RPM 7.0 Preview Release

Announcing RPM Remote Print Manager® ("RPM") version 7.0. This release marks the largest release in the product's history, building on a modern foundation — a modern database engine, a brand-new interface, stronger encryption, and native PDF — all while keeping the print handling you already rely on.

This is our first public preview, and we'd love your feedback before the general release.

Because this release touches nearly every part of the product, the notes below highlight what you'll actually see and use rather than cataloging every internal change.

A modern database engine (Firebird 5)

RPM 7.0 moves from Firebird 2.5 to Firebird 5, a substantial jump to a current, actively maintained engine. The benefits are better performance on busy systems, more reliable indexing, and a modern access path throughout the service.

Existing installations are migrated automatically during an in-place upgrade with new backup and restore tooling which is included. If you're coming from an older RPM, see "Upgrading from RPM 6" below.

A brand-new user interface

The RPM user interface has been rewritten from the ground up as a fast, native Windows program. It replaces the previous interface entirely, and is the first thing you'll notice:

• Live, always-current views. Job, queue, log, and alert lists update themselves in real time as the service works
• Built for modern displays. Every dialog is resizable and fully DPI-aware, including correct scaling when you drag a window between monitors at different resolutions.
• Faster to work in. Type-ahead search in the queue list, drag-and-drop (including dropping files straight from Explorer onto a queue), right-click context menus, and column layouts that remember how you left them.
• Manage RPM on another machine. Connect the application to a remote RPM installation and administer it as if it were local, with service operations gated appropriately for remote sessions.
• Clearer at a glance. New status icons throughout, an icon legend so you always know what a symbol means, and service-connection indicators that show which host you're connected to.
• Everything in one place. Integrated license management, a database maintenance tool, an events/alerts window with multi-select, copy, and export, and a built-in Check for Updates that distinguishes the version you have installed from the latest available.

Stronger credential security

Stored credentials — printer, FTP, email, and Windows user passwords — are now protected with a unique encryption key generated per installation, replacing the older shared scheme. During upgrade, existing credentials are automatically re-encrypted onto the new key, and we've added key rotation so the protecting key can be changed without re-entering your passwords. Legacy encryption formats have been retired.

Native PDF, with security and overlays (Elite)

PDF handling is now performed natively inside RPM rather than by a separate helper process, which makes it faster and more reliable:

• PDF security. Apply user and owner passwords and set permissions (printing, copying, and so on) on generated PDFs.
• Overlays. Add image overlays to PDF output and standard print paths and PDF overlays to PDF files — ideal for letterhead, forms, and watermarks that stay crisp at any size.
• Better conversions. Improved PCL-to-PDF and text-to-PDF output, including correct handling of embedded and CJK fonts.

Better handling of international text

RPM 7 handles non-English text far more faithfully:

• Job names with non-ANSI characters are preserved correctly end to end.
• Improved Unicode (UTF-8) conversion throughout the service.
• More accurate "characters per line" counting for Asian character sets, so formatted output lines up as intended.

Reliability and performance

• Lower memory use on watch folders. We fixed a condition where actively-changing watch folders could cause large memory spikes; folder monitoring is now event-driven and far more efficient.
• Steadier job flow. Job handling was reworked for consistency across all protocols, jobs no longer get stranded in unknown or error states in several edge cases, and reprint/retry is now handled cleanly by the service.
• Multi-job connections. The bundled clpr client and the LPD path now support reusing a single connection for multiple jobs.
• Resilient crash reporting. A new out-of-process crash handler captures diagnostics without destabilizing the service, and crash reports now include a recent-activity snapshot to speed up support.

Smarter diagnostics and monitoring

• Opt-in diagnostic logging you can turn on per category and point at a file when you need it — and leave off the rest of the time.
• Clearer, more consistent event and alert reporting surfaced directly in the new application.

Modernized under the hood

Beyond the visible features, RPM 7 is built on current tooling — updated compilers, an updated Boost, a refreshed
encryption library, and a modernized codebase — with numerous stability and correctness fixes throughout. This is the foundation that future RPM 7.x updates will build on.

Upgrading from RPM 6

Upgrading is designed to be automatic. The installer migrates your existing database to Firebird 5, re-encrypts stored credentials onto the new per-install key, and carries your queues, actions, and settings forward.  Installations still running a 32-bit RPM 6.x are migrated to the 64-bit build as part of the upgrade.

Note: Because this is a preview software with significant changes, we strongly recommend testing the upgrade against a copy of your configuration first, and keeping a backup of your existing installation. If you hit any issue migrating from an older RPM database, please contact us — we want to hear about it.

This is a preview software — tell us what you find

RPM 7 Preview 1 is feature-complete and ready for real-world testing, but it is pre-release software. Please try it on non-critical systems, and send us your feedback, questions, and any problems you run into through our usual support channels. Your reports during the preview period directly shape the upcoming RPM 7.0 release.