bill@sigma.UUCP (William Swan) (11/05/86)
There has been a small discussion about the future of source distribution for various micros with the newsgroup reorganization. It appears that there will not be a sources group that will accept CP/M software (the issue was originally raised by PC users who will also be "abandoned"). One thought is that a mod.sources.cpm group could be created to take this code. Another thought is that the SIMTEL20 archives, with their UUCP access scheme, is adequate for the distribution of software, with announcements in comp.os.cpm. Any thoughts?
ken@rochester.ARPA (Comfy chair) (11/06/86)
Perhaps we have something like Argonne's automatic archive retrieval system. You can just send it mail and it sends the sources by return mail. I can see problems with all those strange return addresses though. Ken
brengle@hplabsc.UUCP (Tim Brengle) (11/07/86)
While having the SIMTEL20 archives is a truly wonderful thing, it is less than reliable for me. I have requested a couple of files as many as 3 times (requests separated by at least a week) without getting any response from them at all. Other files I have received parts 2 and 3 of three, and never gotten part 1. Maybe I am doing something wrong? It would be very nice to have a *reliable* source... Tim Brengle
W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Keith Petersen) (11/07/86)
> While having the SIMTEL20 archives is a truly wonderful thing, it > is less than reliable for me. I have requested a couple of files > as many as 3 times (requests separated by at least a week) > without getting any response from them at all. Other files I > have received parts 2 and 3 of three, and never gotten part 1. > Maybe I am doing something wrong? > It would be very nice to have a *reliable* source... The source is only as reliable is the mail routes when using the archive server. Host "seismo" has blocked any messages originating from the server because they do not wish to handle the mail traffic it generates. You must use a path other than seismo. Here are some that work... To obtain up to five files in a single request message by netmail from the public domain archives kept on SIMTEL20.ARPA, send a message to: ARCHIVE-REQUEST@SIMTEL20.ARPA, or via uucp: ...!ucbvax!simtel20.arpa!archive-request ...!uw-beaver!simtel20.arpa!archive-request ...!decwrl!simtel20.arpa!archive-request ...!lll-crg!simtel20.arpa!archive-request The message body must contain lines beginning with the keyword SEND, one SEND line for each file requested. Case is not significant. The general syntax of a SEND line is: SEND format filename In general, a filename consists of the following components: device:<directory>file.type.generation "device:" is usually PD:, and the combination of PD:<directory> is expected unless an alias has been advertised of the form "alias:", which takes the place of both device and directory fields. The generation field may be left off and defaulted to the highest generation number. "file.type" follows the usual filenaming conventions. In all formats listed below, if the file to be sent is larger than 55K, the file is sent in numbered parts. The parts must be reassembled in order and edited to remove any headers, preface, and trailers before the process can be reversed to reconstruct the original file. Allowable formats are: SEND HELP This file you are reading now. SEND INFO A detailed description of the SIMTEL20 Archives, which includes this file, pointers to certain key files, and descriptions of various file transfer programs and related utilities. SEND BOOTSTRAP A brief quick reference listing of filenames of the key utilities used to reconstruct files sent by the compression and encoding techniques listed below. SEND DIR filespec This format returns a CRC list of the requested files, and is the only format which allows wildcard filenames (but not wildcard directory names). The list is sent as an ASCII text file. The wildcard characters are "*" and "%". The asterisk means any number of characters, while the percent sign means exactly one character. Either or both may appear in any combination in either or both the file or type fields, while only the asterisk may appear in the generation field. SEND RAW filename If the file is ASCII, it is sent as-is, regardless of size. This format is the least efficient over network and mail gateway resources. Use this format only if you absolutely must. With the four formats listed below, if the file is ASCII and under 25k characters, it is sent as-is, as if RAW format was requested. Binary files are always processed according to the requested format. However, a request for ARC or SQ processing of files with type .ARC, .LBR, or .%Q% is ignored and the original file is either uuencoded or hexified (if possible), according to the requested format. If the file was not sent RAW, a short preface is inserted at the front of the message describing the process actually taken and a CRC entry describing the original file. SEND ARE filename or SEND filename The original file is made into a uuencoded ARC file. SEND ARH filename The original file is made into a hexified ARC file if the ARC file is under 64K bytes long. Otherwise, an apology is returned instead of the requested file. SEND SQE filename The original file is made into a uuencoded SQueezed file. SEND SQH filename The original file is made into a hexified SQueezed file if the Squeezed file is under 64K bytes long. Otherwise, an apology is returned instead of the requested file. To get started in finding your way around the SIMTEL20 archives, send another request: SEND INFO