Archive-name: finding-sources Version: $Id: csw_faq,v 1.47 91/10/06 20:07:15 jik Exp $ I. Table of contents This article contains the following sections. I. Table of contents II. Introduction III. How do you find sources? IV. Things not do do V. Searching techniques in detail 1. Usenet source newsgroups 2. The "archie" database 3. Jon Granrose's anonymous ftp directory 4. Comp.archives 5. Comp.sources.wanted 6. Prospero 7. Mail server queries VI. File retrieval techniques in detail 1. By anonymous ftp 2. By anonymous UUCP 3. By mail a. Hrc mail archive b. Uunet mail archive c. BITFTP d. DEC's ftpmail e. AT&T's netlib archive f. Periodic posting archives g. Trickle mail servers h. Other mail servers VII. Credits To find a particular section, search forward for a line beginning with the Roman numeral corresponding to the desired section. For example, search forward for "IV." at the beginning of the line to find the section entitled "Things not to do". II. Introduction 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. Comments about, suggestions about or corrections to this posting are welcomed. III. 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 last resort when you have exhausted all other alternatives. Once you have located your source code using the instructions below, you can retrieve it via anonymous ftp or E-mail (depending on what is accessible to you and on where the code is archived); this is described in detail later in this posting. Before following *any* of the routes below, the first thing you should do is exhaust the local resources that are available to you. Often, a program that you are looking for will already be accessible somewhere on your system. Since each site has different local resources, it's impossible to give details here about the resources at any specific site. All that can be said is, "Find someone at your site to ask." Nearly every site has someone whose job it is to answer questions from other users, and the sites that don't have someone doing it officially often have someone doing it unofficially. If you cannot find what you want after checking things out locally, or if you can't find anyone to ask, then proceed as follows. 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 ." 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 ," where is something algorithmic or mathematical that is commonly solved with computers. Check AT&T's "netlib" archive (which is accessible via E-mail as described below, or via anonymous ftp to research.att.com {username "netlib" instead of "anonymous"}), and if that doesn't work, proceed as in (3) above. 5. "I am looking for source code that does 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 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 ." 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 (which is dedicated to the goal of making high quality free software, including a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU, available for everyone) 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 (the best one is probably gatekeeper.dec.com; ftp.uu.net has a bsd-sources directory too, and it contains some sources that are not in the gatekeeper archive, but the sources there are for 4.3reno BSD and might be difficult to compile under other types of Unix) 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. IV. Things not to do 1. Don't post messages to source newsgroups (e.g. comp.sources.unix, comp.sources.misc, etc.) asking for sources. There are newsgroups specifically for source requests. If you post a request to a moderated source newsgroup, then the moderator has to deal with it (and he probably doesn't want to have to deal with source requests from all over the Usenet), and if you post a request to an unmoderated source newsgroup, then archives of that newsgroup end up with cruft (i.e. your request) in them. V. 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 vmsnet.sources vmsnet.sources.games 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. If you are accessing an anonymous UUCP archive (see below), you are usually told when you are given the phone number and password for the archive how to get the top-level index for the archive, which will tell you how to get other indices and files. 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 (128.252.135.4), which archives alt.sources, comp.sources.mac, and comp.sources.apple2, in addition to most of the newsgroups archived on ftp.uu.net. A very large European anonymous ftp site is nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), which archives Usenet newsgroups and mirrors several foreign specialized ftp servers. Other large European archive sites are mcsun.eu.net (192.16.202.1) and inria.inria.fr (192.93.2.1). If you are in Europe, you should look on one of these sites for things you need before trying sites elsewhere. The vmsnet newsgroups are archived on black.cerritos.edu and acfcluster.nyu.edu. See also the posting "Monthly info posting: vmsnet.sources archive sites" in vmsnet.sources.d and comp.os.vms; if it has expired at your site, see the documentation below about retrieving postings from the periodic posting archive. 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" (Peter Deutsch, Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and Mike Parker) 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 archie.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 are in Australia or New Zealand (and please, *only* if you are in Australia or New Zealand, you can use the archie server on archie.au (128.184.1.4), which is running the same software as the main archive server at McGill. If you are in Finland (or if Finland is closer to you, net-wise, than Canada, Australia or New Zealand), you can use the archie server on archie.funet.fi (128.214.6.100). Archie sites will soon be available elsewhere as well. If you do not have Internet access, then send a mail message to archie@archie.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 may not provide all of the functionality that the interactive interface provides. The Australian archie can be reached at archie@sol.deakin.oz.au (again, please use this server only if you are in Australia or New Zealand), and the Finnish archie can be reached at archie@nic.funet.fi. If you would like more information about archie, you can write to archie-l@cs.mcgill.ca. 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 (e.g. wuarchive.wustl.edu, cs.dal.ca). Furthermore, comp.archives is accessible via WAIS, in the database named "comp.archives" on port 9000 on talon.ucs.orst.edu. If you don't know what WAIS is, don't worry about it. 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 ?" Say, "Would someone please tell me where I can get , or what's available that does ? 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. 6. Prospero If you are a Unix site on the Internet, you can use the Prospero system (whose author is Clifford Neuman) to search through archives of various sorts all over the Internet, and to retrieve files once you have found them. Prospero uses a virtual filesystem which allows you to transparently view directories and retrieve files. There is some overlap between Prospero and other resources mentioned in this document; for example, both archie and the periodic posting archives on pit-manager.mit.edu are accessible via Prospero. The Prospero software is available in /pub/prospero.tar.Z on cs.washington.edu; the user software may already be installed at your site, and if not, you can get it and install it yourself. For more information about Prospero, send mail to info-prospero@isi.edu. 7. Mail server queries Anonymous ftp is most effectively used only for retrieving files and not for searching for them, since it is a file transfer protocol and not much more than that. However, many (if not all) of the mail archive servers which allow file retrieval by electronic mail provide a more functional (albeit slower) interface than ftp which allows you to query the servers to find out what they have available on them. Therefore, if you find it necessary to use mail archive servers to get files, take advantage of the indexing and search features available on the servers. The features of individual servers can not be documented here, because there are too many different servers running too many different kinds of software, but the instructions below do explain how to ask the servers for help and find out what commands they support. VI. File retrieval techniques in detail 1. By 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@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 an ftp-mail server such as Princeton's BITFTP or DEC's ftpmail to retrieve files from anonymous ftp archives. However, you should only use an ftp-mail server when the same files are not available from a dedicated mail archive server. See the BITFTP and ftpmail instructions below. 2. By anonymous UUCP There are various UUCP sites on the net that publish their modem telephone numbers and a public username and password that can be used to transfer files from the sites via UUCP. For more information about doing this, see the documentation for the "uucp" command on your system. One place to find information about anonymous UUCP archives is the Nixpub listing of public access Unix sites, maintained by Phil Eschallier and posted in comp.misc and alt.bbs. If that posting has expired at your site, you can get copies of it from the Periodic posting archive described below. 3. By mail a. 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@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
send help You should replace
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". b. Uunet mail archive Uunet.uu.net provides E-mail access to the sources it archived (see the discussion about ftp.uu.net above for some idea of what is available). The address to which to send requests is "netlib@uunet.uu.net". You can send a message containing "help" in its body for more information. c. BITFTP The BITFTP server, run by Princeton University, allows people on the BITNET to retrieve via E-mail files at anonymous ftp archive sites. To find out how to use it, send mail to "bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu" with "help" in the body. The BITFTP server will reject requests from non-BITNET addresses, so if you're not on the BITNET and you need to do anonymous ftp retrieval via E-mail, you should use DEC's ftpmail (see below). d. DEC's ftpmail The ftpmail server, run at DEC, allows you to retrieve via E-mail files at anonymous ftp archive sites. To find out how to use it, send mail to "ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com" with "help" in the body. If you're on the BITNET, please use the BITFTP server (see above) rather than ftpmail. NOTE: Don't do something bogus like send your requests both to BITFTP and ftpmail, hoping that one of them will get back to you first. Choose one server for your request, and use it. e. AT&T's netlib archive AT&T's "netlib" archive is the repository for a large body of source code and other material, much of it mathematical, algorithmic or scientific in nature. The archive is accessible via anonymous ftp to research.att.com, or via electronic mail. To find out how to use the mail server, send mail to "netlib@research.att.com" with "help" in the body of the message. f. 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@pit-manager.mit.edu" with Subject "help". The archive on pit-manager is also accessible via WAIS. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it; if you do know what it is, you can search through periodic Usenet postings by connecting to the "usenet" WAIS database on pit-manager.mit.edu. g. Trickle mail servers A BITnet mail server package called "Trickle" is supported at a number of different BITnet sites all over the world: Austria: trickle@awiwuw11.bitnet Denmark: trickle@dktc11.bitnet Belgium: trickle@banufs11.bitnet Germany: trickle@dtuzdv1.bitnet Italy: trickle@imipoli.bitnet Netherlands: trickle@hearn.bitnet Spain: trickle@eb0ub011.bitnet Turkey: trickle@trearn.bitnet Israel: trickle@taunivm.bitnet These archives contain files of all sorts from a number of different major anonymous ftp archive sites, including wsmr-simtel20.army.mil, uunet.uu.net, expo.lcs.mit.edu and sauna.hut.fi. They are a good way for people on the BITnet to get access to archives. To find out how to use Trickle send a mail message to the Trickle server closest to you with "/HELP" in the body of the message and an empty Subject: line. h. Other mail servers There are other mail servers besides the ones listed above. If you want to find out more about a server, send a message to it with "help" in the body and see what it sends back. archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov Space archives (also accessible via anonymous ftp to ames.arc.nasa.gov) archive-server@athena-dist.mit.edu MIT Project Athena papers and source code (also accessible via anonymous ftp to athena-dist.mit.edu) archive-server@bcm.tmc.edu UUCP maps, source-code for BCM WHOIS database, NFS and PC-NFS information and source-code, Unisys U-series information and source code, other stuff archive-server@cc.purdue.edu NeXT stuff (also accessible via anonymous ftp to sonta.cc.purdue.edu or nova.cc.purdue.edu) archive-server@chsun1.uchicago.edu Computer Underground Digest and references archive-server@cs.leidenuniv.nl IPX, "patch" for MS-DOS, "sps" diffs for SunOS 4.1 archive-server@dsi.com Datacomp Systems, Inc. Elm and Elm-related stuff archive-server@eclectic.com Mac-security digest, information about Eclectic, other stuff archive-server@joshua.atherton.com archive-server@ncsa.uiuc.edu NCSA stuff, especially telnet and tcp for mac/pc archive-server@rice.edu Sun-spots, sun-source and sun-icons, plus other software written or influenced by people at Rice (also accessible via anonymous ftp to titan.rice.edu) archive-server@st.cs.uiuc.edu Ralph Johnson's UIUC smalltalk archive (also accessible via anonymous ftp to st.cs.uiuc.edu) archive-server@sun.soe.clarkson.edu IBM and other good stuff (also accessible via anonymous ftp to sun.soe.clarkson.edu) archive-server@wdl1.wdl.loral.com WDL archive server: snfs, tsig stuff cubelib@gmuvax2.gmu.edu iPSC User's Group doc-server@prl.dec.com Paris Research Lab (PRL) technical reports, articles, and notes; bignum package fileserv@shsu.bitnet General and VMS-specific TeX/LaTeX sources, sty files, extensions, etc.; mailing list archives; sources for VMS packages of various sorts gene-server@bchs.uh.edu Genbank gene database server goodies-lib@cs.man.ac.uk Manchester smalltalk goodies archive graf-bib-server@decwrl.dec.com Graphix bibliography server; put keywords in mail Subject (also accessible via anonymous ftp to gatekeeper.dec.com) info-server@cl.cam.ac.uk Various random stuff, including bmx, btoa, c-nrs, gdb, soft-gen, spad, top, unix-niftp, ups (Unix PostScript interpreter) info-server@doc.ic.ac.uk Usenet source newsgroups, GNU, X11, news software, other stuff info-server@hp4nl.nluug.nl Macintosh, Sun, IBM-PC, Unix sources, some documents, GNU, graphics, Usenet archives (or lots of newsgroups), X window system, TeX, programming languages (lisp, icon, abc, others), news sources, network sources, other stuff info-server@sh.cs.net Internet community calendar, E-mail ftp server (currently unavailable), CSNET general information documents, CREN information, NSFNET information, Some Internet RFCs, a small amount of source code library@cme.nist.gov Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) archive lido@cs.uni-sb.de AI bibliographical server; put "lidosearch help" in mail Subject listserv@dhdurz1.bitnet listserv@orion.bitnet Erotica listserv@ubvm.bitnet Russian TeX listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu Same as listserv@ubvm.bitnet listserv@vm1.nodak.edu Lots of stuff from simtel-20; put "get pdget help" in mail body mail-server@cs.ruu.nl GIFs, Atari ST software, random documentation, ELM sources, Usenet FAQ postings, GNU software HP-UX software, NN sources, SGI software, TeX software and TeXhax and TeXmag archives, random UNIX software, X11 software, other stuff (also accessible via anonymous ftp to archive.cs.ruu.nl) mail-server@rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de German TeX archives; benchmarks, journal indices, RFCs, network info, unix info; X, mac, pc, sun, aix, vax, and other software (also accessible via anonymous ftp to rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de) mailserv@garbo.uwasa.fi Frequently asked questions in various areas, some Usenet source archives, some PC software archives netlib@draci.cs.uow.edu.au Australian Netlib (also accessible via anonymous ftp to draci.cs.uow.edu.au) netlib@ornl.gov Similar to the AT&T netlib archive netlib@uunet.uu.net A large subset of what is available from uunet via anonymous ftp or anonymous uucp. netlib@ukc.ac.uk UK netlib server (mostly same contents as AT&T's netlib) (some files also accessible via anonymous ftp to harrier.ukc.ac.uk {username "guest"}) next-archive@cc.purdue.edu NeXT stuff (also accessible via anonymous ftp to sonta.cc.purdue.edu or nova.cc.purdue.edu) nistlib@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov Benchmarks, GOSIP nptserver@cme.nist.gov NIST Cals server (also accessible via anonymous ftp to durer.cme.nist.gov) object-archive-server@decwrl.dec.com OFF format (?) objects ps-file-server@adobe.COM PostScript stuff reduce-netlib@rand.org Sources related to REDUCE (A SAM system with emphasis on nuclear physics) reports@midgard.ucsc.edu Comp.os.research tech reports (also accessible via anonymous ftp to midgard.ucsc.edu) request@legato.com NFS benchmarking for determining if Legato board will help your server search@genbank.bio.net FASTA program for nucleic acid sequence service@nic.ddn.mil Internet RFCs and FYIs, NIC database registration, WHOIS database lookup statlib@lib.stat.cmu.edu XLISP-STAT, other statistical software (also accessible via anonymous ftp to umnstat.stat.umn.edu) tech-reports@cs.columbia.edu Experimental server (?) address might point to a human telecom-archive-request@letni.lonestar.org Comp.dcom.telecom archive wrl-techreports@decwrl.dec.com DEC WRL technical reports and abstracts wscott@ecn.purdue.edu HP 48 programs; put HP-MAIL-SERVER in mail Subject xstuff@expo.lcs.mit.edu MIT X Consortium files, mainly patches VII. Credits Bill Wohler provided many of the addresses in the "Other mail servers" section above, and provided suggestions for several other sections. Andrew Purshottam also provided many mail archive server addresses. Bjorn P. Brox provided information about Trickle. Tom Cunningham , Dan Jacobson , Peter Deutsch , Edwin Kremer , Petri Ojala , Douglas Quist , Richard S. Smith , Sydney S. Weinstein , Jon Whellams , Adri Verhoef and Ed Vielmetti provided feedback and corrections. Jonathan Kamens jik@MIT.Edu MIT Information Systems/Athena Moderator, news.answers (Send news.answers-related correspondence to news-answers@MIT.Edu.) ("Look Ma, new signature!")