Archive-name: gopher-faqπLast-modified: 1993/03/11ππCommon Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher, aπclient/server protocol for making a world wide information service,πwith many implementations. Posted to comp.infosystems.gopher, πcomp.answers, and news.answers every two weeks.ππThe most recent version of this FAQ can be gotten through gopher, orπvia anonymous ftp:ππpit-manager.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faqππThose without FTP access should send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.eduπwith "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find outπhow to do FTP by e-mail.ππ------------------------------------------------------------------- πList of questions in the Gopher FAQ:ππQ0: What is Gopher?πQ1: Where can I get Gopher software?πQ2: What do I need to access Gopher?πQ3: Where are there publicly available logins for Gopher?πQ4: How can I add to the information in gopher?πQ5: Who Develops Gopher Software?πQ6: How can I set up a "CSO" phone book server? Where is the software?πQ7: Why can't I access the University of Minnesota's UPI news?πQ9: What are the type characters for the different Gopher Objects?πQ10: When I do full-text searches I always get every document back, Why?πQ11: When I try to build the UNIX software I get an error from make:π "Must be a separator on rules line #. Stop" Why?πQ12: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?πQ13: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?πQ14: On a DECstation I get the error message "/etc/svc.conf no such fileπ or directory" when running the gopherd server, why?πQ15: The boolean searching terms don't work for my full-text index, why?πQ16: When linking the Unix gopher server with WAIS I get undefined symbols,πQ18: Why don't my WAIS indexes work? I never get anything back for searches.π or Why do I get "Dangling file" error messages in my logfile?πQ19: My gopher server doesn't work under inetd, why?πQ20: This is not a bug report, just a curiousity. I managed to installπQ21: Help! I have PC-NFS and want to use the PC-Gopher client. How?πQ22: How do I nuke a hung TCP connection? I can't restart my UNIXπ gopher server unless I get rid of it, and I don't want to reboot!πQ23: Is there somewhere I can retrieve a list of announced gopherπ links? I'd like to keep a local, up-to-date list of available gopherπ holes without requiring our users to gopher to umn just to scanπ GopherSpace.πQ24: Why doesn't my unix gopher client display ISO-Latin-1 charactersπQ25: What is veronica?ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ0: What is Gopher?ππA0: The Internet Gopher client/server provides a distributedπ information delivery system around which a world/campus-wideπ information system (CWIS) can readily be constructed. Whileπ providing a delivery vehicle for local information, Gopherπ facilitates access to other Gopher and information serversπ throughout the world. ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ1: Where can I get Gopher software?ππA1: via anonymous ftp to boombox.micro.umn.edu. Look in the directoryπ /pub/gopherππ--------------------------------------------------------------------πQ2: What do I need to access Gopher?ππA2: You will need a gopher "client" program that runs on your local PCπ or workstationππ There are clients for the following systems. The directoryπ following the name is the location of the client on the anonymousπ ftp site boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) in the directoryπ /pub/gopher.ππ Unix Curses & Emacs : /pub/gopher/Unix/gopher1.12.tar.Zπ Xwindows (athena) : /pub/gopher/Unix/xgopher1.2.tar.Zπ Xwindows (Motif) : /pub/gopher/Unix/moogπ Macintosh Hypercard : /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher/old-versions *π Macintosh Application : /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher *π DOS w/Clarkson Driver : /pub/gopher/PC_client/π NeXTstep : /pub/gopher/NeXT/π VM/CMS : /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/VieGOPHER/π VMS : /pub/gopher/VMS/π OS/2 2.0 : /pub/gopher/os2/π MVS/XA : /pub/gopher/mvs/ππ Many other clients and servers have been developed by others, theπ following is an attempt at a comprehensive list. ππ A Microsoft Windows Winsock client "The Gopher Book"π sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/goph_tbk.zipππ A Macintosh Application, "MacGopher".π ftp.cc.utah.edu:/pub/gopher/Macintosh *ππ Another Macintosh application, "GopherApp".π ftp.bio.indiana.edu:/util/gopher/gopherapp *ππ A port of the UNIX curses client for DOS with PC/TCPπ oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu:/public/dos/misc/dosgopher.exeππ A port of the UNIX curses client for PC-NFSπ bcm.tmc.edu:/nfs/gopher.exeππ A beta version of the PC Gopher client for Novell's LAN Workplaceπ for DOSπ lennon.itn.med.umich.edu:/dos/gopherππ A VMS DECwindows client for use with Wollongong or UCXπ job.acs.ohio-state.edu:XGOPHER_CLIENT.SHAREπππ * Note: these Macintosh clients require MacTCP.ππ Most of the above clients can also be fetched via a gopher clientπ itself. Put the following on a gopher server:ππ Type=1π Host=boombox.micro.umn.eduπ Port=70π Path=π Name=Gopher Software Distribution.ππ π Or point your gopher client at boombox.micro.umn.edu, port 70 andπ look in the gopher directory.πππ There are also a number of public telnet login sites available.π The University of Minnesota operates one on the machineπ "consultant.micro.umn.edu" (134.84.132.4) See Q3 for moreπ information about this. It is recommended that you run the clientπ software instead of logging into the public telnet login sites. Aπ client uses the custom features of the local machine (mouse,π scroll bars, etc.) A local client is also faster.ππ---------------------------------------------------------------------πQ3: Where are there publicly available logins for Gopher?ππA3: Here is a short list, use the site closest to you to minimizeπ network lag.ππ Non-tn3270 Public Logins:ππ Hostname IP# Login Areaπ ------------------------- --------------- ------ -------------π consultant.micro.umn.edu 134.84.132.4 gopher North Americaπ gopher.uiuc.edu 128.174.33.160 gopher North Americaπ panda.uiowa.edu 128.255.40.201 panda North Americaπ gopher.sunet.se 192.36.125.2 gopher Europeπ info.anu.edu.au 150.203.84.20 info Australiaπ gopher.chalmers.se 129.16.221.40 gopher Swedenπ tolten.puc.cl 146.155.1.16 gopher South Americaπ ecnet.ec 157.100.45.2 gopher Ecuadorπ π tn3270 Public Logins:ππ Hostname IP# Login Areaπ ------------------------- --------------- ------ -------------π pubinfo.ais.umn.edu 128.101.109.1 -none- North Americaπππ It is recommended that you run the client software instead ofπ logging into the public login sites. A client uses theπ custom features of the local machine (mouse, scroll bars, etc.)π and gives faster response.ππ---------------------------------------------------------------------πQ4: How can I add to the information in gopher?ππA4: You can do this by running a gopher server. Servers are availableπ for a number of systems. Use anonymous ftp toπ boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) and look in /pub/gopher. Theπ following servers are available there:π π Unix : /pub/gopher/Unix/gopherxx.tar.Zπ VMS : /pub/gopher/VMS/π Macintosh : /pub/gopher/Mac_server/π VM/CMS : /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/Vienna_CMS/π MVS : /pub/gopher/mvs/π DOS PC : /pub/gopher/PC_server/πππ When you have your server ready you can publish it to the world byπ sending e-mail to the maintainters of the "Other gophers" list:ππ If your gopher server is in Europe, send mail to:π π gopher@ebone.netππ Otherwise send mail to:ππ gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu ππ---------------------------------------------------------------------πQ5: Who Develops Gopher Software?ππA5: Gopher was originally developed in April 1991 by the Universityπ of Minnesota Microcomputer, Workstation, Networks Center to helpπ our campus find answers to their computer questions. ππ It has since grown into a full-fledged World Wide Informationπ System used by a large number of sites in the world.ππ Many people have contributed to the project, too numerous toπ count. ππ The people behind the much of the gopher software can be reachedπ via e-mail at gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu, or via paper mail:π π Internet Gopher Developersπ 100 Union St. SE #190π Minneapolis, MN 55455 USAππ Or via FAX at:π π +1 (612) 625-6817ππ---------------------------------------------------------------------πQ6: How can I set up a "CSO" phone book server? Where is the software?ππA6: CSO phone book servers are also known as "qi" servers. Theπ software implementation can be gotten via anonymous ftp from π uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.5.50) as /pub/qi.tar.Z. You may alsoπ see this referred to as "ph", which is what most of the clientsπ are called. A collected set of clients for Macs, PCs, VMS, VM,π etc, are in the /pub/ph.tar.Z file.ππ There is also an archive of the mailing list for qi/ph software onπ the same machine. It's in /pub/info-ph.archive. You may join theπ list by sending email to info-ph-request@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.ππ This software is supported by Paul Pomes <p-pomes@uiuc.edu>π Contact him for more information. ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ7: Why can't I access the University of Minnesota's UPI news?ππA7: The University of Minnesota has a site license for UPI news, weπ are not allowed to distribute it off of our campus. We get ourπ UPI news from Clarinet. For more information about getting UPIπ news send mail to info@clarinet.com. For information aboutπ setting up your own gopher-UPI server search the gopher-newsπ archive for UPI.ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ9: What are the type characters for the different Gopher Objects?ππA9: Normal IDs. ππ 0 Item is a fileπ 1 Item is a directoryπ 2 Item is a CSO (qi) phone-book serverπ 3 Errorπ 4 Item is a BinHexed Macintosh file.π 5 Item is DOS binary archive of some sort. π 6 Item is a UNIX uuencoded file.π 7 Item is an Index-Search server.π 8 Item points to a text-based telnet session.π 9 Item is a binary file! Client must read until the connectionπ closes. Beware.π T TN3270 connection.ππ Experimental IDs.ππ s Sound type. Data stream is a mulaw sound.π g GIF type.π M MIME type. Item contains MIME data.π h html type.π I Image type.π i "inline" text type (used by panda).ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ10: When I do full-text searches I always get every document back, Why?ππA10: This is a problem occasionally encountered with Unix full-textπ indexes. It is caused by setting up the link incorrectly to aπ gindexd port.ππ The Path= field should be *blank* when pointing to a gindexdπ index.ππ Otherwise the client will send the path to the gindexd daemon,π which interprets everything as a keyword. This path isπ likely to contain a pathname that is common to all of the indexedπ files. Thus a search generates hits on everything.ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ11: When I try to build the UNIX software I get an error from make:π "Must be a separator on rules line #. Stop" Why?ππA11: This is a problem with older makes that don't understand the "include"π keyword. One easy way to cope with this problem is compiling GNUπ make, which does understand the include keyword.ππ If this is too difficult, remove the line:π π include Makefile.configππ from all the Makefiles and paste in a copy of Makefile.config atπ the top of each Makefile.ππ Or, instead of pasting you can make the client/server by goingπ into the appropriate directory and typing:ππ make -f ../Makefile.config -f Makefileππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ12: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?ππA12: Gopher is intimately intertwined with these two other systems.π As shipped the Unix gopher server has the capability to: π π - Search local WAIS indices.π - Query remote WAIS servers and funnel the results to gopherπ clients.π - Query remote ftp sites and funnel the results to gopherπ clients.π - Be queried by WWW (World Wide Web) clients (either usingπ built in gopher querying or using native http querying.ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ13: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?ππA13: Gopher has a whole chapter devoted to it in :ππ _The_Whole_Internet_users_guide_and_catalog by Ed Krol π (publisher O'Reilley & Associates, Inc; ISBN: 1-56592-025-2).π (Editors note: ...Great book, go out and buy a bunch!)ππ _The_Internet_Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online"π By Jonathan Kochmer and NorthWestNet. Published by NorthWestNet,π Bellevue, WA. 1993. 516 pp. ISBN 0-9635281-0-6. π Contact info: passport@nwnet.net, or (206) 562-3000ππ _A_Students_Guide_to_UNIX by Harley Hahn. (publisher McGraw Hill,π Inc.; 1993 ISBN 0-07-025511-3)πππ Other references include:ππ _The_Internet_Gopher_, "ConneXions", July 1992, Interop.ππ _Exploring_Internet_GopherSpace_ "The Internet Society News", v1n2 1992, ππ (You can subscribe to the Internet Society News by sending e-mail toπ isoc@nri.reston.va.us)ππ _The_Internet_Gopher_Protocol_, Proceedings of the Twenty-Thirdπ IETF, CNRI, Section 5.3ππ _Internet_Gopher_, Proceedings of Canadian Networking '92ππ _The_Internet_Gopher_, INTERNET: Getting Started, SRIπ International, Section 10.5.5ππ _Tools_help_Internet_users_discover_on-line_treasures, Computerworld,π July 20, 1992ππ _TCP/IP_Network_Administration_, O'Reilly.ππ Balakrishan, B. (Oct 1992)π "SPIGopher: Making SPIRES databases accessible through theπ Gopher protocol". SPIRES Fall '92 Workshop, Chapel Hill, Northπ Carolina.ππ Tomer, C. Information Technology Standards for Libraries,π _Journal of the American Society for Information Science_,π 43(8):566-570, Sept 1992.πππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ14: On a DECstation I get the error message "/etc/svc.conf no such fileπ or directory" when running the gopherd server, why?ππA14: This is caused by the chroot() call in gopherd. It can be easilyπ fixed by running gopherd with the -c option.ππ Alternatively you can copy /etc/svc.conf into a directory namedπ "etc" inside the gopher-data directory.π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ15: The boolean searching terms don't work for my full-text index, why?ππA15: This is probably because the searching is being provided by WAIS.π WAIS opts to return all documents that contain a search phraseπ within certain limits. WAIS searches do return the documents withπ the highest "score" at the top, those documents will have theπ closest relevance.ππ Alternatively you could get a booleanized version of wais fromπ ftp.bio.indiana.edu.π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ16: When linking the Unix gopher server with WAIS I get undefinedπ symbols,π such as:ππ log_file_nameπ logfileπ PrintStatusπ find_valueπ Sourcesπ NumSourcesππA17: This happens if you make gopherd before linking in the WAIS ir/uiπ directories. The fix is to "make clean" or removeπ gopherd/{waisgopher.o,Waisindex.o} and then remake gopherd. Orπ link the ir/ui directories first.π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ18: Why don't my WAIS indexes work? I never get anything back for searches.π or Why do I get "Dangling file" error messages in my logfile?ππA18: The problem could be in the server. The server should be runπ using the -c option if you want WAIS to work. Another solution is toπ patch the WAIS code so that it doesn't check the files on the disk.π Search the gopher-news archive for "dangling". This will turn up aπ single document with the patch.ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ19: My gopher server doesn't work under inetd, why?ππA19: It could be that your inetd server only supports a limited amountπ of arguments. For instance, the maximum number of arguments to anπ inetd server is 5. You can get around this by combining arguments: i.e.ππ gopherd -I -c ππ becomes:ππ gopherd -Icππ You may also leave the port specifier off of the command line.π The gopher server automagically finds out the port it's running on.ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ20: This is not a bug report, just a curiousity. I managed to installπ gopher on my PC, more or less by myself, which is a pretty goodπ accomplishment, for someone who hasn't installed hardly anything on aπ PC. I then proceeded to load my PC/TCP kernel, ETHDRV, and try toπ start up gopher. It said it couldn't initialize that stack(?). I haveπ to load this whenever I use PC/TCP. Incredibly, when I did not loadπ ETHDRV, Gopher came up immediately and telneted to our local server.π How does it know what kernel to load?ππA20 Dr. Science says,π π The Internet Gopher program is not actually computer program atπ all, but a collection of magical incantations handed down from Darkπ Age conjurors. It works by sending magical "demons" through the air,π which scour the world for information, and then return to castπ illusions containing the answer.ππ When you use the Gopher, your computer isn't actually doingπ anything at all. Instead, these demons have mesmirized you with anπ evil magical spell, which was invoked by the pattern ofπ finger-movements peculiar to the typing of the letters G-O-P-H-E-R onπ your keyboard. This spell transmits demonic information directly toπ your brain.ππ Scientists aren't certain of the long-term effects of demonicπ mesmirization, although former presidents have suffered only minorπ medical side-effects from it. Indeed, since Magic and Science areπ usually opposed to each other, most Scientists are usuallyπ close-minded about such issues, and will usually respond with someπ vacuous non-answer about "packet drivers", "stacks", and other suchπ jargon.ππ Unlike conventional scientists, Dr. Science is very open-minded andπ is willing to deal with such issues in a frank and honest manner.π This is why people come to him with questions, and why they've learnedπ to rely on and live by his answers.ππ Dr. Scienceπ "I'm not a real doctor; I have a Master's Degree.... in SCIENCE!"ππ:-) :-) :-) :-)πThere's always room for a little humor in a FAQ..π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ21: Help! I have PC-NFS and want to use the PC-Gopher client. How?ππA21: Use a piece of software called PKTMUX, available at fine ftpπ sites everywhere. This will let you use any packet driverπ application.ππ Or, aquire a client that supports PC-NFS. See Q2.π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ22: How do I nuke a hung TCP connection? I can't restart my UNIXπ gopher server unless I get rid of it, and I don't want to reboot!ππA22: ππHere is an example of using dbx to change a socket from CLOSING toπCLOSED.ππ # netstat -A|grep CLOSINGπ c4bc5100 tcp 0 11 mymachine.gopher 129.89.8.4.70 CLOSINGπ # dbx -k /vmunix /dev/memπ ...π (dbx) 0xc4bc5100+8/1X -- display contents of PCB+8π c4bc5108: 00000007π (dbx) assign 0xc4bc5108=0 -- zero itπ 0π (dbx) qππAfter a minute or two, the CLOSED socket should disappear.π-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ23: Is there somewhere I can retrieve a list of announced gopherπ links? I'd like to keep a local, up-to-date list of available gopherπ holes without requiring our users to gopher to umn just to scanπ GopherSpace.ππA23: In the Unix client/server distribution is a perl script calledπ "gopherdist". Gopherdist can fetch the contents of any point inπ GopherSpace.ππ To dump the contents of all the North American links fromπ gopher.tc.umn.edu do the following:ππ % gopherdist gopher.tc.umn.edu 70 "1/Other Gopher and Informationπ Servers/North America" > .Linksπ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ24: Why doesn't my unix gopher client display ISO-Latin-1 charactersπ properly? BTW I'm using a Sun workstation..ππA24: It is the client's problem, the server is perfectly 8-bit transparent.π The BSD curses library uses bit 8 in order to remember, whether a π character has been displayed reverse. So use just /usr/5bin/cc andπ you get the System V curses version which is 8 bit clean.ππ Note that this may be a problem under other versions of UNIX too...ππ-------------------------------------------------------------------πQ25: What is veronica?ππA25: veronica: Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to π Computerized Archives.ππ veronica offers a keyword search of most gopher-server menu titlesπ in the entire gopher web. As archie is to ftp archives, veronica π is to gopherspace. A veronica search produces a menu of gopherπ items, each of which is a direct pointer to a gopher data source.π Because veronica is accessed through a gopher client, it is easyπ to use, and gives access to all types of data supported by theπ gopher protocol.ππ To try veronica, select it from the "Other Gophers" menu on π Minnesota's gopher server, or point your gopher at:ππ Name=veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace) π Type=1 π Port=70 π Path=1/veronica π Host=futique.scs.unr.eduπ--π | Paul Lindner | lindner@boombox.micro.umn.edu | Slipping into madnessπ | | Computer & Information Services | is good for the sakeπ | Gophermaster | University of Minnesota | of comparison.π///// / / / /////// / / / / / / / / //// / / / / / / / /π
