[comp.lang.postscript] ps-file-server

moore@PULSAR.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore) (04/15/89)

Adobe use to run a file server.  I'd send a special message to
adobe!ps-file-server@sun.com  or adobe.com!ps-file-server@decwrl.dec.com
and receive various pieces of information such as
	Adobe Document Structuring Conventions
	Adobe Font Metric File Specification
	AFM files for currently released Adobe fonts
and other juicy tidbits, that make life a bit easier.

Somewhere between 03-Mar and 10-Apr it stopped working for me.
I send messages and get no replies.

I sent a message to adobe!ps-file-manager@sun.com.
I understood that this was to be a real person.
My message was returned from adobe.com with "User Unknown".

My question is...
Has Adobe discontinued this service?  Or are my mail systems
just screwed up?

Dale Moore
-- 

caspar@wn2.sci.kun.nl (Caspar Terheggen) (04/17/89)

In article <4725@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, moore@PULSAR.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore) writes:
> Adobe use to run a file server.
[stuff deleted]
> Somewhere between 03-Mar and 10-Apr it stopped working for me.
> I send messages and get no replies.

I noticed this too. It started with the server not knowing about files that
it is supposed to own according to its documents index.

> I sent a message to adobe!ps-file-manager@sun.com.
> I understood that this was to be a real person.
> My message was returned from adobe.com with "User Unknown".

A while ago I saw an article in this newsgroup which announced that the
name ps-file-manager was changed to ps-file-person. This was done to 
stress the fact that ps-file-server is actually a program that handles
file requests, whereas ps-file-person is a real human being (Glenn C. Reid
himself, if I'm not mistaken) to whom only `meta-requests' should be
mailed.

> My question is...
> Has Adobe discontinued this service?  Or are my mail systems
> just screwed up?

I hope not, and I don't think so, respectively. I believe the problem must be
somewhere with the (mail-)server of adobe itself. I e-mailed a message to
ps-file-person@adobe.com about it a few days ago, but I haven't had any
response yet.

> Dale Moore
> -- 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Caspar Terheggen    +31 80 612800    caspar@sci.kun.nl    U634008@HNYKUN11 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

moore@PULSAR.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore) (04/18/89)

A few days ago, I posted a message on this forum

>Adobe use to run a file server. ....
>Somewhere between 03-Mar and 10-Apr it stopped working for me.

It appears to be working now.  I've received acknowledgement of
all my outstanding requests.  A mail queue somewhere must have
been constipated.  I recived no indication as to why I experienced
this behaviour.

I also posted
>I sent a message to adobe!ps-file-manager@sun.com. ...
>I understood that this was to be a real person.
>My message was returned from adobe.com with "User Unknown".

Thanks to those who pointed out that address has been changed to
adobe!ps-file-person@sun.com to stress the human interface.

Dale Moore
School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
-- 

bin@primate.wisc.edu (Brain in Neutral) (04/18/89)

This may not help the problem in your case, but I've found that it's best
always to include a path line in the request, if I expect to get any
answer at all...

I use this little script to request something (lazy).

--------
#!/bin/csh

#	ask for stuff from the Adobe PostScript file server


mail -s "" ps-file-server@adobe.com << EOF
send $*
path bin@primate.wisc.edu
.
EOF
--------

Paul DuBois
dubois@primate.wisc.edu		rhesus!dubois
bin@primate.wisc.edu		rhesus!bin

greid@adobe.com (Glenn Reid) (04/19/89)

In article <422@wn2.sci.kun.nl> caspar@wn2.sci.kun.nl (Caspar Terheggen) writes:
>In article <4725@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, moore@PULSAR.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore) writes:
>> Adobe use to run a file server.
>>
>> Somewhere between 03-Mar and 10-Apr it stopped working for me.
>> I send messages and get no replies.
>
>I noticed this too. It started with the server not knowing about files that
>it is supposed to own according to its documents index.
>
>> I sent a message to adobe!ps-file-manager@sun.com.
>> I understood that this was to be a real person.
>> My message was returned from adobe.com with "User Unknown".

Sorry about this, folks.  The file server seems to have the hiccups.
I promise it will be fixed soon.  Your requests are still pending, I
think, so wait a little bit longer before you resend them, and they
should start coming forth.

I've been out of the country for the last week, and things always seem
to break when you're gone.

Also, the request line is "ps-file-person", as pointed out in a
followup message.  Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

Glenn Reid
Adobe Systems

holland@m2.csc.ti.com (Fred Hollander) (04/23/89)

In article <422@wn2.sci.kun.nl> caspar@wn2.sci.kun.nl (Caspar Terheggen) writes:
>In article <4725@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, moore@PULSAR.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore) writes:
>> Adobe use to run a file server.
>[stuff deleted]
>> Somewhere between 03-Mar and 10-Apr it stopped working for me.
>> I send messages and get no replies.
[stuff deleted]
>> My question is...
>> Has Adobe discontinued this service?  Or are my mail systems
>> just screwed up?
>
>I hope not, and I don't think so, respectively. I believe the problem must be
>somewhere with the (mail-)server of adobe itself. I e-mailed a message to
>ps-file-person@adobe.com about it a few days ago, but I haven't had any
>response yet.

I just sent a request on Friday afternoon.  A response was sent back
Friday at 14:22:07 PDT (although I didn't receive it until Saturday).
So it's certainly still working and the response time at Adobe was
quick.  My request was only for help (my first time) so there may be a
difference in service time for more difficult (or bulkier) requests.
Or there may be mailer problem somewhere between you and Adobe, but
not between me and Adobe :)

Fred Hollander
Computer Science Center
Texas Instruments, Inc.
hollander@ti.com

The above statements are my own and not representative of Texas Instruments.

shiva@well.sf.ca.us (Kenneth Porter) (09/04/90)

I read Sun-Spots, and when the moderator references a Sun-Spots
file available from the Rice archive server, he includes an
example command line illustrating how to get the document/
source/shar:
 
send sun-source booticon.c
 
You might want to follow this convention when mentioning files
available through the ps-file-server.