will be updated when you use the Remove button to remove a socket or
alter either of the choices.

  Dont remove sockets which belong to running applications, you will
probably kill the application it belongs to or possibly the entire system.


 Icon Bar Operation ________________________________________________________

  If you add the parameter -bar to the last line of the !SocketMgr.!Run
file, SocketManager will use an icon bar icon.  In this mode, SELECT on the
icon bar icon opens the main window and causes an update.


 Versions __________________________________________________________________

1.11 (22 Dec 1998)
 - Optional icon bar operation.
 - Documentation rewritten in places.

1.10 (11 Apr 1998)
 - Configurable DNS and service name resolution.
 - Highlighting.
 - Larger internal text buffer.
 - New layout of socket information.

1.05 (03 Mar 1998)
 - Revised socket information routine.
 - The pre-built menu is no longer used.

1.01 (10 Feb 1997)
 - Shared OpenFiles/RemoveDA/SocketMgr updates (routine tweaking and
   unneccessary routines removed).
 - Fixed the bad file descriptor problem: string terminators were being
   overwritten.
 - Wont now crash if there are too many open sockets to list.
 - Squidgings.

1.00 (22 Oct 1996)
 - First release.


 Copyright & Contact Addresses _____________________________________________

  This software is copyrighted work of David Thomas, it is supplied as is;
using it is entirely at your own risk.  I make no warranty as to the fitness
of this software for any purpose.  You are free to distribute this program
to anyone you please, as long as you are not supplying it for personal or
commercial gain and it is delivered with all of the supplied files unaltered.

  If you have any comments, bug reports, suggestions for future versions or
anything else dont hesitate to contact me at -

  Mail:  Mr D.P. Thomas
         20 Rosebery Avenue
         Waterloo
         Liverpool
         L22 2BH

  Email: dpt@tristone.co.uk

  WWW:   http://www.tristone.co.uk/davespace/
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