BMUG Revelations/BMUG Revelations.toast/Telecom/InterNet/Gopher 1.3b56/GopherApp.Help

Text File | 1992-07-09 | 51.0 KB | 1,294 lines | [TEXT/MPS ]

•Abstract

GopherApp is an Internet information service program for
Macintosh computers.  It provides a Finder-like link to the range
of Internet Gopher services.

GopherApp is being written by Don Gilbert, using the MacApp
extensible Macintosh programming framework from Apple Computer.
It is actually a subset of a biosequence analysis program
called SeqApp.

To use GopherApp, your Mac must have a network connection to the
Internet, and it must have MacTCP installed and operating (as
with NCSA Telnet, Eudora, network news and similar MacTCP-based
Internet programs).

You may obtain GopherApp thru anonymous ftp to ftp.bio.indiana.edu, in
folder /util/gopher, as gopherapp.hqx. You may also obtain updates
using Gopher to this same IUBio archive (host=ftp.bio.indiana.edu,
port=70). Look for a folder called "IUBio Software+Data/GopherApp".

GopherApp.Help is a plain text file which may be read from your favorite
wordprocessor.  If you have problems getting  GopherApp to launch,
please read GopherApp.Help.  GopherApp works on all Mac models from
Mac+, with System 7 and System 6 software.

Programmers with MPW Pascal and C and MacApp 2.x libraries may
obtain source for GopherApp as "gopherapp-src.hqx" next to the
GopherApp application above.

Comments, bug reports and suggestions for new features
may be addressed via e-mail to

         [e-mail]

                                             -- Don Gilbert

History

7 Jul 92, v 1.3b52 Various bug fixes to GopherApp, including
  long paths (>255 char) so now all wais searches should work,
    mapping to mac types extended to Gopher types, so e.g.,
      new gopher types can be incorporated thru user-editable map ('T'->'8' or 'g'->'9'),
        or change default behavior (have '0' text always displayed by favorite text editor),
    binhex transfer is revised, now is a lot FASTER,
    fixed "Save" bug when file openned from finder,
    pref: small icon views enabled,
    pref: disabled edit/new link unless smart user flips switch,
    pref: dropped "same window",
    pref: require user locate diggings folder before attempting to use it,

•GopherApp Help


 *****************************************************
 ****                    NOTICE
 ****
 **** This is a beta version of the program.  It still
 **** has several known bugs (see below), and probably
 **** several yet-to-be reported problems.
 ****
 *****************************************************

This program is being written by Don Gilbert.
I don't expect it to mature for another 6 to 12 months,
as my prime programming time is holidays and weekends.

Comments, bug reports and suggestions for new features
may be addressed via e-mail to

         [e-mail]

With any bug reports, I would appreciate as much detail
as is reasonable without putting you off from making the
report.  Include description of Mac hardware, system software
version.  Include copies of data if relevant.

If you need to use land mail, send to

            Don Gilbert
            Biocomputing Office, Biology Department
            Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405

This GopherApp program is copyrighted 1992 by D.G. Gilbert. All
rights are reserved.  You may use GopherApp for non-commercial
tasks, and you may re-distribute it, if you make *no* charge
for the redistribution and if you include the full, unmodified
distribution set (you may add features).

It is written with MPW Object Pascal & some C using the MacApp
extensible Macintosh programming framework from Apple Computer,
which copyrights the MacApp portion.

As of release 1.1b, the full source code (excluding MacApp
libraries), is available for non-commercial uses.  Modified
versions may be distributed as long as information regarding
the original distribution is included.  Look for the file
gopherapp-src.hqx for the source in the same location (above)
as the application.

•Installing

If you obtain this release thru FTP file transfer, you have
a binhex encoded archive file.  You will need the Stuffit
(version 1.5?) or Unstuffit applications.  The former includes
an un-binhex option to convert from text encoding
to macbinary Stuffit archive.  These are widely available from
Mac software archives, user groups, and computing support people.
Use Stuffit to extract the distribution folder.


•Data files

GopherApp uses files of type 'IGo4' which are actually Text but in the
strict format used in the Gopher transaction protocol:

[Type Char][Title....]<tab>[Path]<tab>[Host.address]<tab>[Port#]<cr>

This is repeated for any number of lines.  These files *can* be converted
to text, editted, then reconverted to Gopher files, if you know what
you are doing.  Later there may be a feature to edit this info in
the Gopher windows.

The New and Open commands on the File menu will let you create new
or open old Gopher files.  You should use Copy/Paste and dragging gopher
items, as well as the "New gopher link" and "Edit gopher link" commands
to create gopher document files that suit your tastes.

You may also edit a gopher document file as if it were a TEXT file (Open
as Text).  When you save such a file, it is saved as a TEXT type.  You
can convert it back to a GopherApp document by using the "Gopher..." command
from the Internet menu, while holding down the OPTION key.  Open the
document then resave it as a Gopher type (IGo4).  The prefered way to
edit gopher links is with "Edit gopher link" command however.

A really sneaking option (I was out of User Interface hacking time) is
to SAVE AS with OPTION key down.  This creates a document in the style of
Gopher Server link files:
    Name=bob
    Type=0
    Path=....
However, GopherApp cannot (yet) re-read these.  You need to convert to TEXT
and move to your Unix server.


•Features

••File

New and Open will create new or open old Gopher folder files.  New Text and and Open
Text work on plain text, which is the format of the Gopher data files also.

Save, Save as, Save a copy in, all will save the current document to disk files.
Revert will restore the open align view to the last version saved to disk.

Print setup, print will print the current view.

Help brings up a view to page thru the help file.

••Editing

Undo, cut, copy, paste, clear, select all -- these standard mac commands
will operate on text as well as on Gopher items in (hopefully) intuitive,
usual ways.

Find, Find same, Find "selection" will search for strings in text.

Replace, replace same will replace target strings (not yet enabled).


••Text styling

In most of the edittable text windows you can specify text styles, fonts,
sizes. These styles are not currently saved (bug).

••Internet

The Internet features of GopherApp let you interchange ideas and data with
people and computing services around the world.  If your Mac is connected
already to the Internet, you probably are familiar with electronic mail and
some of its uses.

GopherApp includes a selection of network access features in the
including (if it isn't bombing like it was yesterday:) a feature to send
and receive e-mail.


•••Internet requirements

All features of this menu depend on (a) a network link to the Internet, and (b)
MacTCP software developed by Apple Computer.  The network link may be thru
Appletalk or thru Ethernet.  MacTCP is not (yet) part of Macintosh System software.
It may be purchased in individual copies or site licenses, and it is common
for a university or research institution to have a site license.  It also is
packages with various commercial applications.

GopherApp is now SLIP-aware.  It will work properly over a telephone/modem
connection to a Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) server, if you have
proper SLIP software to use with MacTCP.  This includes Versaterm's SLIP
link (by Lonnie Abelbeck, sold thru Synergy Software), MacSLIP and perhaps
others later. I find that GopherApp is useable even at 2400 baud, though I
don't recommend that slow a speed for browsing lengthy documents.  See the
Gopher Prefs dialog to set a long TCP timeout for SLIP.

•••Mail Preferences

The mail prefs dialog asks for your return e-mail address, your preferred
SMTP mail host, and your POP mail address and password.  These addresses
may be similar.

Return e-mail address:  This is where another person should send mail so it
will reach you.
        Example:  [e-mail]
               or:  [e-mail]

SMTP Mail host:  This is the internet address of the computer thru which
SeqApp will send out mail to the rest of the world.
        Example:  Sunflower.Bio.Indiana.Edu

POP Mail address: Not supported (yet) in GopherApp.
The POP mail address is not required to send mail.

•••Send Mail

Send an electronic mail message.  You must enter an address to send to, and
have entered your return address in the mail preferences dialog.

•••Read Mail

This will retrieve electronic mail from a Post Office Protocol (POP)
server computer.  You also need a POP server computer with proper software and
a mail account.  The standard POP server software for Unix computers is available via
anonymous ftp to ftp.CC.Berkeley.Edu (128.32.136.9), as pub/popper-xxx.tar.Z.
I also highly recommend Eudora as a Mac client for reading POP mail.  Get this by
anonymous ftp to ftp.cso.uiuc.edu, in the mac/eudora subdirectory.

•Gopher

Internet Gopher gives you access to a wide range of information services
that are now developing on the Internet.  Gopher is something
like Telnet or FTP (file transfer), but also different.  It includes some
of the keyword searching features of WAIS (Wide Area Information Services).
There are currently several biology gopher services found around the globe.
These include fast and up-to-date keyword searches of GenBank, EMBL, PIR
and other important biology databanks.

Gopher works something like the Macintosh Finder, only over the Internet
and with various restrictions -- basically you cannot yet PUT information
to remote servers, just GET it from them.  There are several file "types",
include Text documents, Folders with more items, Search items to search
databases for keyword matches, Phone book items to look up people's
addresses, Binhex encoded Mac programs that you can fetch, and others.

When you find folders in a Gopher window, you can double-click them to
open a new window with more items.  There is a drop-down menu at the
top of each gopher window which you can use like the (command-key) drop
down menu in Mac Finder windows, to select parent windows.

                                                   NOTE
Network status information is displayed in the top line of the current
Gopher window.  If a network connection seems to be frozen, or if a
file you are fetching seems too big, you can frequently halt the
transfer with a COMMAND-PERIOD keypress combination, as is standard
for other Mac applications.

••New Gopher

This creates a new Gopher document, including default links to a few
Gopher servers.

To the astute computist: The default gopher links reside in application
resources named "IGo4".  You can add to or replace these using ResEdit,
by copying a link from an open Gopher document, and pasting it into
an "IGo4" resource in ResEdit.

[ This regards the default servers listed in a New document.  You need
to use Resedit to change the "IGo4" resources in Gopherapp.  The first one,
ID 0 "Bundle Stuff" must remain as is.  The other ones can be deleted, replaced
or edited.  The easiest way to put a new "IGo4" link into this resource is to
(a) Run GopherApp, open gopher doc w/ link, Select and COPY the link.
(b) Quit GopherApp, open it from ResEdit, open "IGo4" apps, create new IGo4 item
then PASTE the (text) of the link into the Ascii side of the IGo4 edit box.
]

••Gopher Documents

The New and Open commands on the File menu will let you create new
or open old Gopher files.  You should use Copy/Paste and dragging gopher
items, as well as the "New gopher link" and "Edit gopher link" commands
to create gopher document files that suit your tastes.

You may also edit a gopher document file as if it were a TEXT file (Open
as Text).  When you save such a file, it is saved as a TEXT type.  You
can convert it back to a GopherApp document by using the "Gopher..." command
from the Internet menu, while holding down the OPTION key.  Open the
document then resave it as a Gopher type (IGo4).  The prefered way to
edit gopher links is with "Edit gopher link" command however.

A really sneaking option (I was out of User Interface hacking time) is
to SAVE AS with OPTION key down.  This creates a document in the style of
Gopher Server link files:
    Name=bob
    Type=0
    Path=....
However, GopherApp cannot (yet) re-read these.  You need to convert to TEXT
and move to your Unix server.


••Gopher Prefs

This dialog allows you to set some personal preferences for Gopher views.
Some of these features (single window) are not ready yet.

Your choices for display font, size, and item information (host, port,
path, ...) are selected in the Prefs window.  Also default font and
size for text views.

The TCP Timeout sets how long the app will wait for data from a remote
connection.  Value is in 60ths of a second, so 3600 is 1 minute.  Use
a large value for slow connections, like SLIP.


••Mapping file types

This program now lets you change the file typing and customize the
handling of Gopher links in some ways.  These mapping options are
experimental, and novice Mac users should avoid this.

There are two forms of mapping,  (1) Change the published gopher type
to another type and customize GopherApp's handling of that type,
and (2) Map the server files to other types depending on their path
name suffix on the Gopher server.

The mapping is turned on or off in the Gopher Preferences dialog, where
you can edit both the suffix and the gopher type maps (see below).  This
is not the easiest, most mac-like way.  It is a quick hack, partly because
I hope that the Gopher protocol will be modified to remove the need for
this rather tricky mapping of pathnames to gopher types -- this is a
function that the Gopher server should take care of eventually.

••Gopher type to Mac type map

This mapping lets you change how a server gopher type is handled, and add
some kind of handling for new server gopher types.   If you don't want
GopherApp to launch BINHEX files after decoding them, you can turn it off
here.  If you have a server that publishes GIF files as type "g" or something,
you can map "g" to "9" (a general binary file), then give such a file the
Mac type of "GIFf" and view it with Giffer (creator="Bozo") or Quick Gif
(creator="QGif") or some other GIF file viewer.   If you have a different
application to use for Telnet or tn3270 services, you can change the creator
and mac type below to reflect that.

# Gopher Type to Mac Type map
#
# This is a quick hack to change the published Gopher server type into
# a type that this program may handle better.   This is a quick 'n' dirty
# way to allow you to handle new gopher types (e.g., 'g' for gif), or
# change some of the default behavior of current types.
# For instance, if you want to read text documents with a program that
# can handle >32Kb of text, set type 0 to SaveToDisk=yes and Launch=yes.
# It would be safest to test your mappings first with the "Edit Link" menu item.
# See also the Server suffix map.
#
# Server  Local
# Gopher  Gopher Map        Transfer  Mac   Mac      Save to
# Type    Type   When    method   Type  Creator  Disk   Launch
# ----   ----    ------  -------  ----  ----     ----   ----
  0       0      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # text document
  1       1      always  text     IGo4  IGo4     no      no  # gopher folder
  2       2      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # CSO phone book
  3       3      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # unknown/error
  4       4      always  binary   TEXT  EDIT     yes     yes # binhex file
  6       6      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # uuencoded file
  7       7      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # question service
  8       8      always  text     CONF  NCSA     yes     yes # telnet service
  9       9      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # binary file
  s       s      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # sound file
  w       w      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # Whois phone book
#--- end of types known to gopherapp
#--- map other types to ones known to gopherapp
  5       9      always  binary   BINA  ????     yes     no  # weird msdos-binhex
  T       8      always  text     CONF  NCSA     yes     yes # telnet/tn3270 service
  g       9      always  binary   GIFf  QGif     yes     yes # somebody's gif type
#
#
# put any comments after "#"
# separate values by spaces, must include all (7) fields in a line
#
# server gopher type = single character, see above types and comments
# local gopher type = single character, see above types and comments
# mapWhen = (always, never)  = when to apply this mapping
# transferType = (binary, text, none) = method to transfer data from server to client
#      (currently text == binary + strip linefeeds, none = not supported)
# MacType = Mac Finder file type
# MacCreator = Mac Finder file creator
# saveToDisk = (yes, no) = save as disk file (otherwise try to display in client?)
# launch = (yes, no) = launch app creator with file (system 7)
#

••Server suffix to Mac type map

This mapping lets you impose gopher types upon server files based on the
suffix of the file pathname on the server.  For instance, if a file has
the name Picture.gif on the server, but the server thinks that is only
a general text document, and you know it is really a binary GIF picture,
then you can enable server suffix mapping to transfer it and view it as
such.  Likewise for JPEG or JFIF graphics files, TIFF, Postscript, Rich Text,
and such.

# Gopher Server to Mac type map
#
# This is a quick hack to give Gopher server files a file type based on
# their pathname suffix.  This is not the best method -- I hope we can expand the
# Gopher server typing scheme to do this more certainly than relying on pathnames.
# But it should give you a taste where Gopher file typing may go.  If you find this
# useful, make it known to various Gopher server managers that this should be
# added to the Gopher protocol.
#
# Server  Local
# Path    Gopher Map   Transfer    Mac    Mac    Save To
# suffix  Type   When    Type      Type  Creator  Disk   Launch
#
.gif         9    always     binary       GIFf   QGif    yes     yes  #GIF picture, Quick Gif
.tar.Z     9    default  binary    BINA   ????    yes     no   #a general binary
.rtf       9    always   text      TEXT   MSWD      yes     yes  #ms word rich text
.ps        9    always   binary    TEXT   ????    yes     no   #postscript
.eps           9    always   binary    EPSF   8BIM    yes     yes  #adobe photoshop
.pict      9    always   binary    PICT   8BIM    yes     yes  #adobe photoshop
.tiff      9    always   binary    TIFF   8BIM      yes        yes  #adobe photoshop
.jfif      9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG Viewer
.jpeg      9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG Viewer
.jpg       9    always   binary    JFIF   JVWR    yes     yes  #JPEG Viewer
#---
.hqx       4      always  binary   TEXT  EDIT     yes     yes # binhex file
.uue       6      always  text     TEXT  EDIT     no      no  # uuencoded file
#
# put any comments after "#"
# separate values by spaces, must include all (7) fields in a line
#
# suffix = string to match at end of server pathname (case sensitive)
# local gopher type = single character, see types and comments in Gopher Map
# mapWhen = (always, default, never)  = when to apply this mapping
#      (default == apply only if server item type is default (text) document)
# transferType = (binary, text, none) = method to transfer data from server to client
#      (currently text == binary + strip linefeeds, none = not supported)
# MacType = Mac Finder file type
# MacCreator = Mac Finder file creator
# saveToDisk = (yes, no) = save as disk file (otherwise try to display in client?)
# launch = (yes, no) = launch app creator with file (system 7)
#




•What Is Internet Gopher?

Internet Gopher is an information distribution system. It combines
features of electronic bulletin board services and databases,
allowing you to either browse a hierarchy of information, or to search
for the information you need using full-text indexes.  Gopher can also
store references to wide area information services (WAIS), anonymous
ftp sites, public telnet sessions, phone book servers, sounds and
various graphic documents.

Internet Gopher gives you access to a wide range of information services
that are now developing on the Internet.  Gopher is something
like Telnet or FTP (file transfer), but also different.  It includes some
of the keyword searching features of WAIS (Wide Area Information Services).

Gopher works something like the Macintosh Finder, only over the Internet
and with various restrictions -- basically you cannot yet PUT information
to remote servers, just GET it from them.  There are several file "types",
include Text documents, Folders with more items, Search items to search
databases for keyword matches, Phone book items to look up people's
addresses, Binhex encoded Mac programs that you can fetch, and others.



••Frequently asked questions with answers

Archive-name: gopher-faq
Last-modified: 1992/06/11
Author: Paul Lindner

Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher, a
client/server protocol for making a world wide information service,
with many implementations.  Posted to alt.gopher and news.answers
every two weeks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q0:  What is Gopher?

A0:  The Internet Gopher client/server provides a distributed
     information delivery system around which a world/campus-wide
     information system (CWIS) can readily be constructed.   While
     providing a delivery vehicle for local information,  Gopher
     facilitates access to other Gopher and information servers
     throughout the world.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1:  Where can I get gopher?

A1:  via anonymous ftp to boombox.micro.umn.edu.  Look in the directory
     /pub/gopher

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2:  What do I need to access gopher?

A2:  You will need a gopher "client" program that runs on your local PC
     or workstation

     There are clients for the following systems.  The directory
     following the name is the location of the client on the anonymous
     ftp site boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) in the directory
     /pub/gopher.

      Unix Curses           :  /pub/gopher/Unix/gopherxx.tar.Z
      Xwindows              :  /pub/gopher/Unix/xgopherxx.tar.Z
      Macintosh Hypercard   :  /pub/gopher/Mac_client/
      Macintosh Application :  /pub/gopher/Mac_client/
      DOS w/Clarkson Driver :  /pub/gopher/PC_client/
      NeXTstep              :  /pub/gopher/NeXT/
      VM/CMS                :  /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/Vienna_CMS/
      VMS                   :  /pub/gopher/VMS/

     There are also a number of public telnet login sites available.
     The University of Minnesota operates one on the machine
     "consultant.micro.umn.edu" (134.84.132.4) See Q3 for more
     information about this.  It is recommended that you run the client
     software instead of logging into the public telnet login sites.  A
     client uses the custom features of the local machine (mouse,
     scroll bars, etc.)  A local client is also faster.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3:  Where are there publicly available logins for gopher.

A3:  Here is a short list, use the site closest to you to minimize
     network lag.

     Hostname                  IP#              Login   Area
     ------------------------- ---------------  ------  -------------
     consultant.micro.umn.edu  134.84.132.4    gopher  North America
     gopher.uiuc.edu           128.174.33.160   gopher  North America
     panda.uiowa.edu           128.255.40.201    panda   North America
     info.anu.edu.au           150.203.84.20    info    Australia

     It is recommended that you run the client software instead of
     logging into the public telnet login sites.  A client uses the
     custom features of the local machine (mouse, scroll bars, etc.)  A
     local client is also faster.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4:  How can I add to the information in gopher?

A4:  You can do this by running a gopher server.  Servers are available
     for a number of systems.  Use anonymous ftp to
     boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) and look in /pub/gopher.  The
     following servers are available there:

       Unix      : /pub/gopher/Unix/gopherxx.tar.Z
       VMS       : /pub/gopher/VMS/
       Macintosh : /pub/gopher/Mac_server/
       VM/CMS    : /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/Vienna_CMS/
       MVS       : /pub/gopher/mvs/

     When you have your server ready you can publish it to the world by
     sending e-mail to the maintainters of the "Other gophers" list:

       [e-mail]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5:  Who Develops Gopher Software?

A5:  Gopher was originally developed in April 1991 by the University
     of Minnesota Microcomputer, Workstation, Networks Center to help
     our campus find answers to their computer questions.

     It has since grown into a full-fledged World Wide Information
     System used by a large number of sites in the world.

     Many people have contributed to the project, too numerous to
     count.

     The people behind the much of the gopher software can be reached
     via e-mail at [e-mail], or via paper mail:

      Internet Gopher Developers
      100 Union St. SE #132
      Minneapolis, MN 55455  USA

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6:  How can I set up a "CSO" phone book server?  Where is the software?

A6:  CSO phone book servers are also known as "qi" servers.  The
     software implementation can be gotten via anonymous ftp from
     uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.5.50) as /pub/qi.tar.Z.  You may also
     see this referred to as "ph", which is what most of the clients
     are called.

     There is also an archive of the mailing list for qi/ph software on
     the same machine.  It's in /pub/info-ph.archive.

     This software is supported by Steve Dorner <[e-mail]>
     Contact him for more information.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7:  Why can't I access the University of Minnesota's UPI news?

A7:  The University of Minnesota has a site license for UPI news, we
     are not allowed to distribute it off of our campus.  We get our
     UPI news from Clarinet.  For more information about getting UPI
     news send mail to [e-mail].  For information about
     setting up your own gopher-UPI server search the gopher-news
     archive for UPI.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q8:  When using the PC client I get the error message "getDispstr", why?

A8:  The PC client isn't graceful when dealing with a bad server.
     If the server gives it a gopher type not within the range 0-9
     it gives this error message.

     This can be caused by corrupted .cache files on a Unix gopher
     server. Contact the server administrator about this problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9:  What are the type characters for the different Gopher Objects?

A9:  Normal IDs.

     0       Item is a file
     1       Item is a directory
     2       Item is a CSO (qi) phone-book server
     3       Error
     4       Item is a BinHexed Macintosh file.
     5       Item is DOS binary archive of some sort.
     6       Item is a UNIX uuencoded file.
     7       Item is an Index-Search server.
     8       Item points to a text-based telnet session.
     9       Item is a binary file!  Client must read until the connection
                 closes.  Beware.
     T       TN3270 connection.

     Experimental IDs.

     s       Sound type.  Data stream is a mulaw sound.
     M       MIME type.  Item contains MIME data.
     h       html type.
     I       Image type.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10: When I do full-text searches I always get every document back, Why?

A10: This is a problem occasionally encountered with Unix full-text
     indexes.  It is caused by setting up the link incorrectly to a
     gindexd port.

     The Path= field should be *blank* when pointing to a gindexd
     index.

     Otherwise the client will send the path to the gindexd daemon,
     which interprets everything as a keyword.  This path is
     likely to contain a pathname that is common to all of the indexed
     files.  Thus a search generates hits on everything.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11: When I try to build the UNIX software I get an error from make:
     "Must be a separator on rules line #. Stop"  Why?

A11: This is a problem with older makes that don't understand the "include"
     keyword.  One easy way to cope with this problem is compiling GNU
     make, which does understand the include keyword.

     If this is too difficult, remove the line:

      include Makefile.config

     from all the Makefiles and paste in a copy of Makefile.config at
     the top of each Makefile.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

--
 | Paul Lindner | [e-mail]   | Slipping into madness
 |              | Computer & Information Services | is good for the sake
 | GopherMaster | University of Minnesota         | of comparision.
///// / / /    /////// / / / /  /  /  /   /      //// / / / /  /  /  /   /


••Impressions

One of the impressive things I remember when I first when to a large
university after growing up in a small town, was finding the library.
My home town library was a place of discovery and enjoyment for me.
When I went off to college, the library was one of the first things
I looked into.  I spent much time looking around this mountain of
knowledge, and I learned much, perhaps more than from classes, in these
big libraries.

That is the way Internet Gopher strikes me -- like going from a small
town library to a big university one.  It is a very simple but
powerful way to bring information from anywhere, locally or world-wide,
to your personal computer.  It is easy to set up gopher servers.  It is
Very Easy to use the gopher clients.

The IUBio Biology Archive is now available thru internet Gopher.
It is reached at host "ftp.bio.indiana.edu", standard gopher port# 70,
with path="".  You may also find links to other Biology gophers at this
site, including North American, European and Middle East sites, at the
time of this writing.

Internet gopher is pretty easy to learn to use.  Gopher and WAIS provide
somewhat different protocols for serving information out to clients over the
Internet.  Gopher is strong on browsing -- you can find new things just by
pointing at lists.  WAIS is strong on linking together many dispersed
servers to answer a given question.  I think they both are good, but I
think Gopher is an order of magnitude easier to learn, and install, and
consequently will be more useful to more people.

Thru the IUBio Biology Archive, you can, for instance, fetch a single sequence entry
from Genbank by providing its accession number or locus name as the question:
   Fetch by accession number <?>
   X51902
   -- will fetch the sequence "Alcaligenes eutrophus gene for 10Sa RNA"

Or you can provide key words:
  Search by keyword, author... <?>
  Acanthamoeba castellanii
  -- will list all sequences of that species of amoeba.



••More about Gopher

Here is an introduction to Internet Gopher from one of its developers,
Paul Lindner:

The newsgroup alt.gopher has been created to for developers and
users of the Gopher software developed at the University of Minnesota.

Here is our little gopher spiel, in case you're interested:

What is the Internet Gopher?

The Internet Gopher is an information distribution system. It combines
features of electronic bulletin board services and databases,
allowing you to either browse a hierarchy of information, or to search
for the information you need using full-text indexes. Gopher can also
store references to public telnet sessions, CSO phone book servers,
finger-protocol information, and sounds.

The Internet Gopher software was developed by the Computer and
Information Services department of the University of Minnesota. The
software is freely distributable.


What Information is Available?

There is much diverse information stored on various Gopher servers:
computer documentation, phone books, news, weather, library
databases, books, recipes, etc.

We use Gopher at the Microcomputer Helpline to quickly answer
questions using our large user support database. In addition to our
own information, we have over 6000 information items from various
hardware and software ven- dors. While it's a good tool for our own
internal use, anyone may search the database. This means fewer calls
to our helpline, resulting in better, faster service.

The Gopher system can keep track of campus phone book servers.
Currently you can search seventeen University phone books.

Quite a bit of news is in Gopher. Two campus newspapers: The Minnesota
Daily and The Daily Texan are on line and searchable.  National
Weather Forecasts for the entire nation are also available. For
Clarinet subscribers we provide a full UPI news feed that's indexed
hourly.

The electronic books published by the Gutenberg Project are available
in Gopher. These include classics such as Moby Dick and refer- ence
works such as the CIA World Fact Book.  The Hacker's Dictionary and
the Periodic Table of the Elements are available too.

Gopher users can also get at information that is only accessible on
terminal based information systems. Gopher can store links to these
sites. You can easily start a telnet session to many libraries and
information servers with the press of a key or click of the mouse.

Naturally we have some fun information as well: humor, recipes, jokes,
etc. There's a wide variety of data, with more coming on-line all the
time from a multitude of sites on the Inter- net.


How does it work?

Information is stored on multiple servers, connected together in a
network. This allows for capacity to be added to the system in small,
inexpensive increments. It also allows the Gopher system to cross
institutional boundaries, since other servers can be "linked" into the
sys- tem easily. Large indexes can be spread over multiple servers,
resulting in significant speedups.

You may use the PC, Macintosh, NeXT, Xwindows, or Unix Terminal
Clients to access the Gopher system. The client connects with a "root"
gopher server which is an entry point into the Gopher. There can be
many different entry points. This allows a certain amount of freedom
in organizing the information. Local or fre- quently accessed
information can be put higher in the hierarchy for different
organizations (i.e.  the Library root server would have a library
search at the top level, whereas the Music root server would have it
lower)

At the initial connection, the root server sends back a listing of the
objects in its top level directory. These objects can be:

 Directories,
 Text Files,
 CSO Phone Books,
 Search Engines,
 Telnet References or
 Sounds


Each object has associated with it a User displayable title, a unique
"selector string", a hostname, and a port number. The client then
presents the user with the list of titles, and lets them make a
selection. The user does not have to remember hostnames, ports, or
selector strings.  The client takes care of this.

After the user makes a selection, the cli- ent contacts the given host
at the given port and sends the selector string associated with the
object. The client will do different things, depending on what type of
object was selected.  The client may display a new directory, show a
text file, or prompt the user to search a CSO phone book. This process
continues until the user decides to quit.

Since gopher uses a simple protocol, we and others were able to
develop clients and servers on many platforms quickly and easily.


How do I access Gopher?

Client software for Macintoshes, PCs, NeXTs, X Windows, and UNIX
terminals is available for anonymous ftp from

  boombox.micro.umn.edu

in the directory

  /pub/gopher

Or, if you just want a quick look at the UNIX terminal curses client,
telnet to the machine

  consultant.micro.umn.edu

and log in as:

  gopher

We highly recommend running the client on your local personal computer
or workstation.  These local clients have a better response time and
an easier user interface.


Contacting Gopher People.

The University of Minnesota Gopher Development Team can be reached by
sending internet e-mail to

[e-mail]

Address paper mail to:

Internet Gopher Team
132 Shepherd Labs
100 Union St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
[phone]


We also operate a mailing-list called gopher-news that contains
announcements of new software and new information available in Gopher.
To subscribe send an internet e-mail message to:

[e-mail]

--
 | Paul Lindner | [e-mail]   | Slipping into madness
 |  GopherSpace | Computer & Information Services | is good for the sake
 |   Engineer   | University of Minnesota         | of comparision.
///// / / /    /////// / / / /  /  /  /   /      //// / / / /  /  /  /   /



•Bugs

                                                   NOTE NOTE NOTE

As there are still some bugs in GopherApp which cause it to freeze or bomb,
if you are using Mac System 7, you can exit a frozen GopherApp without
restarting your Mac:
                                            Command-Option-Escape

keypress will always abort the front application.  Sometimes if you do this,
the MacTCP system software may be left in a bad state, and you may need to
restart your computer anyway (after safely closing other apps) in order
to re-use MacTCP programs.

GopherApp Preferences.  This file stores your personal customizations for
GopherApp.  On System 7 Macs, it is found in the System Folder:Preferences:
folder.  On System 6 macs, it is found in the System Folder:  GopherApp requires
this file, and of the proper version number.  It will make this file if it
does not exist. If this file gets corrupted, the GopherApp may fail.  If you have
problems, especially starting GopherApp,  erase this file then try again.

CSO phonebook works at simple level.  GopherApp doesn't query CSO
server for valid fields as it might, so listed fields may fail. Some
queries may fail do to improper formatting (I'm no CSO expert).

I've added WHOIS phonebook type "w" since it is just a child object of
TextGopher + Search question. You can find a list of world wide WHOIS
servers at the IUBIO gopher, along w/ CSO servers.

The WAIS searching now works properly.
>> Fixed for long paths 6 Jul

I tried to implement a window-saving feature to have new gopher folder items
replace the current parent gopher folder, as per the Hypercard client.
>> dropped from gopherapp

In System 7, the Telnet sessions should be automatically launched.
>> fixed 24 jun


>>> Bug reports from field, problems fixed (as of 26may92):

1) The types of a saved session (IGo4) and the app (SApp)
   are not the same as the predifined (IGo4/IGo4)
>> fixed

2) When I cancel a TCP open, I still get a new window with
   the defaults from the resource IGo4. [should be fixed]
     This also happens when I open a empty folder. [feature]
>> fixed 7 jun

5) I know its hard but it would be useful to run another app
   during data-transfer, and to put GopherApp in the background.
>> fixed 24 jun

One problem I noticed is that when I first started the app it chose a
non-text font for the icon titles, which confused me at first.
[fixed as of 26may92, also added user pref for text view font]

---
A problem that I have is that when I click on an item
it will go out .. get the info. and the cms server will close the connection
however.. gopher app just sits there until I press  command .
it will then display the info.
[ protocol I used at first waited for ".<CR><LF>" terminator signal.
  Now, I think, TCP reading routines also notice when door
    has been slammed shut :) ]
>> fixed


>>> More Bug reports from field

1) Can you indicate how difficult (how long time) it would
   take to make a ISO-version?
>> I don't intend to do any ISO version.  Source is available
>> for those who want to add this enough to work on it.

3) Some of the items in Gopher Prefs (small icons) are greyed
   out (not implemented yet?)
>> fixed 7 jul

6) The clock, it doesn't rotate while TCP is working...
>> maybe later

----

Also, while composing this message, I had a minor problem with the last
line getting cut off, probably because the view was just slightly short.
>> fixed

---
A small comment on GopherApp. If you open a config file in
text mode, add a new gopher and save it, it becomes a TEXT
file and Open... doesn't seem to work properly. It should
preserve the IGo4 file type.
>> use Edit gopher item menu

I can't seem to get GopherApp to work with a Gopher server
running on the same Mac. I am using the Gopher Mac server
and have no problems with the Gopher client hypercard
stack. But GopherApp hangs at "TCP is waiting to open".
[no idea where problem is... later]
>> Reports from field say this problem has disappeared (v 1.2)

---
Whenever I double click on a goper server that does not
respond, (I suspect that it is off line)...the program
hangs with a clock face at the message TCP established.  I
have to reboot tht system to get out of this hang.  Command
period would be a nice interrupt here.
>> Command-period does work now, though it is a bit slow
>> to respond during name lookup (lean on keys about a minute
>> or lower the time-out preference).

---

...GopherApp seemed a bit slow when transferring large files.
>> 24 jun version should be noticeably faster

--
... get dialog/alert "Could not start the application because of
a program error". Disabling the TOPS 3.0 INIT sees GopherApp load OK.
... the only other MacTCP application I've had a
problem with is WAIS but I didn't try localizing the problem in that case.

[gopherapp and TOPS don't get along, reason unknown]

---
...trying to save files, and every
time I tried to, GopherApp gave a "disk error".
>> This was a System 7/Apple Events bug, fixed 7 July


We were wondering if there was a way to redirect the App to our server.

>> see the Gopher Prefs button "Save Front Window"

---

I  don't have access to a DNS ... need to use Hosts file.
>> Not yet.

Gopher is great, but *please* make it possible to put it in
the background (switch to another application) while Gopher
is transferring files.
>>> fixed

---
i'm running gopher on a mac. when i double-click to receive
a text file from a server i'm getting incomplete files;
they just stop before the physical end of the file. this
has been consistient behavior since i started using gopher.
what's up?

>>> no idea, unless it is a time-out. You can try increasing the
>>> tcp timeout to 1800, 3600 or larger. Please send more info
>>> if any of you see this.

---

I am running the Macintosh server from boombox.micro.umn.edu, which is
nice.  I can connect to it with the Hypercard client, but I have problems using
GopherApp 1.1b8.

>> I've never tested GopherApp w/ Mac Gopher Server.  Some say the problem
>> is fixed as of version 1.2b.  No idea what it might be or have been.

---
I seem to be having trouble
getting any of the "appearance" prefs to function. Item
view and text view prefs have no effect, either immediate
or after quiting and restarting.

>> this must be a system-specific problem with your setup
>> -- those prefs should be working.  Need more info.

---

One suggestion is to provide a view with no. of bytes if possible.

>> only if the server sends that info.  See IUBio Gopher Server date & size
>> modification.

---

I think you know that little icons can't be activated
>> fixed v1.3

did you think of
displaying the size of documents ?
>> Server must send size info, see above

Transfers sometimes take a long time, and
you cannot send Gopher App back to the background
>> fixed v1.2

Could not complete your request because of a program error.
... when I tried to go into a folder (ie directory) that had no files in
it.
>>> fixed v1.2

---
1.  Download in the background.
>> done
2.  Show some indication of progress, either % of file retrieved or
    the size of the total file as well as how much has already been
    downloaded.
>> only if server sends size info, see above.

after restarting my Mac I was no longer able to even start up
GopherApp.  On every attempt I got a pop-up window saying:
"Could not start the application because of a program error."

>> damaged System Folder:Preferences:"Gopher Preferences" file.
>> Trash it and try again.

---

I have been using the GopherApp Mac gopher
client to access files on a Unix file server, and I have
noticed that it does not always display the entire contents
of a text file.  The Unix client displays the entire file,
so I am fairly sure the file is OK.  The Mac client just
truncates the end of the file, usually after the first 50
or so lines, but it gives no error message.
I have tried lengthening
mi TCP timeout values, but it didn't help.

>>> need more info -- same file truncated always
>>> at same place?  all files truncated or just some?
>>> if same file, send copy of file or point me to gopher link

---

GopherApp can bring the "Gopher-Dave" window to the front with out
a problem, but the "Info-Mac (sumex-aim)" won't come to the front.

>> parentheses are part of Mac Menu item command set.  Needs fancy fix.
>> Ignore the bug for now (not damaging).

---

Hi new gopher app looks good, however I am running
EvenBetterBus error, an init that causes a bus error when
you write to a nil pointer. I currently get a bus error
most times that I open a gopher 'folder' gopherapp keeps
running OK but its a bit worrying. (The write to nil error
also occurs when I hit the send button in the mailing bit)

>> I tracked that one down, with a *lot* of effort (and thanks
>> for tip on MrBusError tool).  Problem w/ a call to MacTCP DNR
>> (and lacking in DNR documentation).

---

I have a 13" RGB monitor and a 19" gray scale monitor attached to my Mac so
that they form a following desktop:

Even when GopherApp windows are all in the far left upper corner, new
windows are sometimes placed too low (x) or at the middle (bottom) of the
desktop (X) so that they are half hidden.

>> GopherApp relies on MacApp for window placement.  Maybe new version of
>> MacApp will cure this.  Don't hold your breath for a fix on this one.

---

The latest release of Mac Gopher does not seem to display
the CSO information properly, the old version (May 27) did.
The "contains" feature does not work

>> seems to be fixed now.

---

Many folks are using the version of the gopher server that
supports the "g" file type for GIF files. GopherApp says
Yuck! to this file type and refuses to download it, even
though the nifty new suffix mapping code has been told how
to handle .gif files.

Would it be possible to add support for "undefined"
document types beyond 0-9, etc.? This seems a logical
extension of the suffix mapping code to include suffix and
gopher file type mapping.

>> See Gopher type to Mac type map, new in version 1.3b
>> Now any new gopher type may be mapped by user to a type GopherApp
>> understands.

---
I see you fixed the bug with the mac server, great!!

>> not intentionally, but I didn't put the bug in intentionally either.

I could not get any of the WAIS based gateway searchs to
work?

>> should be fixed as of version 1.3b

---




••Bug Patrol

>>> My thanks to those below and others who have sent comments and bug reports.
    Keep them coming.

 [e-mail]
 "John M. Sellens" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 "Farhad Anklesaria"  <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Peter Gustafsson)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 "Daniel K. Appelquist" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 Danny Thomas <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail] (Dan Davison)
 [e-mail]
 "Joel L. Hansen" <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail] (Dave Garaffa)
 [e-mail] (Scientists on Disk)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 James Gray <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 John Larson <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Glenn Anderson)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail] (Steve Cousins)
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 Brian Denehy <[e-mail]>
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 [e-mail]


•History

GopherApp -- First public release on 25 Mar 92. Derived from biosequence
analysis application SeqApp.

SeqApp was started Sept. 1990 as MacApp sequence editor/analysis platform
on which analysis programs from other authors, typically command line
w/ weak user interfaces, could be easily incorporated into a useable Mac
interface.

7 Jul 92, v 1.3b52 Various bug fixes to GopherApp, including
  long paths (>255 char) so now all wais searches should work,
    mapping to mac types extended to Gopher types, so e.g.,
      new gopher types can be incorporated thru user-editable map ('T'->'8' or 'g'->'9'),
        or change default behavior (have '0' text always displayed by favorite text editor),
    binhex transfer is revised, now is a lot FASTER,
    fixed "Save" bug when file openned from finder,
    pref: small icon views enabled,
    pref: disabled edit/new link unless smart user flips switch,
    pref: dropped "same window",
    pref: require user locate diggings folder before attempting to use it,

24 Jun 92, v. 1.2b?.  Updated Gopher functions, including
    background data fetching now works properly
    added binary file type (sound type now = binary)
    added item date and size display (when server permits (only iubio now))
    Gopher Diggings folder for auto-save of files
    revamped internal structures and operations (be on lookout for new bugs)
    should be noticeably faster file fetch (esp. for larger files)
    experimental gopher type to mac file type mapping,
      including user prefs, editing and launching (sys7)
    ReadMail (POP mail) now works and is enabled (it's not fancy though)

26 May 92, v1.1b31 --  New TCP timeout option makes this a SLIPpery app,
default item font now has sane value, help file now is
always found when in app folder, TCP userbreak handles update
events, but still doesn't background properly or spin cursor,
text view now has default font pref.

12 May 92, v1.1b8 -- various bug fixes, chased out several TCP related problems,
added edit gopher link, new gopher link. Partial backgrounding during long
gopher fetches -- not working completely yet.  Known bug of limit to path
length of Pascal string size [255] that truncates, for instance, some
long wais-gatewayed document paths.

21 Apr 92 minor update: corrected GopherApp file creator signature,
added domain name server lookup cache.

25 Mar 92, v1.0a41+.  First release to general public.
Also released SeqApp for biologists.