comparc@twwells.com (comp.archives) (02/05/90)
The comp.archives database server is a set of shell scripts to let you use e-mail to get information from the comp.archive database. At this time, all that is available are the archive site database, some informational messages, and some archive related software. What you do is to send a message to comp-archives-server@twwells.com The server reads the Subject: line and the body of the message to discover what you want it to return to you. The commands it recognizes are: path <your-address> Normally, the server determines where to send the reply by examining the mail headers. If there is a Reply-To: header, that header is used. If not, the From: header is used. Life being as it is, the headers may have been mangled in transit, making them unreliable for replying. Or you may want the reply to go somewhere other than from where you sent the message (and not have Reply-To: available to you). If so, you can add a path command to your message. The reply will be sent to the address in the path command. For example, if you are desperate@broken.mailer.com, and you don't get anything back from the server, you might try adding a command path desperate@broken.mailer.com in your request. Or, if you prefer, you can use a uucp route, as in: path uunet!somewhere!mailer!desperate help send help Send the latest version of this help message. If your message contains no requests, the server will send you the help message anyway. send sitereg Send a form you can fill out to register your archive in the database. You fill out the form and send it to: comp-archives-request@twwells.com send format Send a description of the comp.archives database entry format. index send index Send an index of the comp.archives database. The index has entries of the form: <site name> -- <access> -- <title> <keywords> ... When requesting information about a site, you use <site name> in a "send site" command. The <access> field indicates how you can get to the archive: words like uucp, ftp, mail, bbs, and fido. The keywords are there to give you a clue as to what is in the archive. send db.perl.shar There is a perl script to automatically extract the archive info from the DB: postings. This will get you that perl script. send db.serv.shar send decwrl.shar send netlib.1.shar send netlib.2.shar I archive three servers. The first is the server I use for comp.archives; it is a very simple set of shell scripts and has no documentation. I also have the decwrl server and the netlib server. [Right at the moment, I have withdrawn db.serv.shar; I just rewrote it and want to finish the documentation before making it available. I'll be posting about it when it is available.] send site site-name Send information about a specific site. You will receive both the database entry and the informational posting that went with it, if there was one. quit Cause any data after this line to be ignored. Useful if your mailer appends a signature to your message. The server is entirely automatic and does not try to resend failed mail, nor do I pay any attention to failed mail. If you don't get a reply after a reasonable time, or get a bad reply, send mail to comp-archives-request@twwells.com and tell me what the problem is. Server requests to this address will be summarily ignored. --- Bill { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill bill@twwells.com send comp.archives postings to comp-archives@twwells.com send comp.archives related mail to comp-archives-request@twwells.com send comp.archives server requests to comp-archives-server@twwells.com