Xref: news.larc.nasa.gov comp.sources.unix:128 comp.sources.d:859 Path: news.larc.nasa.gov!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!samsung!uunet!papaya.bbn.com!rsalz From: rsalz@uunet.uu.net (Rich Salz) Newsgroups: comp.sources.unix,comp.sources.d Subject: v24INF1: Introduction to comp.sources.unix Message-ID: <3300@litchi.bbn.com> Date: 21 Feb 91 19:43:45 GMT Followup-To: comp.sources.unix Lines: 321 Approved: rsalz@uunet.UU.NET Submitted-by: rsalz@uunet.uu.net (Rich Salz) Posting-number: Volume 24, Info 1 Archive-name: index24.1 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. -Rich $alz -------------------- Subject: Distribution and Copyrights The Usenet newsgroup comp.sources.unix is forwarded through the Unix-Sources mailing list which is maintained by unix-sources-request@brl.mil. If you receive comp.sources.unix through your mailbox, or any way other than by reading Usenet articles, then you shouldn't be contacting me. From the beginning, the goal of comp.sources.unix has been the widest possible distribution of source code in the hope that it is of use to the programming community, but with no guarantees that it won't trash your machine. That is generally the goal of the people who write and submit programs to me. I am growing less tolerant of code that has excessively restrictive copyrights, time-limitations, and the like. If you have qualms about this, please think seriously about sending your sources to me. There is no "compilation copyright" on the collection known as comp.sources.unix. It is a collective effort, the result of the sites that pass the group around, the kind souls that maintain archives, those who improve the code that I publish, and -- most importantly -- the people who write the code. If you want to try to make money off this collective body of work, I am not going to pretend that I can stop you. Please note that this notice in no way supercedes the copyright that individual posters have attached. -------------------- Subject: Submitting source for publication Items intended for posting or queries and problem notes should be sent to uunet!rsalz. 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 while. Please note that, except in rare cases, source without documentation and a Makefile will not be published. -------------------- Subject: The structure of comp.sources.unix articles Each posting in comp.sources.unix is called an "issue"; there are roughly 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 As an experiment, I'm using the Snefru one-way hashing system (think of it as a very strong checksum) to help detect if articles get mangled. The software appeared in volume21/snefru; retrieve that package for more details. 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: kernel/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. -------------------- Subject: Reporting and tracking bugs and patches to postings You should probably subscribe to comp.sources.bugs. I will also try to expedite bugfix postings. Authors should consider holding beta-tests in alt.sources. Some of the larger postings have established channels for distributing bug reports (e.g., Larry Wall posts patches in comp.sources.bugs; C News has update bulletins there and in one of the news groups, etc.). Others are sort of "catch as catch can." Sometimes, when new versions of previously-published software is available, just patches are put out, usually in the form of shar files containing input for the "patch" program, new files, etc. Sometimes complete new versions are put out. Which method is used depends on the poster and the moderator. -->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 sources I moderate, so don't send your bug reports to me. -------------------- Subject: Becoming an archive site If you collect comp.sources.unix postings and are willing and able to make your collection available to other people, please let me know. Benefits include the undying gratitude of your colleagues, and a promise from me to try to make sure you never lose an article. I maintain a mailing list of archive sites; contact me if you are one. -------------------- Subject: Accessing the archives The complete archives are fairly large -- 50 to 60 megabytes, compressed. 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. Matt Caprile has done a great amount of work in cleaning up the index entries and old names, look for a notice here eventually. Some 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. At the present time, I do not have ready access to the archives, nor much 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. -------------------- Subject: Contacting me My name is Rich Salz, which I (pretentiously) spell with a dollar sign for the S ($alz). I am not the same as Rick Adams, the major force behind UUNET. I have a guest account on UUNET, which is where I do the moderating. I can be reached via electronic mail as uunet!rsalz, rsalz@uunet.uu.net. I work at BBN. This is unrelated to comp.sources.unix, except that if something really critical comes up, you can call me at the office at 617-873-3290 (direct to my desk). Try to avoid sending mail to rsalz@bbn.com, unless you really have to. -------------------- Subject: Listing of archive sites in no particular order 1. The Danish UNIX user group (DKUUG) is running a mail based archive service at diku, it is only available to EUnet users in Denmark because of accounting. It features access to the latest EUUG tape distribution which includes sources from comp.sources.unix and comp.sources.games. Also some specially collected items like GNU emacs is available. To get in contact with this archive service, do: mail diku!archive Subject: help Archive mail enjoys a 100 % surcharge compared to ordinary mail. EUUG also provides a tape based archive service of sources collected from the network and other specilally collected products like the GNU Emacs, X windows, MH and UNIX|stat. These are also known as the Conference tapes. Available media include 9 track 1/2 inch 1600 fpi 2400 ft, and some QIC formats. Contact EUUG, Owles Hall, Buntingford, Herts, SG9 9PL, England, or Frank Kuiper, CWI, Kruislaan 413, NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands for further information. Frank can also be reached as frankk@cwi.nl . 2. Lee McLoughlin and Stuart McRoberts of the Department of Computing, Imperial College, London have set up an FTP and mail based server for UK sites. All volumes are online, some may be in compressed form. For information about the mail based server mail to info-server@doc.ic.ac.uk with a message body of: request catalogue topic comp.sources.unix request end They also store most of the GNU software, X windows, minix updates, uupc and most other software deemed useful by the management. Mail the info-server with a topic line of: topic index for futher details. For reasons of cost access is limited to UK users only. 3. Ron Heiby has set up an anonymous UUCP access site. If there is enough interest, I will post his full note, but for now I am just giving the summary info. The machine is "mcdch1" which has a single 1200bps modem at 1-312-576-7902. Send an initial carraige return, then log in with the name "pduucp" and password "public". This will not work from 8am to 6pm Chicago time Monday through Friday, so we can get our real work done. The first thing you will want to do is pick up the detailed instructions and a list of what is available. uucp mcdch1!~/howto.snarf !~/MYNAME/ uucp mcdch1!~/directory !~/MYNAME/ Do not use full pathnames or wildcards; they will not work. The Systems file entry for doing this looks something like: (For HoneyDanBer UUCP (BNU) users. Combine into a single line.) mcdch1 Wk1800-0730,Sa,Su ACU 1200 3125767902 "" \r\c in:--in: pduucp word: public This is not an official service of Motorola and may be discontinued at any time. The contents of the comp.sources.unix archive have been donated by the submitters of the files to the Usenet comp.sources.unix moderator for free availability throughout the community. Motorola assumes no responsibility for the contents of these files, including the suitability for their use in any application on any hardware. (Some of the material, for example is known not to run on systems sold by Motorola.) Any questions about suitability, problems with the software or documentation, or anything else related to the contents of the files should be directed to the persons who submitted the material originally (usually the authors). 4. Pyramid Technology maintains a general user-contributed-software archive, including comp.sources.unix, comp.sources.games, and a variety of other sources. Packages are arranged both topically and by volume/issue number. New UUCP connections are welcome; anonymous UUCP is not available, and requests to mail sources will be ignored. Pyramid will make tapes on a *very* limited basis for people who call *well* in advance, hand carry a tape to Pyramid's R&D lab in Mountain View, and wait while the is written. Contact usenet@pyramid.com for more information. Note that this service is maintained by Pyramid staff on a volunteer basis; when things get busy, requests for new UUCP connections may take a while. 5. The archives on Munnari now completely mirror the official archives on Uunet. Thanks to Robert Elz, , for giving me the account on that machine. The files are in ~ftp/comp.sources.unix and are available in Australia for FTP or by using fetchfile. 6. 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 him first. Contact him at thos@cca.ucsf.edu, or ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.UCSF!thos 7. There are two dial-up lines: 814 337 0348 (currently 1200/2400) and 814 337 3159 (Telebit TB+ cycling 2400/19.2/9600/1200 - BREAK for speed change). The 1200/2400 modem will be replaced by a USR Dual Standard (HST + V.32) cycling 2400-9600-1200 when I receive the new ROMs. Anonymous uucp logins are either "pdsrc" or "uucp" (functionally identical) or via an XBBS BBS system ("bbs" or "xbbs"). I will be running SCO TCP/IP shortly and will be able to offer SL/IP links to the archives. There are three directories of interest: /u/pdsrc, /u/pubdir, and /u/uunet. Each directory contains a file called "HELP" which provides basic information, plus "ls-lR" and "ls-lR.Z" files generated daily. There is also an XBBS and mail-based downloads. Contact Michale Squires, sir-alan!mikes, for more info. 8. UUNET provides archive access to those on the Internet. Access is available directly via anonymous FTP; look in ~ftp/comp.sources.unix/volumeN. I maintain the UUNET archives, and they're guaranteed to be current and official. UUNET subscribers can also UUCP missing files directly; ask your UUNET contact for information on how to do that. In the US, anyone can have their UUCP dial a 900 number to get sources; contact uunet-request@uunet.uu.net for more info. 9. Internet sites may also retrieve archives from j.cc.purdue.edu via anonymous ftp. The archive is in the directory ~ftp/comp.sources.unix/volumeX. Most files are compressed; these may be recognized by the ".Z" suffix. This is being managed by Jeff Smith, jsmith@mentor.cc.purdue.edu. They would appreciate it if you would avoid large file transfers in the middle of the day. 10. The CSNET CIC is now current. Send a request for "mod.sources" with the topics "help" and "index" to the Info-Server, or or contact postmaster@sh.cs.net. 11. In France, the A.F.U.U. (French UN*X User Group), provides a tape- based archive service for people in France. Sources include comp.sources.unix, USEnix tapes, EUUG tapes, etc. Available media include 9 track 1/2 inch 1600 BPI 2400 ft, and QIC-24 cartridge tapes (Sun, Bull, Archive, etc. compatable). For a full list of what is available and to get an order form, etc., contact the AFUU offices: A.F.F.U. tel: +33 (1) 4670.9590 11, rue Carnot fax: +33 (1) 4658.9420 94270 Le Kremlin-Bice^tre e-mail: anne@afuu.fr FRANCE 12. There is an FTP'able archive at Old Dominion University. The archive contains the Unix, X, Games, Misc, and Amiga source groups, as well as comp.binaries.amiga. The unix sources are only kept on-line starting with Volume 10. Anonymous FTP to Xanth.cs.odu.edu. 13. Mark Prior has set up an archive on sirius.ua.oz.au for comp.sources.unix (and some other groups). Volume11 and later are available for retrival via for either ACSnet "fetchfile" or anonymous FTP (129.127.40.3). Files are stored in sources/unix/volume by issue number in compressed form, (~ftp/pub/sources/unix/volume for ftp users). 14. Internet sites may retrieve any of the comp.sources.unix files from wuarchive.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4] from /usenet/comp.sources.unix using anonymous ftp. Washington University maintains a complete archive of all USENET sources and binaries groups (those with archiving headers, anyway) as part of its public access archives. A description of the arrangement of the archives can be found in /arrangement and a complete list of all files currently in the archive (built nightly) is in /files.lst. A mail-based archive server should also be available soon. 15. Andreas Pleschutznig of Micro Systems Software in Austria, will make 1/4" tapes and can also make 1.2Meg 5 1/4" diskettes of c.s.u and alt.sources. Send mail to mcvax!mssx!src. 16. I will be maintaining the OSU archives. They are available for FTP from cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu in directory pub/comp.sources.unix, and as part of the anonymous UUCP osu archives. Karl periodically posts information on accessing the UUCP archives to comp.sources.d exit 0 # Just in case... -- Please send comp.sources.unix-related mail to rsalz@uunet.uu.net. Use a domain-based address or give alternate paths, or you may lose out.