davidto@siesoft.co.uk (David Tollow) (03/26/91)
kk@shasta.tivoli.COM (Kerry Kimbrough) writes: >TWIMC: Why doesn't xstuff honor my request to send? Or does it just *seem* like >xstuff is not replying, because the response time is measured in months? Or, if >the size of the reply is a problem, why isn't docs/xlib.text divided into more >digestible pieces? >PS: I know xstuff and I are communicating, because it will send me directories. >It will even send me docs/xlib.text.2. But it won't send me docs/xlib.text.1 >(the big part). And, for me, this is a note of sadness in what would otherwise >be a wonderful life. I have had the same problems with xstuff, I get no response for days and then finally I get a bounced message with something like "expo refused connection for 3 days". Another whinge is the out-of-date (or incomplete) nature of the indexes that xstuff provides, or at least of the extremely limited number of files which it tells me that it has available. I am not on the Internet and hence have no easy means of ftp'ing. How much stuff can I actually get hold of through the xstuff server ? I would really like to be able to get hold of things like a totally current ICCCM, or similar documentation. I don't want to clog the mail system with huge volumes of source code, just keep informed on developments. I realize that xstuff is a public service facility, and is provided as a concession and not a right. But it would be much more useful to non-ftp'ers like myself either if more information was available on its facilities, or if it was able to provide me with a more comprehensive base of retrievable information. Pleading (politely) for a more useful xstuff David Tollow Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Bracknell Berkshire England.
rws@expo.lcs.mit.EDU (Bob Scheifler) (03/28/91)
I have had the same problems with xstuff, I get no response for days and
then finally I get a bounced message with something like "expo refused
connection for 3 days".
I don't believe that's the same problem at all, actually.
Another whinge is the out-of-date (or incomplete) nature of the indexes
that xstuff provides, or at least of the extremely limited number of files
which it tells me that it has available.
I don't think xstuff is out of date. It is extremely limited, basically
limited to public MIT fixes and Consortium public review documents.
How much
stuff can I actually get hold of through the xstuff server ?
Very little.
I would
really like to be able to get hold of things like a totally current
ICCCM,
The R4 distribution has a "totally current ICCCM".
I don't want to clog the mail system
with huge volumes of source code, just keep informed on developments.
If by "developments" you mean Consortium-published documents, the xstuff
server does provide public review documents.
I realize that xstuff is a public service facility, and is provided as
a concession and not a right.
It is provided because the software already existed, and it was relatively
painless to get set up.
But it would be much more useful to
non-ftp'ers like myself either if more information was available on
its facilities, or if it was able to provide me with a more comprehensive
base of retrievable information.
Of that I have no doubt. You are welcome to encourage some site that shadows
our ftp tree to make the information available by mail. You are welcome to
write a bunch of new software to do what you desire, debug it for a while on
a real database, and make sure it is secure, that it is reasonably robust,
and that it is designed with a built-in load limiter. Make the software
freely available, and we'll see about using it.