[comp.text.desktop] How to Use the PostScript File Server

chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (05/05/87)

[forwarded from info-postscript]

Date: Sat, 2 May 87 14:08:55 pdt
From: adobe!greid@decwrl.DEC.COM (Glenn Reid)

This message comes to you from the PostScript file server at Adobe Systems,
adobe!ps-file-server@decwrl.dec.com. It received a message from you asking for
help.

The file server is a mail-response program. That means that you mail it a
request, and it mails back the response.

The file server does not have much error checking. If you don't send it the
commands that it understands, it will just answer "I don't understand you".

The file server has 4 commands. Each command must be the first word on a
line. The file server reads your entire message before it does anything,
so you can have several different commands in a single message. The file
server treats the "Subject:" header line just like any other line of the
message. You can use any combination of upper and lower case letters in the
commands.

The archives are organized into a series of directories and subdirectories.
Each directory has an index, and each subdirectory has an index. The
top-level index gives you an overview of what is in the subdirectories, and
the index for each subdirectory tells you what is in it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are bored with reading documentation and just want to try something,
then send the server a message containing the line
	send index programs
When you get the index back, it will give you the names of all of the
program files in the archive; send the server another message asking it to
send you the files that you want:
	send programs ehandler.ps
If you are using a mailer that understands "@" notation, send to
adobe!ps-file-server@decwrl.dec.com. If your mailer deals in "!" notation, try
sending to {someplace}!adobe!ps-file-server; for example;
	decwrl!adobe!ps-file-server
For other mailers, you're on your own.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is some more documentation. The server has 4 commands:


"help" command: The command "help" or "send help" causes the server to
	send you the help file. You already know this, of course, because
	you are reading the help file. No other commands are honored in a
	message that asks for help (the server figures that you had better
	read the help message before you do anything else).

"index" command: if your message contains a line whose first word is "index",
	then the server will send you the top-level index of the contents of
	the archive. If there are other words on that line that match
	the name of subdirectories, then the indexes for those subdirectories
	are sent instead of the top-level index. For example, you can say
		index
	or
		index programs 
	or
		index AFMfiles

	You can then send back another message to the file server,
	using a "send" command (see below) to ask it to send you the files
	whose name you learned from that list.

	(Footnote: "index programs" and "send index programs" mean the
	same thing: you can use the "send" command instead of the "index"
	command, if you want, for getting an index.

	If your message has an "index" or a "send index" command, then all
	other "send" commands will be ignored. This means that you cannot
	get an index and data in the same request. This is so that index
	requests can be given high priority.)

"send" command: if your message contains a line whose first word is "send",
	then the file server will send you the item(s) named on the
	rest of the line. To name an item, you give its directory and its
	name. For example
		send AFMfile AvantGarde-BookOblique
	or
		send program ehandler.ps
	Once you have named a category, you can put as many names as you
	like on the rest of the line; they will all be taken from that
	category. For example:

		send AFMfiles AvantGarde-Book AvantGardeBookOblique Helvetica

	Each "send" command can reference only one directory. If you 
	would like to get one AFMfile and one program, you must use two
	"send" commands, one beginning "send AFMfile" and the other
	beginning "send program".

	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. Actually,
	it's not strictly true that you can put as many "send" commands 
	as you want into one message. If the server must use uucp mail
	to send your files, then it cannot send more than 100K bytes
	in one message. If you ask for more than it can send, then it
	will send as much as it can and ignore the rest.

"path" command: The "path" command exists to help in case you do not
	get responses from the server when you mail to it.

	Sometimes the server is unable to return mail over the incoming path.
	There are dozens of reasons why this might happen.  If you happen to
	know a way to circumvent particular kinds of mailer problems, you
	may put in a "path" command to override the normal attempt at
	returning your mail.

	If you put in a "path" command, then 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 say
	    path pyramid!rutgers!zakkaroo!jj
	then all mail sent by the server will be sent to that address.


EXAMPLES:

1) Find out the list of all the top-level directories that are in the archive.
   Send this message:

	To: adobe!ps-file-server@decwrl.dec.com
	Subject: hi there

	send index

2) Get some AFM files and a program from the archive (you have learned their
   file names from the list that was sent to you in step 1).

	To: adobe!ps-file-server@decwrl.dec.com
	Subject: send AFMfile Palatino-Roman

	send program ehandler.ps
	send AFMfile Sonata

3) Get the error handler program, and send it over the best path to your site:

	To: myvax!ihnp4!sun!decwrl!adobe!ps-file-server

	path myname@myhost.uucp
	send program ehandler.ps

NOTES:

The file server acknowledges every request by return mail. If you don't
get a message back in a day or two (depending on how close you are to adobe
on the network) you should assume that something is going wrong, and perhaps
try a "path" command. If you aren't getting anywhere and you don't know a
wizard to help you, try putting
	path myname@site.uucp
in your message, where "myname" is your mailbox name and "site" is the uucp
name of your machine. 

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.

Don't send mail with long lines. If you want to ask for 20 files in one
request, you don't need to put all 20 of them in one "send" command. The
file server is quite able to handle long lines, but before your mail
message is received by the file server it might pass through relay
computers that will choke on long lines.

The file server does not respond to requests from users named "root",
"system", "daemon", or "mailer". This is to prevent mail loops. If your name
is "Bruce Root" or "Joe Daemon", and you can document this, I will happily
rewrite the server to remove this restriction.  I have it on good authority
that Norman Mailer does not use network mail.


FAIRNESS:

The file 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 day. If the
work queue contains more requests than the day's quota, then the unsent files
will not be processed until the next day. Whenever the mailer is run to send
its day'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.

The reason for all of these quotas and limitations is that the delivery
resources are finite, and there are many people who may like to make use of
the archive. 

THANK YOU:

Thank you for your patience in reading this message, and for using the Adobe
PostScript File Server.  Any suggestions are welcome.  For now, we are not
in a position to archive lots of other's user files, but if you have some
specially useful debugging tools or other interesting pieces of PostScript,
please send a copy of them to the moderator (adobe!ps-file-manager).

---------------------------------------
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Chuq Von Rospach	chuq@sun.COM		[I don't read flames]

There is no statute of limitations on stupidity