# Copyright (C) Khun Yee Fung clipper@csd.uwo.ca 1991
# You can do anything to this program except selling it for profit or
# pretending you wrote it.
# $Id: README,v 3.6 1991/08/03 00:15:22 clipper Exp clipper $

This README file is for version 3.x of the archie program.

New
---

I forgot to include fixpath and Makefile in the last distribution.
Sorry. They are now included.

Changes for Version 3.6
-----------------------

1. The -along option is on again. This option is useful for at least
one person and I think is useful if the query dies in midway. At least
a partial result is better than nothing.

2. Some other small changes are done.

3. Some details in the man page are changed.

4. Consider this a gamma release.

Changes since version 2.xx
--------------------------

  1. A sort option is added. The lists can be sorted by the domain of
  the host or by the date. Reverse ordering is supported too. The host
  ordering is by a user definable array. This is useful if the list
  has the domains in order of nearest to farthest from the system the
  user is using. Check  system.archierc to set the system default ordering.

  2. Version option is supported. When this option is specified, the
  version number of the program will be printed.

  3. A different startup file can be specified.

  4. I have decided not to do packet ordering myself. So the -along
  option is gone.

  5. The part on networking has been completely rewritten. I hope it
  is more correct than the last two releases.

  6. There are other small changes. I can't list them all.

I will not add any more features in the program. It is too big even now.

Feature not implemented
-----------------------

  I have thought about implementing a auto-ftp option in the program
  so that the program will ask the user if a file should be transferred
  from the host by anonymous ftp. I have all the code for a ftp client
  in perl (I have always used this perl ftp than the standard ftp). I
  have thought out how it should be implemented. The host sorting
  method was thought out initially to support this option so that the
  nearest hosts are always asked first. But the option will add
  another 10k bytes to the program. I am not happy about the size of
  the program even now. As we can always set the format of the output
  to a particular format and pipe the output to another program for
  anonymous ftp, I have decided against implementing this feature. If
  you want to implement it, I can supply you the perl ftp client code.

Brief Introduction
------------------

This is a archie client written in Perl using the prospero protocol.
It is standalone with no dependance on the prospero code in
prospero.tar.Z on june.cs.washington.edu. I am not sure this program
is useful as there is also a standalone archie program in that file
archive, except that you have to compile the prospero file system too.
So, if you think you are more interested in a C archie client, do grab
that file archive and install the archie client that comes with it.

To get more information about prospero, you can send a message to
info-prospero@isi.edu.

About Prospero
--------------

With prospero, many things that are tedious to do by login
interactively to an archie server are simple. For example, the output
from an archie client using the prospero protocol can be parsed and
further processed without going through the mail system. The system
load on the archie server will surely lower because of the absence of
interactive processes. The attributes of a directory or a file also
makes the output look like a part of a file system.

System Requirements
-------------------

  1. The program probably needs Perl 4.010. Perl 3.044 causes it to
  core dump.

Installation
------------

To start things off, modify the file archie.depend. You should also
move archie in the directory where you store you perl scripts. The
library files should be in the perl library. If you want to, you can
use the Makefile in this distribution.

Please also check the file system.archierc. Change the sorting order
of hosts in the domain option. Put the domains nearest to your site in
the beginning of the option and farthest at the end. For a site in
Finland, probably the order is very different, with .de .nl.dk nearer
to the beginning of the list than .ca, .edu, .com, or .ca.

Acknowledgement file
--------------------

I guess I know the header information much better now. The program has
been modified. Thanks very much to Clifford Neuman
(bcn@cs.washington.edu) for providing information on prospero. Please
read ACKNOWLEDGE for acknowledgements.

Status of the program
---------------------

This program is in the gamma testing stage.  However, I will not add
any more features. Also, I will only modify the file to correct bugs.
This is basically a stable version.  I need people to test, improve,
and suggest, to make it better.  It is written on a Sun 3/50.  I tried
it on a MIPS RISC/os 4.51. It worked. I have also tried it on a
Sequent symmetry Dynix Version something. These are the machines that
I have access to.  Brendan Kehoe reports that it works under some
HP's, an Encore, and DecStations too.  Peter (poe@daimi.aau.dk) says
it works on his HP9000/300 under HP-UX 7.0 too. Billy Barron says it
works under Solbourne OS/MP 4.0D.  It might not work on other
machines.  If you port it to another machine type, please send me the
diffs, thanks. If you find bugs on other machine types, please also
tell me. I would like to know how portable the program is.

Others
------

Please send your comments, criticisms, diffs, bug reports, etc. to me
at clipper@csd.uwo.ca. Yes, you can even criticise my programming
style.

Khun Yee
August 2
