
                                    ARCHIE
                                       
What is ARCHIE

   Archie is a service which helps users to locate files and directories
   on anonymous FTP servers anywhere on the Internet.
   
   Administrators all over the world register anonymous FTP servers with
   the archie service; once a month the archie service runs a program
   which scans the directories and filenames contained in each of the
   registered FTP servers, and generates a grand merged list of all the
   files and directories contained in all the registered servers. More
   than 1000 anonymous FTP sites are now represented in this list, which
   is referred to as the archie database. The archie database currently
   contains more than 2,100,000 filenames.
   
   The archie database is made available on several archie servers, all
   of which contain the same information.
   
   Administrators can also provide a short description of software
   packages contained in the files or directories at their site, but do
   not have to do so. The descriptions may or may not be kept up to date:
   there is no pressure on administrators to do this.
   
   Files made available at anonymous FTP sites contain software packages
   for various systems (MS-Windows, MS-DOS, Macintosh, Unix, etc.),
   utilities, information or documentation, mailing lists or Usenet group
   discussion archives. At most FTP sites, the resources are organized
   hierarchically in directories and subdirectories. The archie database
   contains both the directory path and the file names.
   
Who can use ARCHIE

   The archie database is available to all users of the Internet, and can
   also be accessed via electronic mail. See the section Using ARCHIE
   below for details.
   
How to get to ARCHIE

   The archie database is maintained in the following locations:
     _________________________________________________________________
   
Host                        Country

archie.au                   Australia
archie.aco.net              Austria
archie.cs.mcgill.ca         Canada
archie.uqam.ca              Canada
archie.funet.fi             Finland
archie.univ-rennes1.fr      France
archie.th-darmstadt.de      Germany
archie.ac.il                Israel
archie.unipi.it             Italy
archie.kyoto-u.ac.jp        Japan
archie.wide.ad.jp           Japan
archie.hana.nm.kr           Korea
archie.sogang.ac.kr         Korea
archie.nz                   New Zealand
archie.uninett.no           Norway
archie.rediris.es           Spain
archie.luth.se              Sweden
archie.switch.ch            Switzerland
archie.ncu.edu.tw           Taiwan
archie.twnic.net            Taiwan
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk         United Kingdom
archie.hensa.ac.uk          United Kingdom
archie.ans.net              USA
archie.internic.net         USA
archie.rutgers.edu          USA
archie.sura.net             USA
archie.unl.edu              USA
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   There are three ways to access the archie database: via a local
   client, interactive Telnet session or electronic mail. Each type of
   access is described below in the Using ARCHIE section.
   
Using ARCHIE

   You are requested to respect a few basic rules when you look for
   information on an archie server:
     * avoid connecting during working hours; most of the archie servers
       are not dedicated machines - they have local functions as well.
     * make your queries as specific as possible; the response will be
       quicker and shorter.
     * user interfaces installed on your computer help to reduce the load
       on the server sites, so please use them.
     * use the archie server closest to you and, in particular, don't
       overload the transatlantic lines.
       
   The three ways of accessing the archie database, via a local client,
   via an interactive Telnet session or using electronic mail, are
   described below.
   
   Note that version 3.0 of the archie server is now available, and some
   of the commands for interactive access and the e-mail interface are
   slightly different from previous versions of the server (2.11 and
   earlier). Command formats marked with a (+) are valid in version 3.0
   only, those marked with a (*) are acceptable only in previous
   versions. You can use the version command to find out which version is
   installed at any particular server.
   
   Using a local client
   
   You are encouraged to use a local archie client because the archie
   server does not then have to provide you with an interactive
   interface: requests from your local client to the archie server will
   be non-interactive, and will thus place less of a burden on the
   server. Server performance will be increased and response time will
   improve for all users.
   
   Public domain clients for accessing archie servers are available for:
   Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, NeXT, Unix and X-Windows. All these
   platforms support a simple command line client; the xarchie client for
   the X Window System provides a graphical user interface. The clients
   are available from the archie sites using anonymous FTP, and are in
   the directories /pub/archie/clients or /archie/clients.
   
   Archie client command and parameters
   
   A graphical interface (GUI), enables you to access the archie
   functions by pressing mouse buttons in order to select menu options.
   
   archie clients written for use without a graphical user interface
   require you to type in the command archie, followed by one or more
   parameters. If you omit the parameters you are given a list of the
   possible parameters with a short description of each one. A
   description of the parameters is given below, where angle brackets
   (<>) indicate an optional parameter and a vertical bar (|) indicates a
   choice of parameters.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
archie <-parameters> string | pattern
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   where the optional parameters are:
   
   o
          specifies an output file name to store the results (not
          available with all clients).
          
   l
          lists the result one match per line. This form is suitable for
          parsing by programs.
          
   t
          sorts the result by date.
          
   m#
          specifies maximum number of matches to return (# within the
          range 0 to 1000). The default value is 95.
          
   h archie-server
          specifies which archie server should be used; if this parameter
          is not given, then the query will be sent to the default archie
          server, if one is defined.
          
   L
          lists known servers and current default server.
          
   The following group of optional parameters determines the kind of
   search performed on the database. They are mutually exclusive.
   
   s
          a match occurs if the file/directory name contains string. The
          search is case insensitive.
          
   c
          as above, but the search is case sensitive.
          
   e
          string must EXACTLY match (including case) the file/directory
          name in the database. This is the DEFAULT search method.
          
   r
          searches the database using pattern. It contains special
          characters which must be interpreted before performing the
          search.
          
   There may be slight differences in the options available with
   different clients on different platforms.
   
   The result is a list of FTP site addresses which contain files or
   directories matching the argument, together with the size of the file,
   its last modification date and its directory. By default, the list is
   sorted by host address. See the Examples section below for an example
   of archie output.
   
   Using Telnet
   
   You can use Telnet to connect to an archie server interactively (see
   the list of servers in the section How to get to ARCHIE above). At the
   login: prompt enter archie. The login procedure leaves the user at the
   prompt archie> indicating that the server is ready for user requests.
   
   Archie servers respond to the commands listed below; the way they
   respond can be defined using the special command set, which changes
   the values of a set of variables described at the end of this section.
   
   The following commands are available:
   
   exit, quit, bye
          exits archie.
          
   help <command-name>
          invokes the on-line help. If a command-name is given, the help
          request is restricted to that command. Pressing the RETURN key
          exits from the on-line help.
          
   list <pattern>
          provides a list of the FTP servers in the database and the time
          at which they were last updated. The result is a list of site
          names, with the site IP address and date of the last update in
          the database. The optional parameter limits the list to sites
          matching pattern: the command list with no pattern will list
          all sites in the database (more than 1000 sites!). E.g.
          

list \.de$

   will list all German sites
          
   site(*) site-name
          lists the directories and subdirectories held in the database
          from a particular site-name. The result may be very long.
          
   whatis string
          searches the database of software package descriptions for
          string. The search is case-insensitive.
          
   prog string | pattern
          
   find(+) string | pattern
          searches the database for string or pattern. Searches may be
          performed in a number of different ways specified in the
          variable search, which also determines whether the parameter is
          treated as a string or as a pattern. The search produces a list
          of FTP site addresses which contain filenames matching the
          pattern or containing the string, the size of the file, its
          last modification date and its directory path. The number of
          matches is limited by the maxhits variable. The list can be
          sorted in different ways, depending on the value of the sortby
          variable. By default, the variables search, maxhits and sortby
          are set to, respectively, exact match search on string, 1000
          hits and unsorted resulting list. A search can be aborted by
          typing the keyboard interrupt character; the list produced at
          that point will be displayed. See the Examples section below
          for an example of the prog command and its results.
          
   mail <email> <,email2...>
          places the result of the last command in a mail message and
          dispatches specified e-mail address(es). If no mail address is
          specified as a parameter, the result is sent to the address
          specified in the variable mailto.
          
   show <variable>
          displays the value of the given variable. If issued with no
          argument, it displays all variables. The archie variables are
          shown below with the details of the set command.
          
   set variable value
          changes the value of the specified archie variable. The
          variables specify how other archie commands should operate.
          
   Variables and values are:
   
   compress(+) compress-method
          specifies the compression method (none or compress) to be used
          before mailing a result with the mail command. The default is
          none.
          
   encode(+) encode-method
          specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode) to be used
          before mailing a result with the mail command. This variable is
          ignored if compress is not set. The default is none.
          
   mailto email <,email2 ...>
          specifies the e-mail address(es) to be used when the mail
          command is issued with no arguments.
          
   maxhits number
          specifies the maximum number of matches prog will generate
          (within the range 0 to 1000). The default value is 1000.
          
   search search-value
          determines the kind of search performed on the database by the
          command: prog string | pattern. search-values are:
          
        sub
                a partial and case insensitive search is performed with
                string on the database, e.g.:
                

"is" will match "islington" and "this" and "poison"

        subcase
                as above but the search is case sensitive, e.g.
                

"TeX" will match "LaTeX" but not "Latex"

        exact
                the parameter of prog (string) must EXACTLY match the
                string in the database (including case). The fastest
                search method of all, and the default.
                
        regex
                pattern is used as a Unix regular expression to match
                filenames during the database search.
                
        sortby sort-value
                describes how to sort the result of prog. sort-values
                are:
                
              hostname
                      on the FTP site address in lexical order.
                      
              time
                      by the modification date, most recent first.
                      
              size
                      by the size of the files or directories in the
                      list, largest first.
                      
              filename
                      on file or directory name in lexical order.
                      
              none
                      unsorted (default)
                      
                Reverse sorts can be carried out by prepending r to the
                sortby value given (e.g. rhostname instead of hostname).
                
        term terminal-type <number-of-rows <number-of-columns>>
                tells the archie server what type of terminal you are
                using, and optionally its size in rows and columns, e.g.
                

set term xterm 24 100

   Using electronic mail
   
   Users limited to electronic mail connectivity can access the archie
   servers. The domain addresses of the servers are listed in the section
   How to get to ARCHIE (e.g. archie@archie.ac.il).
   
   The electronic mail interface to an archie server recognizes a subset
   of the commands described in Using Telnet. These are described below.
   An empty message, or a message containing no valid requests, is
   treated as a help request.
   
   Archie commands are sent in the body part of the mail message, but the
   Subject: line is processed as if it were part of the main body.
   Command lines begin in the first column; all lines that do not match a
   valid command are ignored.
   
   help
          sends you the help file. The help command is exclusive, so
          other commands in the same message are ignored.
          
   path return-address
          
   set mailto(+) return-address
          specifies a return e-mail address different from that which is
          extracted from the message header. If you do not receive a
          reply from the archie server within several hours, you might
          need to add a path command to your message request.
          
   list pattern <pattern2 ...>
          requests a list of the sites in the database that match
          pattern, with the time at which they were last updated. The
          result is a list with site names, site IP addresses and date of
          each site's last update in the database.
          
   site(*) site-name
          lists the directories and subdirectories of site-name in the
          database.
          
   whatis string <string2 ...>
          searches the descriptions of software packages for each string.
          The search is case insensitive.
          
   prog pattern <pattern2 ...>
          
   find(+) pattern <pattern2>
          uses pattern as a Unix regular expression to be matched when
          searching the database. If multiple patterns are placed on one
          line, the results will be mailed back in one message. If
          several lines are sent, each containing a prog command, then
          multiple messages will be returned, one for each prog line.
          Results are sorted by FTP site address in lexical order. If
          pattern contains spaces, it must be quoted with single (') or
          double (") quotes. The search is case insensitive.
          
   compress(*)
          causes the result of the current request to be compressed and
          uuencoded. When you receive the reply, you should run it
          through uudecode, to produce a .Z file. You can then run
          uncompress on the .Z file and get the result of your request.
          
   set compress(+) compress-method
          specifies the compression method (none or compress) to be used
          before mailing the result of the current request. The default
          is none.
          
   set encode(+) encode-method
          specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode) to be used
          before mailing the result of the current request. This variable
          is ignored if compress is not set. The default is none.
          
          Note: set compress compress and set encode uuencode would
          produce the same result as the former compress command.
          
   quit
          nothing past this point is interpreted. Useful if a signature
          is automatically appended to the end of your mail messages.
          
   Description of pattern
   
   A pattern is a specification of a character string, and may include
   characters which take a special meaning. The special meaning will be
   lost if "\" is put before the character. The special characters are:
   
   .
          (period) this is the wildcard character that replaces any
          single character, e.g. "...." will match any 4-character
          string.
          
   ^
          (caret) if "^" appears at the beginning of the pattern, then
          only strings which start with the substring following the "^"
          will match the pattern. If the substring occurs anywhere else
          in the string it does not match the pattern, e.g.
          

"^efghi" will match "efghi" or "efghijlk" but not "abcefghi"

   $
          (dollar) if "$" appears at the end of the pattern, then the
          searched string must end with the substring preceding the "$".
          If the substring occurs anywhere else in the searched string,
          it is not considered to match, e.g.
          

"efghi$" will match "efghi" or "abcdefghi" but not "efghijkl"

Examples

   If you are using an archie client, and enter the command:
archie -s eudora

   or if you send, by e-mail or during a Telnet session, the command:
prog eudora

   or
find eudora

   then archie will send you the following results:
Host ftp.ascii.co.jp    (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38  8 Aug 1993

 Location: /pub/MAC
   DIRECTORY  drwxrwxr-x 2048 bytes 00:00  6 May 1992  eudora

Host ftp.ascii.co.jp    (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38  8 Aug 1993

 Location: /pub/MAC/eudora
   FILE  -r--r--r-- 281139 bytes 00:00 21 Oct 1991  eudora1.2.2.sit.hqx

Host ftp.ci.ua.pt    (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53  9 Aug 1993

 Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
   FILE  -rw-r--r-- 438 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993  Eudora1.3.readme

Host ftp.ci.ua.pt    (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53  9 Aug 1993

 Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
   FILE  -rw-r--r-- 278912 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993  Eudora1.3.sit.bin

   etc.
   
   If you send the command list \.de$ by e-mail or in a Telnet session,
   then you will get the following results:

alice.fmi.uni-passau.de          132.231.1.180  12:31  8 Aug 1993
askhp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de       129.13.200.33  12:25  8 Aug 1993
athene.uni-paderborn.de           131.234.2.32  15:21  6 Aug 1993
bseis.eis.cs.tu-bs.de             134.169.33.1  00:18 31 Jul 1993
clio.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de        134.99.128.3  12:10  8 Aug 1993
cns.wtza-berlin.de                141.16.244.4  16:08 31 Jul 1993

   etc.
   
   If you send the command whatis compression by e-mail or in a Telnet
   session then you will get the following results:

RFC 468      Braden, R.T. FTP data compression 1973 March 8; 5p.
arc          PC compression program
deltac       Image compression using delta modulation
spl          Splay tree compression routines
squeeze      A file compression program
uncrunch     Uncompression program
unsqueeze    Uncompression programs

Learning more about ARCHIE

   However you communicate with the archie server, on-line help is
   available.
   
   If you have any questions about archie, write to the Archie Group,
   Bunyip Information Systems Inc. at info@bunyip.com.
   
   Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to
   archie-group@bunyip.com. In addition, the database administrator at a
   particular archie server can be contacted at
   archie-admin@address.of.archie.server, e.g. archie-admin@archie.ac.il.
   
   Mailing list: archie-people@bunyip.com
   To subscribe send a mail to: archie-people-request@bunyip.com
   
   Archie was developed by Alan Emtage, Peter Deutsch, and Bill Heelan
   from the McGill University Computing Center, Canada. Archie is now
   supported by Bunyip Information Systems Inc., Canada.
