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*******************************
Guide to Network Resource Tools
EARN Association
****************
May 20, 1994
Document Number: 3.0
Notice
This document has been compiled and produced by the EARN
Association. Permission to copy all or part of this document
without fee is granted provided the copies are not used for
commercial advantage, and that the EARN Association is cited as
the source of the document.
This document is available in electronic format from:
LISTSERV@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET)
Send the command: GET filename where the filename is either:
NETTOOLS PS
NETTOOLS TXT
Document version: 3.0
ISBN 2-910286-05-3
(ISBN 2-910286-03-7 Version 2.0)
(ISBN 2-910286-01-0 Version 1.0)
(c) EARN Association, 1994
Preface to the Third Edition
When the first version of the Guide to Network Resource Tools was
released, we had no idea how popular it would become, and how
quickly it would spread beyond the EARN community. While much had
already been written on these tools, a booklet with brief expla-
nations and instructions struck a responsive chord. With the sec-
ond edition, we tried to make the various corrections and
improvements which had been suggested by many people who had seen
the first version.
In this third edition, we have tried to expand the scope, both in
terms of the number of networking tools covered and the size of
the audience at which it is aimed. While the Internet continues
to grow at an explosive rate, there is still a large community of
users, within EARN and beyond, with only electronic mail connec-
tivity to the world-wide network. We have tried to show how they
too can utilize these networking tools.
The work of many people is reflected here, but we owe our great-
est debt of thanks to the developers and authors of the network
tools and documentation. Their work serves as the basis for this
guide.
We also wish to thank all those who have provided comments, crit-
icisms and suggestions for the guide. Many of the improvements in
the third edition are the result of their feedback and encourage-
ment. In particular, we have benefitted from the cooperation of
the RARE Working Group on Information Services and User Support.
We look forward to close collaboration with them on future edi-
tions of this guide as well as on other projects.
The Guide to Network Resource Tools has been produced by the
staff of the EARN Association, under the direction of the EARN
Group on Information Services. Any errors or inaccuracies in this
guide are the sole responsibility of the EARN staff. We welcome
and encourage your feedback. Please send comments, criticisms,
corrections, suggestions for future editions and even praise to
the electronic mail address:
EARNDOC@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or EARNDOC@EARNCC.BITNET)
If you have any questions or queries on the use of these tools or
on other aspects of networking, and you are in an EARN member
country, you can get help and advice by sending your questions by
electronic mail to the EARN consulting service at:
NETHELP@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or NETHELP@EARNCC.BITNET).
The EARN Staff
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Introduction
Part 1: EXPLORING THE NETWORK
GOPHER
What is GOPHER
Who can use GOPHER
How to get to GOPHER
Using GOPHER
Using GOPHERMAIL
VERONICA
Learning more about GOPHER
WORLD-WIDE WEB
What is WORLD-WIDE WEB
Who can use WORLD-WIDE WEB
How to get to WORLD-WIDE WEB
Using WORLD-WIDE WEB
The line mode browser
Other interfaces
Examples
Learning more about WORLD-WIDE WEB
Part 2: SEARCHING DATABASES
WAIS
What is WAIS
Who can use WAIS
How to get to WAIS
Using WAIS
E-mail access
Examples
Learning more about WAIS
Part 3: FINDING NETWORK RESOURCES
ARCHIE
What is ARCHIE
Who can use ARCHIE
How to get to ARCHIE
Using ARCHIE
Using a local client
Using Telnet
Using electronic mail
Examples
Learning more about ARCHIE
HYTELNET
What is HYTELNET
Who can use HYTELNET
How to get to HYTELNET
Using HYTELNET
Local system
Examples
Learning more about HYTELNET
Part 4: FINDING PEOPLE AND COMPUTERS
WHOIS
What is WHOIS
Who can use WHOIS
How to get to WHOIS
Using WHOIS
Using a local client
Using Telnet
Using electronic mail
Examples
Learning more about WHOIS
X.500
What is X.500
Who can use X.500
How to get to X.500
Using X.500
Using a local client
Using Telnet or X.25
Using electronic mail
Examples
Learning more about X.500
NETFIND
What is NETFIND
Who can use NETFIND
How to get to NETFIND
Using NETFIND
Local access
Remote access
Examples
Learning more about NETFIND
Part 5: GETTING FILES
TRICKLE
What is TRICKLE
Who can use TRICKLE
How to get to TRICKLE
Using TRICKLE
Examples
Learning more about TRICKLE
BITFTP
What is BITFTP
Who can use BITFTP
How to get to BITFTP
Using BITFTP
Examples
Learning more about BITFTP
Part 6: NETWORKED INTEREST GROUPS
LISTSERV
What is LISTSERV
Who can use LISTSERV
How to get to LISTSERV
Using LISTSERV
Commands for Lists
Commands for Files
LISTSERV Database Functions
Commands for Information
Examples
Learning more about LISTSERV
USENET (NETNEWS)
What is USENET
Who can use USENET
How to get to USENET
Using USENET
Examples
Learning more about USENET
Part 7: OTHER TOOLS OF INTEREST
NETSERV
What is NETSERV
How to get to NETSERV
Learning more about NETSERV
MAILBASE
What is MAILBASE
How to get to MAILBASE
Learning more about MAILBASE
FTPMAIL
What is FTPMAIL
How to get to FTPMAIL
Learning more about FTPMAIL
PROSPERO
What is PROSPERO
How to get to PROSPERO
Learning more about PROSPERO
IRC
What is IRC
How to get to IRC
Learning more about IRC
RELAY
What is RELAY
How to get to RELAY
Learning more about RELAY
Appendix A: Freely available networking software
Gopher clients
World-Wide Web clients
Wais clients
Usenet - news reader software
Appendix B: Online information
General references
References for individual tools
Introduction
As the worldwide academic computer network grows and expands far
beyond its previous confines, so the resources and services
available on the network evolve and multiply at a dizzying rate.
The typical user is hard-pressed to keep up with this explosive
growth. Fortunately, a number of tools are available to facili-
tate the task of locating and retrieving network resources, so
that users anywhere can utilize texts, data, software and infor-
mation for public access. Facilities to explore public domain
software repositories, to consult mailing list archives and data-
bases, to retrieve directory information and to participate in
global group discussions are now available to all.
The key to availability of network resources is the provision of
servers on computers all over the network. A server consists of
special software which accepts requests (or queries or commands)
and sends a response automatically. Requests received by the ser-
ver may have originated from a user on the same computer as the
server software, or from a user on a computer on the other side
of the world. Many servers accept requests via electronic mail,
in which case requests can be received from computers which are
not even on the same computer network as the server. Links have
been established between many servers, so that once you have
established contact with one server, you can easily communicate
with other servers as well.
Software programs which ask for resources from servers are called
client programs - they are clients of the server software.
Clients send requests to a server, using a standardized format
called a protocol. The server responds by supplying information,
usually in the form of files containing text or data of various
sorts.
New client software is being developed all the time, providing
better and more convenient ways of interacting with servers. Dif-
ferent versions of a particular client may be developed for dif-
ferent desktop computers since these are increasingly more
sophisticated, having advanced graphical, audio and storage capa-
bilities. Thus different versions of a client will be provided
for use on IBM PC's, Apple Macintosh, or Unix computers. There
are X Window System versions of many of the clients.
The tools described in this guide have been divided into six
functional areas. Several of the tools have more than one func-
tion, but they have been classified according to their main pur-
pose. The first section, Exploring the network, covers two servi-
ces, Gopher and World-Wide Web, which use the client-server model
to provide a means of moving through a wide range of network
resources in a uniform and intuitive way. WAIS (Wide Area Infor-
mation Server), a tool for searching databases located throughout
the network, is documented in the second section, Searching data-
bases. The problem of knowing where to find files and programs in
the network is addressed in the third section, Finding network
resources, which describes archie, a client for searching
archives of filenames, and Hytelnet, a hypertext compendium of
online library catalogues and other network resources. Section
four, Finding people and computers, covers three tools - WHOIS,
X.500 and Netfind.
While just about all of these network tools can be used to get
files of one sort or another, some servers are designed to obtain
files easily and efficiently from various repositories in the
network. Two of these servers, TRICKLE and BITFTP, are covered in
section five on Getting files.
The sixth section Networked Interest Groups deals with what is
perhaps the most popular of all the network resources: discussion
groups on every imaginable topic. The two tools discussed in this
section are LISTSERV and Usenet (Netnews).
The final section gives brief descriptions and pointers for a
number of other tools. Some have not yet achieved widespread rec-
ognition (Prospero), some are relatively unknown outside a par-
ticular network (Netserv from EARN/Bitnet and Mailbase from
JANET) or there is an alternative service within EARN (ftpmail)
and some are meant for chatting rather than work (Relay and IRC).
The purpose of this guide is to supply the basic information that
anyone on the network needs before trying out and starting to use
these tools. A basic knowledge of networking terminology has
been assumed, as well as familiarity with the basic tools of net-
working: electronic mail (often referred to as e-mail or simply
mail throughout this guide) and, for those connected to the
Internet, FTP (file transfer protocol) and Telnet (remote login).
It is beyond the scope of this guide to describe these basic
tools. Guides to email, FTP and Telnet are available elsewhere on
the network, and the example in the BITFTP section of this guide
shows how to obtain them.
Part 1
EXPLORING THE NETWORK
GOPHER
What is GOPHER
The Internet Gopher client is used to search for and retrieve
files from Gopher servers anywhere on the Internet. It is thus a
distributed document delivery service. Gopher servers store files
containing text or binary data, directory information (loosely
called phone book), images or sound. Links to other Gopher ser-
vers result in network wide cooperation to form the global Gopher
web, often called Gopherspace.
Gopher clients also provide gateways to other information systems
(World-Wide Web, WAIS, archie, WHOIS) and to network services
(Telnet, FTP). Gopher is often the most convenient way to navi-
gate in an FTP directory and to download files.
The Gopher client presents information to the user as a series of
nested menus (resembling the organization of a directory with
many subdirectories and files). However, the subdirectories and
the files may be located either on the local Gopher server or on
Gopher servers situated at remote sites. As far as the user need
know, all information items presented on the menus appear to come
from the same place.
Who can use GOPHER
In order to use an interactive Gopher client on your computer,
you must be on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet).
Electronic mail access to Gopher is also available, so that any-
one on any other network who can send and receive mail with the
Internet can also explore Gopherspace (see GopherMail in the sec-
tion How to get to Gopher).
How to get to GOPHER
Local clients
Public domain Gopher clients are available for: MS-DOS, MS-
Windows, OS/2 Macintosh, CMS, VMS, NeXT, Unix, X-Windows. The
clients are available by anonymous FTP from many sites (e.g.
boombox.micro.umn.edu in the directory /pub/gopher). See the list
of freely available client software in Appendix A.
Remote clients
If you do not have a Gopher client on your computer, you can use
a remote Gopher client via an interactive Telnet session, or by
electronic mail to a GopherMail site. Some sites make Gopher
clients available for anonymous public use. To access a remote
Gopher client, telnet to one of these sites:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| info.anu.edu.au Australia (login: info) |
| tolten.puc.cl Columbia |
| ecnet.ec Ecuador |
| gopher.chalmers.se Sweden |
| consultant.micro.umn.edu USA |
| gopher.uiuc.edu USA |
| panda.uiowa.edu USA (login: panda) |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
At the login: prompt type gopher (unless specified otherwise) and
the top-level Gopher menu for that site will be displayed.
Users are requested to use the site closest to them.
GopherMail
You can communicate with gopher by carrying out email conversa-
tions with a GopherMail server. A list of GopherMail servers is
given below.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| gopher@earn.net France |
| gopher@ftp.technion.ac.il Israel |
| gopher@join.ad.jp Japan |
| gopher@nig.ac.jp Japan |
| gopher@nips.ac.jp Japan |
| gopher@solaris.ims.ac.jp Japan |
| gophermail@ncc.go.jp Japan |
| gopher@dsv.su.se Sweden |
| gophermail@calvin.edu USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Using GOPHER
Gopher client implementations look slightly different on differ-
ent platforms, because they take advantage of the platforms'
capabilities (mouse, graphic functions, X Window System). However
all implementations offer the same set of functions and commands.
After issuing the gopher command, you will be connected automati-
cally to a default Gopher server which was specified when your
Gopher client was installed. The format of the command is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| gopher <hostname> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where hostname is optional, and can refer to an alternative
Gopher server you wish to use instead of your default server.
The Gopher client presents a simple menu-driven interface which
doesn't require any special training or knowledge from the user.
Here is a sample menu:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Internet Gopher Information Client v2.0.12
Information About Gopher
1. About Gopher.
2. Search Gopher News <?>
3. Gopher News Archive/
4. comp.infosystems.gopher (Usenet newsgroup)/
5. Gopher Software Distribution/
6. Gopher Protocol Information/
7. University of Minnesota Gopher software licensing policy.
8. Frequently Asked Questions about Gopher.
9. gopher93/
10. Gopher| example server/
11. How to get your information into Gopher.
--> 12. New Stuff in Gopher.
13. Reporting Problems or Feedback.
14. big Ann Arbor gopher conference picture.gif <Picture>
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Any item can be selected from the menu by typing its line
number, then pressing the RETURN key, or by moving the
cursor (-->) next to the item and pressing the RETURN
key.
Each item on the menu may be:
* a subdirectory
* a text file
* a binary file
* a sound file
* an image file
* a phone book (directory information)
* an index-search
* a Telnet session
Items on the Gopher menu have an identifying symbol next to them.
In the example above, "<?>" means a full text index-search, "/"
means a subdirectory, "<Picture>" means an image file, and no
symbol means a text file. Some Gopher clients are not able to
handle certain file types (e.g. sound files), and some clients
display only files of types they can handle or files they suppose
you are interested in. Others display all types of files.
When an item is selected from the Gopher menu, it is processed
according to its type, as shown below. If you select an item
which represents a sound file, an image file, or a Telnet ses-
sion, the Gopher client looks for the appropriate software on
your computer to carry out the task of displaying the image,
reproducing the sound, or starting the Telnet session. When the
task is completed, control is returned to the Gopher client.
a subdirectory
its contents are displayed. You can view the direc-
tory above the present one using the up command.
a text file the file is displayed. You can browse through the
contents of the file, search for a particular string
in the file, print the file on a local printer or
copy (save) the file onto your local disk space. The
last two functions may not be available to you -
this will depend on your local conditions.
a binary file
the file is simply copied onto your local disk
space, under a name specified by you. Binary files
are binhexed Macintosh files, archives (.zip,
.tar,...), compressed files, programs, etc.
a sound file the file is played through your local audio device;
this is only possible if you have a suitable audio
device, with a utility to drive it. Only one sound
file can be active at a time; you will be warned if
you try to play a sound before a previous one has
finished playing.
an image file
the remote file is displayed on your computer screen
if an image viewer exists on your computer.
a phone book you are prompted for a search string. The phone book
will be searched according to the procedures set up
by the institution which owns and maintains it.
an index-search
Gopher indexes are available to help users locate
the information in a set of documents. You will be
prompted for a search string, which may be one or
more words, and may contain the special operators
and, or, and not. The search is case-insensitive,
and the or word test is non-exclusive. E.g.:
terminal and setting or tset
will find all documents in the index which contain
both the words terminal and setting, or the word
tset. The result of the index-search is presented
in the form of a Gopher menu, where each menu item
is a file containing the specified search string.
a Telnet session
Telnet sessions are normally connections to text-
based information services such as library cata-
logues.
At any time, it is possible to terminate the session (quit), to
cancel the current processing (the command to do this will vary
with Gopher clients), or to get the on-line help (help).
Most Gopher clients allow you to keep track of the exact location
of Gopher items which you expect to use often, storing the infor-
mation as a series of bookmarks. Your collection of bookmarks can
be presented in the form of a customized Gopher menu. This facil-
ity is useful when you often need to reach a file or a service
located far from the top-level directory.
Whichever Gopher server you are connected to, you can access oth-
er Gopher servers by exploring the Other Gopher servers in the
rest of the world branch of the menu. Gopher servers are present-
ed in geographical regions, to make them easier to find:
* Africa
* Europe
* Middle East
* North America
* Pacific
* South America
and then by countries within each region.
Using GOPHERMAIL
If you send the word help in the subject line of an e-mail mes-
sage to one of the GopherMail servers, you will get instructions
and information on using the system. The following information
has been obtained from the help file.
You start a conversation with a GopherMail server by sending it
an email message (with any or no subject and any or no message
body). GopherMail will reply by sending you its main Gopher menu.
Your email reply should contain the text of that menu, with the
options you want to follow up marked by an "X" (or "x") anywhere
near the beginning of the line, before the menu numbers for those
options.
This process is repeated as many times as necessary.
Some items on Gopher menus are databases or college phone books.
To search for a particular name or keyword(s), you simply send
the name or keyword(s) on the Subject: line of the message in
which you have put an "X" against the phone book or WAIS database
menu option.
To save a few keystrokes, instead of putting X's at the start of
menu lines, you can insert lines at the top of the reply which
contain an "X" followed by the menu number that you want, such
as:
x3
X15
The link information which the Gopher server will use to connect
to the items on the menu is shown at the bottom of each email
message, after the menu. You can make the GopherMail conversation
more efficient by editing your replies to contain just the Gopher
link information for the items you want.
You can build a type of bookmarks file by saving the links that
you want to use again. Here's what you need:
Name=About GopherMail <- Optional, it returns in the Subject:
Type=0 <- Required, see below for a list of types
Port=70 <- Required only if different from port 70
Path=0/gophermail.helpfile
<- Usually required, depends on the link
Host=gopher.earn.net <- Required. MUST be the last line
Supported types are:
0 Text File
1 Directory
2 CSO name server
4 Mac HQX file
7 Full Text Index (these are often WAIS database searches)
9 Binary File
s Sound
Binary and Sound Files are sent as uuencoded files.
GopherMail's options include:
* Message splitting after a certain file size
* Menu splitting after a certain number of menu items
* Re-using links saved in a bookmarks file
* Requesting the Gopher menu for a specific hostname
* Requesting the help file
* Selecting menu items using fewer keystrokes
* Requesting items from the Info-Mac Archive
* Requesting Gopher items with their raw link information
Many email gateways have size limits on email messages, so
GopherMail output can be split into several messages if it
exceeds a certain size. You can specify a maximum number of menu
items to send in one message, or maximum size in bytes for text,
HQX, binary and sound files.
There are two ways to specify size limits. The first way is to
put Menu=50 and/or Split=30000 (for example) in the Subject: of
your e-mail message. This would limit the output to 50 menu items
per message, and would send files in messages of no more than
30,000 bytes.
The other way is to include these same instructions in the body
of the message, on separate lines. For example:
Split=25K
Menu=75
You can include text after the 25K. The "K" or "k" becomes "000"
(which is a near approximation to 1024!).
Lines like these appear in all GopherMail menu messages, after
the menu items and before the link information. They contain
default values. You should edit these lines to contain the values
that you want, and all subsequent menus will contain your pre-
ferred Menu= and Split= values. Setting these values to 0 (zero)
has the effect of not splitting messages at all. The default is
to split menus after 100 items, and files after 27,000 bytes. If
Split= or Menu= appear in the Subject: of the message, these
will override the values set in the message body.
You can specify a different host when requesting a top level
Gopher menu by placing a fully qualified domain name as the Sub-
ject: of your message (such as gopher.tc.umn.edu). You can also
specify a port other than the default of 70 by placing it after a
fully qualified domain name in the subject (e.g. darth.sdsc.edu
800).
GopherMail was written in Perl by Fred Bremmer in September 1992.
Nick Hengeveld helped with the TCP portion, and Matt Ranney pro-
vided the book on Perl and helped with some regular expressions.
Several friends helped to find bugs and suggest improvements.
VERONICA
Veronica helps you find Gopher-based information without doing a
menu-by-menu, site-by-site search. It provides a keyword search
of more than 500 Gopher menus, so it is to the Gopher information
space what archie is to the FTP archives. Veronica does not have
to be started as another connection or another application, it is
accessible from most top-level Gopher menus or from the Other
Gopher servers... branch.
A comprehensive description of veronica search methods is avail-
able from the veronica menus. A brief description is given here.
When you choose a veronica search, you will be prompted to enter
a keyword or keywords. The simplest way to search with veronica
is to enter a single word and hit the RETURN key. It does not
matter whether the word is upper case or lower case. The veronica
server will return a Gopher menu composed of items whose titles
match your keyword specification. Items can be accessed as with
any Gopher menu. E.g.:
eudora
will give you a list of menu titles which contain eudora, such
as:
Electronic Mail: Eudora on Macintosh, Micro-08
Modem Setting Eudora Slip.
A UNIX-based Eudora reader for those that ...
Eudora: Popmail for the Macintosh.
Eudora.
etc.
The search string may contain keywords optionally separated by
and, or and not. If there is no operator between two keywords,
and is assumed. E.g.:
eudora and macintosh
will give you a list of menu titles which contain both eudora and
macintosh, such as:
Eudora: Popmail for the Macintosh.
v4.1 EUDORA: E-MAIL FOR THE MACINTOSH.
Micro News: Eudora - A Mailer for the Macintosh.
Eudora: Electronic Mail on Your Macintosh.
ACS News - Eudora Mail Reader for Macintosh.
etc.
"*" is the wildcard character. It can replace any other character
or characters at the end of a keyword. E.g.:
desk*
will give you a list of menu titles, such as:
The Help Desk.
Keene State College Press Release COMPUTER ON EVERY DESK.
DESKQview/X... An alternative to Windows???.
Ethernet at Your Desktop/
etc.
Learning more about GOPHER
The Internet Gopher is developed by the Computer and Information
Services Department of the University of Minnesota. Bug reports,
comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to the Gopher devel-
opment team at: gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu..
Mailing list: gopher-news@boombox.micro.umn.edu
To subscribe to the gopher-news mailing list, send a mail message
to:
gopher-news-request@boombox.micro.umn.edu
Usenet newsgroup: comp.infosystems.gopher
Veronica is being developed by Steve Foster and Fred Barrie at
the University of Nevada. Bug reports, comments, suggestions,
etc. should be addressed to: gophadm@futique.scs.unr.edu
WORLD-WIDE WEB
What is WORLD-WIDE WEB
World-Wide Web (also called WWW or W3) is a hypertext-based
information system. Any word in a hypertext document can be spec-
ified as a pointer to a different hypertext document where more
information pertaining to that word can be found. The reader can
open the second document by selecting the word (using different
methods depending on the interface; in a mouse based system, a
user would probably place the mouse over the word and click the
mouse button); only the part of the linked document which con-
tains relevant information will be displayed.
The second document may itself contain links to further docu-
ments. The reader need not know where the referenced documents
are, because they will be obtained and presented as they are
needed. World-Wide Web uses hypertext over the Internet: the
linked documents may be located at different Internet sites.
The World-Wide Web also provides access to many of the other
tools described in this guide, and is becoming widely used as the
major means of access to Internet resources.
Special index documents have been created in the WWW information
space and these can be searched for given keyword(s). The result
is a new document which contains links to documents selected from
the index.
If you were reading this document on a hypertext system, instead
of this all too short explanation about hypertext, you would have
a selectable pointer to a complete hypertext information web with
examples and more pointers to other definitions. For instance,
in the first document you might read:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The WorldWideWeb (W3) is the universe of network-accessible
information, an embodiment of human knowledge. It is an
initiative started at "CERN", now with many participants. It has
a body of software, and a set of protocols and conventions. W3
uses "hypertext" and multimedia techniques to make the web easy
for anyone to roam browse, and contribute to.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Selecting hypertext would display the following explanation for
you:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS HYPERTEXT
Hypertext is text which is not constrained to be linear.
Hypertext is text which contains "links" to other texts. The term
was coined by "Ted Nelson" around 1965 (see "History").
HyperMedia is a term used for hypertext which is not constrained
to be text: it can include graphics, video and "sound", for
example. Apparently Ted Nelson was the first to use this term
too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Then you could learn more about links and Ted Nelson.
The links in WWW are not confined to text only, so the term
hypermedia is more accurate - for example, the link to Ted Nelson
might point to a file containing a picture of Ted Nelson. The
picture would be displayed on your screen, if your computer had a
suitable screen and an image viewer.
Who can use WORLD-WIDE WEB
You must be on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet) in
order to use a client on your computer to access WWW. If you are
on the Internet, but don't have a WWW client on your computer,
you can still enter the World-Wide Web because several sites
offer public interactive access to WWW clients (see the Remote
clients section under How to get to World-Wide Web below).
If you have e-mail access only, or if you are not on the
Internet, then you can not fully exploit the vast potential of
WWW. However, a mail-robot is available at the address:
listserv@info.cern.ch which gives e-mail access to WWW-accessible
files. (see E-mail access section under How to get to World-Wide
Web below).
How to get to WORLD-WIDE WEB
Users access the World-Wide Web facilities via a client called a
browser, which provides transparent access to the WWW servers. If
a local WWW client is not available on your computer, you may use
a client at a remote site: this can be an easy way to start
using WWW.
Local clients
Use of a local client is encouraged since it will provide better
performance and better response time than a remote client.
Public domain clients for accessing WWW servers are available
for: Macintosh, MS-DOS, VMS, VM/CMS, MVS, NeXT, Unix, X-Windows.
All these platforms support a simple line mode browser. In addi-
tion, graphical clients are available for: Macintosh, MS-
Windows, X-Windows, NeXT and Unix. See the list of freely avail-
able client software in Appendix A.
Remote clients
To access a remote WWW client, telnet to the client site. If you
are new to WWW, you should telnet to info.cern.ch. No login is
needed for this, and you will immediately enter the WWW line mode
browser.
Most remote clients are at sites with WWW servers holding infor-
mation on specific areas. Telnet to the client site, and at the
login: prompt enter www; no password is needed. Some of the pub-
licly accessible clients were locally developed. The following
remote client sites are available:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Site Country Specialization |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| info.funet.fi Finland |
| www.huji.ac.il Israel Environment |
| info.cern.ch Switzerland (CERN) High-energy physics
| fatty.law.cornell.edu USA Law |
| www.cc.ukans.edu USA History |
| www.njit.edu USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Using CERN as the entry point you will find information about WWW
itself, with an overview of the Web and a catalogue of the data-
bases sorted by subject.
E-mail access
You can obtain WWW files via mail to listserv@info.cern.ch using
a SEND command. The SEND command returns the document with the
given WWW address, subject to certain restrictions. Hypertext
documents are formatted to 72 character width, with links num-
bered. A separate list at the end of the file gives the addresses
of the related documents. A good file to start with would be:
http://info.cern.ch./hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html
Note that, despite the name listserv in the address of this mail-
robot, it is not a LISTSERV server.
A note of caution from the WWW developers and maintainers:
As the robot gives potential mail access to a *vast* amount of
information, we must emphasise that the service should not be
abused. Examples of appropriate use would be:
* Accessing any information about W3 itself;
* Accessing any CERN and/or physics-related or network develop-
ment related information;
Examples of INappropriate use would be:
* Attempting to retrieve binaries or tar files or anything more
than directory listings or short ASCII files from FTP archive
sites;
* Reading Usenet newsgroups which your site doesn't receive;
* Repeated automatic use.
There is currently a 1000 line limit on any returned file. We
don't want to overload other people's mail relays or our server.
We reserve the right to withdraw the service at any time. We are
currently monitoring all use of the server, so your reading will
not initially enjoy privacy.
Enjoy!
The W3 team at CERN (www-bug@info.cern.ch)
Using WORLD-WIDE WEB
The line mode browser:
The line mode browser is a simple user interface: references are
shown as a number in square brackets next to each referenced
word. Type the number and hit the RETURN key to follow a refer-
ence. For example, here is the beginning of the Subject Catalogue
on the CERN server:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Subject Catalogue
THE WWW VIRTUAL LIBRARY
This is a distributed subject catalogue. See also arrangement by
service type[1], and other subject catalogues of network
information[2].
Mail to maintainers of the specified subject or
www-request@info.cern.ch to add pointers to this list, or if you
would like to contribute to administration of a subject area.
See also how to put your data on the web[3]
Aeronautics Mailing list archive index[4]. See also NASA
LaRC[5]
Agriculture See Agricultural info[6], Almanac mail servers[7]
the Agricultural Genome[8] (National Agricultural
Library, part of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture)
Archaeology[9] Separate list
Astronomy and Astrophysics[10]
Separate list.
1-64, Back, <RETURN> for more, Quit, or Help:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To access WWW with the line mode browser, type: www. The default
first document will appear on your screen. From this point, you
should be able to navigate through the WWW universe by reading
the text and following the instructions at the bottom of the
screen. If you want to start with a document other than the
default, or if you want to change some other aspect of the usual
interaction, a number of command line parameters and options are
available. The full format of the www command to invoke the line
mode browser is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| www <options> <docaddress <keyword>> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
docaddress
is the hypertext address of the document at which you
want to start browsing.
keyword the supplied keyword(s) are used to query the index
specified by docaddress. A list of matching entries is
displayed. Multiple keywords are separated by blanks.
Options are:
-n non-interactive mode. The document is formatted and
displayed to the screen. Pages are delimited with form
feed characters (FF).
-listrefs adds a list of the addresses of all document references
to the end. Non-interactive mode only.
-pn sets the page length to n lines. Without a number,
makes the page length infinite. Default is 24.
-wn sets the page width to n columns. The default is 78, 79
or 80 depending on the system.
-na hides references in the text. Useful when printing out
the document .
-version displays the version number of the software.
The following commands are available when using a line mode brow-
ser either as a local client or as a remote client. Some are dis-
abled when not applicable (e.g. Find is enabled only when the
current document is an index). CAPITAL letters indicate accepta-
ble abbreviation; angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional param-
eter.
Help gives a list of available commands depending on the
context, and the hypertext address of the current docu-
ment.
Manual displays the on-line manual.
Quit exits WWW.
number type in one of the numbers shown in [] and hit the
RETURN key to follow the link associated with the ref-
erence.
RETURN hit the RETURN key to display the next page of the cur-
rent document (without a reference number).
Up, Down scrolls up or down one page in the current document.
Top, BOttom
goes to the top or the bottom of the current document.
Back goes back to the document you were reading before.
HOme goes back to the first document you were reading.
Next, Previous
goes to the next or previous document in the list of
pointers from the document that led to the current one.
List gives a numbered list of the links from the current
document. To follow a link, type in the number.
Recall <number>
if number is omitted, gives a numbered list of the
documents you have visited.
To display one specific document, re-issue the command
with number.
<Find> keyword
queries the current index with the supplied keyword(s).
A list of matching entries is displayed with possible
links to further details. Find can be omitted if the
first keyword does not conflict with another WWW com-
mand. Multiple keywords are separated by blanks.
Go docaddress
goes to the document represented by the given hypertext
address, which is interpreted relative to the current
document.
Extra command available on Unix versions only:
Print prints the current document, without the numbered docu-
ment references. The default print command is lpr, but
it may be defined in your local working environment by
the variable WWW_PRINT_COMMAND.
Other interfaces:
When using a graphical interface, you access the WWW functions by
pressing mouse buttons. Words are highlighted or underlined to
indicate where a link exists. To follow a link, click on the
word.
The most famous graphical interface is Mosaic, which is the
state-of-the-art point and click interface. Mosaic is a WWW brow-
ser which also displays images and plays sounds, with the help of
local utilities. Navigation within the web is intuitive and addi-
tional features (mailing feedback, customizing, etc.) are easy to
use. Mosaic also provides an interface to the other information
systems (WAIS, Gopher, etc.) thus giving access to all Internet
resources from a single interface. Implementations for Macintosh,
MS-Windows and X-Windows are available via anonymous FTP from
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory /Web.
A good alternative for users without a graphical environment is
Lynx. Lynx is a full screen browser for WWW using arrows and tab
keys, cursor addressing and highlighted or numbered links to nav-
igate within the web. Lynx has no image or sound capabilities:
any images or sounds are replaced by a tag at display time and
the corresponding files can be retrieved separately. Unlike the
line mode browser, documents containing embedded images or
enhanced document formats (e.g. formulaires) are handled properly
by Lynx. A demonstration version of Lynx is available using Tel-
net to www.cc.ukans.edu (login as www). Implementations for vari-
ous Unix flavours and for VMS are available via anonymous FTP
from ftp2.cc.ukans.edu in the directory /pub/WWW/lynx.
Examples
WWW gives you access to an information universe. Let's say you
want to know how many film versions of The Three Musketeers have
been made. You browse The WWW Virtual Library and select Movies:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cardiff's Movie Database Browser.
CARDIFF'S MOVIE DATABASE BROWSER.
UK Postal Quiz [1] There's now a way to set permanent[2] links to
specific names and titles.
Movie title substring searching.[3] (for non-forms browsers) Movie
people substring searching.[4] (for non-forms browsers)
Lookup titles by genre.[5] (uses plot summary info. 652 titles so
far, many more on the way)
List my votes[6]. If you've voted for movies, your votes are here.
On this day in history..[7](who was born and who died)
The rec.arts.movies top 40 films[8] and bottom 40 films.[9]
Top 20[10]s of busy people.
Famous marriages.[11]
1-18, Up, <RETURN> for more, Quit, or Help: 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You select Movie titles, and then type three musketeers as key-
words:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Movie Info (27/27)
Example, to search for movies with the word ``alien'' in their
title, type ``alien''.
This will return details on several movies, including Aliens
Note: if the title begins with A or The, leave it out. If you're
determined to include it, then put ', A' or ', The' at the end
of the of the substring e.g.
Enforcer, The
Gauntlet, The
Searching is case insensitive.
[1]
Rob.H[2]
Robert.Hartill@cm.cf.ac.uk
FIND <keywords>, 1-2, Back, Up, Quit, or Help: three musketeers
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You find that there have been seven film versions of the story:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Movie Info
TITLE SUBSTRINGS.
Here are the results from the search for three musketeers
Three Musketeers, The (1921)[1]
Three Musketeers, The (1933)[2]
Three Musketeers, The (1935)[3]
Three Musketeers, The (1939)[4]
Three Musketeers, The (1948)[5]
Three Musketeers, The (1974)[6]
Three Musketeers, The (1993)[7]
I haven't found the item you wanted ?, why ?[8]
Note titles in quotes (") are TV series.
[9]
Rob.H[10]
Robert.Hartill@cm.cf.ac.uk
FIND <keywords>, 1-10, Back, Up, Quit, or Help: 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You decide to look for more information on the 1921 version:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Movie Info
MOVIE DETAILS.
THREE MUSKETEERS, THE (1921)
1921
Cast Leon Barry[1] ......Athos
Charles Belcher[2] ......Bernajoux
Nigel De Brulier[3] ......Cardinal Richelieu
Marguerite De La Motte[4] ......Constance Bonacieux
Douglas Fairbanks[5] ......D'Artagnan
Sidney Franklin[6] ......Monsieur Bonacieux
Thomas Holding[7] ......Duke of Buckingham
Boyd Irwin[8] ......Comte de Rochefort
Barbara La Marr[9] ......Milady de Winter
Mary MacLaren[10] ......Queen Anne of Austria
Adolphe Menjou[11] ......Louis XIII
Eugene Pallette[12] ......Aramis
Lon Poff[13] ......Father Joseph
Willis Robards[14] ......Captain de Treville
George Siegmann[15] ......Porthos
Charles Stevens[16] ......Planchet
1-37, Back, Up, <RETURN> for more, Quit, or Help: 11
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You're hooked! You decide to look for more information on Adolphe
Menjou, search more titles, find Oscar winners, etc.
Learning more about WORLD-WIDE WEB
World-Wide Web is being developed at CERN (European Particle
Physics Laboratory) by the World-Wide Web team led by Tim
Berners-Lee. Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be
mailed to: www-bug@info.cern.ch
On-line documentation is available from info.cern.ch, via anony-
mous FTP or using the remote WWW client.
Mailing lists: www-talk@info.cern.ch
To subscribe send an e-mail message to www-talk-
request@info.cern.ch
Usenet newsgroup: comp.infosystems.www
Mosaic is being developed at NCSA (National Center for Supercom-
puting Applications), Urbana Champain, Illinois, by Marc Andrees-
sen and Eric Bina. Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc.
should be mailed to: mosaic@ncsa.uiuc.edu
On-line documentation is available from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, via
anonymous FTP, or from www.ncsa.uiuc.edu, using a WWW client.
Lynx is being developed at the University of Kansas by Lou Mon-
tulli.
On-line documentation is available from ftp2.cc.ukans.edu, via
anonymous FTP, or from www.cc.ukans.edu, using a WWW client.
Part 2
SEARCHING DATABASES
WAIS
What is WAIS
WAIS, Wide Area Information Server, are databases containing
mostly text-based documents (although WAIS documents may contain
sound, pictures or video as well). WAIS databases are referred to
as sources. The databases may be organized in different ways,
using various database systems, but the user is not required to
learn the query languages of the different databases. The WAIS
client uses natural language queries to find relevant documents
which contain the words of the query. WAIS databases are avail-
able on topics ranging from Agriculture to Social Science.
Who can use WAIS
You must be on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet) in
order to use a WAIS client on your computer to access WAIS sourc-
es.
If you have e-mail access only, or if you are not on the Inter-
net, you can still exploit some of the potential of WAIS. An
interface which gives e-mail access to WAIS databases is avail-
able at the address: WAISmail@quake.think.com (see E-mail access
section under Using WAIS below).
How to get to WAIS
There are many WAIS servers throughout the network. A directory-
of-servers database is available at several sites, which can be
queried to find out what databases are available on a particular
subject. The directory-of-servers database is also available via
anonymous FTP from ftp.wais.com in the directory /pub/directory-
of-servers in the distribution wais-sources.tar.Z as file
directory-of-servers.scr.
If you do not have access to a WAIS client, at least two demon-
stration sites are available to allow you to get acquainted with
WAIS. You can telnet to:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| quake.think.com (login: wais) |
| sunsite.unc.edu (login: swais) |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
The two demonstration sites above run swais (Screen WAIS), a sim-
ple WAIS client for Unix.
Using WAIS
There are many freely available WAIS client programs for various
operating systems (Unix, VMS, MVS, MS-DOS, OS/2 and Macintosh)
and for specific environments (e.g. X-Windows, Openlook, NeXT,
and MS-Windows). See the list of freely available client soft-
ware in Appendix A.
The client interface differs slightly on different platforms, but
the queries are performed in the same way whatever interface is
in use.
* Step 1: The user selects a set of databases to be searched.
* Step 2: The user formulates a query consisting of keywords to
be searched for.
* Step 3: When the query is run, WAIS asks for information from
each selected database.
* Step 4: Headlines of documents satisfying the query are dis-
played. The selected documents contain the requested words
and phrases. Selected documents are ranked according to the
number of matches.
* Step 5: To retrieve a document, the user simply selects it
from the resulting list. The WAIS client retrieves the docu-
ment and displays its contents on the screen.
* Step 6: If not enough documents are found, the user can state
the question differently or can select a set of documents.
* Step 7: A further search will look for documents which have a
large number of words in common with the selected documents.
E-mail access:
You can query WAIS databases and retrieve documents by sending
commands in the body part of an e-mail message to WAIS-
mail@quake.think.com. The Subject: line is ignored. The impor-
tant commands are given below (a vertical bar (|) indicates a
choice of parameters):
help to get the help file
maxres number
to set the maximum number of results (i.e. docu-
ments) to be returned.
search source-name | "source-name1 source-name2 ..." keywords
where:
source-name
is a source name as found in the
directory-of-servers (with or without the
.src ending). Use double-quotes (") to
group several sources to be searched.
keywords are the words you would normally type into
a query.
You may specify several search requests in a mail
message. If you don't know what sources you can
search, just try anything. If the source name is not
recognised, you will be given a list of sources.
retrieve docid
retrieves a document from a database. docid is a
Document IDentifier as returned by a search. You may
put more than one retrieval request in a mail mes-
sage, but you must leave a blank line between
requests. The docid must be written exactly as
returned by a search request, including any spaces.
You can retrieve non-text documents as well as text.
If the document is of type TEXT or WSRC you will get
the result directly. Other types will be UUENCODED
before being transmitted.
DocID: docid same as retrieve. This form is identical to the form
which is returned by a search request, which makes
it easy to use the reply mail function to retrieve
results.
Examples
When you log in to the demonstration site at quake.think.com, you
have immediate access to the directory-of-servers database via
the swais client software. To find recipes using papaya, you
would select the recipes database and give papaya as the keyword.
Here are the results of the search:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
# Score Source Title Lines
001: 1000 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Dawn's Muffins, Pt III 339
002: 1000 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Muffins 3 632
003: 1000 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Pineapple 678
004: 750 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Pork and Papaya Salad 33
005: 750 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Bread 681
006: 500 (recipes) roder@cco. Re: NONFAT BAKERY COLLECTION 423
007: 500 (recipes) shiva@hoss Re: Juice Recipes 65
008: 250 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Prawn Salad 49
009: 250 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: COLLECTION: Lots of Avoca 447
010: 250 (recipes) mecca@acsu Re: REQUEST: blender-made fru 29
011: 250 (recipes) Ann.Adamci Re: Re: REQUEST: blender-made 38
012: 250 (recipes) patth@Pani Re: Re: REQUEST: blender-made 49
013: 250 (recipes) arielle@ta Re: Avocados 459
014: 250 (recipes) red_trek@d Re: VEGAN: red beans and rice 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You can then select any of the above documents for viewing. Here
is the Pork and Papaya Salad recipe:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes
From: arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Subject: Pork and Papaya Salad
Message-ID: <5BBP2SB@taronga.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1993 06:51:47 GMT
Lines: 23
1/4 cup dried currants
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound cooked boneless pork loin roast
1 head Belgian endive
Bibb lettuce leaves
2 papayas, seeded, peeled and sliced lengthwise
2 avocados, seeded, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1/4 cup broken walnut pieces
In a small bowl pour enough boiling water over currants to cover.
Let stand 5 minutes; drain. For dressing, in a screw-top jar
combine vinegar, oil, chicken broth, honey, and cinnamon. Cover;
shake well. Trim fat from pork; slice thinly. Separate leaves of
Belgian endive. Line 6 salad plates with lettuce leaves. Arrange
pork, endive, papaya, and avocado on plates. Sprinkle with
currants and walnuts. Drizzle dressing over salads.
Stephanie da Silva arielle@taronga.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you give more than one keyword, then all documents containing
any of the keywords will be listed.
Learning more about WAIS
A bibliography of documents, services and sources for WAIS is
maintained by Barbara Lincoln Brooks of WAIS Inc. The
bibliography is available from ftp.wais.com in the directory
/pub/wais-inc-doc along with many other WAIS documents. WAIS Inc.
provides commercial WAIS software and services. The support for
the freely available version, called freeWAIS, is assumed by the
Clearinghouse for Network Information Discovery and Retrieval
(CNIDR).
For information on freeWAIS software contact freewais@cnidr.org
There are currently four main FTP sites for WAIS documentation
and software:
ftp.cnidr.org ftp.wais.com
quake.think.com sunsite.unc.edu
Mailing list: wais-discussion@wais.com
To subscribe send a mail to wais-discussion-request@wais.com
Usenet newsgroup: comp.infosystems.wais
WAIS was developed at Thinking Machines Corporation.
Part 3
FINDING NETWORK RESOURCES
ARCHIE
What is ARCHIE
Archie is a service which helps users to locate files and direc-
tories on anonymous FTP servers anywhere on the Internet.
Administrators all over the world register anonymous FTP servers
with the archie service; once a month the archie service runs a
program which scans the directories and filenames contained in
each of the registered FTP servers, and generates a grand merged
list of all the files and directories contained in all the regis-
tered servers. More than 1000 anonymous FTP sites are now repre-
sented in this list, which is referred to as the archie database.
The archie database currently contains more than 2,100,000 file-
names.
The archie database is made available on several archie servers,
all of which contain the same information.
Administrators can also provide a short description of software
packages contained in the files or directories at their site, but
do not have to do so. The descriptions may or may not be kept up
to date: there is no pressure on administrators to do this.
Files made available at anonymous FTP sites contain software
packages for various systems (MS-Windows, MS-DOS, Macintosh,
Unix, etc.), utilities, information or documentation, mailing
lists or Usenet group discussion archives. At most FTP sites, the
resources are organized hierarchically in directories and subdi-
rectories. The archie database contains both the directory path
and the file names.
Who can use ARCHIE
The archie database is available to all users of the Internet,
and can also be accessed via electronic mail. See the section
Using ARCHIE below for details.
How to get to ARCHIE
The archie database is maintained in the following locations:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Host Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| archie.au Australia |
| archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at Austria |
| archie.univie.ac.at Austria |
| archie.uqam.ca Canada |
| archie.funet.fi Finland |
| archie.th-darmstadt.de Germany |
| archie.doc.ic.ac.uk GB |
| archie.ac.il Israel |
| archie.unipi.it Italy |
| archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp Japan |
| archie.wide.ad.jp Japan |
| archie.kr Korea |
| archie.sogang.ac.kr Korea |
| archie.nz New Zealand |
| archie.rediris.es Spain |
| archie.luth.se Sweden |
| archie.switch.ch Switzerland |
| archie.ncu.edu.tw Taiwan |
| archie.ans.net USA |
| archie.internic.net USA |
| archie.rutgers.edu USA |
| archie.sura.net USA |
| archie.unl.edu USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
There are three ways to access the archie database: via a local
client, interactive Telnet session or electronic mail. Each type
of access is described below in the Using ARCHIE section.
Using ARCHIE
You are requested to respect a few basic rules when you look for
information on an archie server:
* avoid connecting during working hours; most of the archie
servers are not dedicated machines - they have local func-
tions as well.
* make your queries as specific as possible; the response will
be quicker and shorter.
* user interfaces installed on your computer help to reduce the
load on the server sites, so please use them.
* use the archie server closest to you and, in particular,
don't overload the transatlantic lines.
The three ways of accessing the archie database, via a local
client, via an interactive Telnet session or using electronic
mail, are described below.
Note that version 3.0 of the archie server is now available, and
some of the commands for interactive access and the e-mail inter-
face are slightly different from previous versions of the server
(2.11 and earlier). Command formats marked with a (+) are valid
in version 3.0 only, those marked with a (*) are acceptable only
in previous versions. You can use the version command to find
out which version is installed at any particular server.
Using a local client:
You are encouraged to use a local archie client because the
archie server does not then have to provide you with an interac-
tive interface: requests from your local client to the archie
server will be non-interactive, and will thus place less of a
burden on the server. Server performance will be increased and
response time will improve for all users.
Public domain clients for accessing archie servers are available
for: Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, NeXT, Unix and X-Windows. All
these platforms support a simple command line client; the xarchie
client for the X Window System provides a graphical user
interface. The clients are available from the archie sites using
anonymous FTP, and are in the directories /pub/archie/clients or
/archie/clients.
Archie client command and parameters
A graphical interface (GUI), enables you to access the archie
functions by pressing mouse buttons in order to select menu
options.
Archie clients written for use without a graphical user interface
require you to type in the command archie, followed by one or
more parameters. If you omit the parameters you are given a list
of the possible parameters with a short description of each one.
A description of the parameters is given below, where angle
brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter and a vertical bar
(|) indicates a choice of parameters.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| archie <-parameters> string | pattern |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where the optional parameters are:
o specifies an output file name to store the results (not
available with all clients).
l lists the result one match per line. This form is suitable
for parsing by programs.
t sorts the result by date.
m# specifies maximum number of matches to return (# within the
range 0 to 1000). The default value is 95.
h archie-server
specifies which archie server should be used; if this
parameter is not given, then the query will be sent to the
default archie server, if one is defined.
L lists known servers and current default server.
The following group of optional parameters determines the kind of
search performed on the database. They are mutually exclusive.
s a match occurs if the file/directory name contains string.
The search is case insensitive.
c as above, but the search is case sensitive.
e string must EXACTLY match (including case) the file/
directory name in the database. This is the DEFAULT search
method.
r searches the database using pattern. It contains special
characters which must be interpreted before performing the
search.
There may be slight differences in the options available with
different clients on different platforms.
The result is a list of FTP site addresses which contain files or
directories matching the argument, together with the size of the
file, its last modification date and its directory. By default,
the list is sorted by host address. See the Examples section
below for an example of archie output.
Using Telnet:
You can use Telnet to connect to an archie server interactively
(see the list of servers in the section How to get to ARCHIE
above). At the login: prompt enter archie. The login procedure
leaves the user at the prompt archie> indicating that the server
is ready for user requests.
Archie servers respond to the commands listed below; the way they
respond can be defined using the special command set, which
changes the values of a set of variables described at the end of
this section.
The following commands are available:
exit, quit, bye
exits archie.
help <command-name>
invokes the on-line help. If a command-name is
given, the help request is restricted to that com-
mand. Pressing the RETURN key exits from the on-
line help.
list <pattern>
provides a list of the FTP servers in the database
and the time at which they were last updated. The
result is a list of site names, with the site IP
address and date of the last update in the data-
base. The optional parameter limits the list to
sites matching pattern: the command list with no
pattern will list all sites in the database (more
than 1000 sites!). E.g.
list \.de$
will list all German sites
site(*) site-name
lists the directories and subdirectories held in
the database from a particular site-name. The
result may be very long.
whatis string searches the database of software package descrip-
tions for string. The search is case-insensitive.
prog string | pattern
find(+) string | pattern
searches the database for string or pattern.
Searches may be performed in a number of different
ways specified in the variable search, which also
determines whether the parameter is treated as a
string or as a pattern. The search produces a list
of FTP site addresses which contain filenames
matching the pattern or containing the string, the
size of the file, its last modification date and
its directory path. The number of matches is lim-
ited by the maxhits variable. The list can be
sorted in different ways, depending on the value
of the sortby variable. By default, the variables
search, maxhits and sortby are set to, respective-
ly, exact match search on string, 1000 hits and
unsorted resulting list. A search can be aborted
by typing the keyboard interrupt character; the
list produced at that point will be displayed. See
the Examples section below for an example of the
prog command and its results.
mail <email> <,email2...>
places the result of the last command in a mail
message and dispatches specified e-mail
address(es). If no mail address is specified as a
parameter, the result is sent to the address spec-
ified in the variable mailto.
show <variable>
displays the value of the given variable. If
issued with no argument, it displays all vari-
ables. The archie variables are shown below with
the details of the set command.
set variable value
changes the value of the specified archie vari-
able. The variables specify how other archie com-
mands should operate.
Variables and values are:
compress(+) compress-method
specifies the compression method (none or com-
press) to be used before mailing a result with the
mail command. The default is none.
encode(+) encode-method
specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode)
to be used before mailing a result with the mail
command. This variable is ignored if compress is
not set. The default is none.
mailto email <,email2 ...>
specifies the e-mail address(es) to be used when
the mail command is issued with no arguments.
maxhits number
specifies the maximum number of matches prog will
generate (within the range 0 to 1000). The default
value is 1000.
search search-value
determines the kind of search performed on the
database by the command: prog string | pattern.
search-values are:
sub a partial and case insensitive search is
performed with string on the database,
e.g.:
"is" will match "islington" and "this" and
"poison"
subcase
as above but the search is case sensitive,
e.g.:
"TeX" will match "LaTeX" but not "Latex"
exact the parameter of prog (string) must EXACTLY
match the string in the database (including
case). The fastest search method of all,
and the default.
regex pattern is used as a Unix regular expres-
sion to match filenames during the database
search.
sortby sort-value
describes how to sort the result of prog.
sort-values are:
hostname on the FTP site address in lexical
order.
time by the modification date, most
recent first.
size by the size of the files or direc-
tories in the list, largest first.
filename on file or directory name in lexi-
cal order.
none unsorted (default)
Reverse sorts can be carried out by pre-
pending r to the sortby value given (e.g.
rhostname instead of hostname).
term terminal-type <number-of-rows <number-of-
columns>>
tells the archie server what type of termi-
nal you are using, and optionally its size
in rows and columns, e.g.:
set term xterm 24 100
Using electronic mail:
Users limited to electronic mail connectivity can access the
archie servers. The domain addresses of the servers are listed in
the section How to get to ARCHIE (e.g. archie@archie.ac.il).
The electronic mail interface to an archie server recognizes a
subset of the commands described in Using Telnet. These are
described below. An empty message, or a message containing no
valid requests, is treated as a help request.
Archie commands are sent in the body part of the mail message,
but the Subject: line is processed as if it were part of the main
body. Command lines begin in the first column; all lines that do
not match a valid command are ignored.
help sends you the help file. The help command is exclusive,
so other commands in the same message are ignored.
path return-address
set mailto(+) return-address
specifies a return e-mail address different from that
which is extracted from the message header. If you do
not receive a reply from the archie server within sev-
eral hours, you might need to add a path command to
your message request.
list pattern <pattern2 ...>
requests a list of the sites in the database that match
pattern, with the time at which they were last updated.
The result is a list with site names, site IP addresses
and date of each site's last update in the database.
site(*) site-name
lists the directories and subdirectories of site-name
in the database.
whatis string <string2 ...>
searches the descriptions of software packages for each
string. The search is case insensitive.
prog pattern <pattern2 ...>
find(+) pattern <pattern2>
uses pattern as a Unix regular expression to be matched
when searching the database. If multiple patterns are
placed on one line, the results will be mailed back in
one message. If several lines are sent, each containing
a prog command, then multiple messages will be
returned, one for each prog line. Results are sorted by
FTP site address in lexical order. If pattern contains
spaces, it must be quoted with single (') or double (")
quotes. The search is case insensitive.
compress(*)
causes the result of the current request to be com-
pressed and uuencoded. When you receive the reply, you
should run it through uudecode, to produce a .Z file.
You can then run uncompress on the .Z file and get the
result of your request.
set compress(+) compress-method
specifies the compression method (none or compress) to
be used before mailing the result of the current
request. The default is none.
set encode(+) encode-method
specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode) to be
used before mailing the result of the current request.
This variable is ignored if compress is not set. The
default is none.
Note: set compress compress and set encode uuencode
would produce the same result as the former compress
command.
quit nothing past this point is interpreted. Useful if a
signature is automatically appended to the end of your
mail messages.
Description of pattern
A pattern is a specification of a character string, and may
include characters which take a special meaning. The special
meaning will be lost if "\" is put before the character. The spe-
cial characters are:
. (period) this is the wildcard character that
replaces any single character, e.g. "...." will match
any 4-character string.
^ (caret) if "^" appears at the beginning of the
pattern, then only strings which start with the substr-
ing following the "^" will match the pattern. If the
substring occurs anywhere else in the string it does
not match the pattern, e.g.:
"^efghi" will match "efghi" or "efghijlk" but not
"abcefghi"
$ (dollar) if "$" appears at the end of the pattern, then
the searched string must end with the substring preced-
ing the "$". If the substring occurs anywhere else in
the searched string, it is not considered to match,
e.g.:
"efghi$" will match "efghi" or "abcdefghi" but not
"efghijkl"
Examples
If you are using an archie client, and enter the command:
archie -s eudora
or if you send, by e-mail or during a Telnet session, the com-
mand:
prog eudora
or
find eudora
then archie will send you the following results:
Host ftp.ascii.co.jp (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38 8 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/MAC
DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 2048 bytes 00:00 6 May 1992 eudora
Host ftp.ascii.co.jp (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38 8 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/MAC/eudora
FILE -r--r--r-- 281139 bytes 00:00 21 Oct 1991 eudo-
ra1.2.2.sit.hqx
Host ftp.ci.ua.pt (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53 9 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
FILE -rw-r--r-- 438 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993 Eudora1.3.readme
Host ftp.ci.ua.pt (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53 9 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
FILE -rw-r--r-- 278912 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993 Eudo-
ra1.3.sit.bin
etc.
If you send the command list \.de$ by e-mail or in a Telnet ses-
sion, then you will get the following results:
alice.fmi.uni-passau.de 132.231.1.180 12:31 8 Aug 1993
askhp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de 129.13.200.33 12:25 8 Aug 1993
athene.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.2.32 15:21 6 Aug 1993
bseis.eis.cs.tu-bs.de 134.169.33.1 00:18 31 Jul 1993
clio.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de 134.99.128.3 12:10 8 Aug 1993
cns.wtza-berlin.de 141.16.244.4 16:08 31 Jul 1993
etc.
If you send the command whatis compression by e-mail or in a Tel-
net session, then you will get the following results:
RFC 468 Braden, R.T. FTP data compression 1973 March 8; 5p.
arc PC compression program
deltac Image compression using delta modulation
spl Splay tree compression routines
squeeze A file compression program
uncrunch Uncompression program
unsqueeze Uncompression programs
Learning more about ARCHIE
However you communicate with the archie server, on-line help is
available.
If you have any questions about archie, write to the Archie
Group, Bunyip Information Systems Inc. at info@bunyip.com.
Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to
archie-group@bunyip.com. In addition, the database administrator
at a particular archie server can be contacted at
archie-admin@address.of.archie.server, e.g.:
archie-admin@archie.ac.il.
Mailing list: archie-people@bunyip.com
To subscribe send a mail to: archie-people-request@bunyip.com
Archie was developed by Alan Emtage, Peter Deutsch, and Bill Hee-
lan from the McGill University Computing Center, Canada. Archie
is now supported by Bunyip Information Systems Inc., Canada.
HYTELNET
What is HYTELNET
Hytelnet is a simple hypertext browsing system whose database
contains addresses of Internet sites which can be reached via
Telnet (these include libraries, Campus-Wide Information Systems,
Gopher, WAIS, WWW systems, and Freenets), information about Tel-
net itself, information about using library catalogues, and an
Internet glossary. The database is downloaded and stored locally,
so it is possible to add new information to the local version of
the database - perhaps to include new sites, or some local help
information. An html version of the Hytelnet database is now
available for use on World-Wide Web servers.
It is clearly important to possess the most uptodate version of
the database, and there is an electronic mailing list which keeps
its members informed about new versions of the Hytelnet program,
and about changes and additions to the database files.
Commands embedded in the Hytelnet system make it easy for users
to initiate Telnet sessions to sites selected from the database.
Who can use HYTELNET
Versions of Hytelnet are available for Unix, VMS, IBM PC, and
Apple Macintosh computers which are connected to the Internet
(worldwide TCP/IP network). The IBM PC version uses Neil Larson's
HYPERRES browser, and the other versions listed above use the
same file format as HYPERRES. An html version, suitable for use
with a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, is now available.
How to get to HYTELNET
Hytelnet is normally used as a local system, but the Unix version
is available for trial use via Telnet at access.usask.ca, with
the login hytelnet (all lowercase, no password required). It is
not possible to start Telnet sessions from this trial version.
The WWW version of the database can be viewed at the University
of Kansas using the URL (Universal Resource Locator):
http://www.cc.ukans.edu/hytelnet_html/START.TXT.html. This ver-
sion of the database can be downloaded to a local WWW server
using the URL http://www.cc.ukans.edu/hytelnet_html.tar.Z.
The files which will constitute a local Hytelnet system are
available via anonymous FTP from ftp.usask.ca, in the directory
/pub/hytelnet. The database files, for use with all versions of
the software, are included in the directory containing the IBM PC
version.
Using HYTELNET
The Hytelnet database is constantly being updated, with new sites
being added to it regularly. Updates to the html version follow
within a week of updates to the master version.
Local system:
The Unix version of the Hytelnet system is described here. Other
versions are quite similar.
Hytelnet is started with the command:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| hytelnet < options > |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
It is not necessary to specify any options, but the following
options are available:
path location of the default database, if it is not stored
in the same directory as the Hytelnet client.
filename Hytelnet displays the contents of this file, instead of
its usual default start file. filename is assumed to be
in the default Hytelnet database if no path is speci-
fied.
-secure disables external commands; no Telnet sessions can be
started if this option is selected
-name disable use of Internet name; no Telnet sessions can be
started if this option is selected.
-number disable use of Internet number; Telnet sessions can be
started quoting the Internet name, but not the number.
After starting Hytelnet, you are presented with the following
menu:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to HYTELNET version 6.6
October 10, 1993
What is HYTELNET? <WHATIS>
Library catalogs <SITES1>
Other resources <SITES2>
Help files for catalogs <OP000>
Catalog interfaces <SYS000>
Internet Glossary <GLOSSARY>
Telnet tips <TELNET>
Telnet/TN3270 escape keys <ESCAPE.KEY>
Key-stroke commands <HELP>
.............................................................
Up/Down arrows MOVE Left/Right arrows SELECT ? for HELP anytime
m returns here i searches the index q quits
.............................................................
HYTELNET 6.6 was written by Peter Scott
E-mail address: aa375@freenet.carleton.ca
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The words enclosed in angle brackets (<>), are usually references
to files which contain information, but they may be references to
system commands. In the menu above, <WHATIS> is a reference to a
file which contains help information about Hytelnet. This refer-
ence is highlighted when Hytelnet starts; using the downarrow key
you can move down the list to highlight each reference in turn.
The contents of any reference can be viewed by pressing the right
arrow key while the reference is highlighted. The uparrow key is
used to move back to the previous reference.
Some references point to files containing menus, which are used
in the same way as the first menu described above. The left arrow
key is used to return to a previous menu, and takes effect imme-
diately from anywhere within a menu (in other words, it is not
necessary to step backwards through the contents of the present
menu in order to backtrack to the previous menu).
Some of the reference files contain large amounts of information
(e.g. GLOSSARY contains a glossary of Internet terms, SYS000
contains information on using the most common library catalog
packages, SITES2 contains references to other files which contain
information on a large number of internet resources, together
with their IP addresses).
Reference files may contain the text of a Telnet command, com-
plete with IP address; selecting one of these will initiate a
Telnet session. You will be asked to confirm that you really want
to do this before a Telnet connection is started.
The keystrokes available are:
Downarrow move down to the next item on the current menu.
Uparrow move to the previous item on the current menu (if any).
Rightarrow
select the currently highlighted item.
Leftarrow move back to the previous menu (if any).
q quit from Hytelnet.
m return to the first menu.
i an index file is maintained, which contains the name of
every file in the Hytelnet database, with a sentence
describing its contents. After pressing i, you will see
the prompt Search Index. You should type a string of
characters, and you will be shown a list of files in
the local database whose title contains the string. You
can select any of these in the usual way.
Slightly different keystrokes may be available for Hytelnet
clients on different platforms, but all clients will offer the
same functionality.
Examples
Starting Hytelnet with no options specified, you see the follow-
ing menu:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to HYTELNET version 6.6
October 10, 1993
What is HYTELNET? <WHATIS>
Library catalogs <SITES1>
Other resources <SITES2>
Help files for catalogs <OP000>
Catalog interfaces <SYS000>
Internet Glossary <GLOSSARY>
Telnet tips <TELNET>
Telnet/TN3270 escape keys <ESCAPE.KEY>
Key-stroke commands <HELP>
.............................................................
Up/Down arrows MOVE Left/Right arrows SELECT ? for HELP anytime
m returns here i searches the index q quits
.............................................................
HYTELNET 6.6 was written by Peter Scott
E-mail address: aa375@freenet.carleton.ca
Search Index:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Using the downarrow key to highlight Other resources, then press-
ing the rightarrow key, you will see the following:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Other Telnet-accessible resources
<ARC000> Archie: Archive Server Listing Service
<CWI000> Campus-wide Information systems
<FUL000> Databases and bibliographies
<DIS000> Distributed File Servers (Gopher/WAIS/WWW)
<BOOKS> Electronic books
<FEE000> Fee-Based Services
<FRE000> FREE-NETs & Community Computing Systems
<BBS000> General Bulletin Boards
<HYT000> HYTELNET On-line versions
<NAS000> NASA databases
<NET000> Network Information Services
<DIR000> Whois/White Pages/Directory Services
<OTH000> Miscellaneous resources
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Selecting the first item on this list, you will see:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Archie: Archive Server Listing Service
<ARC005> Advanced Network & Services, Inc (USA)
<ARC003> Deakin File Server (Australia)
<ARC002> Finnish University and Research Network Server (Finland)
<ARC008> Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
<ARC006> Imperial College, London (England)
<ARC016> InterNIC Directory and Database Server
<ARC017> Johannes Kepler University, Linz, (Austria)
<ARC001> McGill School of Computer Science Server (Canada)
<ARC010> Melbourne (Australia)
<ARC012> National Central University, Chung-li, (Taiwan)
<ARC011> Rutgers University Archive Server (USA)
<ARC014> Sogang University (Korea)
<ARC004> SURAnet Server (USA)
<ARC013> Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (Germany)
<ARC015> University of Lulea (Sweden)
<ARC007> University of Nebraska, Lincoln (USA)
<ARC019> University of Quebec at Montreal
<ARC009> Victoria University, Wellington (New Zealand)
<ARC018> Vienna University (Austria)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
and selecting the last item on this list, you will see:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Vienna University (Austria)
TELNET ARCHIE.UNIVIE.AC.AT or 131.130.1.23
login: archie
If you have any problems with archie, send mail to
archie-admin@univie.ac.at
# Bunyip Information Systems, 1993
# Terminal type set to `vt100 24 80'.
# `erase' character is `<circ>?'.
# `search' (type string) has the value `regex'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
At this point, if you press the rightarrow key, you will see the
following:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Vienna University (Austria)
TELNET ARCHIE.UNIVIE.AC.AT or 131.130.1.23
login: archie
If you have any problems with archie, send mail to
archie-admin@univie.ac.at
# Bunyip Information Systems, 1993
# Terminal type set to `vt100 24 80'.
# `erase' character is `<circ>?'.
# `search' (type string) has the value `regex'.
TELNET ARCHIE.UNIVIE.AC.AT Proceed (y/n)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
at this point you can use rightarrow or y to start a Telnet ses-
sion, or either leftarrow, uparrow or n to cancel the Telnet ses-
sion.
Learning more about HYTELNET
Hytelnet and its database of Internet-accessible Telnet sites was
developed by Peter Scott, Systems Department, University of Sas-
katchewan Libraries. He can be contacted at
aa375@freenet.carleton.ca. Peter Scott's article Using Hytelnet
to Access Internet Resources can be obtained by sending an email
message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU; the message body should con-
tain the line:
GET SCOTT PRV3N4 F=MAIL
The Unix version was developed by Earl Fogel of the University of
Saskatchewan; enquiries about this version should be directed to
fogel@herald.usask.ca. The Macintosh version was written by
Charles Burchill of the University of Manitoba; enquiries to
burchil@ccu.umanitoba.ca. Inquiries about the html version should
be directed to Lou Montulli at montulli@edu.ukans.cc.stat1
You can join a mailing list, HYTEL-L, which will inform you about
new versions of the Hytelnet program, and about new, updated, or
deleted files. To subscribe to HYTEL-L, send mail to
LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (or LISTSERV@KENTVM.BITNET). The body of
the mail message should contain the single line:
subscribe hytel-l Your Full Name
Part 4
FINDING PEOPLE AND COMPUTERS
WHOIS
What is WHOIS
The WHOIS service provides a way of finding e-mail addresses,
postal addresses and telephone numbers of network users. It may
also deliver information about networks, networking organiza-
tions, domains and sites. This service was originally called
NICNAME, but WHOIS is now the name in widest use.
The Internet Registration Service maintains an important database
of networking information, the InterNIC database. The names of
the administrative and technical contacts for registered domains
are automatically entered into the database when domain or IP
number applications are processed by the Internet coordination
authority. Each entry of the database has a handle (a unique
identifier), a name, a record type, and various other fields
depending on the type of record. This database will be used as
an example in the descriptions below.
Before April 1, 1993, the Network Information Center (NIC) of the
Defense Data Network (DDN) was the Internet coordination authori-
ty and it maintained a database known as the NIC database. The
NIC database is now restricted to information about the .mil
domain. Many documents still refer to this database.
Individual Internet sites also maintain databases, containing
information about their site only. Many academic sites maintain
their own database with information about their staff members and
students.
The information held in these databases is made available by
WHOIS servers which receive requests from WHOIS clients, using
the WHOIS protocol, search one of the databases, and send back
information. The current implementation of WHOIS has limitations
which mean that it is not efficient at dealing with a large vol-
ume of information and numerous requests: the various WHOIS ser-
vers have no knowledge of each other, a database is maintained at
each server site, and, finally, new functionalities have been
implemented locally at various sites and not propagated to other
sites.
A new extended protocol, WHOIS++, is being specified. It will
include the various local enhancements to the WHOIS service, it
will have an improved query syntax and its architecture will
allow a real distributed directory service for the entire Inter-
net. The WHOIS++ protocol will be made available shortly.
Who can use WHOIS
WHOIS is available to all users on the international TCP/IP net-
work (the Internet).
WHOIS servers can be accessed using a local WHOIS client, which
will interact with the server across the Internet, or via an
interactive Telnet session. In addition, the InterNIC offers an
electronic mail interface to the database it maintains. These
methods are described below in the Using WHOIS section.
WHOIS servers should only be used for isolated queries about spe-
cific information. It is not usually acceptable to make an
extended series of queries in order to obtain large sections of
the directory. Such a strategy is unfair both because of exces-
sive consumption of server resources, and because the directory
information belongs to individuals. In particular, extracting
lists of people for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited.
How to get to WHOIS
A list of registered WHOIS sites is available via anonymous FTP
from rtfm.mit.edu in the file /pub/whois/whois-servers.list. Each
individual WHOIS server offers information about the organization
to which it belongs: it doesn't share a common directory with
other WHOIS servers and doesn't know where to find information
about other institutions.
The InterNIC database is used in the examples at the end of this
section; its address is whois.internic.net.
The WHOIS database of the European IP Networks is held at
whois.ripe.net.
Using WHOIS
The three methods of using WHOIS are described below; angle
brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter.
Using a local client:
Unix computers have a native whois command. On non-Unix machines,
ask your system administrator whether your computer has a WHOIS
client or not. The format is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| whois <-h site-name> identifier |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
This will search the database on the specified site for an entry
which contains identifier, where:
site-name is the domain address of the site which hosts the data-
base you want to query (e.g. whois.internic.net). On
some installations, the default value is still set to
the old NIC database site (nic.ddn.mil).
identifier
is a name (person, host, domain or network), an IP num-
ber or a handle.
Special characters may be used in identifier to specify the
search:
. before identifier will cause a name-only search.
! before identifier will cause a handle-only search.
... or . after identifier will cause a partial search: every-
thing starting with identifier will match.
@ in identifier will cause a search on the e-mail
addresses.
* before identifier will return the entire membership
list of the entry that matches identifier (e.g. a site
and its registered users).
% before identifier will return only the membership list
of the entry that matches identifier (e.g. the regis-
tered users of a site).
The special characters may be used together.
The results are displayed in one of two ways:
* a full detailed display for a single match,
* a list of summary lines for multiple matches.
In both cases, the handle is shown in parentheses after the name.
Using Telnet:
WHOIS databases may or may not have Telnet access; the InterNIC
database does, and the functions shown below are available there.
No login is required for this service.
In the following descriptions, CAPITAL letters indicate accepta-
ble abbreviation; angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional param-
eter.
WHOIS invokes the information retrieval program.
? displays a short on-line help message.
HElp accesses the full on-line help.
Q, QUIT, RETURN key
exits WHOIS
<keyword> identifier
searches the database for an entry which contains iden-
tifier. The default action is to do a broad search,
looking for matches in many fields: handle, name, nick-
names, hostname, IP number, etc, and finding all record
types. keyword may be used to narrow the search to a
specific record type.
keyword may be one of:
PErson limits the search to persons.
DOmain limits the search to domains (e.g. DO EARN.NET).
HOst limits the search to hosts (e.g. HO PRINCETON).
NEtwork limits the search to networks (e.g. NE EBONE).
Organization
limits the search to organizations (e.g. O CREN).
NAme same as leading '.' in identifier.
HAndle same as '!' in identifier.
PArtial same as trailing '.' in identifier.
Mailbox same as '@' in identifier.
EXPand same as '*' in identifier.
SUBdisplay
same as '%' in identifier.
Full or '='
shows detailed display for each match.
SUMmary or '$'
shows summary always, even if just one match.
Special characters may be used in identifier to specify the
search:
. before identifier will cause a name-only search.
! before identifier will cause a handle-only search.
... or . after identifier will cause a partial search: every-
thing starting with identifier will match.
@ in identifier will cause a search on the e-mail
addresses.
* before identifier will return the entire membership
list of the entry that match identifier (e.g. a site
and its registered users).
% before identifier will return only the membership list
of the entry that matches identifier (e.g. the regis-
tered users of a site).
~ before identifier will return the entries that match
identifier only, not a complete membership list.
The special characters may be used together.
Unless Full or SUMmary are specified, the results are displayed
in one of two ways:
* a full detailed display for a single match,
* a list of summary lines for multiple matches.
In all cases, the handle is shown in parenthesis after the name.
Using electronic mail:
Requests can be sent via electronic mail to the database main-
tained at the InterNIC; messages should be sent to mail-
serv@internic.net. The commands are normally sent in the Subject:
field, with the body part of the mail being ignored. If the Sub-
ject: line is empty, the first line of the body part of the mes-
sage is interpreted as a WHOIS command. Requests are processed
automatically once a day.
This electronic mail interface recognizes all the commands
described in Using Telnet. Requests should be prefixed with the
word WHOIS.
Examples
If you are using a local client, and enter the command:
whois \!EARN... (remark: "\" is required to shield "!"
from the Unix shell)
or if you e-mail the command:
whois !EARN...
you will get the following results:
EARN (EARN-HST) SEINE.EARN.NET 193.52.216.1
European Academic Research Network (EARN-DOM) EARN.NET
To obtain detailed information on the second item, enter or send
the command:
whois EARN-DOM
and you will get the following result:
European Academic Research Network (EARN-DOM)
EARN Office
PSI - Batiment 211
91405 Orsay CEDEX
FRANCE
Domain Name: EARN.NET
Administrative Contact:
Bovio, Daniele (DB355) hi@EARNCC.EARN.NET
+33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Grange, Nadine (NG4) grange@EARNCC.EARN.NET
+33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683
Record last updated on 15-Dec-93.
Domain servers in listed order:
SEINE.EARN.NET 193.52.216.1
DNS.NIS.GARR.IT 192.12.192.5,131.114.2.5
LUMIERE.CIRCE.FR 130.84.8.14
For a partial search, enter:
whois hi@ear...
and you will get the following result:
Bovio, Daniele (DB355) hi@EARNCC.EARN.NET
EARN
EARN Office
PSI - BP Batiment 211
91405 ORSAY CEDEX, France
FR
+33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683
Record last updated on 09-Dec-93.
Learning more about WHOIS
The WHOIS service is documented in an Internet Request For Com-
ments (RFC 1400).
If you have any questions about WHOIS write to
action@internic.net.
Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to
action@internic.net.
X.500
What is X.500
X.500 is a protocol which specifies a model for connecting local
directory services to form one distributed global directory.
Local databases hold and maintain a part of the global database
and the directory information is made available via a local ser-
ver called a Directory System Agent (DSA). The user perceives the
entire directory to be accessible from the local server. X.500
also supports data management functions (addition, modification
and deletion of entries).
Each item (entry) in the X.500 directory describes one object
(e.g. a person, a network resource, an organization) and has a
unique identifier called a Distinguished Name (DN). The entry
consists of a collection of attributes (e.g. for a person this
might be last name, organization name, e-mail address). The
entries are found by navigating through a Directory Information
Tree (DIT). At the top of the tree is the World, which is subdi-
vided at the next level into countries, and at the next into
organizations. Information on people, resources, etc., is stored
within organizations.
While most of the information available today via X.500 is about
people and organizations, the design of the X.500 directory is
also suitable for storing information about other entities (or
objects), such as network resources, applications or hardware.
Several projects utilize these directory capabilities (e.g. the
Internet RFCs (Request For Comments) are listed in the global
directory).
X.500 is an OSI (Open System Interconnection) protocol, named
after the number of the CCITT (International Telegraph and Tele-
phone Consultative Committee) Recommendation document containing
its specification. The Paradise project aims to encourage the use
of X.500 in European countries.
Who can use X.500
Although X.500 is part of the OSI standard definition, OSI access
is not necessary to use the directory services. Many X.500 servi-
ces are available both on the Internet, and by electronic mail.
See the section Using X.500 below for details.
How to get to X.500
There are three ways to access the X.500 services: via a local
client, via an interactive session (Telnet or X.25 access) to a
remote client, or by electronic mail. Each type of access is
described below in the Using X.500 section.
In addition, network tools such as WWW and Gopher provide access
to X.500 directory services through gateways.
Public access to an X.500 client via Telnet or X.25 is an easy
way to start querying the X.500 directory. Public access user
interfaces are available at:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Telnet (login) Public X.25 Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| jethro.ucc.su.oz.au (fred) Australia |
| elem4.vub.ac.be (dua) 222100611 Belgium |
| x500.denet.dk (de) Denmark |
| login.dkuug.dk (ds) Denmark |
| nic.funet.fi (dua) Finland |
| x500.tu-chemnitz.de (x500) Germany |
| ashe.cs.tcd.ie (de) Ireland |
| x500.ieunet.ie (de) 272432590024 Ireland |
| jolly.nis.garr.it (de or fred) 22225010083212 Italy |
| zoek.nic.surfnet.nl (no login) Netherlands |
| elc1.mat.torun.edu.pl (de or dish) Poland |
| chico.rediris.es (directorio) 2142160234013 Spain |
| hypatia.umdc.umu.se (de) 240374810306 Sweden |
| nic.switch.ch (dua) 22847971014540 Switzerland |
| dir.ulcc.ac.uk (dua) UK |
| paradise.ulcc.ac.uk (dua) 23421920014853 Paradise |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
To connect to one of these sites, use either Telnet or X.25 and
at the login: prompt type the appropriate login name (given above
in brackets). Most remote clients use the national language, with
the facility of switching into English.
Using X.500
X.500 is used primarily to search for information about people
(postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.). The
basic fields for searching are a person's name, the name of the
person's organization (and department within the organization)
and the country.
In the following, angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional param-
eter; a vertical bar (|) indicates a choice of parameters.
Using a local client:
In the X.500 world, a local client is called a Directory User
Agent (DUA). Public domain and commercial DUAs are available for
numerous platforms ranging from mainframes to personal computers.
They range from simple command-line based clients to clients
based on sophisticated graphical user interfaces which require a
pointing device. For a comprehensive list of DUAs, their
description and where to find them, consult the Internet document
RFC 1292 / FYI 11 - A Catalog of Available X.500 Implementations.
Using Telnet or X.25:
DUAs provided by remote sites may have line-oriented, menu-driven
or X Window System based user interfaces; examples of each are
given below:
* line-oriented: de, dish, fred
* menu-driven: sd (formerly known as widget)
* X Window System: Xdi, Xlookup (or xlu), pod
The capabilities of these DUAs range from basic search facilities
to full X.500 functionality. The X-Windows based DUAs require a
local setup.
Novice users are recommended to try de (directory enquiries)
since it has a very simple user interface. de was designed as a
public access DUA and is accessible from any kind of terminal. It
supports the basic X.500 functions: read, search, and list. Users
who are new to querying the X.500 directory should use de's Sim-
ple query mode.
de invokes the X.500 interrogation user-interface.
q exits de.
?<topic> displays the on-line help on the specified topic, or
general help if no topic is specified.
^C (Ctrl-C) is the interrupt character. It aborts a search
in progress or resets the current query specification.
* (asterisk) will list all entries of the specified
field. It is also the wildcard character and can
replace any other character in a name. It can appears
anywhere in the name, e.g.: smit* or *smit* are valid
string formats.
- (dash) resets the default value to a blank string.
When de is invoked, the user is requested to fill in four fields
to specify a request. In all fields, the value from the previous
request is the default value. Press the RETURN key to accept it,
or enter a new value. All searches are case insensitive.
The four fields to be filled in are:
Person's name
Wildcard characters may be used anywhere in the name.
All matching names will be listed. Typing only "*" will
match all people of the specified department or organi-
zation. If this field is blank, the search will be on
department or organization only.
Department name
The name (or an acronym) of the department in the
organization where the person works. Wildcard charac-
ters may be used anywhere in the name. Typing only "*"
will match all departments. If no person's name has
been entered, details on the department are displayed.
If no department name is given, all departments will be
searched. This field could be omitted in small organi-
zations.
Organization name
The name (or an acronym) of the organization where the
person works. Wildcard characters may be used anywhere
in the name. Typing only "*" will match all organiza-
tions. If no person's name or department name has been
entered, details of the organization are displayed.
Country name
The name of the country where the person works. Typing
"*" will list all countries. The country name could be
the 2-letter country code (e.g. DK stands for Denmark),
the name or a part of it without wildcards (e.g. nether
instead of The Netherlands).
If a large number of matching entries are found, they are listed
so that the user can select one entry to get further details.
Using electronic mail:
The Norwegian networking organization (UNINETT) offers an e-mail
interface to X.500. To use it, send a mail message to: Directo-
ry@UNINETT.NO with the word find in the Subject: field. The body
part contains the search request, one per message. A help file is
returned if the message body contains the word help.
The format of the search request is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| find <person-name> <: org-name <; country-name>> | |
| <; country-name> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
If org-name and country-name are omitted, the sender's organiza-
tion name and country name are used as default values. The mail
interface guesses these values from the From: field of your mail,
so the results can be surprising if your address ends with .bit-
net!
"*" (asterisk) is the wildcard character and can replace any oth-
er characters in any name. It can appear anywhere in the name.
The result of the query is sent back in a mail message. The
search is case insensitive.
Note: To avoid overloading the directory service, users are
not allowed to search for a person without selecting an organiza-
tion.
Examples
Using de, you can search for the Anthropology department of the
University College, London, United Kingdom, with the following
request:
Person's name, q to quit, * to browse, ? for help
:-
Department name, * to browse, ? for help
:- a*
Organisation name, * to browse, ? for help
:- ucl
Country name, * to browse, ? for help
:- uk
A few entries match the selected department, all are listed for
further selection:
United Kingdom
University College London
Got the following matches. Please select one from the list
by typing the number corresponding to the entry you want.
United Kingdom
University College London
1 A.U.T. Office
2 Academic Enterprise and Training Unit
3 Anatomy and Developmental Biology
4 Anthropology
5 Audio Visual Centre
Department name, * to browse, ? for help
:- 4
United Kingdom
University College London
Anthropology
Telephone Number +44 71-387-7050 x2455
fax +44 71 380 7728
If you are looking for Erik Lawaetz from UNI-C in Denmark, you
can enter the following request:
Person's name, q to quit, * to browse, ? for help
:- law*
Department name, * to browse, <CR> to search all depts, ?
for help
:-
Organisation name, * to browse, ? for help
:- uni-c
Country name, * to browse, ? for help
:- dk
One entry matches the selected criteria, details are displayed:
Denmark
UNI-C
Erik Lawaetz
surname Lawaetz
postalAddress UNI-C
DTH
Bygning 305
DK-2800 Lyngby
Post Code DK-2800
Telephone Number +45 45 93 83 55
+45 42 88 39 99 x2018
fax +45 45 93 02 20
electronic mail Erik.Lawaetz@uni-c.dk
If you send mail to Directory@UNINETT.NO with the request:
find geir ped* : *oslo ; no
you'll get the following result:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This message is in response to your request to the directory to
find
geir ped* : *oslo ; no
This is interpreted as a request to find a person with a name
matching "geir ped*" in an organisation with name matching
"*oslo" in a country with a name matching "no".
There were 8 organisations with a name matching the
organizational name you specified. Within those organisations
there were 7 persons that had a name matching the personal name
you specified. Directory information for the located persons is
shown below.
Geir Pedersen : Universitetet i Oslo ; Norway
Alternate Geir Kenneth Pedersen
Alternate Geir K. Pedersen
E-Mail (RFC) Geir.Pedersen@usit.uio.no
E-Mail (X.400) /G=geir/S=pedersen/OU=usit/O=uio/PRMD=uninett/
ADMD= /C=no/
Postal Address Postboks 1059 - Blindern
0316 Oslo 3
NORWAY
Phone +47-22-852478
Phone +47-22-852470 (front-office)
Fax-phone +47-22-852730
Description Project leader for UNINETTs X.500 projects
User ID geirp
Favorite Drink Farris
Street Address Gaustadalleen 23
Home Address Gaustadveien 17A
0372 Oslo 3
NORWAY
See also Geir Pedersen : UNINETT ; Norway
Entry updated Tue Jun 15 11:51:31 1993
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There will be six more lists of information in addition to this
one.
Learning more about X.500
Several Internet RFC documents deal with X.500:
RFC 1292 A Catalog of Available X.500 Implementations,
RFC 1308 Executive Introduction to Directory Services Using the
X.500 Protocol,
RFC 1309 Technical Overview of Directory Services Using the
X.500 Protocol.
The official source of information on X.500 is the X.500 recom-
mendation published by the CCITT (Blue Book, Volume VIII - Fasci-
cle VIII.8, Data Communication Networks Directory, Recommenda-
tions X.500-X.521, CCITT, 1988, ISBN 92-61-03731-3). This
document is also available electronic mail: send the command GET
ITU-5233 to itudoc@itu.ch; or via Gopher at gopher.itu.ch. This
is not intended for the casual user!
NETFIND
What is NETFIND
NETFIND provides a simple Internet white pages directory facili-
ty. Given the name of a person on the Internet and a rough
description of where the person works, Netfind attempts to locate
telephone and electronic mailbox information about the person. It
does so using a seed database of domains and hosts in the net-
work. The person's first, last, or login name can be used.
If the person being sought is at a site that is not directly con-
nected to the Internet (e.g. the site is connected only through a
mail forwarding gateway), Netfind informs the user that the per-
son cannot be found.
Netfind uses the Internet protocols SMTP and finger. Because of
the dynamic nature of Netfind's search procedures, and variations
in Internet availability, different results can be obtained for
the same search on different occasions.
Who can use NETFIND
You must be on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet) in
order to use Netfind. There is no e-mail access to Netfind.
The Netfind software is currently available only for Suns running
SunOS 4.0 or later.
How to get to NETFIND
You can use the Netfind software at your site, or you can use
Telnet to use it at one of the following hosts:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Host Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| archie.au Australia |
| bruno.cs.colorado.edu USA |
| dino.conicit.ve Venezuela |
| ds.internic.net USA |
| eis.calstate.edu USA |
| hto-e.usc.edu USA |
| krnic.net Korea |
| lincoln.technet.sg Singapore |
| malloco.ing.puc.cl Chile |
| monolith.cc.ic.ac.uk England |
| mudhoney.micro.umn.edu USA |
| netfind.anu.edu.au Australia |
| netfind.ee.mcgill.ca Canada |
| netfind.if.usp.br Brazil |
| netfind.oc.com USA |
| netfind.vslib.cz Czech Rep. |
| nic.uakom.sk Slovakia |
| redmont.cis.uab.edu USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Using NETFIND
Netfind requires the name of a person, with keywords to indicate
where that person works; it then searches its seed database to
find domains which match the specified keywords. If there is more
than one matching domain, Netfind displays the list of matching
domains, and asks you to select up to three to search. If there
are more than 100 matching domains, Netfind will list some of the
matching domains/organizations and ask you to form a more specif-
ic search. You can use any of the parts of an organization's name
(or any of the components of its domain name) as keys in search-
es. Using more than one key implies the logical AND of the keys.
Specifying too many keys may cause searches to fail.
When the search is completed (or interrupted by <circ>C), Netfind
summarizes the search results. The summary includes problems
searching remote domains, information about the most promising
email address for the person being sought (if available), and
information about when and where the person most recently logged
in (if available). If more than one person is located by a
search, the summary does not include information about email tar-
gets and most recent/current logins.
Local access:
The format of the Netfind command is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| netfind <options> name-keyword place-keywords |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where the most useful options are:
-t will report how many timeouts occurred. The -T option will
set the timeout interval to the specified number of sec-
onds. It may be necessary to use this option to increase
the timeout value for intercontinental searches.
-D sets the maximum number of domains that Netfind will search
at once. The default is 3. While it may seem convenient to
set a high value for this number, we suggest you do not do
this. The search will actually proceed faster (and waste
less Internet bandwidth) if a small number of well chosen
domains are searched.
-H sets the maximum number of machines that will be searched
by Netfind. The default value is 50. Again, we suggest
that you do not set this value higher.
The name-keyword specifies the first, last, or login name (only
one name can be specified) of the person being sought.
The place-keywords describe where the person works, giving either
the name of the institution or the city/state/country. If you
know the institution's domain name (e.g. cs.colorado.edu, where
the host name is brazil.cs.colorado.edu) you can specify the
domain address as keywords, omitting the dots (e.g.
cs colorado edu). The host parts of domain names (e.g. brazil)
cannot be used as keywords. Keys are case insensitive and may be
specified in any order, although using a very common key (like
university) first will cause internal buffers to overflow and
some domains to be missed.
Using more than one key implies the logical and of the keys.
Specifying too many keys may cause searches to fail. If this hap-
pens, try specifying fewer keys.
Remote access:
Telnet to one of the remote Netfind sites (see How to get to
NETFIND, above) and log in as netfind. No password is necessary.
You will get the following menu:
Top level choices:
1. Help
2. Search
3. Seed database lookup
4. Options
5. Quit (exit server)
If you select Search, you will be given an opportunity to enter
name and place keywords.
Examples
To find the e-mail address of Nadine Grange, who works at the
EARN office at CIRCE in France, you could try the keywords:
nadine circe france
Since there are more than three domains that fit the place key-
words, you are asked to pick a few. The search proceeds, using
the domains of your choice:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Please select at most 3 of the following domains to search:
0. circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, orsay ce
1. ciripa.circe.fr (centre inter-regional de calcul electronique, c
2. dnet.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, ors
3. ibmmail.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique,
4. obspm.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, or
5. oecd.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, ors
6. phy.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, orsa
7. ups.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique, orsa
8. cth.ups.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique,
9. lure.ups.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifique,
10. lps.cth.ups.circe.fr (centre national de la recherche scientifi
Enter selection (e.g., 2 0 1) --> 0
( 1) check_name: checking domain circe.fr. Level = 0
------
Search of domains completed. Proceeding to search of hosts.
------
( 3) check_name: checking host loire.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 4) check_name: checking host solrt.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 5) check_name: checking host groucho.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 1) check_name: checking host rsovax.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 2) check_name: checking host ventura.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 1) do_connect: Finger service not available on host rsovax.circe.
( 1) check_name: checking host earn-ng.circe.fr. Level = 0
( 4) check_name: checking host luregate.circe.fr. Level = 0
SYSTEM: loire.circe.fr
Login name: nadine In real life: Nadine Grange
Directory: /home/nadine Shell: /bin/csh
On since Sep 7 08:48:05 on ttyp0 4 days 21 hours Idle Time
New mail received Sun Sep 12 00:00:08 1993;
unread since Fri Sep 10 11:53:17 1993
No Plan.
Login name: nadine In real life: Nadine Grange
Directory: /home/nadine Shell: /bin/csh
On since Sep 7 09:17:09 on ttyp6 1 day 12 hours Idle Time
SUMMARY:
- "nadine" is currently logged in from
loire.circe.fr, since Sep 7 09:17:09.
- The most promising email address for "nadine"
based on the above search is
nadine@loire.circe.fr.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Remember that Netfind can find only Internet addresses on Unix
machines.
Learning more about NETFIND
The remote access version of Netfind has a large Help section.
There is also a set of frequently asked questions available with
the software release, in the Doc directory. These questions cov-
er Functionality, Methodology, Network and Remote Site Load, Pri-
vacy, Future Directions, and Related Work.
A noteworthy article on Netfind is:
Experience with a Semantically Cognizant Internet White Pages
Directory Tool, by M. F. Schwartz and P. G. Tsirigotis, Journal
of Internetworking Research and Experience, March 1991, pp.
23-50.
This publication discusses the research principles, performance,
and scope measurements of Netfind, and compares it with other
white pages facilities.
There is a mailing list for Netfind users (for software updates
and other discussions). To be added to the list, send an email
message to netfind-users-request@cs.colorado.edu with the body
(not subject line): subscribe netfind-users
Part 5
GETTING FILES
TRICKLE
What is TRICKLE
TRICKLE provides a quick and easy alternative to FTP, whether or
not you have access to the Internet. TRICKLE works with a number
of anonymous FTP sites (computers in the Internet network that
allow public access and retrieval of software and files) to dis-
tribute files on request or by subscription.
There are several TRICKLE servers throughout the world, and they
cooperate to distribute the files efficiently. The user requests
files by issuing commands to the nearest TRICKLE server, which
delivers the files either from its local cache disk, from the
cache of another TRICKLE server, or from an FTP site which holds
the files. If you have subscribed to particular files or directo-
ries, you will receive a weekly summary of files which have been
added to the directories you have subscribed to, and a new copy
of any file to which you have subscribed, as soon as a new ver-
sion of the file is stored at the TRICKLE server's FTP site.
Who can use TRICKLE
Anybody with access to electronic mail can use TRICKLE. EARN/
Bitnet users can use interactive messages (such as TELL or SEND)
to deliver their commands to TRICKLE.
How to get to TRICKLE
There are TRICKLE servers at the following addresses:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Austria TRICKLE@AWIWUW11 TRICKLE@awiwuw11.wu-wien.ac.at |
| Colombia TRICKLE@UNALCOL TRICKLE@unalcol.unal.edu.co |
| France TRICKLE@FRMOP11 TRICKLE@frmop11.cnusc.fr |
| Germany TRICKLE@DEARN TRICKLE@vm.gmd.de |
| Israel TRICKLE@TAUNIVM TRICKLE@vm.tau.ac.il |
| Italy TRICKLE@IMIPOLI TRICKLE@imipoli.cdc.polimi.it |
| Netherlands TRICKLE@HEARN TRICKLE@hearn.nic.surfnet.nl |
| Poland TRICKLE@PLEARN TRICKLE@plearn.edu.pl |
| Sweden TRICKLE@SEARN TRICKLE@searn.sunet.se |
| Turkey TRICKLE@TREARN TRICKLE@ege.edu.tr |
| Turkey TRICKLE@TRMETU TRICKLE@3090.cc.metu.edu.tr |
| UK TRICKLE@UKACRL TRICKLE@ib.rl.ac.uk |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
When you send a command to a TRICKLE server, it either executes
the command or sends you a message with the address of the
TRICKLE server for your area.
The files which are available from TRICKLE are organized in main
directories which contain many subdirectories. The same directory
structure is used on all TRICKLE servers. The main directories
which are currently available are:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Directory Source FTP Site Contents |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| MSDOS oak.oakland.edu Large MS-DOS software archive
| MISC oak.oakland.edu Software for VM, VMS, Unix |
| SIGM oak.oakland.edu SIG/M CP/M archive |
| PC-BLUE oak.oakland.edu PC-BLUE MS-DOS archive |
| CPM oak.oakland.edu CP/M Software Archive |
| ARCHIVES oak.oakland.edu Various discussion group archive
| UNIX-C oak.oakland.edu Unix and C code software archive
| MACINTOS oak.oakland.edu Macintosh software archive |
| OS2 ftp-os2.nmsu.edu Large archive of OS/2 software
| AMIGA nic.funet.fi Large Amiga collection |
| KERMIT watsun.cc.columbia.edu Kermit network software |
| TEX rusinfo.rus-uni-stuttgart.de TeX software and fonts
| WUARCHIVE wuarchive.wustl.edu MS-DOS and others |
| EXPO-MIT export.lcs.mit.edu Unix and others |
| UUNET ftp.uu.net Unix and others |
| SUMEX-AIM sumex-aim.stanford.edu Macintosh and others |
| GARFIELD garfield.catt.ncsu.edu Multimedia (pictures and sounds)
| X11 export.lcs.mit.edu X-Windows software distribution
| LINUX nic.funet.fi Linux system software distribution
| VM-CMS ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu VM/CMS utilities |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Not all directories are available at all servers. If your closest
server does not provide the directory of your choice, you can use
any other TRICKLE for the missing directory. If your closest ser-
ver is temporarily unavailable, you can use any other TRICKLE
instead.
Using TRICKLE
TRICKLE commands should be placed in the body of the mail mes-
sage, one command per line. Any number of commands (up to your
daily command limit) may be placed in one message.
The number of commands you are permitted per day is defined by
that server's administrator. It is usually between 25 and 50 com-
mands.
All commands begin with a slash (/). Note that in the descrip-
tions below, the angle brackets (<>) are part of the command, not
an indication of an optional parameter.
Use the /PDDIR command to obtain directory listings.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| /PDDIR |
| |
| /PDDIR <dirname> |
| |
| /PDDIR <dirname.subdirname>pattern |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
dirname is the name of a main directory,
subdirname
is the name of a subdirectory,
pattern is part of a filename.
/PDDIR without any parameters will produce a listing of the main
directories. /PDDIR <dirname> will get a listing of the
subdirectories under that directory. If you specify both
directory and subdirectory, you will obtain a list of the files
available in that subdirectory. With pattern, you will get a
listing of only those files that match or begin with that
pattern. Wildcards "?" and "*" may be embedded into subdirname
and pattern ("?" matches any single character; "*" matches any
number of characters).
Use the /PDGET command to get files.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| /PDGET <dirname.subdirname>filename ( delivery-option |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
dirname is the name of a main directory,
subdirname
is the name of a subdirectory,
filename is the name of a file.
delivery-option
specifies the format to which the file(s) should be
translated before being sent to you. The possible val-
ues are:
EBC80 UUE XXE HEX BTOA
The option EBC80 should be used to get text files if
you work on an IBM mainframe system. The other options
are formats for translating binary files so that they
can be sent via electronic mail. You will need a pro-
gram to translate the file back to its original form
once you have received it. The default for EARN/Bitnet
users is to send the file as-is. The default for other
users is UUE.
Wildcards "?" and "*" may be embedded into subdirname and file-
name to get several files at the same time ("?" matches any sin-
gle character; "*" matches any number of characters).
The /SUB command is used to subscribe to directories or to indi-
vidual files.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| /SUB <dirname> |
| |
| /SUB <dirname.subdirname>keyword |
| |
| /SUB QUERY |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
dirname is the name of a main directory,
subdirname
is the name of a subdirectory,
keyword is left-justified part of a filename.
If you subscribe to a directory, you will receive summaries show-
ing which files have been added to it. Summaries will arrive
about once a week, depending on how active the FTP site is, and
will show the names, sizes and dates of each file added. If you
subscribe to a file, a new copy of the file will be sent to you
as soon as your TRICKLE server is informed that a new version of
the file has been stored at its FTP site.
Wildcards are not allowed with the /SUB command - any file start-
ing with the letters you gave as a keyword is considered a match.
For example, if you are subscribed to the keyword READ, this
would match any file in the same subdirectory named READ,
READ.ME, or README.TOO, but not 00READ.ME
Since filenames usually reflect the version number of the file,
it is a good idea to omit the number when specifying a keyword.
For example, it is better to send the command:
/SUB <MSDOS.VIRUS>SCANV
rather than
/SUB <MSDOS.VIRUS>SCANV106
since, as new versions of the file are stored, the name might
change to SCANV107, SCANV108, etc. and your subscription will no
longer match any stored file.
The /SUB QUERY command allows you to get a list of the files you
are subscribed to.
The /UNSUB command may be used to cancel a subscription.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| /UNSUB <dirname> |
| |
| /UNSUB <dirname.subdirname>pattern |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
dirname is the name of a main directory,
subdirname
is the name of a subdirectory,
pattern is part of a filename.
The command /UNSUB * may be used to terminate all your directory
and file subscriptions.
Examples
For a listing of the files in the VIRUS subdirectory of MSDOS
send the command:
/PDDIR <MSDOS.VIRUS>
To get the file 00-INDEX.TXT from <MSDOS.VIRUS> in EBCDIC format,
send the command:
/PDGET <MSDOS.VIRUS>00-INDEX.TXT ( EBC80
If you are not sure of the exact name of the file, you can use
wildcards:
/PDGET <MSDOS.VIR*>*INDEX* ( EBC80
To subscribe to the SCANV software from <MSDOS.VIRUS>, so that
you will automatically get new versions as they arrive in the FTP
server, send the command:
/SUB <MSDOS.VIRUS>SCANV
To unsubscribe from all files in the VIRUS subdirectory, send the
command:
/UNSUB <MSDOS.VIRUS>*
Learning more about TRICKLE
The /HELP command may be sent to any TRICKLE server, which will
return a very detailed help file.
A brief guide to TRICKLE is available from the EARN documentation
filelist. Send mail to LISTSERV@EARNCC.EARN.NET. (or
LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET). In the body of the message, write: GET
TRICKLE MEMO
BITFTP
What is BITFTP
BITFTP provides a mail interface between users of EARN, Bitnet
and associated networks, and FTP sites on the Internet. Commands
are specified by the user in a mail message and passed to a
BITFTP server which actually makes the connection to the FTP
sites. When the server finishes the interaction with the FTP
site, or fails due to an error, a transcript of the result is
sent back to the user, together with the requested file(s), if
any.
The format in which the files will be sent to the user can be
defined within the mail message; BITFTP can deliver files in net-
data and uuencode formats.
Who can use BITFTP
BITFTP is currently available only to users on EARN, Bitnet and
other regional NJE networks.
How to get to BITFTP
At present there are BITFTP servers at:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EARN/BITNET Internet Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| BITFTP@DEARN.BITNET BITFTP@VM.GMD.DE Germany |
| BITFTP@PLEARN.BITNET BITFTP@PLEARN.EDU.PL Poland |
| BITFTP@PUCC.BITNET BITFTP@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Users are requested to use the server closest to them. If you are
not sure, you can send your mail message to BITFTP@BITFTP (on
EARN/Bitnet), and it will be forwarded to the correct BITFTP ser-
ver.
BITFTP accepts requests via electronic mail, including IBM NOTE
and PROFS-format messages, as well as by NJE file transfer.
Using BITFTP
BITFTP implements a large subset of the FTP commands of the IBM's
TCP/IP for VM, using the same syntax. This software is documented
in the IBM manual TCP/IP for VM User's Guide. BITFTP does not
support multiple file request (the mget command) nor does it sup-
port sending files to FTP sites (the put command). In the follow-
ing description, angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional parame-
ter.
Use the ftp command to specify which host to connect to. This
must be the first command in your mail file. You can also specify
the file format that you wish BITFTP to use when it delivers
files to you.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| ftp hostname <fileformat> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
hostname is either the IP address or the domain name of the host
to connect to
fileformat
is the format in which BITFTP should deliver files to
you. It can be either netdata or uuencode.
Use the user command to tell the host the username and the pass-
word to be used for the FTP connection. Note that on many FTP
sites, both username and password are case-sensitive.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| user username password |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
username is the user-id to use for the FTP connection,
password is the password for the username you specified. It can
be omitted if you specified anonymous for the user-id.
Use the cd command to select a particular directory as current
directory.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| cd directory-name |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
directory-name
is the name of the directory to be selected.
Use the dir command to display a list of the files in the cur-
rent, or specified, directory. The file names, and depending on
the site, the file size, file creation date and other information
will be listed.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| dir <pattern> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
pattern defines which file names should be displayed. Many FTP
sites are case-sensitive, thus care must be used with
the pattern. The pattern may contain any number of
characters, and the wildcard character "*" (asterisk)
may be used to represent any characters.
The ls command is similar to the dir command, except that with
most FTP sites, it only displays the filenames, without any other
information. The pattern specification is identical to dir.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| ls <pattern> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the get command to obtain a file from the current host.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| get foreignname <localname> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where:
foreignname
is the filename of the file, as stored at the FTP site.
With many sites, the case of the filename must be
respected.
localname is optional, and is the name the file should have when
you receive it. If you specify a localname, it must be
in the form: filename.filetype where neither part is
longer than eight characters.
Use the binary command to set the FTP transfer mode. If this
option is set then no EBCDIC-ASCII translation will take place.
This should be used for non-text files.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| binary |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the quit command to close the connection to the host, and to
terminate the BITFTP session.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| quit |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Examples
To get the file how.to.ftp.guide from the directory
/pub/nic/network.service.guides at the anonymous FTP site
nic.sura.net, and to get a listing of the files in that
directory, you could send the following commands by e-mail to
BITFTP:
ftp nic.sura.net
user anonymous
cd pub/nic/network.service.guides
get how.to.ftp.guide
dir
quit
In response you will receive an e-mail containing the following
lines (some lines have been removed for brevity):
> ftp nic.sura.net
> user anonymous
>> OPEN NIC.SURA.NET
>> USER anonymous
> cd pub/nic/network.service.guides
>> CD pub/nic/network.service.guides
> get how.to.ftp.guide
>>>> "how.to.ftp.guide" sent as "HOWTO FTPGUIDE".
> dir
total 60
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mtaranto 120 344 Apr 14 1992 README
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mtaranto 120 12759 Oct 30 1992 how.to.email.guide
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mtaranto 120 6327 Mar 24 13:28 how.to.ftp.guide
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root 120 2818 Mar 4 1992 how.to.telnet.guide
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mtaranto 120 6136 Oct 30 1992 how.to.use.vi.guide
The above directory listing is typical of the format of Unix FTP
sites. There is information on file permissions and ownership as
well as the size of the file in bytes, the time and date of its
last change, and the file name.
You could request the first two files by once again sending mail
to BITFTP with the following commands:
ftp nic.sura.net
user anonymous
cd pub/nic/network.service.guides
get README
get how.to.email.guide
quit
Learning more about BITFTP
A four-page guide to the BITFTP service can be obtained by send-
ing a help command in the body of an e-mail message to a BITFTP
server.
Additional information on BITFTP may be obtained from EARN at
NETHELP@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or NETHELP@EARNCC.BITNET). More informa-
tion about TCP/IP and FTP in general can be obtained from a wide
variety of sources, such as the documents mentioned in the exam-
ple above.
Part 6
NETWORKED INTEREST GROUPS
LISTSERV
What is LISTSERV
LISTSERV is a distribution list management package. LISTSERV ser-
vers maintain lists containing names and electronic mail address-
es of computer users. Any member of a list can send electronic
mail messages addressed to the list, which the server will for-
ward to all other members of the list. This service provides a
convenient means for the exchange of ideas and information
between list members. There are many different lists, each con-
taining users who share particular interests. LISTSERV servers
can also log mail traffic, store all the messages associated with
their lists, and carry out database searches of archives and
files. LISTSERV uses computer and network resources efficiently.
Who can use LISTSERV
Anyone who can send electronic mail, conforming to the RFC822
standard, to an EARN/Bitnet address, and who has a valid return
mail address, can use LISTSERV. Every day, people use LISTSERV
from HEPnet, Internet, Compuserve, MCIMail and many other net-
works throughout the world.
LISTSERV runs on IBM VM/CMS systems on the international NJE net-
work (EARN/Bitnet).
How to get to LISTSERV
LISTSERV commands are sent in a mail message to a LISTSERV ser-
ver, LISTSERV@host-id, where host-id is the host computer's NJE
address (for example, TAUNIVM.BITNET) or its Internet domain name
(in this case, VM.TAU.AC.IL). There may be some local variation
in the format needed to send mail to Bitnet or Internet address-
es. Check with your local support personnel.
LISTSERV will ignore the Subject: line of the mail header, so
your commands must be in the body of the message. Several com-
mands can be sent to LISTSERV in the same mail message, with each
command on a separate line.
EARN/Bitnet users can also send interactive messages to LISTSERV,
and this is the fastest and most convenient method to use. Inter-
active messages only work when the links between your computer
and LISTSERV are up; if the message fails, you can always send
your command via mail.
The most efficient way of using LISTSERV is to address mail to
the specific LISTSERV server which hosts the list you are trying
to contact. However if you want to subscribe to a list, but do
not know which server it is on, you can use the special computer
node LISTSERV on the EARN/Bitnet network, or LISTSERV.NET on many
other networks, and these will forward your message to the cor-
rect server.
For example, if you wanted to join the 3D-L mailing list that
discusses 3D computer graphics, but are not sure of the address
of the LISTSERV server hosting this list, you could send a sub-
scription request to either of the following addresses:
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET
LISTSERV@LISTSERV (on BITNET)
Your subscription request will be automatically forwarded to the
LISTSERV server hosting the 3D-L mailing list (in this case, at
the computer node ARIZVM1 or arizvm1.ccit.arizona.edu).
You can also use the special LISTSERV address when you need to
send mail to a LISTSERV mailing list but are unsure of the list's
address. For example, if you wanted to send mail to the BITFTP-L
mailing list to request a copy of the BITFTP product, you could
address your e-mail to BITFTP-L@LISTSERV.NET. It will be forward-
ed to the list's real address (in this case,
BITFTP-L@EARNCC.EARN.NET). As soon as you find out the real
address of a list, however, you should use it for all future mail
to that list.
More than 250 sites in over 30 countries throughout the world run
LISTSERV; here are some of the LISTSERV sites:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Host Computer Site Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| EARNCC EARN Office, Paris France |
| DEARN GMD, Bonn Germany |
| HEARN Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen Netherlands|
| SEARN Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan, Stockholm Sweden |
| BITNIC BITNET Network Information Center USA |
| PUCC Princeton University, New Jersey USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Using LISTSERV
LISTSERV provides special commands for list managers, who are
given special privileges in order to use them. The commands
described here are available for everyone and require no special
LISTSERV command privileges. Only the most common commands are
included here; a complete list of non-privileged LISTSERV com-
mands is given in the LISTSERV User Guide in the DOC FILELIST
from LISTSERV@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET).
In the following descriptions, CAPITAL letters indicate accepta-
ble abbreviation, angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional param-
eter, and vertical bar (|) indicates a choice of parameters. All
parameters are fully explained in each command description.
A standard set of command keywords are available for use in some
LISTSERV commands; they are shown in the command descriptions as
optional parameters. The important standard keywords are:
PW= password
You can register a personal password on a LISTSERV ser-
ver, and thereafter you will have to validate certain
commands by using the PW= command keyword in the com-
mand text. See the PW command for details on register-
ing personal passwords.
F= format This keyword controls the file format (or internal file
structure) in which files will be sent to you. If you
are not a member of the EARN/Bitnet network, LISTSERV
will use a default file format of MAIL. For members of
the EARN/Bitnet network, the default is determined by
information about your computer which is held in the
BITEARN NODES file. Any user may specify a file format
other than their default by using the F=format keyword
in the commands where it appears as an option. The fol-
lowing file formats are valid for all users:
XXE UUe MIME/text MIME/Appl MAIL
In addition, EARN/Bitnet users may specify:
Netdata Card Disk Punch LPunch VMSdump
Commands for Lists:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| SUBscribe list-name <full-name> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the SUBscribe command to join a mailing list, or to alter the
name (but not e-mail address) by which you are known on a mailing
list you have already joined. The list-name parameter is the name
of the list to which you want to subscribe. The optional full-
name parameter allows you to give a name by which you want to be
known on a mailing list. If specified, it should be your full,
real name (at least your first name and last name) and not your
e-mail address.
Subscription to a list may be OPEN, CLOSED, or BY-OWNER. If it is
OPEN, you will be automatically added to the list and sent noti-
fication. If it is CLOSED, you will not be added to the list, and
LISTSERV will send you a message telling you that your request
has been rejected. If it is BY-OWNER, your subscription request
will be forwarded to the list owner(s), who will decide whether
or not to add you to the list.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| UNSubscribe list-name | * <(NETWIDE> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the UNSubscribe command to leave a mailing list. The list-
name parameter is the name (not the address) of a mailing list
from which you want to remove your subscription. You can sign off
all the lists to which you are a member at any particular
LISTSERV site by using the "*" (asterisk) character instead of a
list name. If you want your UNSubscribe command to be propagated
to all LISTSERV servers on the network, include the (NETWIDE
option. Use this option if you are changing your e-mail address
or are leaving your computer for an extended period.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| List <options> <F= format> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use this command to get a listing of available mailing lists at a
LISTSERV server. The important options are:
Short This is the default; it displays a summary of all the
lists managed by a LISTSERV in a brief, one line
description.
Long The Long (or Detailed) option will send you a file
called node-name LISTS, containing a comprehensive
description of the lists managed by a LISTSERV server.
Global <pattern>
This option gives a complete list of all known LISTSERV
mailing lists at all servers at the time the command is
issued. The optional pattern parameter can be used to
match any string in the list name, list title or list
address.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| REView list-name <(> <options> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use this command to receive information about a mailing list,
including list control information and a list of subscribers.
Note that at the discretion of the list owner(s), viewing of the
list of subscribers can be restricted to list members only. The
important options are:
Short This option restricts the information you receive to
the control section of a list (giving its definition
parameters).
Countries The list of members will be organized by the nationali-
ty taken from their e-mail addresses.
LOCal LISTSERV lists can be peered (linked to other mailing
lists of the same name but on different LISTSERV ser-
vers), and by default the REView command will include
listings of all the mailing lists. The LOCal option
restricts the scope of the REView command so that you
receive a listing only from the server to which you
send the REView command, and not its peers.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Query list-name | * |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
When you join any mailing list, you will be assigned a default
set of list options to control such things as how you will
receive mail from the list, and the type of notification LISTSERV
will give you when it distributes messages you have sent to a
list (see the SET command for a complete description of these
options and how to change them). The Query command can be used to
review your personal list options. The list-name parameter is the
name of a list to which you are subscribed. If you use an "*"
(asterisk) character instead of a list name, you will receive
information about your personal options for all lists to which
you belong at the LISTSERV to which you send the command.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| SET list-name | * options |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the SET command to change your personal options for a mailing
list. The list-name parameter is the name of the mailing list for
which you are changing your options. You may change your options
for a specific list or for all the lists you belong to at a par-
ticular LISTSERV by using the "*" (asterisk) character in place
of a list name. The important options are:
Mail | DIGests | INDex | NOMail
These options alter the way in which you receive mail
from a mailing list. The Mail option is the default,
and means that you wish to have list mail distributed
to you as mail. The DIGests and INDex options are
available only if a list has had these features enabled
by its owner(s). Digests hold all the mail messages
sent to a list over a certain period of time. The
INDex option will provide you with only the date, time,
subject, number of lines and the sender's name and
address for all mail messages sent to a list. The text
of the mail message will not be included. You may then
select and retrieve any mail that interests you from
the list archive. The NOMail option means that you will
no longer receive mail sent to the list.
SHORThdr | FULLhdr | IETFhdr | DUALhdr
These options indicate the type of mail headers you
want to include in the mail from a mailing list.
SHORThdr means that only the essential mail headers
will be included. This is the default. You may change
this to FULLhdr, which means that all mail headers will
be included. The IETFhdr option means that LISTSERV
will not change the headers of a mail message it dis-
tributes, and is designed specifically for compatibili-
ty with SMTP exploders. Lastly, DUALhdr is very similar
to the SHORThdr option except that LISTSERV will also
insert mail headers at the beginning of the mail body.
This option is useful for users of some PC based mail
packages which do not display this information from the
real mail headers.
CONCEAL | NOCONCEAL
Indicates whether or not you want your name and mail
address to appear in the display of list members which
is given in response to a REView command. The default
is NOCONCEAL. Note that a complete list of members is
always given to list owners and LISTSERV administrators
regardless of this option.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| CONFIRM list-name |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Some mailing lists require subscription renewal at regular inter-
vals, and the CONFIRM command is used for this. A mail message is
automatically sent to list members indicating that they must send
a CONFIRM command within a given number of days or they will be
removed from the list. The list-name parameter is the name of the
mailing list to which you are confirming your subscription.
Commands for Files:
Files can be stored at a LISTSERV server and made available for
retrieval by users. LISTSERV stores files in a hierarchical sys-
tem of filelists which, as the name suggests, are special files
each containing a list of files. Filelists contain details for
each file such as the file's name, size and access code (FAC)
which describes who is authorized to retrieve it. These files may
themselves be filelists.
Any mailing list can have an associated filelist, at the list
owner's discretion. Regular files can be placed on this filelist,
and the log files of the mailing list will automatically be
stored there. Log files contain copies of all e-mail distributed
on a particular mailing list over an interval of time (usually
one month). These files can be retrieved so that users can recov-
er any list mail distributed during a specific period. Mail items
from the log files can also be retrieved via the database func-
tions of LISTSERV.
The following LISTSERV commands enable general users to manipu-
late files stored at a server. File server commands to LISTSERV
must be addressed to the server, not to any mailing lists. Where
the PW= keyword appears in a command description, this need only
be included in the command text if you have defined a personal
password. The optional F= command keyword may be included as
desired.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| INDex <filelist> <F= format> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the INDex command to get a listing of the files in a particu-
lar filelist. The filelist parameter can be used to specify a
particular filelist; if no name is specified, an index of the
root filelist (called LISTSERV FILELIST) will be sent to you.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| GET filename filetype <filelist> <F= format> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
The GET command is used to retrieve a specific file or package
from a filelist. You need authorization to do this. The filename
and filetype parameters identify the file or package you wish to
retrieve. The optional filelist parameter identifies the filelist
within which the file or package resides; if this option is omit-
ted, LISTSERV will determine the filelist through a search of its
own internal filelist index.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Query File filename filetype <filelist> <(FLags> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
This command can be used to get update information on specified
files and filetypes. You may specify a filelist name, but if you
leave this out LISTSERV will locate the filelist through a search
of its own internal filelist index. You may also specify the
(FLags option to display additional technical data about the file
(which can be useful when reporting problems to LISTSERV adminis-
trators).
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| PW options |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
The PW command enables you to add, change or delete a personal
password on any LISTSERV server. A personal password is designed
to give you added command security, since it helps prevent impo-
stors using your e-mail address: for this reason the use of per-
sonal passwords is strongly encouraged. Passwords consist of one
to eight alphanumeric characters. You may change or delete your
password at any time. The options parameter must be one of the
following:
ADD new-password
Add a new personal password on the LISTSERV processing
your command. Once you have registered a password on a
LISTSERV server, you will be obliged to use the PW=
command keyword in the commands where it appears as an
option.
CHange old-password new-password
Change your personal password on a LISTSERV server
where you already have one.
DELete old-password
Remove your personal password from a LISTSERV where you
already have one. Once you have removed a password from
a LISTSERV server, you will no longer be obliged to use
the PW= command keyword in the commands where it
appears as an option.
LISTSERV Database Functions:
Every LISTSERV list can have an associated database in which list
mail is stored and from which old mail can be retrieved. This is
called a notebook or list archive database, and consists of log
files as described in the section Commands for Files. Databases
are maintained at the discretion of each list's owner, so not all
lists have an associated database.
Every LISTSERV server also has a database of all the EARN/Bitnet
computer nodes (called the BITEARN database), which is available
to all LISTSERV users. The backbone LISTSERV servers also have a
database of all the LISTSERV computer nodes (called the PEERS
database). In addition to these databases, a LISTSERV server may
have any number of different databases which can be created
locally. To find out what databases are accessible at a particu-
lar LISTSERV site, send the following command to that server:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| DATABASE LIST |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
To perform a database search, you can mail a batch database job
to LISTSERV, containing your database query. In addition, EARN/
Bitnet users on VM or VMS systems can access the database facili-
ties interactively via the LDBASE program. For more details on
the LISTSERV database facilities, send an Info DATABASE command
to your nearest (or any) LISTSERV server (see the section Com-
mands for Information) or consult the LISTSERV Database Functions
chapter in the LISTSERV User Guide.
Commands for Information:
The LISTSERV server can provide a diverse range of information to
the general user, including help files, release levels of the
server and important configuration files, statistics and informa-
tion pertaining to the EARN/Bitnet network. Requests for informa-
tion must be addressed to the LISTSERV server and not to any
mailing lists it may manage. When using commands that result in
files being sent to the requestor (for example the Info command),
the format of the file can be specified by the optional command
keyword F= in the command text.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Help |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use this command to get a brief description of the most commonly
used LISTSERV commands and also the name and e-mail address of
the server's postmaster.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Info <topic> <F= format> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Use this command to get a help file from a LISTSERV server. You
can specify a topic using the topic option; you can get a list of
valid topics by sending the Info command with no parameters.
Examples
You wish to subscribe to the EARNEWS list at the node FRMOP11.
Your full name is Mark P. Waugh. Send the following command to
LISTSERV@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR (or LISTSERV@FRMOP11.BITNET):
SUBSCRIBE EARNEWS Mark P. Waugh
You wish to leave the INFO-MAC mailing list (to which you have
already subscribed) at the node CEARN. The command:
UNSUBSCRIBE INFO-MAC
should be sent to the LISTSERV server at CEARN which manages the
INFO-MAC list. To leave all the LISTSERV lists you belong to
throughout the network, send the following command to your near-
est (or any) LISTSERV:
UNSUBSCRIBE * (NETWIDE
You wish to receive a listing of all mailing lists that have the
text europe in their name or title. Send the following command to
your nearest (or any) LISTSERV server:
LIST GLOBAL EUROPE
You want to stop receiving mail from all the lists at SEARN to
which you belong. Send the following command to the LISTSERV ser-
ver at SEARN:
SET * NOMAIL
You have received a message from the LISTSERV server at IRLEARN
asking you to confirm your subscription to the EARN-UG list. Send
the following command to that server:
CONFIRM EARN-UG
You wish to receive a listing of the files in the DOC FILELIST
Send the following command to the LISTSERV server at EARNCC where
this filelist is located. This is the same as issuing a GET DOC
FILELIST command.
INDEX DOC
You wish to retrieve the file PCPROG ZIP from a filelist, in XXE
file format. Send the following command to the LISTSERV server
that holds this file:
GET PCPROG ZIP F=XXE
Learning more about LISTSERV
A standard set of help files are available upon request from each
LISTSERV server. To get a copy of these files, use the Info com-
mand (see the section Commands for Information).
Detailed documentation on LISTSERV (and related services) is
available from the DOC FILELIST at LISTSERV@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or
LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET). This includes the LISTSERV User Guide
which is available in both postscript and plain text formats. To
obtain a list of available documents use the INDex command (see
the section Commands for Files).
There are several mailing lists for discussion of technical
LISTSERV issues. They are not intended for casual users, but they
should be of interest to advanced users. They are:
LSTSRV-L Technical forum on LISTSERV
LSTOWN-L LISTSERV list owners' forum
LDBASE-L Forum on LISTSERV database search capabilities
USENET (NETNEWS)
What is USENET
Usenet, sometimes called Netnews, is a huge collection of messag-
es which are made available to users worldwide by means of the
UUCP and NNTP protocols (Unix to Unix Copy Program, and Network
News Transport Protocol, respectively). Individual computing
sites appoint somebody to oversee the huge quantity of incoming
messages, and to decide how long messages can be kept before they
must be removed to make room for new ones. Typically, messages
are stored for less than a week. An average weekday's batch of
new Usenet messages occupies about 60 Mb disk storage space; they
are made available via a news server.
Every Usenet message belongs to a newsgroup - there are a few
thousand of these, each containing messages on a particular sub-
ject. Users sending Usenet messages must address each message to
a particular newsgroup. There are newsgroups on subjects ranging
from education for the disabled to Star Trek and from environment
science to politics in the former Soviet Union. The quality of
the discussion in newsgroups may be excellent, but this is not
guaranteed. Some newsgroups have a moderator who scans the mes-
sages for the group and decides which ones are appropriate for
distribution.
Some of the newsgroups provide a useful source of information and
help on technical topics. Users needing to find out about a sub-
ject often send questions to the appropriate newsgroup, and an
expert somewhere in the world can often supply the answer. Lists
of Frequently Asked Questions or FAQs are compiled and made
available periodically in some newsgroups.
The messages may contain both plain text, and encoded binary
information. Each message has a series of header lines which
define who the message came from, when it was posted, where it
was posted, what newsgroup it was sent to, what route it has tak-
en over the network, and other administrative information.
Usenet was originally developed for Unix systems in 1979. Within
a year, fifty Unix sites were participating. Now, there are thou-
sands of sites running a number of operating systems on a variety
of hardware platforms communicating via Usenet around the globe.
The messages of many Bitnet LISTSERV mailing lists are also dis-
tributed in Usenet.
Within EARN, a Usenet distribution network has been developed
which provides efficient distribution of Usenet traffic while
minimising the load on the network for the participating coun-
tries.
Who can use USENET
Usenet newsgroups can be read at thousands of sites around the
world. In addition, several sites provide a public dial-up ser-
vice. If you don't know whether your site has Usenet access,
check with your local computer support people. Most computer net-
works can access the Usenet service via special software packag-
es.
Many newsgroups are connected to mailing lists which you could
join. For a list of these newsgroups and their associated mailing
lists, send mail to LISTSERV@AMERICAN.EDU with the line: GET
NETGATE GATELIST. Many of the documents which appear in news-
groups are available by e-mail from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. For
instructions, send a message with the subject HELP.
How to get to USENET
If your site provides Usenet access, then you just need to use
one of the many software packages available for browsing through
the messages (at least one is probably available on your
computer). These packages either access a local news server, or
use the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) to access the news
server on some other computer in the network.
If Usenet is not available to you and you would like to arrange
access for your site, contact your system administrator. You
should also read the article How to become a USENET site which is
posted periodically to the news.answers newsgroup. It is also
available by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as
/pub/usenet/news.answers/site-setup or by mail to:
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send
usenet/news.answers/site-setup.
E-mail access
An experimental service is available which allows you to obtain
Usenet messages via e-mail:
* send an e-mail message to listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be. You
will receive instructions in response to a message consisting
of the command /nnhelp.
* send an e-mail message to netnews@db.stanford.edu. Instruc-
tions will be sent in response to a message consisting of the
word help.
Using USENET
Many software packages are available for reading and distributing
Usenet messages on a variety of operating systems (Unix, VMS,
VM/CMS, MVS, Macintosh, MS-DOS and OS/2) and environments
(X-Windows and MS-Windows), and the number is increasing all the
time. See the list of freely available news reader software pack-
ages in Appendix A.
In addition to the software packages specifically designed to be
news readers, many other communications programs, particularly
mail interfaces, also provide Usenet access.
Most, if not all, of the news readers provide the same basic
functions:
* Subscribing to newsgroups: Your news reading software will
make these groups immediately accessible, so that you can
read their contents quickly and easily.
* Unsubscribing from newsgroups: Removing groups from your easy
access list.
* Reading newsgroup postings: Your news reader presents new
messages - postings - to you, and keeps track of which post-
ings you have and have not read.
* Threads of discussion: Replies to a posting are grouped
together with the original posting, so that the reader can
follow the messages within a newsgroup which are part of a
particular discussion or a topic.
* Posting to news groups: You can participate in group discus-
sions; your news reader knows where to send your posting.
* Responding to a posting: You can send a response to the news-
group (often called follow-up) or to the author of a posting
(often called reply).
Usenet newsgroups are themselves grouped into categories; eight
of the major ones are called alt, comp, misc, news, rec, sci,
soc, and talk, standing for alternative, computing, miscellane-
ous, related to the news system itself, recreational, science,
social and talk. The messages of many Bitnet LISTSERV mailing
lists are also distributed in Usenet under the major category
bit.
Other major categories based on particular subject areas (e.g.
bionet, biz, vmsnet) may be distributed worldwide as well, and
there are categories based on geographical areas, on organiza-
tions (e.g. ieee), or commercial interests (e.g. clari). A fee is
usually charged for access to commercial newsgroups.
Examples
When you enter the tin news reader, you get a listing of the
newsgroups to which you are subscribed:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Group Selection (9) h=help
1 30637 bit.listserv.novell local list
2 1106 comp.mail.misc General discussions about compu
3 8031 comp.protocols.tcp-ip TCP and IP network protocols.
4 840 comp.sys.mac
5 8789 news.answers Repository for periodic USENET
-> 6 29 news.lists News-related statistics and lis
7 15056 rec.woodworking Hobbyists interested in woodwor
8 7094 sci.psychology Topics related to psychology.
9 13093 soc.culture.celtic Celtic, Irish, & Welsh culture
*** End of Groups ***
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In tin, you select a newsgroup by using the arrow keys to move
the -> sign alongside the newsgroup you are interested in, and
press RETURN to select it. When you select a group, you get a
listing of the articles:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
comp.mail.misc (41T 64A 0K 0H) h=help
1 + RIPEM Frequently Noted Vulnerabilities Marc VanHeyningen
2 + RIPEM Frequently Asked Questions Marc VanHeyningen
3 + Mail Archive Server software list Jonathan I. Kamen
4 + 1 UNIX Email Software Survey FAQ Chris Lewis
5 + 2 PC Eudora and Trumpet Winsock problem Jim Graham
6 + X11 mail reader Dominique Marant
7 + MIME supporting e-mail Tim Goodwin
8 + 1 IBM User name and Address Server Wes Spears
9 + 5 Newbie needs MHS/SMTP question answered Chris Pearce
10 + FAQ - pine Bruce Lilly
11 + FAQ: International E-mail accessibility Olivier M.J. Crep
-> 12 + PC E-Mail and Dial-in Edward Vielmetti
13 + Prodigy Mail Manager "01/07" an33127@anon.pene
14 + Prodigy Mail Manager "02/07" an33127@anon.pene
15 + Prodigy Mail Manager "03/07" an33127@anon.pene
-----------------------------------------------------------------
tin is a threaded news reader: replies to a posting are grouped
together with the original posting, so that the reader can follow
a thread of discussion. The list above shows the threads, the
number of replies in each thread, the subject and the author. The
plus sign (+) indicates that not all postings in the thread have
been read. Other news readers show other details.
Use the arrow keys to move the -> sign alongside the thread you
are interested in, and then press RETURN to select it. The mes-
sages in that thread will appear on your screen:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wed, 01 Sep 1993 07:05:49 comp.mail.misc Thread 13 of 41
Lines 27 Re: PC E-Mail and Dial-in No responses
emv@garnet.msen.com Edward Vielmetti at Msen, Inc. -- Ann Arbor
Sherry H. Lake (slake@mason1.gmu.edu) wrote:
: I am looking for an email package that will allow a user to
: dial-in to his mail machine download any messages to his local
: PC, delete the messages from the server and then automatically
: sign him off. The user can then use his client software (local)
: to read, compose and reply. He then would have to dial-in again
: to so his outgoing mail will be uploaded to the server.
Various POP clients for PCs or Windows Sockets will do roughly
this. You should look at:
- NUPOP (MS-DOS)
- Eudora for Windows (Windows)
- WinQVT/Net (Windows)
- various commercial POP clients listed in the 'alt.winsock'
directory of commercial Windows systems
You'll want to look particularly for dial up IP software (SLIP or
PPP) that makes the process of connecting minimally onerous, e.g.
by scripting the session so that the users don't have to type
anything, perhaps by automatically dialing for you when you go to
read or otherwise open a network connection, and offering a
reasonable way to disconnect.
Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, Msen Inc.
emv@Msen.com Msen Inc., 628 Brooks, Ann Arbor MI 48103
+1 313 998 4562 (fax: 998 4563)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Learning more about USENET
News programs communicate with each other according to standard
protocols, some of which are described by Internet Request For
Comments (RFC). Copies of RFCs are often posted to the network
and obtainable from archive sites. Current news-related RFCs
include the following:
RFC 977 specifies NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol,
RFC 1036 specifies the format of Usenet articles.
Some newsgroups carry articles and discussions on the use of
Usenet, notably: news.announce.newusers, news.answers and
news.newusers.questions.
Many of the articles which appear periodically in these news-
groups or in others are also available from rtfm.mit.edu by anon-
ymous FTP or by mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
Part 7
OTHER TOOLS OF INTEREST
NETSERV
What is NETSERV
NETSERV is a server which provides fast access to a repository of
data files and programs which are of interest to the EARN/Bitnet
community. All users can retrieve files, and privileged users
can store new versions of files and subscribe to the files of
their choice. Privileged users have a NETSERV password.
In order to achieve a balanced load on the network and a faster
response time to users, NETSERV uses distributed servers: there
are a large number of servers on the network so that no user will
be very far from a server. Updated information is distributed to
all the servers, so the same information is available from any
server.
NETSERV file directories (or filelists), are arranged hierarchi-
cally, with NETSERV FILELIST at the top. This filelist can be
obtained by sending the command GET NETSERV FILELIST to any
NETSERV. Filelists contain short descriptions of the files, and
two access codes for each file. These codes represent the get and
put privileges required for that file, and are explained at the
beginning of the NETSERV FILELIST file.
How to get to NETSERV
There are NETSERV servers in many different countries. To find
which is the closest to you, send the command QUERY SERVICE to
any server. The following are examples of NETSERV server address-
es:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EARN/BITNET Internet |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| NETSERV@FRMOP11.BITNET NETSERV@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR |
| NETSERV@HEARN.BITNET NETSERV@HEARN.NIC.SURFNET.NL |
| NETSERV@BITNIC.BITNET NETSERV@BITNIC.CREN.NET |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
In EARN, only one NETSERV is permitted for one country. However,
if a country has a large number of nodes, additional servers may
be installed.
NETSERV accepts e-mail access from users on any network. Com-
mands should be placed in the body of the mail file (the Sub-
ject: line is ignored).
For users in the EARN/Bitnet network, NETSERV is accessible via
interactive message. Commands from privileged users, requiring a
password, must be sent this way.
NETSERV does not have any delivery limitations, except that you
cannot order the same file more than once in one day.
Learning more about NETSERV
A large helpfile can be obtained by sending the command GET
NETSERV HELPFILE to any NETSERV.
A mailing list for NETSERV maintainers is available as:
NETSERV@HEARN.NIC.SURFNET.NL (or NETSERV@HEARN.BITNET).
Additional information can be obtained from the maintainer of the
NETSERV software, Ulrich Giese, at U001212@HEARN.NIC.SURFNET.NL
(or U001212@HEARN.BITNET).
MAILBASE
What is MAILBASE
Mailbase is an electronic information service with much of the
same functionality as LISTSERV. It allows United Kingdom groups
to manage their own discussion topics (Mailbase lists) and asso-
ciated files. The Mailbase service is run as part of the JANET
Networked Information Services Project (NISP) based at Newcastle
University.
How to get to MAILBASE
Commands should be sent in an electronic mail message to mail-
base@mailbase.ac.uk. More than one command may appear in a mes-
sage to Mailbase. Commands may be in any order, in UPPER, lower,
or MiXeD case.
Learning more about MAILBASE
For a summary of Mailbase commands, send the command help in an
e-mail message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk. For a list of on-line
documentation about Mailbase, send the command: index mailbase.
You can then use the send command to retrieve those documents
that interest you. For example, to retrieve a file of frequently
asked questions, send the following command: send mailbase user-
faq.
User support is also available by sending queries in an e-mail
message to:
mailbase-helpline@mailbase.ac.uk.
Public files on Mailbase are also available by anonymous FTP to
mailbase.ac.uk
FTPMAIL
What is FTPMAIL
Ftpmail is a system which makes the FTP utility available to
users with electronic mail access to the Internet. Certain com-
puters on the Internet offer an ftpmail service to all Internet
users. These computers have a special ftpmail account, and users
can include FTP requests in e-mail messages which are addressed
to this account. FTP sessions are automatically carried out in
response to the mailed FTP requests, and the results of the FTP
sessions are sent back to users by e-mail.
If the ftpmail system fails to connect to the nominated FTP ser-
ver, an appropriate e-mail message is sent to the user explaining
what happened.
How to get to FTPMAIL
Several sites on the Internet offer an ftpmail service, and any-
one with access to e-mail can use them. Users are requested not
to make use of ftpmail services at sites remote from them. In
France, there is a service at ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr and in
the United Kingdom there is a service at ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk.
There is an ftpmail service in the U.S.A at
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com.
Learning more about FTPMAIL
The ftpmail package is based on perl scripts, which are available
from:
* src.doc.ic.ac.uk: /packages/ftpmail
* grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr: /pub/unix/mail/tools/ftpmail
* ftp.sterling.com: /mail/ftpmail
Ftpmail was written by Paul Vixie.
PROSPERO
What is PROSPERO
Prospero is a distributed file system containing virtual files,
each of which represents an Internet resource. Thus a file may
represent a Telnet session to a particular host, it may represent
a file on a WAIS together with the information needed to access
the server, it may represent a file in the archie filename index,
or it may represent a file which is available using FTP together
with the information needed to obtain the file.
Individual users are given a space in their site's virtual files-
ystem, where they can create new virtual files. They are also
able to copy files into their virtual filespace from elsewhere in
the global Prospero system. Since each virtual file is merely a
link to a real file, any changes to the real files will be visi-
ble to the user.
Internet sites using Prospero are given a global prefix (similar
to a site name) which means that sites can access each other's
files. A master directory is maintained, and users are encouraged
to organize their own projects and papers in a manner that will
allow them to be easily added to the master directory. For exam-
ple, users should consider creating a virtual directory (anywhere
in their virtual system) that contains pointers to copies of each
of the papers that they want to be available to the outside
world. A link may be created from the virtual directory to the
master author directory, thus making the virtual directory avail-
able to other users. Any future changes to the real files will be
immediately available to other users.
How to get to PROSPERO
In order to use Prospero, you must be on the international TCP/IP
network (the Internet) and you must have Prospero running on your
computer.
Before you can begin using the Prospero file system a virtual
system must be created for you. However, Prospero, as shipped, is
configured so that once you compile the clients, you can type:
vfsetup guest and start working straight away using a guest vir-
tual system at the USC Information Sciences Institute.
The latest version of Prospero is available as file prospe-
ro.tar.Z via anonymous FTP from prospero.isi.edu in the directory
/pub/prospero.
Learning more about PROSPERO
Prospero is being developed by Clifford Newman. Several documents
and articles describing Prospero, by Newman and others, are
available.
The following files are available via anonymous FTP from prospe-
ro.isi.edu. They are also available through Prospero.
* Anonymous FTP: /pub/papers/prospero/prospero-oir.ps.Z,
* Prospero: /papers/subjects/operating-systems/prospero/
prospero-oir.ps.Z.
This is a useful first paper to read. It gives a good overview of
Prospero and what it does. It also describes the Virtual System
model, of which Prospero is a prototype implementation.
* Anonymous FTP: /pub/papers/prospero/prospero-bii.ps.Z,
* Prospero: /papers/subjects/operating-systems/prospero/
prospero-bii.ps.Z.
This paper describes how Prospero can be used to integrate Inter-
net information services, including Gopher, WAIS, archie, and
World-Wide Web.
IRC
What is IRC
IRC, Internet Relay Chat, is a real-time conversational system.
It is similar to the talk command which is available on many
machines in the Internet. IRC does everything talk does, but it
allows more than two users to talk at once, with access through-
out the global Internet. It also provides many other useful fea-
tures.
Fundamental to the operation of IRC is the concept of a channel:
each channel is one conversation. When you join IRC, you enter
the null channel first, and will be unable to send any messages
until you enter a chatting channel (unless you have set up a pri-
vate conversation in some way). The number of channels is essen-
tially unlimited.
IRC is networked over much of North America, Europe, and Asia.
Everything you type will instantly be transmitted around the
world to other users who are connected to your channel. They can
then respond to your messages.
Topics of discussion on IRC are varied. Technical and political
discussions are popular, especially concerning current world
events. IRC is also a way to expand your horizons, as people from
many countries and cultures are on the system, 24 hours a day.
Most conversations are in English, but there are always channels
in German, Japanese, and Finnish, and occasionally other languag-
es.
How to get to IRC
Clients and servers for IRC are available via anonymous FTP from
several sites, notably from cs.bu.edu.
The many server hosts of Internet Relay Chat throughout the net-
work are connected via a tree structure. They relay control and
message data among themselves to advertise the existence of other
servers and their users, and the channels and other resources
being occupied by those users.
Learning more about IRC
To get help while in IRC, type /help and follow the instructions.
If you have problems, you can contact Helen Rose (hrose@eff.org).
You can also ask for help on some of the operator channels on
IRC, for example #twilight_zone and #eu-opers.
Various documents on IRC, and the archives of IRC-related mailing
lists, are available via anonymous FTP from ftp.kei.com and
cs.bu.edu.
RELAY
What is RELAY
The RELAY system allows users to exchange messages. Each user
signs on to a RELAY server and places their ID in its current
user list. Next the user must sign on to a channel of the RELAY
system, and is then ready to exchange messages with any other
user currently signed on to that channel. Commands to the RELAY
system start with a slash (/) character; anything not beginning
with a slash is considered a message and is sent back out to all
other current users.
All RELAY servers are on the global EARN/Bitnet network. Each
RELAY server provides a service to a specific collection of one
or more nodes, designated as a service area. Users sign on to the
closest available RELAY and are then also virtually signed on to
all RELAYs which are linked to it. Most RELAYs are closed during
peak hours; only some RELAYs are up 24 hours a day.
RELAY is available to EARN/Bitnet users with access to interac-
tive messages who have not been expressly excluded from the sys-
tem by RELAY management.
How to get to RELAY
RELAY is available at the following EARN/Bitnet addresses (and
other sites). The nickname of each RELAY machine is given in
parentheses.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| RELAY@ASUACAD (Sun_Devils) RELAY@PURCCVM (Purdue) |
| RELAY@AUVM (Wash_DC) RELAY@SEARN (Stockholm) |
| RELAY@BEARN (Belgium) RELAY@TAMVM1 (Aggieland) |
| RELAY@CEARN (Geneva) RELAY@TAUNIVM (Israel) |
| RLY@CORNELLC (Ithaca_NY) RELAY@TREARN (EgeRelay) |
| RELAY@CZHRZU1A (Zurich) MASRELAY@UBVM (Buffalo) |
| RELAY@DEARN (Germany) RELAY@UFRJ (RioJaneiro) |
| RELAY@DKTC11 (Copenhagen) RELAY@UIUCVMD (Urbana_IL) |
| RELAY@FINHUTC (Finland) RELAY@USCVM (LosAngeles) |
| RELAY@GITVM1 (Atlanta) RELAY@UTCVM (Tennessee) |
| RELAY@GREARN (Hellas) RELAY@UWAVM (Seattle) |
| RELAY@HEARN (Holland) RELAY@VILLVM (Philadelph) |
| RELAY@ITESMVF1 (Mexico) RELAY@VMTECQRO (Queretaro) |
| RELAY@JPNSUT00 (Tokyo) RELAY@VTBIT (Va_Tech) |
| RELAY@NDSUVM1 (No_Dakota) RELAY@WATDCS (Waterloo) |
| RELAY@NYUCCVM (NYU) RELAY@YALEVM (Yale) |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
RELAY is available to users on the EARN/Bitnet network via inter-
active message (e.g. the TELL command of VM or the SEND command
of VMS/JNET). All RELAY server machines are on IBM VM/CMS sys-
tems, but you do not have to be a VM user in order to use RELAY.
However, if you are not in the EARN/Bitnet network, you can not
use RELAY.
CHAT, a full-screen interface to send and receive TELL messages
for VM systems, is particularly useful for users of RELAY. CHAT
is available from any NETSERV.
Learning more about RELAY
Upon registration, the files RELAY INFO and RELAY USERGUIDE are
sent to the user. These two files give a comprehensive descrip-
tion of RELAY.
A brief guide to RELAY is available from the EARN documentation
filelist. Send mail to LISTSERV@EARNCC.EARN.NET (or
LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET). In the body of the message, write: GET
RELAY MEMO.
Appendix A
Freely available networking software
Below you will find the location of client software for several
of the tools described in this guide (Gopher, WWW, WAIS and Net-
news). This is not a complete listing of available software for
any of these tools.
Gopher clients
Environment FTP site & directory Comments
Unix boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Unix
VMS boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/VMS
job.acs.ohio-state.edu
XGOPHER_CLIENT.SHARE for Wollongong or UCX
VM/CMS boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Rice_CMS
boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/VieGOPHER
MVS boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/mvs
Macintosh boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher
ftp.cc.utah.edu
/pub/gopher/Macintosh requires MacTCP
ftp.bio.indiana.edu
/util/gopher/gopherapp requires MacTCP
OS/2 boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/os2 OS/2 Gopher Client
MS-DOS boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/PC_client requires packet driver
oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu
/public/dos/misc dosgopher, for PC/TCP
bcm.tmc.edu
/nfs/gopher.exe for PC-NFS
lennon.itn.med.umich.edu
/dos/gopher for LAN Workplace for DOS
MS-Windows tis.inel.gov
/pub/wsgopher wsgopher
lister.cc.ic.ac.uk
/pub/wingopher HGopher
sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps Gopher Book
bcinfo.bc.info (password: guest)
pub.bcgopher BCGopher (beta version)
X-Windows boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Unix xgopher (Athena widgets)
boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Unix moog (Motif)
boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/Unix/xvgopher or Xview
Next boombox.micro.umn.edu
/pub/gopher/NeXT
World-Wide Web clients
Environment FTP site & directory Comments
Unix info.cern.ch
/pub/www/src WWW line-mode browser
ftp2.cc.ukans.edu
/pub/lynx Lynx browser for vt100 terminals
archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
/pub/w3browser tty-based browser written in perl
VM gopher.nerdc.ufl.edu
/pub/vm/www
VMS info.cern.ch
/pub/www/bin/vms port of NCSA Mosaic
vms.huji.ac.il
/www/vms_client WWW line-mode browser
ftp2.cc.ukans.edu
/pub/lynx Lynx browser for vt100 terminals
Macintosh info.cern.ch
/pub/www/bin/mac Samba - requires MacTCP
ftp.NCSA.uiuc.edu
/Mac/Mosaic Mosaic
MS-Windows ftp.law.cornell.edu
/pub/LII/Cello Cello
ftp.NCSA.uiuc.edu
/PC/Mosaic Mosaic
Emacs moose.cs.indiana.edu
/pub/elisp/w3
X-Windows info.cern.ch
/pub/www/src tkWWW Browser and Editor
info.cern.ch
/pub/www/src MidasWWW Browser for X/Motif
info.cern.ch
/pub/www/src ViolaWWW Browser
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
/Web Mosaic
Next info.cern.ch
/pub/www/bin/next Browser and Editor
Wais clients
Environment FTP site & directory Comments
Unix ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/unix-src swais - wais distribution
VMS sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/wais/clients/vms
MVS ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/ibm-mvs dinowais
Macintosh ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/mac
OS/2 ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/os2
MS-DOS sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/wais/clients/ms-dos
ftp.wais.com
/pub/wais/DOS PCWAIS
MS-Windows ridgisd.er.usgs.gov
/software/wais WinWAIS
ftp.einet.net
/einet/pc EWAIS
ftp.cnidr.org
/pub/NIDR.tools/wais/pc/windows
sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/wais/clients/ms-windows
Emacs ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/unix-src wais-gmacs - wais distribution
X-Windows ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/unix-src xwais - wais distribution
Next ftp.wais.com
/pub/freeware/next
Usenet - news reader software
Environment FTP site Names & Comments
Unix lib.tmc.edu rn also available via e-mail to:
archive-server@bcn.tmc.edu
ftp.coe.montana.edu trn
dkuug.dk nn
ftp.germany.eu.net tin
VMS kuhub.cc.ukans.edu ANU-NEWS
arizona.edu VMS/VNEWS
VM/CMS psuvm.psu.edu NetNews
also available from LISTSERV@PSUVM
ftp.uni-stuttgart.de NNR
MVS ftp.uni-stuttgart.de NNMVS
Macintosh ftp.apple.com News
MS-DOS ftp.utas.edu.au Trumpet
MS-Windows ftp.utas.edu.au WTrumpet
X-Windows many FTP sites xrn
export.lcs.mit.edu xvnews
Emacs most GNU sites GNUS
for use with GNU Emacs editor
most GNU sites Gnews
for use with GNU Emacs editor
Appendix B
Online information
Unless otherwise indicated, the left hand column contains an
address for anonymous FTP, followed by a directory on the line
below. Comments about the contents of the reference are in the
right hand column.
General references
sluaxa.slu.edu Useful list of books, with comments
/pub/millesjg/newusers.faq
LISTSERV@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu email address for same list as above
get newusers faq nettrain f=mail body of message
nic.merit.edu various useful files
/introducing.the.internet/info-sources
rtfm.mit.edu Information compiled by John December
/pub/usenet/news.answers/communication-net-resources/part1, part2, part3
ftp.rpi.edu John December's Internet Tools summary
/pub/communications/internet-tools
is.internic.net long list of abbreviations and
acronyms
/infosource/getting-started/tools/babel-txt
References for individual tools
Gopher:
boombox.micro.umn.edu user guide
/pub/gopher/docs/GopherGuide_Jan12-94.ps text versions also available
rtfm.mit.edu FAQ
/pub/usenet/comp.infosystems.gopher/G_(c.i.g)_F_A_Q_(F)
comp.infosystems.gopher Usenet newsgroup
ftp.cso.uiuc.edu articles on gopher and veronica
/doc/net/iuicnet/vol6no1.txt
veronica.scs.unr.edu veronica FAQ
/veronica-docs/veronica-faq
World-Wide Web:
http://info.cern.ch/ access to WWW information via WWW
info.cern.ch ftp archive of WWW information
/pub/www/doc
rtfm.mit.edu
/pub/usenet/comp.infosystems.www/W_W_W_F_A_Q_(F)
WAIS:
quake.think.com excellent bibliography
/pub/wais/bibliography.txt
sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/docs/about-the-net/libsoft/wais.txt
wais-discussion-request@wais.com email list
comp.infosystems.wais Usenet WAIS newsgroup
Archie:
archie.ans.net
/pub/archie/doc/whatis.archie
sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/docs/about-the-net/libsoft/archie_guide.txt
archie.ans.net Unix online manual page
/pub/archie/doc/archie.man.txt
WHOIS:
nic.merit.edu contains whois specification, explains
/documents/rfc/rfc0954.txt sources of names for the database
rtfm.mit.edu
/pub/whois/whois-servers.list
gopher.ucdavis.edu
/pub/archive/wnils/Discussion.Paper
X.500:
nic.merit.edu
/documents/rfc/rfc1308.txt
nic.merit.edu contains very long catalogue of
applications
/documents/fyi/fyi_11.txt which use X.500
Netfind:
ftp.cs.colorado.edu
/pub/cs/distribs/netfind/README
ftp.cd.colorado.edu
/pub/cs/techreports/schwartz/ASCII/Netfind.Gathering.txt.Z
listserv@brownvm.brown.edu email address
"get netfind help" body of message
TRICKLE:
LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET email address for EARN documentation
get trickle memo body of message
FTP:
nic.merit.edu
/documents/rfc/rfc0959.txt
rtfm.mit.edu FAQ
/pub/usenet/news.answers/communication-net-resources
ftp.sura.net
/pub/nic/network.service.guides/how.to.ftp.guide
BITFTP:
BITFTP@BITFTP.BITNET email address
help body of message
LISTSERV:
listserv@listserv.net generic email address for LISTSERV
send listserv memo body of message
listserv@bitnic.bitnet email address for LISTSERV tips
get listserv tips body of message
listserv@earncc.earn.net email address for LISTSERV guide
get lsvguide memo body of message
cs.bu.edu
/pub/listserv/FAQ.Z
Usenet:
rtfm.mit.edu many documents about various aspects
of Usenet, including 'What_is_Usenet?'
/pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers/
Hytelnet:
ftp.usask.ca
/pub/hytelnet/README
LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU email address; article about Hytelnet
get scott prv3n4 f=mail body of message
NETSERV:
netserv@frmop11.bitnet email address
get netserv helpfile message body
Mailbase:
mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk email address
help body of message for help information
index mailbase body of message for list of online
documents
send mailbase user-faq body of message for FAQ listing
Prospero:
prospero.isi.edu
/pub/papers/prospero/README-prospero-documents
prospero-request@isi.edu email address of prospero mailing list
archie.ans.net
/pub/archie/doc/archie-interface-to-prospero
IRC:
ftp.kei.com
/pub/irc/mailing-lists/Index
cs.bu.edu
/irc/support/tutorial.1, tutorial.2, tutorial.3
/irc/README
RELAY:
"RELAY INFO" and "RELAY USERGUIDE" sent at registration
listserv@earncc.bitnet email address for brief guide
get relay memo body of message
Ftpmail:
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com email address
help body of message
src.doc.ic.ac.uk
/packages/ftpmail/README
Disclaimer.
**************************************************************
Neither the Swedish University Network nor FISH-ECOLOGY can
accept responsibility for any consequence arising out of the
use of information presented in the "Guide to Network Resource
Tools". The contents of the guide are solely the
responsability of the European Academic and Research Networks
(EARN) Association.
***************************************************************
The FISH-ECOLOGY management.