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- From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
- Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted
- Subject: Information about finding sources (READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)
- Message-ID: <csw_faq_Sun.Apr.14.17:01:27.EDT.1991@athena.mit.edu>
- Date: 14 Apr 91 21:01:40 GMT
- Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
- Followup-To: poster
- Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Lines: 328
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-
- [$Id: csw_faq,v 1.2 91/04/14 16:54:16 jik Exp $]
-
- This posting discusses the resources available to people who are
- looking for source code. Please read it before posting source code
- requests to comp.sources.wanted, alt.sources.wanted or any other
- newsgroup.
-
- Comments about, suggestions about or corrections to this posting are
- welcomed.
-
-
-
- How do you find sources?
-
- The method you use for locating sources depends on exactly what you
- are looking for. Here are several possible routes to follow; pick the
- one that best suits your needs. The descriptions below mention
- general techniques (e.g. "Check the Usenet source newsgroup indices.")
- which are described in detail later in this posting. These
- descriptions are listed in order from most preferred to least
- preferred solution. You will notice that "Post in
- comp.sources.wanted" is listed last. This is because posting
- a message in comp.sources.wanted should only be used as a last resort
- when you have exhausted all other alternatives.
-
- Once you have located your source code using the instructions below,
- you can retrieve it via E-mail or anonymous ftp (depending on what is
- accessible to you and on where the code is archived); this is
- described in detail later in this posting.
-
- 1. "I know the name of the program I want, but I don't know where to
- get it."
-
- a. Check the indices for the various main Usenet source newsgroups.
-
- b. Check with archie.
-
- c. Check Jon Granrose's anonymous ftp directory.
-
- d. Check comp.archives.
-
- e. Post to comp.sources.wanted.
-
- 2. "I know the name of the program I want, and I know which newsgroup
- it was posted in, but either (a) I didn't get some of the parts of
- it, or (b) I didn't save it when it was posted and now I find that
- I need it."
-
- DO NOT post a message to comp.sources.wanted saying, "I didn't save
- all of this when it was archived, could someone please send it to
- me?" If the code was posted in a source newsgroup, then it is
- archived somewhere. Follow the instructions below for retrieving
- code from Usenet source newsgroup archives.
-
- 3. "I am looking for source code that does <x>."
-
- Follow the same process as (1) above, but instead of searching for
- the name of the program, search for keywords in your description of
- what you're looking for. For example, if you're looking for
- graphical clocks that run under the X window system, you might
- search for the word "clock" in the index for comp.sources.x.
-
- 4. "I am looking for source code that does <x>," where <x> is
- something algorithmic or mathematical that is commonly solved with
- computers.
-
- Check AT&T's "netlib" archive, and if that doesn't work, proceed as
- in (3) above.
-
- 5. "I am looking for source code that does <x> under the X window
- system."
-
- As in (3), but after checking the Usenet source newsgroup indices
- (most importantly, that of comp.sources.x), check the anonymous ftp
- archive on export.lcs.mit.edu.
-
- See also the postings entitled "Frequently Asked Questions about X
- with Answers," posted monthly in comp.windows.x and various other
- X-related newsgroups. Those postings discuss in detail how to get
- X sources of various sorts. If these postings have expired at your
- site, see the documentation below about retrieving postings from
- the periodic posting archive.
-
- 6. "I'm looking for neat programs to run on my <x> machine."
-
- Don't post questions like this. The amount of source code
- available on the Usenet is incredible; you are essentially asking
- for a summary of all of it. Browse through the various archives
- mentioned in this posting if you want to find something like this.
-
- 7. "I'm looking for NetNews software <x>."
-
- See the posting entitled "USENET Software: History and Sources,"
- posted periodically in news.admin and news.announce.newusers. If
- it has expired at your site, see the documentation below about
- retrieving postings from the periodic posting archive.
-
- 8. "I'm looking for the source code for Unix."
-
- Most implementations of Unix contain source code that is, at least
- to some extent, proprietary and not freely redistributable. If you
- are looking for the source code to a particular Unix utility, you
- may have better luck looking for a public-domain reimplementation
- of that utility, using (1) or (3) above. Furthermore, the Free
- Software Foundation may distribute a freely redistributable version
- of the utility, protected by the Gnu Public License (Jon Granrose's
- list mentions many anonymous ftp archive sites for FSF software;
- furthermore, the hrc mail server archives some FSF software).
- Finally, if the utility was written by the folks who do the BSD
- variant of Unix, then it might be available in the various BSD
- source archives (the best one is probably gatekeeper.dec.com) on
- the net (see Jon Granrose's list to find them).
-
- 9. "I'm looking for a dictionary," or, "I'm looking for a thesaurus."
- There aren't any freely redistributable dictionary or thesaurus
- databases. If you've already got the database (e.g. on a NeXT
- machine), you may be able to find sources for code to manipulate
- it; see (3) above. If you don't, then you probably aren't going to
- get any useful answers if you ask this question.
-
-
-
- Searching techniques in detail
-
- 1. Usenet source newsgroups
-
- There are many Usenet newsgroups in which source code is posted,
- and most of them are archived. They include:
-
- alt.sources
- comp.sources.3b1
- comp.sources.acorn
- comp.sources.amiga
- comp.sources.apple2
- comp.sources.atari.st
- comp.sources.games
- comp.sources.mac
- comp.sources.misc
- comp.sources.sun
- comp.sources.unix
- comp.sources.x
- vmsnet.sources
- vmsnet.sources.games
-
- If you're looking for software for a particular machine or
- operating system, you should check the source archives that are
- appropriate (e.g. checking "comp.sources.mac" if you're looking for
- programs to run under SunOS probably wouldn't be very profitable),
- as well as the general archives such as alt.sources or
- comp.sources.misc.
-
- Sites that archive Usenet source newsgroups usually provide some
- method of getting an index of the files in each newsgroup's
- archive. If you are accessing an anonymous ftp archive, then this
- index will usually appear as a file called "index" or "Index" in
- the top-level archive of the newsgroup, or in each volume of the
- newsgroup's archive.
-
- If you are accessing a mail archive, then the instructions for
- using that archive should explain how to get indices of the
- newsgroups that are archived.
-
- To find anonymous ftp archives of Usenet newsgroups, check Jon
- Granrose's anonymous ftp directory (see below). The most
- well-known Usenet newsgroup archive is probably ftp.uu.net, which
- archives comp.sources.3b1, comp.sources.amiga, comp.sources.games,
- comp.sources.misc, comp.sources.sun, comp.sources.unix, and
- comp.sources.x, among other things. Another large Usenet archive
- site is wuarchive.wustl.edu, which archives alt.sources,
- comp.sources.mac, and comp.sources.apple2, in addition to most of
- the newsgroups archived on ftp.uu.net.
-
- The vmsnet newsgroups are archived on black.cerritos.edu and
- acfcluster.nyu.edu. See also the posting "Monthly info posting:
- vmsnet.sources archive sites" in vmsnet.sources.d and comp.os.vms;
- if it has expired at your site, see the documentation below about
- retrieving postings from the periodic posting archive.
-
- The mail archive server on hrc.UUCP (see below) archives
- alt.sources, comp.sources.unix, comp.sources.games,
- comp.sources.misc, comp.sources.x, and comp.sources.sun, among
- other things.
-
- 2. The "archie" database
-
- "Archie" is a database of anonymous ftp sites and their contents.
- The software for it was written by the "Archie Group" at McGill
- University in Montreal, Canada, and they maintain the database as
- well.
-
- "Archie" keeps track of the entire contents of a very large number
- of anonymous ftp sites, and allows you to search for files on those
- sites using various different kinds of filename searches. Archie
- also has a software description database (with contents similar to
- the output of the "whatis" command under Unix), on which you can do
- keyword searches.
-
- If you have Internet access, then you access archie by telnet'ing
- to the host quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3 or 132.206.51.1) and
- logging in as "archie" with no password. Type "help" at that point
- for more information.
-
- If you do not have Internet access, then send a mail message to
- archie@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca with "help" in the body of the message
- to find out how to access archie via mail. Note that the mail
- interface to archie does not currently provide all of the
- functionality that the interactive interface provides; for example,
- the software description database is not accessible through the
- mail interface.
-
- 3. Jon Granrose's anonymous ftp directory
-
- Jon Granrose maintains an extensive list of anonymous ftp sites and
- overviews of their contents. The list is posted monthly to
- comp.misc, comp.sources.wanted and alt.sources.wanted. If it has
- expired at your site, see the documentation below about retrieving
- postings from the periodic posting archive.
-
- 4. Comp.archives
-
- The comp.archives newsgroup, moderated by Ed Vielmetti, contains
- announcements of archive sites and their contents. If you cannot
- find what you're looking for in the comp.archives postings
- available at your site at any given time, then you can read the
- newsgroup for a while and watch for new postings that are of
- interest to you, or you can try to find an archive site that
- archives the postings in comp.archives. One such site is the
- anonymous ftp archives on wuarchive.wustl.edu.
-
- 5. Comp.sources.wanted
-
- When you post a message to comp.sources.wanted or
- alt.sources.wanted, the important thing to remember is to BE
- SPECIFIC. If you're working under Unix, make sure to mention that;
- possibly, mention even what type of Unix. If you're not working
- under Unix, make sure to mention what operating system and machine
- type you *are* working under.
-
- Remember to choose a meaningful Subject line for your message;
- something like, "Can you help me?" is very unhelpful to people who
- ARE willing to help, and may just cause some of them to not bother
- reading your posting. Try to summarize what you're looking for
- meaningfully in your Subject line.
-
- Also, it is usually a good idea to ask for people to send you
- E-mail rather than posting responses. Say that if enough people
- write to you and ask for copies of whatever responses you get, then
- you'll summarize the responses in a later posting to the newsgroup,
- and if that happens, then DO post the summary.
-
- Finally, don't say, "Would someone please mail me <x>?" Say,
- "Would someone please tell me where I can get <x>, or what's
- available that does <x>? If you can mail it to me, please let me
- know, and I'll let you know if I want you to." This avoids the
- problem of several people mailing you what you requested and
- overflowing your mailbox.
-
-
-
- File retrieval techniques in detail
-
- 1. Anonymous ftp
-
- If you are on a site that is connected to the Internet and allows
- its users to ftp out to other Internet sites, then you have
- anonymous ftp access. The usual procedure for using anonymous ftp
- is to type the command "ftp machine-name", where "machine-name" is
- the name of the machine to which you want to connect, and then to
- use "anonymous" as the username and "user@host" (i.e. your E-mail
- address) as the password when you are prompted for it by ftp.
-
- Type "help" inside ftp to get a list of commands, and/or read the
- man page for ftp, or any other documentation about it available at
- your site for more information. If they don't answer your
- question, then ask someone at your site for help.
-
- If you don't have Internet and ftp access, then you can use the
- BITFTP server to retrieve files from anonymous ftp archives.
- However, you should only use BITFTP when the same files are not
- available form a dedicated mail archive server. See the BITFTP
- instructions below.
-
- 2. Hrc mail archive
-
- As mentioned above, the UUCP host "hrc" maintains an archive of
- Usenet source newsgroups and other things. To find out how to use
- it, send mail to "hrc!archives", or "archives@hrc.UUCP", or
- whatever format your site uses to send mail to the user "archives"
- on the machine "hrc", and include the following commands in the
- body of the message:
-
- send path <address>
- send help
-
- You should replace <address> with a path from hrc to you. If you
- know a prominent UUCP site that has you in its path, then your path
- can start at that site, e.g. "uunet!mit-athena!jik" (PLEASE don't
- use that address, or I'll get the responses to your requests!). If
- you're on a site that has a name registered with the Internet name
- servers, you can use "uunet!athena.mit.edu!jik".
-
- 3. Uunet mail archive
-
- Uunet.uu.net provides E-mail access to the sources it archived (see
- the discussion about ftp.uu.net above for some idea of what is
- available). The address to which to send requests is
- "netlib@uunet.uu.net". You can send a message containing "help" in
- its body for more information.
-
- 4. BITFTP
-
- The BITFTP server, run by Princeton University, allows you to
- retrieve via E-mail files at anonymous ftp archive sites. To find
- out how to use it, send mail to "bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu" with
- "help" in the body.
-
- 5. Periodic posting archive
-
- As mentioned above, The machine pit-manager.mit.edu (18.72.1.58)
- maintains an archive of periodic Usenet postings. You can access
- it via anonymous ftp, or via mail server. To find out how to use
- the mail server, send a message to
- "mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu" with Subject "help".
-
- Jonathan Kamens USnail:
- MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace
- jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134
- Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710
-