rs@uunet.UU.NET (Rich Salz) (08/11/87)
Submitted-by: rs@uunet.uu.net (Rich $alz)
Posting-number: Volume 10, Info 1
Archive-name: index10.1
This is the first of two introductory articles about comp.sources.unix.
This one describes how to submit source to the newsgroup, where the
archive sites are, and how to contact them. The companion articles lists
all previously-published sources.
As an experiment, I am putting 90-day expirations on these articles; if
I post new versions before the limit, I will send out a cancel message.
I am always looking for suggestions on how to improve the usefulness
of the newsgroup, and can be contacted as listed below.
-Rich Salz
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Subject: Submitting source for publication
Items intended for posting or queries and problem notes should be sent to
uunet!sources. In Australia, Robert Elz is a "sub-moderator"; people
there can work with him (kre@munnari.OZ) to get postings out more easily.
If you want verification of arrival, so say in a cover note, or at the
beginning of your submission, if it is small. I try to verify that a
program works, and if I can't get it to work, I may hold up posting it
for a couple of days. Please note that, except in rare cases, source
without documentation and a Makefile will not be published. The backlog
from receival to posting is now about two weeks; this will probably
shrink down to one week in the upcoming weeks.
When you send mail, MAKE SURE to include a return address relative to
some well-known site(s). When all else fails, my conventional address
and phone number are:
Rich $alz
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA 02238
617 497 3290
(harvard, rutgers, any domain-knowledgeable site)!bbn.com!rsalz
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Subject: The structure of comp.sources.unix articles
Each posting in comp.sources.unix is called an "issue"; there are 100
issues to a volume. The division is arbitrary, and has varied greatly in
the past. There are two types of articles in comp.sources.unix; sources
and "information postings." They can be distinguished by the subject
line:
Subject: v07INF8: Index for Volume 7 and other info
This first word in the title identifies this as the eighth info posting of
volume seven. Similarly, the subject line shown below:
Subject: v07i081: Public-domain Unix kernel
identifies this as the 81st source article in Volume 7. Large sources are
broken up into smaller pieces, and have subject lines that look like
this:
Subject: v07i082: System VI Source Distribution, Part03/08
The first few lines of an article are auxiliary headers that look like this:
Submitted-by: root@freeware.ATT.COM
Posting-number: Volume 7, Issue 82
Archive-name: new-login
The "Submitted by" is the author of the program. If you have comments about
the sources published in comp.sources.unix, this is the person to contact.
When possible, this address is in domain form, otherwise it is a UUCP bang
path relative to some major site such as "uunet."
The second line repeats the volume/issue information for the aide of NOTES
sites and automatic archiving programs.
The Archive-name is the "official" name of this source in the archive. Large
postings will have names that look like this:
Archive-name: patch2/Part01
Please try to use this name when requesting that sources be mailed to you.
Also, note that the "part number" given in the title, and the archive name
given in the auxiliary header need not be identical.
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Subject: Accessing the archives
The complete archives are fairly large, running between three and four
megabytes per volume, on the average.
There are several active archive sites around the net. Archive sites in
France and England are being set up, and may be extended to provide full
European coverage; I will post more information as soon as things are
settled. Thanks to Scott Bradner at Harvard, there will soon be a BITNET
retrieval service available.
When you request something before Volume 6, please make sure to be as
descriptive as possible as articles before then do not have official
names.
Several sites below will send tapes through the mail. For those sites,
send a 1/2" mag tape WITH RETURN POSTAGE and RETURN MAILER. Tapes
without postage or mailer will not be returned. No other methods (COD,
etc.) are available; please don't ask.
Finally, please note that I am Rich $alz, rs@uunet.uu.net; Rick Adams is
rick@seismo.css.gov, and Rich Kulawiec is rsk@j.cc.purdue.edu; we appreciate
the extra effort to get our names right.
--------------------
Subject: Listing of archive sites in no particular order
1. Chris Grevstad at Network Research is able to provide tape service in
a variety of formats, including 1600BPI 9-track or NCR cartridge for
TAR or CPIO, and ("under extereme duress" :-) VMS 9-track or TK-50
tape. He is willing to provide UUCP access by special arrangement in
either the Oxnard, CA, or the Salt Lake City area. Contact him at
nrcvax!chris or via conventional mail at Network Research Corp., 2380
North Rose Avenue, Oxnard CA 93030.
2. Pyramid Technology has an archive arranged topically, and in compressed
tar files. They are happy to take new UUCP connections. They are also
somewhat willing to make tapes for people to come by and pick up,
provided you call WELL in advance and bring lunch money. This is being
managed by Claudia Dimmers and/or Carl Gutekunst. Contact
pyramid!usenet for more info.
3. Robert Elz (kre@munnari.OZ) keeps sources in different ways depending on
his available disk space; contact him for more info.
4. Thos Sumner at UCSF will respond to requests for material, but cannot
promise an ongoing commitment. Anyone requesting material via mail
should supply a path from ucbvax. Anyone requesting tape should
contact me first. Contact him at thos@cca.ucsf.edu, or
ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.UCSF!thos
5. Tom Patterson at Washington University can make 800/1600/6250 BPI
tar tapes. If you give him a "real good reason," he can also make
1600 BPI VMS BACKUP or ANSI tapes. Send your tape, mailer, and postage
to Tom at:
Engineering Computer Lab, Bryan 509
Lindell & Skinker Blvd
Washington University
St. Louis, MO 63130
For best results, first send mail to wucs!archive (you stand a better
chance of getting processed quickly that way).
6. Michael Squires (sir-alan!mikes) of the Department of Political
Science at Allegheny College has established an anonymous UUCP
account that contains almost everything he has from mod.sources,
net.sources, comp.sources.unix, and comp.sources.misc. The following
entry should work:
sir-alan Any ACU 2400 18143336728 login:--login:--login: pdsrc
The modem is a Paradyne FDX 2400 which handles baud rate switching
itself; 300/1200/2400 is supported. There is current no access limit,
although this will probably change. The collection is not complete;
a subject/filename listing can be found in
sir-alan!/usr/spool/pdsrc/all.subjects.
7. Rick Adams (rick@uunet.uu.net) provides archive access to those on the
Internet. Access is available directly via anonymous FTP; look
in ~ftp/comp.sources.unix/volumeN.
8. Internet sites may also retrieve archives from j.cc.purdue.edu via
anonymous ftp. The archive is in the directory "mod.sources",
subdivided into "volume1", etc. Due to disk space considerations,
many of the sources are compressed; these may be recognized by the
".Z" suffix. If you don't have compress & friends, they are in
~ftp/pub/compress.shar for the taking. This is being managed by
Rich Kulawiec (Wombat), pucc-j!rsk, rsk@j.cc.purdue.edu. If your
host tables don't grok "j.cc.purdue.edu", try "purdue-asc.arpa".
They would appreciate it if you would avoid large file transfers
in the middle of the day. [Rick also points out that the FTP'able
archies also contain mod.amiga, a bunch of kermit sources, news
2.11, rn 4.3, nntp, and whatever else happens to be in ~ftp/pub at
the moment.]
9. The CSNET CIC has been doing a fair amount of work to bring their
automated retrieval up-to-speed. They now have a complete archive,
and are making things available as quickly as possible (they have
special legal restrictions on what they can distribute, so everything
may not be available). Send a request for "mod.sources" with the
topics "help" and "index" to the Info-Server, or or contact
postmaster@sh.cs.net.
At the present time, I do not have ready access to the archives, nor
the support of my employer to do this. Please don't ask me for missing
issues, unless you are sure you are reporting a net-wide problem of
propogation.
--
Rich $alz "Anger is an energy"
Cronus Project, BBN Labs rsalz@bbn.com
Moderator, comp.sources.unix sources@uunet.uu.net