dan@hrc.UUCP (Dan Troxel) (09/11/90)
UPDATED 09/10/90 : New search function
Must use 'send path' command
*IMPORTANT*
Read all of this help file before attempting to access the archives.
This archive server is set up mainly for the southwest region of the
United States. If you are outside this area, please contact an archive
site closer to you.
This message comes to you from the archive server at hrc, archives@hrc.
It received a message from you asking for help.
hrc archives:
alt.sources
comp.sources.unix
comp.sources.games
comp.sources.misc
comp.sources.x
comp.sources.sun
gnu
news
(and anything else that looks like it should be archived)
The archive server is a mail-response program. That means that you mail it a
request, and it mails back the response.
The archive server is a very dumb program and does not have much error checking.
This site batches the requests to be run once-a-night. Only so much of the
archives go out in a night. This is to keep the traffic down from connected
sites. You will get an automatic reply when your request is received, and it
will include approximatly how long it will be before your request will be sent
to you. All indexes will be sent daily.
The archive server has several commands. Each command must be the first word
on a line. The archive server reads your entire message before it does anything,
so you can have several different commands in a single message. The archive
server DOES NOT recognize the "Subject:" header line.
^^^^ ^^^
All send requests, except the 'send help' command, are in the shar format.
"send help" command: The "send help" causes the server to
send you the help file. You already know this, of course, because
you are reading the help file.
The archives are organized into a series of directories and subdirectories.
Each subdirectory has an index. The index will also give you the last date of
entry. This will help you to know when more files were entered into the
archive. To get a general list of where the indexes are, send the following
message containing the line:
send index.main
When you get the index back, it will give you the names of all of the indexes
and where to locate them. Example:
********hrc archives/games/v02 index as of Thu Aug 30 10:16:10 PDT 1990********
To retrieve the above index, send the following line
send index.x.v00
You will get:
********hrc archives/x/v00 index as of 01/15/90********
Note: For additional information on receiving this index in a
variety of different formats, use the command 'send help'.
filename : size of file
description
archives/x/v00/awm/part01.Z : 45976
Ardent Window Manager(X11), Part01/13
archives/x/v00/awm/part02.Z : 44567
Ardent Window Manager(X11), Part02/13
archives/x/v00/awm/part03.Z : 7664
Ardent Window Manager(X11), Part03/13
[rest of file deleted]
To retrieve part01.Z above:
send archives/x/v00/awm/part01.Z
The .Z extension is a compressed file, and the archiver will uncompress the
file, and send it to you in ascii form. You would save it to disk as:
ansiawm/part01
You may send for several indexes. Example:
send index.unix.v01
send index.misc.v04
send index.x.v00
send index.games.v06
send index.games.v07
Each index will be mailed seperatly to you. To send for a ls -lR listing
of the archives:
send ls-lR.index
To send for all indexes (except ls-lR):
send all.indexes
You can also search for only a specific file. This will return the location
of the file, and the index you can find it under. Example:
send search regex
It runs a script that searches for *regex*, and it will get you:
This is a search of regex from the hrc!archives index.
***hrc archives/unix/v03 index as of Thu Aug 30 10:16:10 PDT 1990***
archives/unix/v03/regexp.Z : 57693
regexp(3)
***hrc archives/unix/v03 index as of Thu Aug 30 10:16:10 PDT 1990***
archives/unix/v03/regexp2.Z : 1011
bug in regexp(3), and fix
[rest of file deleted]
You may put as many "send" commands as you like into one message
to the server, but the more you ask for, the longer it will take
to receive. See "FAIRNESS", below, for an explanation.
"send path" command: The "send path" command exists to help the server get
any requests to you accurately. You must include the full path to your
site from my box. I have had many of the archives mailed, only to come
back because of a bad path.
Sometimes the server is unable to return mail over the incoming path.
There are dozens of reasons why this might happen, and if you are a
true wizard, you already know what those reasons are. If you are an
apprentice wizard, you might not know all the reasons but you might
know a way to circumvent them.
When you put in a "send path" command, everything that the server
mails to you will be mailed to that address, rather than to the
return address on your mail. For example, if you reside at
rutgers!jj
then to get mail from hrc to you, you would say
send path asuvax!noao!ncar!rutgers!jj
then all mail sent by the server will be sent to that address.
hrc!archives is connected by several machines. But the best one to use
is asuvax!hrc!archives.
If you would like the server to determine a uucp path for you,
using the most recent pathalias data, then put in a "send path" command
with site_connected_to!yoursite!yourname
send path feedsite!yoursite!yourname
As you probably know, the pathalias data is sometimes wrong, and lately,
quite a bit. So due to the many errors in the past from the maps, it would
be a good idea to send a full path from my site to yours.
"uucppath" command: The "uucppath" command exists to allow users who are
connected directly to me, to have the files uucp'ed over. Almost all
of the files are in compressed format, and thus will make the transfer
faster, and take less disk space. You will also need to use the
"uucpname" command to get notified of the transfer. The uucppath command
requires a full path to place the file. Generally this will be in your
uucppublic directory. Example:
uucppath your_site_name!~/your_login_name
uucpname your_login_name
send archives/unix/v19/file_name
This will uucp the file to your machine in directory:
/usr/spool/uucppublic/your_login_name/archives/unix/v19/file_name
The uucppublic directory may be different on your machine, but most sites
keep it as '/usr/spool/uucppublic'. The reason for such a long
directory path, is that there are many files that have the same name.
If you request files with the same name, without removing them from
your uucppublic directory, you would lose your first requested file, to
be replaced with the latest transfer. Also, this will seperate file
transfers between users, who may be asking for archives, who reside
on the same box.
EXAMPLES:
1) Find out the list of catagories that are in the archive. Send this message:
To: hrc!archives
Subject: hi there
send index.main
2) Get the ansi file from the archive
To: hrc!archives
Subject: a send on the subject line will do you no good!
send archives/unix/v01/ansi.c.Z
3) Get the ansi file, and send them over the exact path to your site:
To: asuvax!hrc!archives
send path asuvax!mcdphx!sun!nud!yourmachine!yourname
send archives/unix/v01/ansi.c.Z
NOTES:
The delays in sending out large items from the archives are intentional, to
make it difficult to get copies of everything in the archives. If you are new
to the network and would like to get all back issues of everything, you
should post a request to a regional newsgroup asking whether someone who is
geographically near you can provide them. We will send tapes to those who
request it.
If you wish to get the indexes automatically when there is an update, please
send mail to hrc!dan, and ask to be put on the list.
FAIRNESS:
The archive server contains many safeguards to ensure that it is not
monopolized by people asking for large amounts of data. The mailer is set up
so that it will send no more than a fixed amount of data each week. If the
work queue contains more requests than the week's quota, then the unsent files
will not be processed until the next week. Whenever the mailer is run to send
its week's quota, it sends the requests out shortest-first.
If you have a request waiting in the work queue and you send in another
request, the new request is added to the old one (thereby increasing its
size) rather than being filed anew. This prevents you from being able to
send in a large number of small requests as a way of beating the system.
If you request 10 items together, you will get substantially higher
priority than if you make 10 requests for 1 item each.
--
Dan Troxel @ Handwriting Research Corporation WK 1-602-957-8870
Camelback Corporate Center 2821 E. Camelback Road Suite 600 Phoenix, AZ 85016
ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!dan zardoz!hrc!dan hrc!dan@asuvax.eas.asu.edu
--
Dan Troxel @ Handwriting Research Corporation WK 1-602-957-8870
Camelback Corporate Center 2821 E. Camelback Road Suite 600 Phoenix, AZ 85016
ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!dan zardoz!hrc!dan hrc!dan@asuvax.eas.asu.edu