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Courier v0.5.7 (beta)

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@rpycroft rpycroft released this 28 Oct 08:52
v0.5.7
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Courier v0.5.7 (beta)

A new Courier beta: free, self-hosted, one-way messaging for schools. Write a notice, choose the computers or people it is for, and see how far it got. This is an early build and not an emergency system.

New in this beta

  • Put the RSJ Agent on your computers from the console. Configuration > Agent Settings has three tabs, as in Groundskeeper. Deploy has the connection secret, the deploy script and Run AD discovery, which finds the computers in Active Directory. Devices lists them: Registered (computers with the RSJ Agent, who is signed in, the Courier module, last seen, with Send a notice beside each), Unregistered, Unreachable and Excluded. Deploy selected installs the RSJ Agent on the computers you tick, over WinRM, with an administrator account you type for that one batch; it is never saved or logged. Courier module switches notices on for the computers.
  • A new menu, as in Groundskeeper: Message Settings (Audiences, Sending, Templates, Retention, Directory), Agent Settings and General Settings (Users, Access, Updates, Backup, Logs, School, Appearance, Activity, About). The Endpoints page is gone: its computers are under Agent Settings > Devices > Registered, and an old Endpoints link opens it.
  • Each Devices tab loads on its own. If one list cannot be loaded, that tab says so and the others still work.
  • Collect logs for support (General Settings > Logs) now saves the file, or says plainly why it could not, instead of leaving the page.
  • Restoring a settings backup applies its console access list at once, not at the next restart.
  • A People audience can hold up to 20 Active Directory groups, the most one notice can look up. Before, an audience of 21 to 50 groups could be saved but never sent.
  • The RSJ Agent it carries is 0.8.36, and the Courier module it hands to computers is signed: an agent on 0.8.36 or later refuses an unsigned module.
  • The console looks and works like Groundskeeper's. General Settings > Appearance shows the themes as picture cards, and your theme now follows your account to any computer you sign in on. Administrators can set a School colour, used as the accent across the console.
  • Change your password is on the Users tab, where every account can find it.
  • A Logs tab (General Settings > Logs) shows the latest log lines and downloads a support bundle for RSJ Software, with passwords, addresses and names taken out first. Check it before you send it.
  • The version you are running shows under the Courier name in the side menu, and General Settings > About has links to the documentation and to help.
  • Branding is now called School, as in Groundskeeper.
  • Logs are kept one file a day for seven days, and passwords, tokens and sign-in details never reach them.
  • The nightly backup and update check are not moved by the clocks changing: they cannot run twice, early or not at all on the night the clocks go back or forward.
  • On a shared computer, the next person to sign in no longer gets the last person's theme.

What you can do

  • Write, preview and send a notice. A title, a message and an expiry. The preview shows the notice as the computer will show it, who it reaches in words, when it expires, and a warning for a computer that is off, a computer without the Courier module, or a person no computer has reported signed in yet.
  • Computers or people. Tick computers, or name people by username or by Active Directory group.
  • Delivery reports that say only what is known. Waiting, Received, Displayed, Acknowledged, Expired, Failed. Displayed never means "read" and Expired never means "acknowledged". Download a notice's results, or the History list, as a CSV file.
  • Notices expire, and are not handed out again after that. History is kept for the period you choose, then deleted.
  • Senders and administrators. A sender can send only to the audiences an administrator gives them. Templates, your school's name and logo, and local Courier accounts that do not sign in to any other product.
  • Free, with no limit on the number of computers.

The RSJ Agent comes with Courier

Courier shows notices through the RSJ Agent, the same small agent Groundskeeper and Caretaker use. You do not have to find and download it separately: the Courier installer carries it, and the console makes a script that installs the agent on a computer and enrols it. Courier adds one small module to the agent and changes nothing else it does. If a computer already has the agent from Groundskeeper or Caretaker, Courier uses it.

What you will notice

  • Use the console from any computer on your network, with sign-in. Open https://<your server's name or address>:8445 in a browser and sign in; nobody has to remote-desktop to the server. The first administrator account is still made on the server itself. General Settings > Access can limit the console to certain addresses or ranges (the server itself can always open it).
  • Updates work out of the box on the beta. A new install checks the beta channel by itself, so Check for updates needs no token.
  • Safer deploys of the RSJ Agent. The script the console makes will not put an older RSJ Agent over a newer one, and says plainly why if the agent's installer stops.
  • Clearer wording when a notice may not have gone. If Courier cannot tell whether a send worked, it now says so ("Courier did not confirm whether the notice was sent. Open History to check before sending it again.") instead of inviting you to try again. After a send, Results opens with "Notice sent." Other buttons say what they do: Send a second copy now, Send rather than Send now.
  • Plainer reports. History says "Not collected by any computer yet" or "No computer collected it before it expired". Results says Expired, not Closed. The computers list says Not installed where it used to say "Not reported".
  • Shortening how long History is kept asks you first, because it deletes the older notices straight away.
  • Update channels. General Settings > Updates > Update channel: Stable, Beta or Alpha. Beta offers betas like this one as well as every public release. Switching back to Stable never installs an older version. A reply Courier cannot read now shows as "could not check", never as "up to date".
  • Backup and restore, General Settings > Backup. A nightly database backup (the newest seven kept), a restore that is checked first and applied the next time the service starts, and a password-protected settings file for moving to a new server.
  • An update that stops half-way starts Courier again instead of leaving it stopped.
  • A number of small problems with backups, restores and updates are fixed.

What has been seen working, and what has not

Please read this before you rely on Courier.

  • Seen working on real computers (a lab server and PC, October 2026): a notice sent to a computer, shown on screen and acknowledged, with each step recorded in the console, including on a locked screen and a signed-out screen; the server and the computer restarting; upgrading, uninstalling and reinstalling with the data kept. On 28 October the installer for this very build was run over the previous private build (0.5.6) on the lab server: the service restarted once and came back as 0.5.7, and a notice sent from it reached the lab PC (RSJ Agent 0.8.36) and was on its screen within about four seconds. Nobody was at the PC to acknowledge it in this run.
  • Not yet proven on real machines: Deploy selected (installing the RSJ Agent over WinRM) and Run AD discovery on a real school network; one person signed in on two computers; signing out and another person signing in; Active Directory groups on a real school domain; and automatic updates.
  • Fixed since the last beta: a notice waiting for someone to sign in now appears when they do, with the RSJ Agent 0.8.35 or later (seen on the lab PC on 22 October); the agent this build installs is 0.8.36.
  • The school name and logo do not show in the notice window on the computers yet, only in the console and the preview.
  • Not for emergencies. There is no promise that a notice reaches or interrupts anyone in time. Do not rely on Courier for a lockdown, a fire alarm or anything where a missed message is dangerous.

Help and documentation

Getting started

  1. Download CourierSetup.exe below and run it on a Windows Server that stays on.
  2. From the Start menu on that server choose Open Console and create the first administrator account.
  3. Put the RSJ Agent on your computers (Agent Settings > Deploy makes the script, or Devices > Deploy selected installs it for you), switch the Courier module on for them from the same page, and send a first notice to one of them.

Upgrading

Already on a private build? Run the new installer over it; your accounts, history and settings are kept. To be offered betas from then on, choose Beta under General Settings > Updates > Update channel.

Download

File Description
CourierSetup.exe The whole Courier server -- install it on the Windows Server that will run Courier. The Courier module for your PCs is inside it and is handed to each PC by your own server. The RSJ Agent that runs the module on each PC is a separate install.

The two Source code links GitHub adds to every release hold only this repository's README and security policy, not the product.

SHA-256 checksum

Verify your download matches this before running it (PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\CourierSetup.exe):

File SHA-256
CourierSetup.exe BF9FEC125D86A5BEC2746956F615165CC812BA53CDEE67679C8C26CD9EC66E7A

Checked

The installer was scanned on VirusTotal before release:

About the beta

A beta build is newer than the public release, for trying new features before they reach everyone. It is tested by RSJ Software
but may still have rough edges. Install it over an existing Courier: your accounts, history and settings are kept.

To be offered betas, choose Beta under Settings -> Updates -> Update channel; you are also offered every public release as it
comes out. Tick Allow automatic updates there too if you want them installed without asking. To leave, choose Stable:
nothing older is ever installed, and the next public release arrives once it is newer than the beta you have.

What to expect when installing

Run the installer on the Windows Server that hosts Courier; it asks for administrator approval. The installer should name
RSJ Software Ltd as its publisher. If the publisher shows as unknown, do not run it -- tell us in an Issue on the main
repository. Take a copy of Courier's data folder first, with the Courier service stopped, as you would before any upgrade.

Help, questions and bug reports

Everything lives on the main repository, not here:

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