Draft FAQ for comp.sources.wanted/alt.sources.wanted
Jonathan I. Kamens
jik at athena.mit.edu
Mon Apr 8 09:26:47 AEST 1991
I finally got fed up enough with all of the simple source requests in
comp.sources.wanted and alt.sources.wanted that I sat down tonight and spent a
couple of hours throwing together a first draft of a periodic posting for
those newsgroups which explains to people how to find sources.
Appended to the end of this message is the first draft of the posting. I
would love feedback of any sort, concerning mistakes, omissions, or even
whether or not you think this posting is needed at all. Also, for those of
you who think that this posting will serve a useful purpose, I'd like to know
how often you think I should post it. Weekly? Biweekly? Monthly? In my
opinion, the longest useful frequency would be monthly, and the shortest
weekly, but I don't know where in between to choose.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
--
Jonathan Kamens USnail:
MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace
jik at Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134
Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710
--
Path: athena.mit.edu!jik
Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted
Followup-To: poster
From: jik at athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Subject: (DRAFT) Information about finding sources (READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)
[$Id: csw_faq,v 1.1 91/04/07 19:15:07 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.
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 list 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 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
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 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 at 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 at 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 at 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. 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 at pucc.princeton.edu" with
"help" in the body.
4. 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 at pit-manager.mit.edu" with Subject "help".
Jonathan Kamens USnail:
MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace
jik at Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134
Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710
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