Release notes for AsterFax version 1.0 release candidate 5

AsterFax provides an Email to Fax gateway for the transmission of faxes using Asterisk.

Asterisk is an Open Source PBX (or PABX) integrating PSTN telephone lines and VOIP into a single solution, providing all of the functionality of a high end PBX; and best of all its free!
AsterFax builds on the services provided by Asterisk to provide a full fledged email based Fax Gateway.

What that means is that with AsterFax and Asterisk you can send faxes from your desktop using your standard email client without have to install any software on your desktop.

AsterFax can translate a normal email message into a fax message. You simply enter the destination phone number in the 'To' address, compose your email message and click send. Its that easy.

For more formal correspondence AsterFax also supports a growing number of file formats such as PDF, Tiff, Postscript, MS-Word and OpenOffice Writer. You can either attach the file to your email message or for applications such as MS-Word and OpenOffice you can fax directly from the applications by using the 'Send Email' option. The resulting email is sent as a fax message.


This release includes the following bug fixes and enhancements

Fix for bug 1532055 - Empty PageSize causes NullPointerException

The PageSize can now be left blank in AsterFax.xml without causing any errors. The default PageSize is 'letter'.

Enhance test script to accept attachment file name as parameter

The test.sh script in /usr/lib/asterfax/test has been enhanced to accept a 5th parameter being the name of the file to use for the test. Previously the file could not be specified and was always /usr/lib/asterfax/test/attachments/testpage.tif.

Fixed issue NullPointerExceptions in archive e-mail

When enabled archive e-mails there are scenarios where the system might generate exceptions. This has been fixed.

Change receiver and submitter configuration

The configuration of receivers and submitters has been changed to improve flexibility. Where previously a class name was entered for the receiver and submitter now arguments can also be specified. The format of the configuration file has change incompatibly with v1rc4b for this change.