Subject: v14INF1: Introduction to comp.sources.unix Newsgroups: comp.sources.unix,comp.sources.d Sender: sources Approved: rsalz@uunet.UU.NET Expires: 4 July 1988 Supercedes: <347@fig.bbn.c.om> Submitted-by: rsalz Posting-number: Volume 14, Info 1 Archive-name: index14.1 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. I am always looking for suggestions on how to improve the usefulness of the newsgroup, and can be contacted as listed below. -Rich $alz -------------------- Subject: Submitting source for publication Items intended for posting or queries and problem notes should be sent to uunet!sources. In Australia, Robert Elz is a "sub-moderator"; people there can work with him (kre@munnari.OZ) to get postings out more easily. 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 Please note that, except in rare cases, source without documentation and a Makefile will not be published.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. -------------------- 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 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: patch2/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. 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: Accessing the archives The complete archives are fairly large; an average volume is three to four megabytes. There are several active archive sites around the net. Archive sites in France and England are being set up, and may be extended to provide full European coverage; I will post more information as soon as things are settled. Thanks to Scott Bradner at Harvard, there will soon be a BITNET retrieval service available. 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. 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 the 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: 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. 2. Peter Collinson at the University of Kent has set up an mail-based server for UK sites. The UK archive resides on ukc's backbone machine. Volumes 7 and upwards are on-line. Some issues are missing and efforts are being made to make good the lossage. For reasons of cost access is limited to UK users only. Mail to "info-server@ukc" and supply the lines request: comp.sources.unix topic: help topic: index for some help on how to access the files and an index of the files currently online. For human help, mail to uknet@ukc. 3. Ron Heiby has set up access for the archives. 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 and comp.sources.games. Source modules are arranged both topically and by volume/issue number. New UUCP connections are welcome, although sites outside Northern California will be harrassed about why they haven't yet signed up for UUNet.* Pyramid will also make tapes on a *very* limited basis for people willing to stop by during off hours and wait while the tape is written. This is being managed by Rick Preston with Carl Gutekunst kibitzing. Contact usenet@pyramid.com for more information. [ *Don't take this 100% seriously. ] 5. Bill Wisner (killer!billw) is building a comp.sources.unix archive that will be available to the general public via anonymous UUCP. Interested parties may contact him to obtain a uucp login and password. There are no restrictions on the amount of material transferred as long as it's your dime (killer is reachable through PC pursuit). If you contact Bill in advance he can arrange to make portions of the archive cpio'd or compress'd for easier copying. 6. Robert Elz (kre@munnari.OZ) keeps sources in different ways depending on his available disk space; contact him for more info. 7. 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 8. Michael Squires (sir-alan!mikes) of the Department of Political Science at Allegheny College has established an anonymous UUCP account that contains almost everything he has from mod.sources, net.sources, comp.sources.unix, and comp.sources.misc. The following entry should work: sir-alan Any ACU 2400 18143336728 login:--login:--login: pdsrc The modem is a Paradyne FDX 2400 which handles baud rate switching itself; 300/1200/2400 is supported. There is no access limit, although this will probably change. The collection is not complete; a subject/filename listing can be found in the file /usr/spool/pdsrc/all.subjects. Mike recently got a new disk and a full tape of the archives, so everything will be available shortly. Mike can be reached at: Department of Political Science, Allegheny College, Meadville PA 16335. 9. Rick Adams (rick@uunet.uu.net) provides archive access to those on the Internet. Access is available directly via anonymous FTP; look in ~ftp/comp.sources.unix/volumeN. Rick and I have managed to work out an arrangement so that these archives are always current -- right as the sources are published. UUNET subscribers can also UUCP missing files directly. 10. Internet sites may also retrieve archives from j.cc.purdue.edu via anonymous ftp. The archive is in the directory ~ftp/news/comp/sources/unix/volumeX. Due to disk space considerations, many of the sources are compressed; these may be recognized by the ".Z" suffix. If you don't have compress & friends, they are in ~ftp/pub/compress.shar for the taking. This is being managed by Rich Kulawiec (Wombat), rsk@j.cc.purdue.edu. They would appreciate it if you would avoid large file transfers in the middle of the day. [Rick also points out that the FTP'able archies also contain mod.amiga, a bunch of kermit sources, news 2.11, rn 4.3, nntp, and whatever else happens to be in ~ftp/pub at the moment.] 11. The CSNET CIC has been doing a fair amount of work to bring their automated retrieval up-to-speed, and are awaing more disk space to get the newer sources. Send a request for "mod.sources" with the topics "help" and "index" to the Info-Server, or or contact postmaster@sh.cs.net.