NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/aus/general/2711

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From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: aus.general,aus.mail,aus.archives,aus.aarnet
Subject: ftpmail - automatic monthly posting
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 25 Jan 93 00:13:04 GMT
Sender: [e-mail] (Super User)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Distribution: aus
Organization: University of Wollongong
Lines: 424

The ftpmail service is designed to provide a ftp service to
those sites without Internet access. The ftpmail gateway
parses mail items to extract requests to fetch files or
obtain directory listings from Internet ftp hosts.

The address of the gateway is

[e-mail]

To mail to the maintainer of the ftpmail service send mail to

[e-mail]

The following is a copy of the help file ftpmail returns
when it does not understand your request.

====================================================================


Welcome to the University of Wollongong MAIL to FTP gateway.

This message is the response the gateway sends when it does
not understand your request.

The gateway is a simple attempt to provide a service to those
people who have electronic mail but no access to Internet
for FTP.

Requests
========

    To access the gateway send mail to

    [e-mail]

The gateway software will examine the body of your mail item
(headers are ingored) and try to determine what machine you
wish to access and what file you want fetched.

It also implements a interface to the "archie" system
for locating files available for anonymous ftp.
Archie searches a database of files available for
ftp from a list of major archive sites.

For example, you may know of a product called
"amd" but not know where it is available on the
Internet. You could use the "archie" command to find out
where a copy of "amd" is available. Some information on using the
"archie" command is enclosed at the end of this document.

Using FTPMAIL
============

Normally, ftpmail attempts to connect with the target machine as an anonymous
ftp user. It is possible to override the user name ftpmail will use for the
connection as well as specify a password (see below).

If the above step is successful it then attempts the transfer in binary
mode and if successful mails the files to you. All files are sent uuencoded.
If the file is large it is split into smaller pieces and
each piece is sent separately.

Each request must contain a single line of the form

HOST hostname

to specify the remote host you wish to access. The "hostname" field above
may be a INTERNET style domain name or an IP address in dotted notation.
Wherever possible, names should be used rather than IP numbers.
You may only have a single "HOST" line per FTPMAIL request.
If using dotted decimal notation, do not enclose the address inside
[] style brackets.

To specify the file to transfer your request must contain
a line of the form

GET filename-1 filename-2 ........

Each request can only contain one GET command but each GET command
may specify several file names.

If you wish to list the files available on a remote machine
your request should contain a line of the form

DIR directory-1 directory-2 .......

A request may contain only one of either a GET or a DIR line.

If you have a problem send mail to [e-mail]
or the postmaster. The system is experimental and probably contains
many bugs. If you find a bug, please notify the above address so
it can be fixed.

Ftpmail normally sends fetched files back to you as a series
of shell archives. If you are not on a UNIX system
(my condolences) you may specify you want the uuencoded segments
"raw" by specifying a line of the form

PLAINMAIL

in your request. In this case you may combine the uuencoded segments
by hand. There is no way to avoid the uuencoding or the
splitting of large files.


Large files are split into small pieces to avoid problems
with mailers that cannot handle large files. The default
chunksize is 60K. Users may override the default chunksize
with the CHUNKSIZE keyword. The number specified with the
CHUNKSIZE keyword is the size in Kilobytes. For example,

CHUNKSIZE 200

included in the mail body will set the chunksize to 200K bytes.
The lower limit on the chunksize is 20K and the upper limit
is 200K. CHUNKSIZE may be specified along with the PLAINMAIL
keyword.



Using a specified user name
===========================

Ftpmail allows the user to specify the user name and password
to use for the connection. If you use this facility remember that
the password you specify appears in the mail item as PLAIN
TEXT. Mail is not secure so sending plain text passwords should be
used with extreme caution. In general, only publicly available
passwords should be sent in this manner.

The commands for specifying a user name and password are

USER username      (no spaces allowed)

and

PASSWORD password     (no spaces allowed)

Ftpmail will attempt to connect to the specified server
(from the HOST command) and use the specified user name
and password.


Using ARCHIE
============

If your request contains a line of the form

ARCHIE parameters

then ftpmail will invoke the "archie" command with the parameters
specified. For example, if you sent mail containing the line

ARCHIE amd

then ftpmail will invoke "archie" with the argument amd.

The output from the command is mailed back exactly as it
is printed by the "archie" command.

The man page for "archie" follows.





ARCHIE(1)                USER COMMANDS                  ARCHIE(1)



NAME
     archie - query the  Archie  anonymous  FTP  databases  using
     Prospero

SYNOPSIS
     archie [ -cers ] [ -a ] [ -l ] [ -t ] [ -m hits ] [ -N level ] [ -h hostname ]
             [ -o filename ] [ -L ] [ -fB-V ] string

DESCRIPTION
     archie queries an archie anonymous FTP database looking  for
     the  specified  string  using  the  Prospero protocol.  This
     client is based on Prospero version Beta.4.2 and is provided
     to  encourage non-interactive use of the Archie servers (and
     subsequently better performance on both  sides).   This  man
     page describes version 1.3 of the client.

     The general method of use is of the form

          % archie string

     This will go to the archie server and ask it to look for all
     known  systems  that have a file named `string' in their FTP
     area.  archie will wait, and print out any matches.

     For example,

          % archie emacs

     will find all anonymous FTP sites  in  the  archie  database
     that  have  files  named  emacs somewhere in their FTP area.
     (This particular query would probably return a lot of direc-
     tories.)  If you want a list of every filename that contains
     emacs anywhere in it, you'd use

          % archie -c emacs

     Regular expressions, such as

          % archie -r '[xX][lL]isp'

     may also be used for searches.  (See the manual of a reason-
     ably good editor, like GNU Emacs or vi, for more information
     on using regular expressions.)


OPTIONS
     The options currently available to this archie client are:

     -c          Search substrings paying attention  to  upper  &
                 lower case.
     -e          Exact string match.  (This is the default.)
     -r          Search using a regular expression.



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ARCHIE(1)                USER COMMANDS                  ARCHIE(1)



     -s          Search  substrings  ignoring  the  case  of  the
                 letters.
     -ofilename  If specified, place the results of the search in
                 filename.
     -a          Output results as Alex filenames.
     -l          Output results in a form suitable for parsing by
                 programs.
     -t          Sort the results inverted by date.
     -mhits      Specifies the maximum number of  hits  (matches)
                 to return (default of 95).
     -Nlevel     Sets the niceness of a query; by  default,  it's
                 set  to 0.  Without an argument, ``-N'' defaults
                 to 35765.   If  you  use  -N  with  an  argument
                 between 0 and 35765, it'll adjust itself accord-
                 ingly.  (Note: VMS users will have to put quotes
                 around  this  argument, and -L, like "-N45"; VMS
                 will otherwise convert it to lowercase.)
     -h hostname Tells the client  to  query  the  Archie  server
                 hostname.
     -L          Lists the Archie servers known  to  the  program
                 when it was compiled, as well as the name of the
                 default Archie server.  For an up-to-date  list,
                 write  to  ``[e-mail]''  (or  any
                 Archie  server)  with  the  single  command   of
                 servers.
     -V          With the verbose option, archie will  make  some
                 comments  along  the way if a search is going to
                 take some time, to pacify the user.

     The three search-modifying arguments  (``-c'',  ``-r'',  and
     ``-s'')  are  all  mutually  exclusive;  only  the  last one
     counts.  If you specify -e with any of  ``-c'',  ``-r'',  or
     ``-s'', the server will first check for an exact match, then
     fall back to the case-sensitive, case-insensitive, or  regu-
     lar expression search.  This is so if there are matches that
     are particularly obvious, it will take a minimal  amount  of
     time to satisfy your request.

     If you list a single `-' by itself,  any  further  arguments
     will  be  taken  as  part  of  the  search  string.  This is
     intended to enable searching for strings that begin  with  a
     `-'; for example:

          % archie -s - -old

     will search for all filenames that contain the string `-old'
     in them.

RESPONSE
     Archie servers are set up to respond to a number of requests
     in  a  queued fashion.  That is, smaller requests get served
     much more quickly than do large requests.  As a result,  the



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ARCHIE(1)                USER COMMANDS                  ARCHIE(1)



     more  often  you query the Archie server, or the larger your
     requests, the longer the queue will become, resulting  in  a
     longer  waiting  period  for everyone's requests.  Please be
     frugal when possible, for your benefit as well  as  for  the
     other users.

QUERY PRIORITY
     Please use the  ``-N''  option  whenever  you  don't  demand
     immediacy,  or when you're requesting things that could gen-
     erate large responses.  Even when using the nice option, you
     should  still  try  to  avoid  big jobs during busy periods.
     Here is a list of what we consider to be  nice  values  that
     accurately reflect the priority of a job to the server.

          Normal              0
          Nice                500
          Nicer               1000
          Very Nice           5000
          Extremely Nice      10000
          Nicest              32765

     The last priority, Nicest, would be used when a  job  should
     wait  until  the  queue is essentially empty before running.
     You should pick one of these values to use, possibly modify-
     ing  it  slightly depending on where you think your priority
     should land.  For example, 32760 would mean wait  until  the
     queue  is  empty,  but  jump  ahead  of other jobs that have
     selected Nicest.

     There are certain types of  things  that  we  suggest  using
     Nicest  for,  irregardless.  In particular, any searches for
     which you would have a hard time justifying the use of  any-
     thing but extra resources.  (We all know what those searches
     would be for.)

ENVIRONMENT
     ARCHIE_HOST
             This will change the host archie will  consult  when
             making  queries.   (The default value is what's been
             compiled in.)  The ``-h'' option will override this.
             If  you're  running  VMS,  create  a  symbol  called
             ARCHIE_HOST.

SEE ALSO
     For more information on regular expressions, see the  manual
     pages on:

     regex(3), ed(1)

     Also   read    the    file    archie/doc/whatis.archie    on
     archie.mcgill.ca for a detailed paper on Archie as a whole.




Archie (Prospero)  Last change: 9 January 1992                  3






ARCHIE(1)                USER COMMANDS                  ARCHIE(1)



     Read the file README.ALEX distributed with this  client  for
     more information on what Alex is and how you can take advan-
     tage of it.
AUTHORS
     The archie service was conceived  and  implemented  by  Alan
     Emtage       ([e-mail]),       Peter       Deutsch
     ([e-mail]),        and        Bill         Heelan
     ([e-mail]).   The  entire  Internet  is in their
     debt.

     The  Prospero  system  was  created   by   Clifford   Neuman
     ([e-mail]);   write  to  [e-mail]  for  more
     information on the protocol and its use.

     This stripped client  was  put  together  by  Brendan  Kehoe
     ([e-mail]),  with modifications by Clifford Neuman
     and George Ferguson ([e-mail]).

BUGS
     There are none; only a few unexpected features.



































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