Univers Interactif 3/INTERACTIF.BIN/pc/planeten/internet/gopherap.sea/GopherApp.Help

Text File | 1993-11-09 | 72KB | 1,858 lines

ÑAbstract

GopherApp is an Internet information service program for Macintosh
computers.  It provides a Finder-like link to the range of Internet
Gopher services.

This release is a stable version 2 that includes fuller support for
Gopher+ ASK forms than other current gopher+ clients, and support for
multiple view formats. It includes multithreaded operations, for
handling several network connections at once.  Network interface code
has been optimized for both speedy use, and good operation on slow
dialup links.

To use GopherApp, your Mac must have a network connection to the
Internet, and it must have MacTCP installed.  You may obtain GopherApp
thru anonymous ftp to ftp.bio.indiana.edu, in folder /util/gopher, as
gopherapp++.hqx.  You may also obtain updates using Gopher to this same
IUBio archive (ftp.bio.indiana.edu).  Look for a folder called "IUBio
Software+Data/GopherApp".

GopherApp is written by Don Gilbert, using the MacApp extensible
Macintosh programming framework from Apple Computer.  It was derived
from a subset of a biosequence analysis program called SeqApp.

GopherApp.Help is a plain text file which may be read from your favorite
wordprocessor.  If you have problems getting  GopherApp to launch,
please read GopherApp.Help.  GopherApp should work on all Mac models
from  Mac+, with System 7 and System 6 software (see section below).

Comments, bug reports and suggestions for new features may be addressed
via e-mail to           [e-mail]

                                             -- Don Gilbert

History

9 Nov 93, v 2.1b117  Stable beta release, still has known bugs but
usable.  Built on the pointer-based MacApp v 3.1a.  A lot of bugs from
the v 2.0b release have been chased out.  User-interface changes
include:
+ view links by size, date, name, host, ...
+ "New gopher hole" is simplified way to connect to new gopher
+ "Find home of link" for Veronica users & other cases to locate root
server for any given gopher link
+ Matching gopher data to Mac applications has been cleaned up w/ Choose
Application button in New & Edit gopher links
+ Mapping of Gopher+ types to Mac types (in Prefs) changed & simplified.
+ Network preference "Use quickest gopher+ method" is for dialup
internet or other slow network links.  Cuts amount of data fetched with
each directory.
+ Get Info from link
+ Mail link maintainer
+ added support for moo-V and Note gopher types
Non-interface changes
+ TCP code extensively revised
+ multithreading processes cleaned up


ÑGopherApp++ New Features

Release 2.1b117 is built on the pointer-based MacApp v 3.1a, so code
size has grown from a mere 300K in the version 1 (MacApp 2) to over
800k, AND there is an additional 200K or so of memory required for the
OOP structures at runtime.   So, the current GopherApp is a bit bloated
in memory requirements ... you need more than a megabyte of memory to
allocate to it.  This may decrease with a new rev. of MacApp 3.1.

** Please let me hear of any bugs in this release, especially if you can
reliably reproduce the bug under some set of circumstances.  If you do
send a bug report, please tell me more than "it don't work on my
computer".  I need to know some details of your computer hardware,
system software, system extensions & controls, network software, and the
series of steps that will reproduce the problem for you.

This second, not so buggy, fairly usable release of version 2 includes
an out-of-date help file, as I haven╒t time just now to revise all of
this.  The salient features of version 2, also known as GopherApp++, are
support for Gopher+ features

    -- In the main gopher item windows, you now see ╥-╙, ╥+╙ or ╥?╙
after the icon for each item.  ╥-╙ stands for gopher-, the old format.
╥+╙ indicates the item is new gopher+ format, and ╥?╙ indicates a
gopher+ ASK dialog.

    -- ASK dialogs, which can include these simple user interface
elements of edit-text lines (Ask), note-text lines (Note), edit-text
blocks (AskL), checkboxes (Select), multi-choice pop-up menus (Choose),
password edit lines (AskP), send file to server (ChooseF).  You will see
a ╥?╙ after the icon for ASK dialogs.

    -- Multiple views for an item, so a server can provide the best
document or image format for many different clients and users.  See the
menu item ╥Open link by view╙ to select among views in gopher+ items.

    -- Use the Gopher Prefs dialog to edit the view mapping from
Gopher+ server to Macintosh type.  For each Gopher+ server type and
handler, you must specify a Macintosh type and application signature
which will handle that kind of document.  This area needs a better user
interface and some bug squashing.

    -- The menu item ╥Mail to link maintainer╙ takes advantage of
Gopher+╒s publishing of gopher item maintainer email addresses.

    -- The get info item will use Gopher+╒s info query to return
details of an item.

    -- View links by size, date, name, host, etc. lets you sort a
gopher directory according to those criteria.  The view as text creates
a text file representation of the directory.

    -- "New gopher hole" is simplified way to connect to new gopher.

    -- "Find home of link" for Veronica users & other cases to locate
root server for any given gopher link.

    -- Matching gopher data to Mac applications has been cleaned up w/
Choose Application button in New & Edit gopher links.  This button lets
you select a Mac appliction that knows how to process various kinds of
gopher data, such as GIF or JPEG images.  And from any Mac application
that you choose, you can select from file types that it knows, from the
popup menu below the Choose Application button.

    -- Mapping of Gopher+ types to Mac types, in the Preferences, has
been revised to use a button to choose a Mac application and menu to
select from its known file types.  Ditto for Gopher- and server mapping
(these latter two features are of less importance with advent of
gopher+).

    -- There is a new Preferences option for slow networks (e.g.,
phone dialups): "Use quickest gopher+ method" cuts amount of data
fetched with each directory.  If this is option is turned on, you then
need to use the "Get Info" menu item to fetch all the gopher+ info, such
as view types, for a given link.

    -- Support is added support for the new basic gopher- types of
moo-V (;) and Note (i).


   ++ Multiple execution threads.  This lets you use GopherApp to fetch
several items at once, or do other things while an item is being fetched
from remote server.  Text now is displayed while it is still being
fetched.  There are still bugs in this threading, and one consequence of
it is that GopherApp requires much more memory (all code segments are
locked in memory to keep the threads happy).  I recommend you set it for
1500 kb of RAM or higher for this release.  Later releases may reduce
this high memory need.  My thanks to Peter Speck, for providing source
of his multi-threaded Nuntius newsreader, which is the basis of
GopherApp╒s threaded operation.


  ++ Much of the revisions remain ╥under the hood╙.  That is the source
code of this version differs widely from the last version, but I╒ve
maintained much of the user interface from the last version.  Here in
lies several months of work, bug chasing and frustration on my part.  I
started this update in November 1992, expecting to have a functional
Gopher+ client in a few months of weekend and vacation programming. Not
so.  Most of the work dealt with the MacApp 2 to 3 transition, plus the
Pascal to C++ change, for which I blame myself for many easily made, but
hard to find bugs.  But I also am unhappy in general with Apple
Computer╒s lack of better tools for developers changing code from MacApp
2 to 3.  A good, automated checker could have saved me (and lots of
others in similar boat) weeks of debugging.

Known & possible bugs in version 2.1b117:

-- Fetch and decode of BinHex files fails sometimes (esp. fetching
TurboGopher.hqx :)
-- New Gopher Link & Edit Gopher Link can cause bomb (I've seen this
when repeatedly opening then cancelling these dialogs).
-- In fetch & display of plain text items, app should display any size
text limited only by avail. memory.  But w/ new memory pig of a release,
that limit can easily be reached.  Sometimes when fetching more Text
than window has memory to hold, app will fail to properly save text to
disk.
-- Some problems seem to exist w/ use of Gopher+ view forms -- feedback
from users will help.  Fetching some view types may fail in some ways.
I need more testing and bug reports on this.
-- various inconsistencies in gopher type to mac type mapping remain.
When editting a gopher link and gopher type is changed, all Mac type
info reverts to an old form.  Need to better integrate gopher+ types w/
gopher- and mac types still.
-- Mail setup is not automatically called as it should be when needed.
This may cause problems.  Users should select Mail Setup and enter
mailer info before using Mail to..., Send mail, check mail, etc.
-- The CSO & Whois items haven't been tested for a while -- they may
fail and need revision anyway (smart servers could handle this w/ ASK
forms on the server and not try to confuse us client writers).
-- This release did run on a Mac SE w/ System 7.  It is slow on SE, and
was not extensively tested.
-- This release did run on System 6 on a Mac IIci, but hasn't been
extensively tested w/ System 6 and may have 6 related bugs.

While source code of GopherApp 1 is available, I haven't yet released
verison 2 source, as I'm not happy w/ the mess it is in, and expect
Apple's next release of MacApp to cause more changes.


ÑGopherApp Help


 *****************************************************
 ****                    NOTICE
 ****
 **** This is a beta version of the program.  It still
 **** has several known bugs (see below), and probably
 **** several yet-to-be reported problems.
 ****
 *****************************************************

Comments, bug reports and suggestions for new features may be addressed
via e-mail to

         [e-mail]

With any bug reports, I would appreciate as much detail as is reasonable
without putting you off from making the report.  Include description of
Mac hardware, system software version.  Include copies of data if
relevant.

If you need to use land mail, send to

            Don Gilbert
            Biocomputing Office, Biology Department
            Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405

This GopherApp program is copyrighted 1992 by D.G. Gilbert. All rights
are reserved.  You may use GopherApp for non-commercial tasks, and you
may re-distribute it, if you make *no* charge for the redistribution and
if you include the full, unmodified distribution set (you may add
features).

It is written with MPW Object Pascal & some C using the MacApp
extensible Macintosh programming framework from Apple Computer,
which copyrights the MacApp portion.

++ GopherApp verson 2.0 is in C++ and Macapp version 3.

As of release 1.1b, the full source code (excluding MacApp libraries),
is available for non-commercial uses.  Modified versions may be
distributed as long as information regarding the original distribution
is included.  Look for the file gopherapp-src.hqx for the source in the
same location (above) as the application.

ÑInstalling

If you obtain this release thru FTP file transfer, you have
a binhex encoded archive file.  You will need the Stuffit
(version 1.5?) or Unstuffit applications.  The former includes
an un-binhex option to convert from text encoding
to macbinary Stuffit archive.  These are widely available from
Mac software archives, user groups, and computing support people.
Use Stuffit to extract the distribution folder.


ÑData files

GopherApp uses files of type 'IGo4' which are actually Text but in the
strict format used in the Gopher transaction protocol:

[Type Char][Title....]<tab>[Path]<tab>[Host.address]<tab>[Port#]<cr>

This is repeated for any number of lines.  These files *can* be
converted
to text, editted, then reconverted to Gopher files, if you know what
you are doing.  Later there may be a feature to edit this info in
the Gopher windows.

The New and Open commands on the File menu will let you create new
or open old Gopher files.  You should use Copy/Paste and dragging gopher
items, as well as the "New gopher link" and "Edit gopher link" commands
to create gopher document files that suit your tastes.

You may also edit a gopher document file as if it were a TEXT file (Open
as Text).  When you save such a file, it is saved as a TEXT type.  You
can convert it back to a GopherApp document by using the "Gopher..."
command
from the Internet menu, while holding down the OPTION key.  Open the
document then resave it as a Gopher type (IGo4).  The prefered way to
edit gopher links is with "Edit gopher link" command however.

A really sneaking option (I was out of User Interface hacking time) is
to SAVE AS with OPTION key down.  This creates a document in the style
of
Gopher Server link files:
    Name=bob
    Type=0
    Path=....
However, GopherApp cannot (yet) re-read these.  You need to convert to
TEXT
and move to your Unix server.


ÑFeatures

ÑÑFile

New and Open will create new or open old Gopher folder files.  New Text
and and Open
Text work on plain text, which is the format of the Gopher data files
also.

Save, Save as, Save a copy in, all will save the current document to
disk files.
Revert will restore the open align view to the last version saved to
disk.

Print setup, print will print the current view.

Help brings up a view to page thru the help file.

ÑÑEditing

Undo, cut, copy, paste, clear, select all -- these standard mac commands
will operate on text as well as on Gopher items in (hopefully)
intuitive,
usual ways.

Find, Find same, Find "selection" will search for strings in text.

Replace, replace same will replace target strings (not yet enabled).


ÑÑText styling

In most of the edittable text windows you can specify text styles,
fonts,
sizes. These styles are not currently saved (bug).

ÑÑInternet

The Internet features of GopherApp let you interchange ideas and data
with
people and computing services around the world.  If your Mac is
connected
already to the Internet, you probably are familiar with electronic mail
and
some of its uses.

GopherApp includes a selection of network access features in the
including (if it isn't bombing like it was yesterday:) a feature to send
and receive e-mail.


ÑÑÑInternet requirements

All features of this menu depend on (a) a network link to the Internet,
and (b) MacTCP software developed by Apple Computer.  The network link
may be thru Appletalk or thru Ethernet.  MacTCP is not (yet) part of
Macintosh System software. It may be purchased in individual copies or
site licenses, and it is common for a university or research institution
to have a site license.  It also is packages with various commercial
applications.

GopherApp is now SLIP-aware.  It will work properly over a
telephone/modem connection to a Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)
server, if you have proper SLIP software to use with MacTCP.  This
includes Versaterm's SLIP link (by Lonnie Abelbeck, sold thru Synergy
Software), MacSLIP and perhaps others later. I find that GopherApp is
useable even at 2400 baud, though I  don't recommend that slow a speed
for browsing lengthy documents.  See the  Gopher Prefs dialog to set a
long TCP timeout for SLIP.

ÑÑÑMail Preferences

The mail prefs dialog asks for your return e-mail address, your
preferred
SMTP mail host, and your POP mail address and password.  These addresses
may be similar.

Return e-mail address:  This is where another person should send mail so
it
will reach you.
        Example:  [e-mail]
               or:  [e-mail]

SMTP Mail host:  This is the internet address of the computer thru which
SeqApp will send out mail to the rest of the world.
        Example:  Sunflower.Bio.Indiana.Edu

POP Mail address: Not supported (yet) in GopherApp.
The POP mail address is not required to send mail.

ÑÑÑSend Mail

Send an electronic mail message.  You must enter an address to send to,
and
have entered your return address in the mail preferences dialog.

ÑÑÑRead Mail

This will retrieve electronic mail from a Post Office Protocol (POP)
server computer.  You also need a POP server computer with proper
software and
a mail account.  The standard POP server software for Unix computers is
available via
anonymous ftp to ftp.CC.Berkeley.Edu (128.32.136.9), as pub/popper-
xxx.tar.Z.
I also highly recommend Eudora as a Mac client for reading POP mail.
Get this by
anonymous ftp to ftp.cso.uiuc.edu, in the mac/eudora subdirectory.

ÑGopher

Internet Gopher gives you access to a wide range of information services
that are now developing on the Internet.  Gopher is something
like Telnet or FTP (file transfer), but also different.  It includes
some
of the keyword searching features of WAIS (Wide Area Information
Services).
There are currently several biology gopher services found around the
globe.
These include fast and up-to-date keyword searches of GenBank, EMBL, PIR
and other important biology databanks.

Gopher works something like the Macintosh Finder, only over the Internet
and with various restrictions -- basically you cannot yet PUT
information
to remote servers, just GET it from them.  There are several file
"types",
include Text documents, Folders with more items, Search items to search
databases for keyword matches, Phone book items to look up people's
addresses, Binhex encoded Mac programs that you can fetch, and others.

When you find folders in a Gopher window, you can double-click them to
open a new window with more items.  There is a drop-down menu at the
top of each gopher window which you can use like the (command-key) drop
down menu in Mac Finder windows, to select parent windows.


NOTE
Network status information is displayed in the top line of the current
Gopher window.  If a network connection seems to be frozen, or if a
file you are fetching seems too big, you can frequently halt the
transfer with a COMMAND-PERIOD keypress combination, as is standard
for other Mac applications.

ÑÑNew Gopher

This creates a new Gopher document, including default links to a few
Gopher servers.

To the astute computist: The default gopher links reside in application
resources named "IGo4".  You can add to or replace these using ResEdit,
by copying a link from an open Gopher document, and pasting it into
an "IGo4" resource in ResEdit.

[ This regards the default servers listed in a New document.  You need
to use Resedit to change the "IGo4" resources in Gopherapp.  The first
one,
ID 0 "Bundle Stuff" must remain as is.  The other ones can be deleted,
replaced
or edited.  The easiest way to put a new "IGo4" link into this resource
is to
(a) Run GopherApp, open gopher doc w/ link, Select and COPY the link.
(b) Quit GopherApp, open it from ResEdit, open "IGo4" apps, create new
IGo4 item
then PASTE the (text) of the link into the Ascii side of the IGo4 edit
box.
]

ÑÑGopher Documents

The New and Open commands on the File menu will let you create new
or open old Gopher files.  You should use Copy/Paste and dragging gopher
items, as well as the "New gopher link" and "Edit gopher link" commands
to create gopher document files that suit your tastes.

You may also edit a gopher document file as if it were a TEXT file (Open
as Text).  When you save such a file, it is saved as a TEXT type.  You
can convert it back to a GopherApp document by using the "Gopher..."
command
from the Internet menu, while holding down the OPTION key.  Open the
document then resave it as a Gopher type (IGo4).  The prefered way to
edit gopher links is with "Edit gopher link" command however.

A really sneaking option (I was out of User Interface hacking time) is
to SAVE AS with OPTION key down.  This creates a document in the style
of
Gopher Server link files:
    Name=bob
    Type=0
    Path=....
However, GopherApp cannot (yet) re-read these.  You need to convert to
TEXT
and move to your Unix server.


ÑÑGopher Prefs

This dialog allows you to set some personal preferences for Gopher
views.
Some of these features (single window) are not ready yet.

Your choices for display font, size, and item information (host, port,
path, ...) are selected in the Prefs window.  Also default font and
size for text views.

The TCP Timeout sets how long the app will wait for data from a remote
connection.  Value is in 60ths of a second, so 3600 is 1 minute.  Use
a large value for slow connections, like SLIP.


ÑÑMapping file types

ÑÑGopher+ to Mac type map
# Gopher+ kind/handler mapping to Mac type/sire
# Go+    Go+        Pref  Transfer  Mac   Mac   Save To
# Kind  Handler     erence  Type    Type  Sire   Disk   Display  #
Comments
# ----  ----------  ----    ----    ----  ----   ----    ----    #------
----
#
# Various forms of text
text  -             1   text    TEXT  Rich   no     yes   # plain text
text  plain         1   text    TEXT  Rich   no     yes   # plain text
text  rtf           2   text    TEXT  MSWD   yes     no   # MS Word
text  postscript    3   text    ????  ????   yes     no    # postscript
viewer
text  MSWord5       2   text    WDBN  MSWD   yes     no   # MS Word
text  MSWord4       2   text    WDBN  MSWD   yes     no   # MS Word
text  MacWrite      3   text    WDBN  MSWD   yes     no    # MacWrite
text  WordPerfect51 3   text    WDBN  MSWD   yes     no    # WordPerf
text  tex           0   text    ????  ????   yes     no   # TeX viewer
text  dvi           0   binary  ????  ????   yes     no   # DVI viewer
text  troff         0    text   ????  ????   yes     no   # troff viewer
text  tab-separated-values 2  text    TEXT  Rich   no     yes   # plain
text
#
#
# some rehashed mimies
application postscript    3  text   ????  ????   yes     no    #
postscript viewer
application rtf           2  text   TEXT  MSWD   yes     no   # MS Word
application wordperfect5.1  3  text   WDBN  MSWD   yes     no    #
WordPerf
application mac-binhex40  1  binary   ????  ????   yes     no   # binhex
application msword        2  text   WDBN  MSWD   yes     no   # MS Word
application macwriteii    2  text   WDBN  MSWD   yes     no    #
MacWrite
#
#
# Binary files
file  hqx         1   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   # binhex
file  tar.Z       2   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   # tar-
compressed
file  tar         2   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  PKzip       3   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  Zoo         4   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  Arc         4   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  Lharc       0   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  PCEXE       0   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  MacBinary   1   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
file  uuencode    2   binary    ????  ????   yes     no   #
#
# Telnet file formats
terminal  telnet  1  text     ????  ????   yes     yes    # ncsa telnet
terminal  tn3270  2  text     ????  ????   yes     yes    # tn3270 hack
#
# Graphics file formats
image gif         2  binary   GIFf  JVWR   yes     no   #JpegViewer-2
image PICT        1  binary   PICT  JVWR   yes     no   #JpegViewer-2
image JPEG        3  binary   JPEG  JVWR   yes     no   #JpegViewer-2
image JFIF        3  binary   JFIF  JVWR   yes     no   #JpegViewer-2
image TIFF        4  binary   ????  ????   yes     no   # Photoshop ?
image pcx         0  binary   ????  ????   yes     no   #
#
# Movies
video quicktime   1  binary   ????  ????   yes     no   #
video mpeg        2  binary   ????  ????   yes     no   #
#
# Sounds
audio mulaw     0  binary ????  ????   yes     no   #
audio wave      0  binary ????  ????   yes     no   #
#
#
# put any comments after "#"
# separate values by spaces, must include all fields in a line, use "-"
for null/don't care
#
# Go+ Kind = string to match Gopher+ view kind  (case insensitive)
# Go+ Handler = string to match Gopher+ view handler (case insensitive)
# Preference = rank which are most prefered among view choices,
#    1= highest preference, 99 = lowest, but 0= never fetch this type.
# transferType = (binary, text, none) = method to transfer data from
server to client
#      (currently text == binary + strip linefeeds, none = not
supported)
# MacType = Mac Finder file type
# MacCreator = Mac Finder file creator
# saveToDisk = (yes, no) = save as disk file (otherwise try to display
in client?)
# launch = (yes, no) = launch app creator with file (system 7)
#


ÑÑGopher- to Mac type map
#
# Gopher Type to Mac Type map
#
# This is a quick hack to change the published Gopher server type into
# a type that this program may handle better.   This is a quick 'n'
dirty
# way to allow you to handle new gopher types (e.g., 'g' for gif), or
# change some of the default behavior of current types.
# For instance, if you want to read text documents with a program that
# can handle >32Kb of text, set type 0 to SaveToDisk=yes and Launch=yes.
# It would be safest to test your mappings first with the "Edit Link"
menu item.
# See also the Server suffix map.
#
# Server  Local
# Gopher  Gopher Map        Transfer  Mac   Mac      Save to
# Type    Type   When    method   Type  Creator  Disk   Launch
# ----   ----    ------  -------  ----  ----     ----   ----
  0       0      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # text
document
  1       1      always  text     IGo4  IGo4     no      no  # gopher
folder
  2       2      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # CSO phone
book
  3       3      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  #
unknown/error
  4       4      always  binary   TEXT  EDIT     yes     yes # binhex
file
  6       6      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # uuencoded
file
  7       7      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # question
service
  8       8      always  text     CONF  NCSA     yes     yes # telnet
service
  9       9      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # binary
file
  s       s      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # sound
file
  w       w      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # Whois
phone book
#--- end of types known to gopherapp
#--- map other types to ones known to gopherapp
  5       9      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # weird
msdos-binhex
  T       8      always  text     CONF  NCSA     yes     yes #
telnet/tn3270 service
  g       9      always  binary   GIFf  QGif     yes     yes #
somebody's gif type
#
#
# put any comments after "#"
# separate values by spaces, must include all (7) fields in a line
#
# server gopher type = single character, see above types and comments
# local gopher type = single character, see above types and comments
# mapWhen = (always, never)  = when to apply this mapping
# transferType = (binary, text, none) = method to transfer data from
server to client
#      (currently text == binary + strip linefeeds, none = not
supported)
# MacType = Mac Finder file type
# MacCreator = Mac Finder file creator
# saveToDisk = (yes, no) = save as disk file (otherwise try to display
in client?)
# launch = (yes, no) = launch app creator with file (system 7)
#

ÑÑServer suffix to Mac type map

#
# Gopher Server to Mac type map
#
# This is a quick hack to give Gopher server files a file type based on
# their pathname suffix.  This is not the best method -- I hope we can
expand the
# Gopher server typing scheme to do this more certainly than relying on
pathnames.
# But it should give you a taste where Gopher file typing may go.  If
you find this
# useful, make it known to various Gopher server managers that this
should be
# added to the Gopher protocol.
#
# Server  Local
# Path    Gopher Map   Transfer    Mac    Mac    Save To
# suffix  Type   When    Type      Type  Creator  Disk   Launch
#
.gif         9    always     binary       GIFf   QGif    yes     yes  #GIF
picture, Quick Gif
.tar.Z     9    default  binary    BINA   ????    yes     no   #a
general binary
.rtf       9    always   text      TEXT   MSWD      yes     yes  #ms word
rich text
.ps        9    always   binary    TEXT   ????    yes     no
#postscript
.eps           9    always   binary    EPSF   8BIM    yes     yes
#adobe photoshop
.pict      9    always   binary    PICT   8BIM    yes     yes  #adobe
photoshop
.tiff      9    always   binary    TIFF   8BIM      yes        yes  #adobe
photoshop
.jfif      9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG
Viewer
.jpeg      9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG
Viewer
.jpg       9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG
Viewer
#---
.hqx       4      always  binary   TEXT  EDIT     yes     yes # binhex
file
.uue       6      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  #
uuencoded file
#
# put any comments after "#"
# separate values by spaces, must include all (7) fields in a line
#
# suffix = string to match at end of server pathname (case sensitive)
# local gopher type = single character, see types and comments in Gopher
Map
# mapWhen = (always, default, never)  = when to apply this mapping
#      (default == apply only if server item type is default (text)
document)
# transferType = (binary, text, none) = method to transfer data from
server to client
#      (currently text == binary + strip linefeeds, none = not
supported)
# MacType = Mac Finder file type
# MacCreator = Mac Finder file creator
# saveToDisk = (yes, no) = save as disk file (otherwise try to display
in client?)
# launch = (yes, no) = launch app creator with file (system 7)
#




ÑWhat Is Internet Gopher?

Internet Gopher is an information distribution system. It combines
features of electronic bulletin board services and databases,
allowing you to either browse a hierarchy of information, or to search
for the information you need using full-text indexes.  Gopher can also
store references to wide area information services (WAIS), anonymous
ftp sites, public telnet sessions, phone book servers, sounds and
various graphic documents.

Internet Gopher gives you access to a wide range of information services
that are now developing on the Internet.  Gopher is something
like Telnet or FTP (file transfer), but also different.  It includes
some
of the keyword searching features of WAIS (Wide Area Information
Services).

Gopher works something like the Macintosh Finder, only over the Internet
and with various restrictions -- basically you cannot yet PUT
information
to remote servers, just GET it from them.  There are several file
"types",
include Text documents, Folders with more items, Search items to search
databases for keyword matches, Phone book items to look up people's
addresses, Binhex encoded Mac programs that you can fetch, and others.



ÑÑFrequently asked questions with answers

Archive-name: gopher-faq
Last-modified: 1993/05/12
Author: Paul Lindner

Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher, a
client/server protocol for making a world wide information service,
with many implementations.  Posted to comp.infosystems.gopher,
comp.answers, and news.answers every two weeks.

The most recent version of this FAQ can be gotten through gopher, or
via anonymous ftp:

rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq

Those without FTP access should send e-mail to [e-mail]
with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out
how to do FTP by e-mail.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
List of questions in the Gopher FAQ:

Q0:  What is Gopher?
Q1:  Where can I get Gopher software?
Q2:  What do I need to access Gopher?
Q3:  Where are there publicly available logins for Gopher?
Q4:  How can I add to the information in gopher?
Q5:  Who Develops Gopher Software?
Q6:  How can I set up a "CSO" phone book server?  Where is the software?
Q7:  Why can't I access the University of Minnesota's UPI news?
Q9:  What are the type characters for the different Gopher Objects?
Q10: When I do full-text searches I always get every document back, Why?
Q11: When I try to build the UNIX software I get an error from make:
     "Must be a separator on rules line #. Stop"  Why?
Q12: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?
Q13: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?
Q14: On a DECstation I get the error message "/etc/svc.conf no such file
     or directory" when running the gopherd server, why?
Q15: The boolean searching terms don't work for my full-text index, why?
Q16: When linking the Unix gopher server with WAIS I get undefined
symbols,
Q18: Why don't my WAIS indexes work?  I never get anything back for
searches.
     or Why do I get "Dangling file" error messages in my logfile?
Q19: My gopher server doesn't work under inetd, why?
Q20: This is not a bug report, just a curiousity. I managed to install
Q21: Help!  I have PC-NFS and want to use the PC-Gopher client.  How?
Q22: How do I nuke a hung TCP connection?  I can't restart my UNIX
     gopher server unless I get rid of it, and I don't want to reboot!
Q23: Is there somewhere I can retrieve a list of announced gopher
     links?  I'd like to keep a local, up-to-date list of available
gopher
     holes without requiring our users to gopher to umn just to scan
     GopherSpace.
Q24: Why doesn't my unix gopher client display ISO-Latin-1 characters
Q25: What is veronica?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q0:  What is Gopher?

A0:  The Internet Gopher client/server provides a distributed
     information delivery system around which a world/campus-wide
     information system (CWIS) can readily be constructed.   While
     providing a delivery vehicle for local information,  Gopher
     facilitates access to other Gopher and information servers
     throughout the world.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1:  Where can I get Gopher software?

A1:  via anonymous ftp to boombox.micro.umn.edu.  Look in the directory
     /pub/gopher

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2:  What do I need to access Gopher?

A2:  You will need a gopher "client" program that runs on your local PC
     or workstation

     There are clients for the following systems.  The directory
     following the name is the location of the client on the anonymous
     ftp site boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) in the directory
     /pub/gopher.

      Unix Curses & Emacs   :  /pub/gopher/Unix/gopher1.12.tar.Z
      Xwindows (athena)     :  /pub/gopher/Unix/xgopher.1.2.tar.Z
      Xwindows (Motif)      :  /pub/gopher/Unix/moog
      Xwindows (Xview)      :  /pub/gopher/Unix/xvgopher
      Macintosh Hypercard   :  /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher/old-
versions *
      Macintosh Application :  /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher *
      DOS w/Clarkson Driver :  /pub/gopher/PC_client/
      NeXTstep              :  /pub/gopher/NeXT/
      VM/CMS                :  /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or
/pub/gopher/VieGOPHER/
      VMS                   :  /pub/gopher/VMS/
      OS/2 2.0                :  /pub/gopher/os2/
      MVS/XA                :  /pub/gopher/mvs/

     Many other clients and servers have been developed by others, the
     following is an attempt at a comprehensive list.

      A Microsoft Windows Winsock client "The Gopher Book"
       sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-
windows/winsock/apps/gophbook.zip

      A Macintosh Application, "MacGopher".
        ftp.cc.utah.edu:/pub/gopher/Macintosh *

      Another Macintosh application, "GopherApp".
        ftp.bio.indiana.edu:/util/gopher/gopherapp *

      A port of the UNIX curses client for DOS with PC/TCP
        oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu:/public/dos/misc/dosgopher.exe

      A port of the UNIX curses client for PC-NFS
          bcm.tmc.edu:/nfs/gopher.exe

      A beta version of the PC Gopher client for Novell's LAN Workplace
      for DOS
         lennon.itn.med.umich.edu:/dos/gopher

      A VMS DECwindows client for use with Wollongong or UCX
         job.acs.ohio-state.edu:XGOPHER_CLIENT.SHARE


     * Note: these Macintosh clients require MacTCP.

     Most of the above clients can also be fetched via a gopher client
     itself.  Put the following on a gopher server:

       Type=1
       Host=boombox.micro.umn.edu
       Port=70
       Path=
       Name=Gopher Software Distribution.


     Or point your gopher client at boombox.micro.umn.edu, port 70 and
     look in the gopher directory.


     There are also a number of public telnet login sites available.
     The University of Minnesota operates one on the machine
     "consultant.micro.umn.edu" (134.84.132.4) See Q3 for more
     information about this.  It is recommended that you run the client
     software instead of logging into the public telnet login sites.  A
     client uses the custom features of the local machine (mouse,
     scroll bars, etc.)  A local client is also faster.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3:  Where are there publicly available logins for Gopher?

A3:  Here is a short list, use the site closest to you to minimize
     network lag.

     Public Logins:

     Hostname                  IP#              Login   Area
     ------------------------- ---------------  ------  -------------
     consultant.micro.umn.edu  134.84.132.4    gopher  North America
     gopher.uiuc.edu           128.174.33.160   gopher  North America
     panda.uiowa.edu           128.255.40.201    panda   North America
     gopher.sunet.se           192.36.125.2     gopher  Europe
     info.anu.edu.au           150.203.84.20    info    Australia
     gopher.chalmers.se        129.16.221.40    gopher  Sweden
     tolten.puc.cl             146.155.1.16     gopher  South America
     ecnet.ec               157.100.45.2     gopher  Ecuador
     gan.ncc.go.jp             160.190.10.1     gopher  Japan

     It is recommended that you run the client software instead of
     logging into the public login sites.  A client uses the
     custom features of the local machine (mouse, scroll bars, etc.)
     and gives faster response.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4:  How can I add to the information in gopher?

A4:  You can do this by running a gopher server.  Servers are available
     for a number of systems.  Use anonymous ftp to
     boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) and look in /pub/gopher.  The
     following servers are available there:

       Unix      : /pub/gopher/Unix/gopherxx.tar.Z
       VMS       : /pub/gopher/VMS/
       Macintosh : /pub/gopher/Mac_server/
       VM/CMS    : /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/Vienna_CMS/
       MVS       : /pub/gopher/mvs/
       DOS PC    : /pub/gopher/PC_server/


     When you have your server ready you can publish it to the world by
     sending e-mail to the maintainters of the "Other gophers" list:

     If your gopher server is in Europe, send mail to:

        [e-mail]

     Otherwise send mail to:

        [e-mail]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5:  Who Develops Gopher Software?

A5:  Gopher was originally developed in April 1991 by the University
     of Minnesota Microcomputer, Workstation, Networks Center to help
     our campus find answers to their computer questions.

     It has since grown into a full-fledged World Wide Information
     System used by a large number of sites in the world.

     Many people have contributed to the project, too numerous to
     count.

     The people behind the much of the gopher software can be reached
     via e-mail at [e-mail], or via paper mail:

      Internet Gopher Developers
      100 Union St. SE #190
      Minneapolis, MN 55455  USA

     Or via FAX at:

      [phone]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6:  How can I set up a "CSO" phone book server?  Where is the software?

A6:  CSO phone book servers are also known as "qi" servers.  The
     software implementation can be gotten via anonymous ftp from
     uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.5.50) as /pub/qi.tar.Z.  You may also
     see this referred to as "ph", which is what most of the clients
     are called.  A collected set of clients for Macs, PCs, VMS, VM,
     etc, are in the /pub/ph.tar.Z file.

     There is also an archive of the mailing list for qi/ph software on
     the same machine.  It's in /pub/info-ph.archive. You may join the
     list by sending email to [e-mail].

     This software is supported by Paul Pomes <[e-mail]>
     Contact him for more information.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7:  Why can't I access the University of Minnesota's UPI news?

A7:  The University of Minnesota has a site license for UPI news, we
     are not allowed to distribute it off of our campus.  We get our
     UPI news from Clarinet.  For more information about getting UPI
     news send mail to [e-mail].  For information about
     setting up your own gopher-UPI server search the gopher-news
     archive for UPI.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9:  What are the type characters for the different Gopher Objects?

A9:  Normal IDs.

     0       Item is a file
     1       Item is a directory
     2       Item is a CSO (qi) phone-book server
     3       Error
     4       Item is a BinHexed Macintosh file.
     5       Item is DOS binary archive of some sort.
     6       Item is a UNIX uuencoded file.
     7       Item is an Index-Search server.
     8       Item points to a text-based telnet session.
     9       Item is a binary file!  Client must read until the
connection
                 closes.  Beware.
     T       TN3270 connection.

     Experimental IDs.

     s       Sound type.  Data stream is a mulaw sound.
     g       GIF type.
     M       MIME type.  Item contains MIME data.
     h       html type.
     I       Image type.
     i       "inline" text type (used by panda).

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10: When I do full-text searches I always get every document back, Why?

A10: This is a problem occasionally encountered with Unix full-text
     indexes.  It is caused by setting up the link incorrectly to a
     gindexd port.

     The Path= field should be *blank* when pointing to a gindexd
     index.

     Otherwise the client will send the path to the gindexd daemon,
     which interprets everything as a keyword.  This path is
     likely to contain a pathname that is common to all of the indexed
     files.  Thus a search generates hits on everything.

     Note that gindexd isn't used much anymore, this question does not
     apply if you are using the built in indexing in the Unix gopher
     server.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11: When I try to build the UNIX software I get an error from make:
     "Must be a separator on rules line #. Stop"  Why?

A11: This is a problem with older makes that don't understand the
"include"
     keyword.  One easy way to cope with this problem is compiling GNU
     make, which does understand the include keyword.

     If this is too difficult, remove the line:

      include Makefile.config

     from all the Makefiles and paste in a copy of Makefile.config at
     the top of each Makefile.

     Or, instead of pasting you can make the client/server by going
     into the appropriate directory and typing:

      make -f ../Makefile.config -f Makefile

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q12: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?

A12: Gopher is intimately intertwined with these two other systems.
     As shipped the Unix gopher server has the capability to:

       - Search local WAIS indices.
       - Query remote WAIS servers and funnel the results to gopher
         clients.
       - Query remote ftp sites and funnel the results to gopher
         clients.
       - Be queried by WWW (World Wide Web) clients (either using
         built in gopher querying or using native http querying.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q13: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?

A13: Gopher has a whole chapter devoted to it in :

     _The_Whole_Internet_users_guide_and_catalog by Ed Krol
     (publisher O'Reilley & Associates, Inc; ISBN: 1-56592-025-2).
     (Editors note: ...Great book, go out and buy a bunch!)

     _The_Internet_Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online"
     By Jonathan Kochmer and NorthWestNet. Published by NorthWestNet,
     Bellevue, WA. 1993. 516 pp. ISBN 0-9635281-0-6.
     Contact info: [e-mail], or [phone]

     _A_Students_Guide_to_UNIX by Harley Hahn. (publisher McGraw Hill,
     Inc.; 1993 ISBN 0-07-025511-3)


     Other references include:

     _The_Internet_Gopher_, "ConneXions", July 1992, Interop.

     _Exploring_Internet_GopherSpace_ "The Internet Society News", v1n2
1992,

     (You can subscribe to the Internet Society News by sending e-mail
to
      [e-mail])

     _The_Internet_Gopher_Protocol_, Proceedings of the Twenty-Third
          IETF, CNRI, Section 5.3

     _Internet_Gopher_, Proceedings of Canadian Networking '92

     _The_Internet_Gopher_, INTERNET: Getting Started, SRI
          International, Section 10.5.5

     _Tools_help_Internet_users_discover_on-line_treasures,
Computerworld,
          July 20, 1992

     _TCP/IP_Network_Administration_, O'Reilly.

      Balakrishan, B. (Oct 1992)
        "SPIGopher: Making SPIRES databases accessible through the
      Gopher protocol".  SPIRES Fall '92 Workshop, Chapel Hill, North
      Carolina.

      Tomer, C.  Information Technology Standards for Libraries,
      _Journal of the American Society for Information Science_,
      43(8):566-570, Sept 1992.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q14: On a DECstation I get the error message "/etc/svc.conf no such file
     or directory" when running the gopherd server, why?

A14: This is caused by the chroot() call in gopherd.  It can be easily
     fixed by running gopherd with the -c option.

     Alternatively you can copy /etc/svc.conf into a directory named
     "etc" inside the gopher-data directory.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q15: The boolean searching terms don't work for my full-text index, why?

A15: This is probably because the searching is being provided by WAIS.
     WAIS opts to return all documents that contain a search phrase
     within certain limits.  WAIS searches do return the documents with
     the highest "score" at the top, those documents will have the
     closest relevance.

     Alternatively you could get a booleanized version of wais from
     ftp.bio.indiana.edu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16: When linking the Unix gopher server with WAIS I get undefined
     symbols,
       such as:

         log_file_name
         logfile
         PrintStatus
         find_value
         Sources
         NumSources

A17: This happens if you make gopherd before linking in the WAIS ir/ui
     directories.  The fix is to "make clean" or remove
     gopherd/{waisgopher.o,Waisindex.o}    and then remake gopherd.  Or
     link the ir/ui directories first.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q18: Why don't my WAIS indexes work?  I never get anything back for
searches.
     or Why do I get "Dangling file" error messages in my logfile?

A18: The problem could be in the server.  The server should be run
     using the -c option if you want WAIS to work.  Another solution is
to
     patch the WAIS code so that it doesn't check the files on the disk.
     Search the gopher-news archive for "dangling".  This will turn up a
     single document with the patch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q19: My gopher server doesn't work under inetd, why?

A19: It could be that your inetd server only supports a limited amount
     of arguments.  For instance, the maximum number of arguments to an
     inetd server is 5.  You can get around this by combining arguments:
i.e.

       gopherd -I -c

     becomes:

       gopherd -Ic

     You may also leave the port specifier off of the command line.
     The gopher server automagically finds out the port it's running on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q20: This is not a bug report, just a curiousity. I managed to install
     gopher on my PC, more or less by myself, which is a pretty good
     accomplishment, for someone who hasn't installed hardly anything on
a
     PC. I then proceeded to load my PC/TCP kernel, ETHDRV, and try to
     start up gopher. It said it couldn't initialize that stack(?). I
have
     to load this whenever I use PC/TCP. Incredibly, when I did not load
     ETHDRV, Gopher came up immediately and telneted to our local
server.
     How does it know what kernel to load?

A20 Dr. Science says,

     The Internet Gopher program is not actually computer program at
     all, but a collection of magical incantations handed down from Dark
     Age conjurors.  It works by sending magical "demons" through the
air,
     which scour the world for information, and then return to cast
     illusions containing the answer.

     When you use the Gopher, your computer isn't actually doing
     anything at all.  Instead, these demons have mesmirized you with an
     evil magical spell, which was invoked by the pattern of
     finger-movements peculiar to the typing of the letters G-O-P-H-E-R
on
     your keyboard.  This spell transmits demonic information directly
to
     your brain.

     Scientists aren't certain of the long-term effects of demonic
     mesmirization, although former presidents have suffered only minor
     medical side-effects from it.  Indeed, since Magic and Science are
     usually opposed to each other, most Scientists are usually
     close-minded about such issues, and will usually respond with some
     vacuous non-answer about "packet drivers", "stacks", and other such
     jargon.

     Unlike conventional scientists, Dr. Science is very open-minded and
     is willing to deal with such issues in a frank and honest manner.
     This is why people come to him with questions, and why they've
learned
     to rely on and live by his answers.

     Dr. Science
         "I'm not a real doctor;  I have a Master's Degree....  in
SCIENCE!"

:-) :-) :-) :-)
There's always room for a little humor in a FAQ..
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q21: Help!  I have PC-NFS and want to use the PC-Gopher client.  How?

A21: Use a piece of software called PKTMUX, available at fine ftp
     sites everywhere.  This will let you use any packet driver
     application.

     Or, aquire a client that supports PC-NFS.  See Q2.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q22: How do I nuke a hung TCP connection?  I can't restart my UNIX
     gopher server unless I get rid of it, and I don't want to reboot!

A22:

Here is an example of using dbx to change a socket from CLOSING to
CLOSED.

 # netstat -A|grep CLOSING
 c4bc5100 tcp        0     11  mymachine.gopher 129.89.8.4.70  CLOSING
 # dbx -k /vmunix /dev/mem
 ...
 (dbx) 0xc4bc5100+8/1X                  -- display contents of PCB+8
 c4bc5108:   00000007
 (dbx) assign 0xc4bc5108=0              -- zero it
 0
 (dbx) q

After a minute or two, the CLOSED socket should disappear.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q23: Is there somewhere I can retrieve a list of announced gopher
     links?  I'd like to keep a local, up-to-date list of available
gopher
     holes without requiring our users to gopher to umn just to scan
     GopherSpace.

A23: In the Unix client/server distribution is a perl script called
     "gopherdist". Gopherdist can fetch the contents of any point in
     GopherSpace.

     To dump the contents of all the North American links from
     gopher.tc.umn.edu do the following:

     % gopherdist gopher.tc.umn.edu 70 "1/Other Gopher and Information
       Servers/North America" > .Links
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q24: Why doesn't my unix gopher client display ISO-Latin-1 characters
     properly?  BTW I'm using a Sun workstation..

A24: It is the client's problem, the server is perfectly 8-bit
transparent.
     The BSD curses library uses bit 8 in order to remember, whether a
     character has been displayed reverse. So use just /usr/5bin/cc and
     you get the System V curses version which is 8 bit clean.

     Note that this may be a problem under other versions of UNIX too...

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q25: What is veronica?

A25: veronica:  Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to
     Computerized Archives.

     veronica offers a keyword search of most gopher-server menu titles
     in the entire gopher web.  As archie is to ftp archives, veronica
     is to gopherspace.  A veronica search produces a menu of gopher
     items, each of which is a direct pointer to a gopher data source.
     Because veronica is accessed through a gopher client, it is easy
     to use, and gives access to all types of data supported by the
     gopher protocol.

     To try veronica, select it from the "Other Gophers" menu on
     Minnesota's gopher server, or point your gopher at:

     Name=veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace)
     Type=1
     Port=70
     Path=1/veronica
     Host=futique.scs.unr.edu
--
 | Paul Lindner | [e-mail]   | Slipping into
madness
 |              | Computer & Information Services | is good for the sake
 | Gophermaster | University of Minnesota         | of comparison.
///// / / /    /////// / / / /  /  /  /   /      //// / / / /  /  /  /
/



ÑÑImpressions

One of the impressive things I remember when I first when to a large
university after growing up in a small town, was finding the library.
My home town library was a place of discovery and enjoyment for me.
When I went off to college, the library was one of the first things
I looked into.  I spent much time looking around this mountain of
knowledge, and I learned much, perhaps more than from classes, in these
big libraries.

That is the way Internet Gopher strikes me -- like going from a small
town library to a big university one.  It is a very simple but
powerful way to bring information from anywhere, locally or world-wide,
to your personal computer.  It is easy to set up gopher servers.  It is
Very Easy to use the gopher clients.

The IUBio Biology Archive is now available thru internet Gopher.
It is reached at host "ftp.bio.indiana.edu", standard gopher port# 70,
with path="".  You may also find links to other Biology gophers at this
site, including North American, European and Middle East sites, at the
time of this writing.

Internet gopher is pretty easy to learn to use.  Gopher and WAIS provide
somewhat different protocols for serving information out to clients over
the
Internet.  Gopher is strong on browsing -- you can find new things just
by
pointing at lists.  WAIS is strong on linking together many dispersed
servers to answer a given question.  I think they both are good, but I
think Gopher is an order of magnitude easier to learn, and install, and
consequently will be more useful to more people.

Thru the IUBio Biology Archive, you can, for instance, fetch a single
sequence entry
from Genbank by providing its accession number or locus name as the
question:
   Fetch by accession number <?>
   X51902
   -- will fetch the sequence "Alcaligenes eutrophus gene for 10Sa RNA"

Or you can provide key words:
  Search by keyword, author... <?>
  Acanthamoeba castellanii
  -- will list all sequences of that species of amoeba.





ÑBugs


NOTE NOTE NOTE


As there are still some bugs in GopherApp which cause it to freeze or
bomb, if you are using Mac System 7, you can exit a frozen GopherApp
without restarting your Mac:
         Command-Option-Escape

keypress will always abort the front application.  Sometimes if you do
this, the MacTCP system software may be left in a bad state, and you may
need to restart your computer anyway (after safely closing other apps)
in order to re-use MacTCP programs.

GopherApp Preferences.  This file stores your personal customizations
for
GopherApp.  On System 7 Macs, it is found in the System
Folder:Preferences:
folder.  On System 6 macs, it is found in the System Folder:  GopherApp
requires
this file, and of the proper version number.  It will make this file if
it
does not exist. If this file gets corrupted, the GopherApp may fail.  If
you have
problems, especially starting GopherApp,  erase this file then try
again.

CSO phonebook works at simple level.  GopherApp doesn't query CSO
server for valid fields as it might, so listed fields may fail. Some
queries may fail do to improper formatting (I'm no CSO expert).

I've added WHOIS phonebook type "w" since it is just a child object of
TextGopher + Search question. You can find a list of world wide WHOIS
servers at the IUBIO gopher, along w/ CSO servers.

The WAIS searching now works properly.
>> Fixed for long paths 6 Jul

I tried to implement a window-saving feature to have new gopher folder
items
replace the current parent gopher folder, as per the Hypercard client.
>> dropped from gopherapp

In System 7, the Telnet sessions should be automatically launched.
>> fixed 24 jun


>>> Bug reports from field, problems fixed (as of 26may92):

1) The types of a saved session (IGo4) and the app (SApp)
   are not the same as the predifined (IGo4/IGo4)
>> fixed

2) When I cancel a TCP open, I still get a new window with
   the defaults from the resource IGo4. [should be fixed]
     This also happens when I open a empty folder. [feature]
>> fixed 7 jun

5) I know its hard but it would be useful to run another app
   during data-transfer, and to put GopherApp in the background.
>> fixed 24 jun

One problem I noticed is that when I first started the app it chose a
non-text font for the icon titles, which confused me at first.
[fixed as of 26may92, also added user pref for text view font]

---
A problem that I have is that when I click on an item
it will go out .. get the info. and the cms server will close the
connection
however.. gopher app just sits there until I press  command .
it will then display the info.
[ protocol I used at first waited for ".<CR><LF>" terminator signal.
  Now, I think, TCP reading routines also notice when door
    has been slammed shut :) ]
>> fixed


>>> Bug reports from field, problems still pending:

1) Can you indicate how difficult (how long time) it would
   take to make a ISO-version?
>> I don't intend to do any ISO version.  Source is available
>> for those who want to add this enough to work on it.

3) Some of the items in Gopher Prefs (small icons) are greyed
   out (not implemented yet?)
>> fixed 7 jul

6) The clock, it doesn't rotate while TCP is working...
>> maybe later

----

Also, while composing this message, I had a minor problem with the last
line getting cut off, probably because the view was just slightly short.
>> fixed

---
A small comment on GopherApp. If you open a config file in
text mode, add a new gopher and save it, it becomes a TEXT
file and Open... doesn't seem to work properly. It should
preserve the IGo4 file type.
>> use Edit gopher item menu

I can't seem to get GopherApp to work with a Gopher server
running on the same Mac. I am using the Gopher Mac server
and have no problems with the Gopher client hypercard
stack. But GopherApp hangs at "TCP is waiting to open".
[no idea where problem is... later]
>> Reports from field say this problem has disappeared (v 1.2)

---
Whenever I double click on a goper server that does not
respond, (I suspect that it is off line)...the program
hangs with a clock face at the message TCP established.  I
have to reboot tht system to get out of this hang.  Command
period would be a nice interrupt here.
>> Command-period does work now, though it is a bit slow
>> to respond during name lookup (lean on keys about a minute
>> or lower the time-out preference).

---

...GopherApp seemed a bit slow when transferring large files.
>> 24 jun version should be noticeably faster

--
... get dialog/alert "Could not start the application because of
a program error". Disabling the TOPS 3.0 INIT sees GopherApp load OK.
... the only other MacTCP application I've had a
problem with is WAIS but I didn't try localizing the problem in that
case.

[gopherapp and TOPS don't get along, reason unknown]

---
...trying to save files, and every
time I tried to, GopherApp gave a "disk error".
>> This was a System 7/Apple Events bug, fixed 7 July


We were wondering if there was a way to redirect the App to our server.

>> see the Gopher Prefs button "Save Front Window"

---

I  don't have access to a DNS ... need to use Hosts file.
>> Not yet.

Gopher is great, but *please* make it possible to put it in
the background (switch to another application) while Gopher
is transferring files.
>>> fixed

---
i'm running gopher on a mac. when i double-click to receive
a text file from a server i'm getting incomplete files;
they just stop before the physical end of the file. this
has been consistient behavior since i started using gopher.
what's up?

>>> no idea, unless it is a time-out. You can try increasing the
>>> tcp timeout to 1800, 3600 or larger. Please send more info
>>> if any of you see this.

---

I am running the Macintosh server from boombox.micro.umn.edu, which is
nice.  I can connect to it with the Hypercard client, but I have
problems using
GopherApp 1.1b8.

>> I've never tested GopherApp w/ Mac Gopher Server.  Some say the
problem
>> is fixed as of version 1.2b.  No idea what it might be or have been.

---
I seem to be having trouble
getting any of the "appearance" prefs to function. Item
view and text view prefs have no effect, either immediate
or after quiting and restarting.

>> this must be a system-specific problem with your setup
>> -- those prefs should be working.  Need more info.

---

One suggestion is to provide a view with no. of bytes if possible.

>> only if the server sends that info.  See IUBio Gopher Server date &
size
>> modification.

---

I think you know that little icons can't be activated
>> fixed v1.3

did you think of
displaying the size of documents ?
>> Server must send size info, see above

Transfers sometimes take a long time, and
you cannot send Gopher App back to the background
>> fixed v1.2

Could not complete your request because of a program error.
... when I tried to go into a folder (ie directory) that had no files in
it.
>>> fixed v1.2

---
1.  Download in the background.
>> done
2.  Show some indication of progress, either % of file retrieved or
    the size of the total file as well as how much has already been
    downloaded.
>> only if server sends size info, see above.

after restarting my Mac I was no longer able to even start up
GopherApp.  On every attempt I got a pop-up window saying:
"Could not start the application because of a program error."

>> damaged System Folder:Preferences:"Gopher Preferences" file.
>> Trash it and try again.

---

I have been using the GopherApp Mac gopher
client to access files on a Unix file server, and I have
noticed that it does not always display the entire contents
of a text file.  The Unix client displays the entire file,
so I am fairly sure the file is OK.  The Mac client just
truncates the end of the file, usually after the first 50
or so lines, but it gives no error message.
I have tried lengthening
mi TCP timeout values, but it didn't help.

>>> need more info -- same file truncated always
>>> at same place?  all files truncated or just some?
>>> if same file, send copy of file or point me to gopher link

---

GopherApp can bring the "Gopher-Dave" window to the front with out
a problem, but the "Info-Mac (sumex-aim)" won't come to the front.

>> parentheses are part of Mac Menu item command set.  Needs fancy fix.
>> Ignore the bug for now (not damaging).

---

Hi new gopher app looks good, however I am running
EvenBetterBus error, an init that causes a bus error when
you write to a nil pointer. I currently get a bus error
most times that I open a gopher 'folder' gopherapp keeps
running OK but its a bit worrying. (The write to nil error
also occurs when I hit the send button in the mailing bit)

>> I tracked that one down, with a *lot* of effort (and thanks
>> for tip on MrBusError tool).  Problem w/ a call to MacTCP DNR
>> (and lacking in DNR documentation).

---

I have a 13" RGB monitor and a 19" gray scale monitor attached to my Mac
so
that they form a following desktop:

Even when GopherApp windows are all in the far left upper corner, new
windows are sometimes placed too low (x) or at the middle (bottom) of
the
desktop (X) so that they are half hidden.

>> GopherApp relies on MacApp for window placement.  Maybe new version
of
>> MacApp will cure this.  Don't hold your breath for a fix on this one.

---

The latest release of Mac Gopher does not seem to display
the CSO information properly, the old version (May 27) did.
The "contains" feature does not work

>> seems to be fixed now.

---

Many folks are using the version of the gopher server that
supports the "g" file type for GIF files. GopherApp says
Yuck! to this file type and refuses to download it, even
though the nifty new suffix mapping code has been told how
to handle .gif files.

Would it be possible to add support for "undefined"
document types beyond 0-9, etc.? This seems a logical
extension of the suffix mapping code to include suffix and
gopher file type mapping.

>> See Gopher type to Mac type map, new in version 1.3b
>> Now any new gopher type may be mapped by user to a type GopherApp
>> understands.

---
I see you fixed the bug with the mac server, great!!

>> not intentionally, but I didn't put the bug in intentionally either.

I could not get any of the WAIS based gateway searchs to
work?

>> should be fixed as of version 1.3b

---




ÑÑBug Patrol

>>> My thanks to those below and others who have sent comments and bug
reports.
    Keep them coming.

 [e-mail]
 "John M. Sellens" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 "Farhad Anklesaria"  <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Peter Gustafsson)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 "Daniel K. Appelquist" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 Danny Thomas <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail] (Dan Davison)
 [e-mail]
 "Joel L. Hansen" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail] (Dave Garaffa)
 [e-mail] (Scientists on Disk)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 James Gray <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 John Larson <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Glenn Anderson)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Steve Cousins)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 Brian Denehy <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]

ÑHistory

GopherApp -- First public release on 25 Mar 92. Derived from biosequence
analysis application SeqApp.

SeqApp was started Sept. 1990 as MacApp sequence editor/analysis
platform
on which analysis programs from other authors, typically command line
w/ weak user interfaces, could be easily incorporated into a useable Mac
interface.

9 Nov 93, v 2.1b117  Stable beta release, still has known bugs but
usable.  Built on the pointer-based MacApp v 3.1a.  A lot of bugs from
the v 2.0b release have been chased out.  User-interface changes
include:
+ View links by size, date, name, host, ...
+ "New gopher hole" is simplified way to connect to new gopher
+ "Find home of link" for Veronica users & other cases to locate root
server for any given gopher link
+ Matching gopher data to Mac applications has been cleaned up w/ Choose
Application button in New & Edit gopher links
+ Mapping of Gopher+ types to Mac types (in Prefs) changed & simplified.
+ Network preference "Use quickest gopher+ method" is for dialup
internet or other slow network links.  Cuts amount of data fetched with
each directory.
+ Get Info from link
+ Mail link maintainer
+ added support for moo-V and Note gopher types
Non-interface changes
+ TCP code extensively revised
+ multithreading processes cleaned up

19 Aug 93, v 2.0b3    Major revision.  Translated from Object Pascal to
C++, and from Macapp version 2 to version 3 (the later was harder than
the former).  Added many Gopher+ features, including ASK dialogs and
alternate views.  Added multitreaded execution of TCP transactions
(thanks Peter Speck for Nuntius╒s example).  There are still several
known and suspected bugs in this release.


7 Jul 92, v 1.3b52 Various bug fixes to GopherApp, including
  long paths (>255 char) so now all wais searches should work,
    mapping to mac types extended to Gopher types, so e.g.,
      new gopher types can be incorporated thru user-editable map
('T'->'8' or 'g'->'9'),
        or change default behavior (have '0' text always displayed
by favorite text editor),
    binhex transfer is revised, now is a lot FASTER,
    fixed "Save" bug when file openned from finder,
    pref: small icon views enabled,
    pref: disabled edit/new link unless smart user flips switch,
    pref: dropped "same window",
    pref: require user locate diggings folder before attempting to use
it,

24 Jun 92, v. 1.2b?.  Updated Gopher functions, including
    background data fetching now works properly
    added binary file type (sound type now = binary)
    added item date and size display (when server permits (only iubio
now))
    Gopher Diggings folder for auto-save of files
    revamped internal structures and operations (be on lookout for new
bugs)
    should be noticeably faster file fetch (esp. for larger files)
    experimental gopher type to mac file type mapping,
      including user prefs, editing and launching (sys7)
    ReadMail (POP mail) now works and is enabled (it's not fancy
though)

26 May 92, v1.1b31 --  New TCP timeout option makes this a SLIPpery app,
default item font now has sane value, help file now is
always found when in app folder, TCP userbreak handles update
events, but still doesn't background properly or spin cursor,
text view now has default font pref.

12 May 92, v1.1b8 -- various bug fixes, chased out several TCP related
problems,
added edit gopher link, new gopher link. Partial backgrounding during
long
gopher fetches -- not working completely yet.  Known bug of limit to
path
length of Pascal string size [255] that truncates, for instance, some
long wais-gatewayed document paths.

21 Apr 92 minor update: corrected GopherApp file creator signature,
added domain name server lookup cache.

25 Mar 92, v1.0a41+.  First release to general public.
Also released SeqApp for biologists.