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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        The Florida SunFlash

               SMCC, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA UNVEIL
       INTERACTIVE REPOSITORY FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH SOFTWARE

SunFLASH Vol 47 #22                           November 1992
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article has two parts. The first is a press release describing
a new ftp service and the second is an automatic reply from
that same ftp service. -johnj
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    New, Easy-To-Use Technology Enables Quick Retrieval of Software


CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina -- October 28, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems
Computer Corporation (SMCC) and the Office of Information Technology at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill today unveiled a new
interactive information repository for the education and research
communities that lets users of Sun SPARC(R)/Solaris(R) systems easily
access public domain software, shareware and other material such as
research articles and images.

The repository, called SunSITE(TM) (Sun Software, Information, and
Technology Exchange), resides on a dedicated SPARCserver(TM) 2 donated
to the university by SMCC.  Users access SunSITE from the Internet, a
global wide-area network that includes a myriad of regional and local
college and university networks.  In contrast to similar repositories,
SunSITE features an easy-to-use interface that allows users who have
little or no experience with the UNIX operating system to quickly
locate and retrieve information in a variety of formats.

"The nature of the education and research markets is that they are
based on the unhindered exchange of ideas," said Michael Majdalany,
group manager for education and research marketing at SMCC.  "For
researchers in academic environments, the accessibility of free or
low-cost software is extremely important. The SunSITE project not only
gives researchers a central source of electronic information but also
gives them a free and easy distribution channel for posting research
papers or software packages of their own."

Accessing Information on SunSITE

SunSITE is based on a UNIX process called "anonymous ftp," which
permits files to be retrieved from properly configured systems by any
user on the Internet.  In contrast to previous anonymous ftp servers
that require users to master complicated, nonintuitive UNIX commands,
SunSITE features a user interface based on a new standard protocol, the
Wide Area Information Server (WAIS). WAIS accepts queries in plain
English and retrieves information from other systems on a wide-area
network that match the descriptions in the queries.

Developed by Brewster Kahle, WAIS project leader at Thinking Machines,
Inc. in Cambridge, MA, WAIS is an open protocol, meaning that its
specifications are publically available to developers who want to
implement it in their software.

"The development of open, standard wide-area network protocols such as
WAIS and the integration of these protocols into new and existing
services such as ftp are critical to our success in accessing,
publishing and managing electronic information," said Judson Knott,
SunSITE project leader at the University of North Carolina.

SunSITE is one of more than 1,000 anonymous ftp servers worldwide that
provide a wealth of information, including archived public-domain
software, shareware and technical documentation.  Users who want
information about how to access SunSITE can send a request over the
Internet to [e-mail]. [[see attachment - johnj]]

SMCC: The Workstation Leader in Education

The SunSITE project benefits the many users of Sun systems in the
education and research communities.  Over the past 10 years, Sun has
become the top vendor of UNIX-based desktop workstations for the
education and research marketplace, with more than 65,000 Sun systems
installed in educational institutions worldwide.  In addition, more
than 10 percent of the company's annual revenue comes from this
market.

The nearly 200-year-old University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was
the nation's first state university.  The university's Computer Science
Department is internationally recognized for its contribution to the
development of virtual reality, and staff members of the Office of
Information Technology were early implementers of the WAIS protocol.

Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun
Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of client-server
computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers
that store, process and distribute information. Used for many demanding
technical and commercial applications, SMCC's products command the
largest share of the computer industry's fastest-growing market
segment: workstations and servers. Sun Microsystems, Inc., founded in
1982 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a
multibillion-dollar corporation doing business worldwide.

                ###

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris and SunSITE are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC
trademarks, including the SCD Compliant Logo, are trademarks or
registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc.  SPARCstation is
licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC
trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems,
Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.


For further information, please contact Robert Manetta at [phone].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>From [e-mail] Fri Nov 13 16:23:51 1992
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 16:21:29 EST
From: Info <[e-mail]>
Subject: Automated INFO response for SunSITE


Thank you for your interest in Sun Microsystems' anonymous ftp archive,
SunSITE.unc.edu, operated by the Office of Information Technology at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  This letter includes three
different documents, explaining (1) how to use SunSITE's anonymous ftp
service, (2) how to use the Wide-Area Information Server, and (3) how to
submit things that you think would be of interest to the Internet community.
Please direct comments to [e-mail].


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


        A Short Guide to Anonymous ftp
                     on SunSITE.unc.edu
                        152.2.22.81

Introduction

A great deal of useful information is stored in files at computers
throughout the world. Many of these file are freely available to you as a
member of the Internet. A simple method for transferring such files from a
remote computer to a user's computer is anonymous ftp. Anonymous ftp
allows a user to transfer files without having an account on SunSITE (i.e.
the user is anonymous.) SunSITE uses a special version of the ftp program
from Washington University - St. Louis that displays README files that
describe each directory level of the archives as you move through the
archives' file directory. This will help you find the programs, documents,
and data items that you want to retrieve fairly easily.

How Do I Access the Anonymous ftp files at SunSITE.unc.edu?

An example of connecting to the SunSITE.unc.edu anonymous ftp site follows:

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

EXAMPLE:

% ftp sunsite.unc.edu (you type this at your local computer)

Connected to sunsite.unc.edu.
220 calypso FTP server (Version 6.9 Tue Aug 25 13:46:21 EDT 1992) ready.
SunSITE.unc.edu is a service of Univ of North Carolina & SUN Microsystems.
Read DISCLAIMER.readme for a statement of legal responsibility.
Contributions, Complaints and questions should be sent to
<[e-mail]>. For Name: use anonymous Name
(sunsite.unc.edu:pjones): anonymous (you type anonymous)

331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password.  Begin your
password entry with a - (dash) to suppress the helpful messages.
Password: [e-mail] (please use your own mail address)

230-             WELCOME to UNC and SUN's anonymous ftp server
230-                       University of North Carolina
230-                     Office of Information Technology
230-                             SunSITE.unc.edu
< a few introductory lines deleted>
230-  An OpenLook FTPtool can be found in
230-      /pub/X11/Openlook/Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z
230-  This is the top directory!! cd pub will take you to the good stuff.
230-
230-Please read the file README
230-  it was last modified on Thu Aug 20 23:14:18 1992 - 7 days ago
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.

ftp>

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

Once you have gained access to SunSITE, the ftp> prompt returns and
acknowledges that the system is ready to use.

Listing the Directories and Changing Directories

Once you have connected to Sunsite, to transfer a file, you may have to
change directories to reach the directory that includes the files in which
you are interested. In the example below the user has typed in the
commands that follow the ftp> prompt in order to retrieve a file named
Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z from SunSITE. Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z is an OpenLook
Graphical User Interface for FTP. You may use Ftptool instead of the line mode
ftp command described here once you retrieve it.

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

EXAMPLE:

ftp> cd pub
250-  UNC Sun Archive - /pub - top level directory
250-
250-X11/ interesting packages that run under X-Windows
250-academic/ software written by researchers in different disciplines
250-archives/ archives of mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups
250-bbs/ the source to utilities running on the internet bbs
250-docs/ a large selection of documents, books, speeches, papers, etc.
250-gnu/ Unix Software written by the Free Software Foundation.
250-books/ entire books for download
<lots of other stuff left out>
250-sun-fixes/ patches to Suns from the Computer Emergency Response Team
250-sas/ programs and drivers for SAS (particularly those for SUNs)
250-sun-managers/ archives of the sun-managers newsgroup
250-sun-sounds/ sounds that you can play on SUNs
250-sunflash/ archives of SunFlash, a Florida-based SUN newsletter
250-sunspots/ archives of the SUNSPOTS mailing list
250-wais/ wais clients for accessing archived databases on this host
250-
250 CWD command successful.

ftp> ls

200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
README
sun-sounds
docs
DISCLAIMER.readme
micro
sas
X11
terminal-emulators
<many many lines left out>
226 Transfer complete.
231 bytes received in 0.051 seconds (4.4 Kbytes/s)

ftp> cd X11

250-Openlook clients that run under the Openlook window manager
250-4va-1.21.tar.Z program to view and manipulate 4 dimensional objects
250-xfract106.shar.Z xfractint. program to calculate and view fractals
250 CWD command successful.

ftp> cd Openlook
200 PORT command successful.

ftp> ls                 (this lists the contents of the directory)

200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
xvnews.tar.Z
olvwm3.tar.Z
workman1.0b.tar.Z
Ftptool4.3.tar.Z
Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z
28507 bytes received in 1 seconds (28 Kbytes/s)

ftp> binary            (this lets you retrieve binary information -- see notes)
200 Type set to I.

ftp> get Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z  (this grabs the file for you)
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z (609253 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z remote: Ftptool4.3.unc.1.tar.Z
609253 bytes received in 2.7 seconds (2.2e+02 Kbytes/s)
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.

Now you have the Ftptool. Use uncompress and tar -xvf to uncompress and
unarchive the file. You will have created a directory called Ftptool4.3.
cd Ftptool4.3 and type make. You will have made a program called ftptool.
By running ftptool, you may easily access SunSITE and other ftp reposities
all over the world.

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

Some Useful ftp Commands for SunSITE

Unix directories are hierarchal. In the example above some simple Unix
commands were used to change directories and list possible directories or
files (i.e. move up or down the hierarchy.)

the ls command lists the contents of the active directory

the cd <directory name> command enables the user to change directories
    (move up or down the hierarchy)

the cd ..  command allows the user to return to the previous directory,
    using this command it is possible to return to the initial directory

the get command retrieves files from SunSITE

the put command places files on SunSITE. Note that this will ONLY work
    within the uploads directory.

the binary command sets the transfer type for binary files. You should
    always issue the binary command before retrieving compiled programs or
    files with endings of tar or Z.


A Note About Special File Types in the SunSITE Archives

You will notice that many of the files on SunSITE have special endings
such as .Z .tar .zip .hqx and .sit Such files have been compressed and/or
specially encoded to allow them to be more quickly and easily transfer in
working order via ftp. It is a good idea to use the binary command before
attempting to retrieve any of these file types.

.Z files have been compressed using the UNIX compress command. Once you
have retrieved a file with the .Z suffix, you should use the UNIX
uncompress command which will create a new file (uncompressed and larger
than the original) without the .Z ending.

.tar files are usually a collection of several related files and
directories combined as one file for transfer or archiving by the UNIX tar
(tape archive) command. Once you have retrieved such a file, you should
use the tar -xvf <filename.tar> command to extract the files and
directories from tar format. The <filename.tar> file will remain on your
local computer even after the extraction has successfully completed. It is
a good idea to remove the tar file after extraction.

.zip files are usually files for pcs running DOS or Windows that have been
processed by the zip program. Use the unzip program (or pkunzip) to make
such files usable.

.hqx files are usually Macintosh files that have been converted to binHex
format for files transfer or archiving. Use the binHex program's download
option to convert .hqx files to a usable format.

.sit files are usually Macintosh files and folders that have been combined
and compressed for transfer and archiving (much like tar files in UNIX). Use
the StuffIt program to unpack such files and folders.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


WAIS - The Wide Area Information Server

WAIS is pronounced "ways", and was developed at Thinking Machines
Corporation.

WAIS is a database system that exploits two recently popularized
computer science concepts: the client-server model, and full-text
databases.  It gives the ability for users to search existing
databases of articles, books, references, abstracts and specialist
information (such as genome databases, usenet group archives, ftp-site
listings, etc), and for people with information to publish it at
little expense and effort over the Internet.

The client-server model is a commonly used method of providing
services over a network.  The end-user uses a client program to access
information by communicating with a server program.  Typically the
server and client are running on different machines and communicate
over the network.  You need not have a server of your own to be able
to use the client.

The full-text database is a model designed explicitly to search
documents on any word that appears in those documents.  The old
approach was to have a set of keywords which you could search on, and
these words represented a small subset of all the words in the
documents.

It is the WAIS client that lets you search databases.  Databases are
provided over networks by WAIS servers.  Servers are available to run
under System V and BSD releases of Unix, VMS, the IBM RS/6000, and the
NeXT.  Client software is available for dumb terminal Unix, curses on
Unix, GNU Emacs, Macintosh (with MacTCP), the NeXT, MS-DOS machines with
and without Windows, as well as VMS, RS/6000, X Windows, OpenLook, Motif
and Sunview. You can get these clients and servers from SunSITE.unc.edu
via anonymous ftp. Look in the pub/wais directory.

The fundamental concepts in WAIS are the database, the document, the
source and the hit.  A source is a short text file that describes how
a client can access a database that is provided by a server.  It
typically lists the database name, the machine the server program is
running on, a brief description of the database, the name of the
maintainer of the database, and the cost (if any).

A document is the basic unit - when you perform a search and look at
results, you will be looking at documents.  Databases hold lots of
documents, and the server will search all the documents in the
database.  When the server finishes the search, it sends the client a
list of hits - the names of documents that looked like they matched
what you were searching for.  A hit is one document name.

To try out WAIS, without compiling anything, you have to be on the
Internet.  The following is a brief guide to the curses-based Unix client.
Telnet to SunSITE.unc.edu and log in as "swais" (do not type the quotation
marks).  You will not need a password.  Then enter your terminal type when
prompted for it (most will be vt100). You will then be connected to a
simple terminal window client program, and will be presented with a list
of names of databases to search (each name of a database corresponds to a
source).

You can move through the list of sources with your arrow keys or the j and
k keys.  The question mark (?) key gives you help.  To search for a word
in the database names, use the / key.  For example, /sun will move you
quickly to the databases relating to Sun computers. A database fo
selection will be highlighted. (For instance, SunSITE.unc.edu offers the
"sun-fixes" database. Use the arrows or j keys to highlight that database
name if you wish to search it). Once your cursor is on the source you wish
to search press Return and you will be asked for keywords to search on.
(Notice that an * has been placed beside the selected source). Enter the
keywords, separated by spaces (for instance, "mail sendmail", without
quotation marks, would search for the words mail and sendmail).

The client then gives you a list of hits - the names of documents that
match your request.  You can move through the list with the same
commands as before.  To view a document, press Return when the name of
the document is highlighted.  Press H for help while viewing the
document.  Press 'q' to leave from the list of documents.

Nat
([e-mail] -- Nathan Torkington -- is the electronic text and
 MS-DOS archivist for the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)

Modified and extended for Sunsite by [e-mail]


-------------------------------------------------------------------------


SUBMISSION PROCEDURES FOR SUNSITE

Any large archive requires a clearly defined set of policies
regarding submissions.  These guidelines are designed to allow the
maintainers to quickly and efficiently provide access to materials
submitted to the archive, and to ensure that only the most recent
versions of all submissions are provided. If you have any questions
about these guidelines, send them to [e-mail].

Submission procedures for the SunSITE archive are quite simple, but
must be followed by all submitters.  We have three broad "package" areas;
software, documents, and data.

SOFTWARE PACKAGE SUBMISSION POLICY


a)  The software must be provided as a single archive file with a
clear name containing the version number of the package.
If the software consists of more than one file, a standard
archival program must be used to create a single file.    All archives
must be "system friendly", i.e.  they must create a subdirectory for the
software they contain.

b)  The archive must contain sufficient documentation to allow an inexperienced
user to compile and operate the software.  This documentation must
contain at least a users manual and an installation guide.

c)  A software package description document must be provided and is
described below.  This document must conform to the standards set forth
by the Internet Engineering Task Force Internet FTP Archives Working
Group (IAFA).

d)  The archive file, complete with the IAFA document and all user
documentation must be placed in the "uploads" directory at sunsite.unc.edu
and a mail message containing the IAFA document must be sent to
[e-mail].  This mail message must also contain a telephone
number where the author may be reached.  This phone number will not
be distributed.


SAMPLE ARCHIVE FILE

Consider a hypothetical statistical analysis package called "analysis".

                analysis-1.0.tar


This package must create a directory and unpack itself into it.


                tar -xf analysis-1.0.tar


                analysis/IAFA-PACKAGE`
                analysis/README
                analysis/doc/manual.txt
                analysis/doc/manual.ps
                analysis/src/main.c
                analysis/src/parse.c
                analysis/src/graph.c
                analysis/src/Makefile
                analysis/src/README
                analysis/src/INSTALL


The IAFA document must be called IAFA-PACKAGE and contain the following
information:


Title:          Title of the package
Version:        A version number or string associated with the package
Description:    A description of the function of the program(s) contained
                in the package.
Author:         Name and e-mail address of the author.  A telephone number
                is optional
Maintained-by:  This field should be included when the current maintainer
                of the package is known.  In most cases, it will be the author.
Maintained-at:  sunsite.unc.edu.  Other sites may also be specified by the
                submitter.
Platforms:      Any requirements or restrictions that the package may have
                in terms of hardware or software (OS) platforms.  The
                programming language the package is written in must be
                included.
Copying-Policy: The status of the package for copying purposes.  This field
                must contain one of the following entries:
                        "Public Domain"
                        "Freely Redistributable"
                        "Voluntary Payment" (shareware)

Keywords:       Keywords appropriate for users trying to locate this package.

DOCUMENT SUBMISSION POLICIES

a) Single documents are acceptable, but we prefer that documents be submitted
as a package containing:

        1) The document in plain ASCII text format.
        2) The document in PostScript format.
        3) The document in the author(s) preferred word processing
           format.
        4) An IAFA document description abstract called IAFA-ABSTRACT. The
           description of this IAFA document follows.

The filenames of the documents must be descriptive, with the file extension
defining the document format.  Examples:

        1) ASCII Text - .TXT
        2) PostScript - .PS
        3) SGML - .SGML
        4) HTML - .HTML
        5) TEX - .TEX

These examples are not meant to limit the acceptable formats.  SunSITE will
maintain a list of formats that may be found in the archive.

b) Each document must have the name of the author, and while we prefer that
the author(s) provide an e-mail or postal address in the document, it is
not required.

c) Document packages should be created using standard archival software such
as TAR.  The document packages must be "system friendly", as discussed in
the software submission policies.

d)  The document package, complete with the IAFA document and all user
documentation must be placed in the "uploads" directory at sunsite.unc.edu
and a mail message containing the IAFA document must be sent to
[e-mail].  This mail message must also contain a telephone
number where the author may be reached.  This phone number will not
be distributed.

Format of IAFA-ABSTRACTS

Document-Name:          Filename containing the document, without extension
Title:                  Title of the document
Authors:                Names of authors, with e-mail and/or postal addresses.
Authors:                Names of authors, with e-mail and/or postal addresses.
                        Please separate these name/address entries with a
                        semicolon.
                        Example:

                        Jim Fullton <[e-mail]> 310 Wilson Library,
                        UNC Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3460, USA; Paul Jones
                        <[e-mail]>
Revision-Date:          Date of last document revision
Category:               A "author defined" category into which the document
                        might fall.
                        Example:  "User Guide", "Conference Proceedings",
                        "Technical Report", etc.
Abstract:               Summary of the document, in plain text.
Format:                 A list of formats in which the document is available.
Citation:               The official bibliographic entry for the document.
Publication-Status:     Current status of the document (draft, published, etc).
Keywords:               Keywords relevant to the document
Size:                   Size of document in pages.


DATASET SUBMISSION POLICIES


Datasets may be submitted to the SunSITE archive.  No restrictions are
placed on dataset format.

a)  Datasets must be submitted as an archived package (see above)
containing the following:

        1) The dataset itself, with a descriptive name.
        2) An IAFA document (IAFA-DATASETS) describing
           the dataset.  The description of this document
           follows.

b)  The dataset package, complete with the IAFA document and all user
documentation must be placed in the "uploads" directory at sunsite.unc.edu
and a mail message containing the IAFA document must be sent to
[e-mail].  This mail message must also contain a telephone
number where the author/creator may be reached.  This phone number will not
be distributed.

Format of IAFA-DATASETS

Dataset-Name:           Name of the file containing the dataset.
Title:                  Title of the dataset
Version:                Any version number associated with the dataset
Revision-Date:          Date of last dataset revision
Source:                 The group or organization providing the source
                        for the dataset.  Email or postal addresses must
                        be provided.
Compiled-by:            The group or organization responsible for compiling
                        the datasets into the format for which this description
                        applies.  Email or postal addresses must be provided.
Size:                   The size of the dataset in octets (bytes) or records.
                        If  records are specified, a record size must be
                        provided as well as other relevant record information.
Format:                 The format in which the dataset is distributed.
Software:               A list of programs used to manipulate the dataset.
                        Contact names and postal/email addresses should be
                        provided if available.
                        The SunSITE administrators will attempt to locate
                        and retrieve non-commercial software if it meets
                        SunSITE standards.  Otherwise, pointers to appropriate
                        sites will be provided, if available.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For information send mail to [e-mail].
Subscription requests should be sent to [e-mail].
Archives are on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net,
src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au

All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third
party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local
Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in
your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications
within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or
publication by Sun Microsystems.

John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, [e-mail]. [phone].

TRACE: To: [e-mail] Errors-to: [e-mail]