koreth@ssyx.ucsc.edu (Steven Grimm) (03/21/88)
Submitted-by: koreth@ssyx.UCSC.EDU (Steven Grimm)
Posting-number: Volume 1, Info 1
Archive-name: intro
This is the first of two introductory articles about comp.binaries.atari.st.
This one describes how to submit binaries to the newsgroup, where the
archive sites are, and how to contact them.
I am always looking for suggestions on how to improve the usefulness
of the newsgroup, and can be contacted as listed below.
-- Steven Grimm
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Subject: Submitting binaries for publication
Items intended for posting or queries and problem notes should be sent to
atari-binaries@ssyx.ucsc.edu. If you are on a UUCP-only site, you can send
them to ucbvax!ssyx!atari-binaries.
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, software
without documentation will not be published. The backlog from receipt
to posting varies from one to four weeks depending mostly on the set
of submissions currently in my queue.
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Subject: The structure of comp.binaries.atari.st articles
Each posting in comp.binaries.atari.st is called an "issue"; there are
roughly 100 issues to a volume. The division is arbitrary and may vary.
There are two types of articles in comp.binaries.atari.st: binaries and
"information postings." They can be distinguished by the subject line:
Subject: v01INF3: Index for Volume 1 and other info
This first word in the title identifies this as the third info posting of
volume one. Similarly, the subject line shown below:
Subject: v01i081: Fix for forty-folder bug
identifies this as the 81st binary article in Volume 1. Large programs are
broken up into smaller pieces, and have subject lines that look like
this:
Subject: v01i082: Dungeon Master II, dungeon exploration game, Part03/08
Certain information about the system configuration required to use the
program is given on the keywords line.
Keywords: uuencode, 1meg, medium, high
This means that the program requires at least one meg of RAM and runs in
medium or high resolution. Following is a list of keywords; new ones may
be added as needed. They are mostly self-explanatory.
uuencode - program is uuencoded (UNIX uudecode required to unpack)
uue - program is uuencoded (ST uud required to unpack)
arc - program is archived (arc required to unpack)
high - high resolution
medium - medium resolution
low - low resolution
1meg - needs 1 meg of RAM
The first few lines of an article are auxiliary headers that look like this:
Submitted-by: neil@atari.UUCP (Neil Harris)
Posting-number: Volume 1, Issue 80
Archive-name: new-desktop
The "Submitted by" is the author of the program. If you have comments about
the binaries published in comp.binaries.atari.st 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 (backbone) site.
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 program in the archive. Large
postings will have names that look like this:
Archive-name: desktop/part01
Please try to use this name when requesting that binaries 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.
Since most archive sites run UNIX, articles are given UNIX-style filenames
rather than ST-style filenames.
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Subject: Reporting and tracking bugs and patches to postings
Updates to programs are usually announced in comp.sys.atari.st. When
large changes are made to a program, the entire thing will be reposted
to comp.binaries.atari.st.
To report bugs, contact the person listed in the Submitted-to header.
Often there is a contact address in a README file, too. I do not maintain
the programs I moderate, so don't send your bug reports to me.
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Subject: Accessing the archives
At this time, there is only one site known to be keeping an archive
of comp.binaries.atari.st. If you are making an archive available to
the public, or would like to, please contact me.
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Subject: Listing of archive sites in no particular order
1. Site killer has a full archive available for anonymous UUCP. For
information on accessing it, send mail to Bill Wisner:
{ames,codas,ihnp4,mit-eddie}!killer!wisner.