MAP02: LISTSERV FILE SERVER COMMANDS

          "Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius"
          -- Benjamin Disraeli


Remember when you subscribed to the Roadmap list? You sent an e-mail
letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU which said

     SUBSCRIBE ROADMAP YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME

in the body of your letter. Well, the SUBSCRIBE command

     SUBSCRIBE listname < full name >

is just one of dozens of LISTSERV commands that you can use by sending
an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU (or to any other LISTSERV
address) with a command in the body of your letter!

First off, what is a LISTSERV? Well, a LISTSERV is a mailing list
program designed to copy and distribute electronic mail to everyone
subscribed to a particular mailing list. We will talk much more about
LISTSERVs and LISTSERV commands next week, but LISTSERVs work on
a concept called "mail explosion." A single piece of e-mail is
sent to a central address (the LISTSERV's address), and the
LISTSERV then "explodes" the letter by duplicating that single
letter and sending one copy of that letter to every single person
subscribed to a particular mailing list (1). This "mail explosion"
concept is what allows me to communicate with all of you with
just a single e-mail letter sent to a central address.

What we are going to talk about today, however, is the LISTSERV file
server. In an effort to keep this group's mail volume to a minimum,
I've placed many of the "optional" workshop files on the University of
Alabama's LISTSERV file server.

What is a LISTSERV file server? Well, besides distributing letters,
LISTSERVs can also serve as a "library" of files -- files that YOU
can retrieve using nothing but a simple e-mail letter sent to the
LISTSERV's address with a few simple commands in the body of that
letter.

When you subscribed to the Roadmap list, you mailed an e-mail letter
to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU with this command in the body of your letter:

     SUBSCRIBE list-name < full name >

To get files from the University of Alabama's LISTSERV file
server, you are going to send another letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU
with a NEW command in the body of your letter:

     GET filename filetype F=format

Now that may look a little intimidating, but you are about to see that
the GET command is as easy to use as the SUBSCRIBE command. Let's break
the GET command down into its individual parts:

     GET                  tells the LISTSERV that you want it to send
                          a file to you.

     filename filetype    tells the LISTSERV the name of the file that
                          want it to get (for example: COPY NOTICE,
                          ROADMAP 94-00001, RFC 1462, etc.).

     F=format             tells the LISTSERV how you want the file sent
                          to you. For what we are doing, lets use
                          F=MAIL (that way the LISTSERV will e-mail
                          the files to you).

Now suppose I tell you that there is a file on the LISTSERV file server
at the University of Alabama called COPY NOTICE. What do you have to
do to retrieve this file? Well ...

     1) Address an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU (remember,
        you are about to send a command, and all commands must be
        sent to the LISTSERV address).

     2) In the body of your letter type GET COPY NOTICE F=MAIL

How about if I told you there was a file on the LISTSERV file server
at the University of Alabama called RFC 1462? Well, again you would
send an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU, but this time the
body of the letter would say GET RFC 1462 F=MAIL

Think you can handle this? I hope so ... because this is your first
homework assignment (eeeeek!). There are three files on the LISTSERV
file server at the University of Alabama (LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU).
Those files are:

     filename   filetype          description

     COPY       NOTICE            The Copyright notice for the entire
                                  Roadmap workshop, along with the
                                  workshop's acknowledgments.

     NET        INTRO             My own special explanation of what
                                  the Internet is and how it works

     RFC        1462              The OFFICIAL "What is the Internet"
                                  RFC/FYI by Krol and Hoffman (this is
                                  kind of advanced stuff).

What I want you to do is use the GET command to get at least one of these
files (you can get more than one if you want). What do I want you to do
with the file after you get it? READ IT!! (As I said yesterday, PLEASE do
not send the files back to me -- my mailer can not handle the volume
of your responses).

That's your homework. Have a GREAT weekend!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must write a *NEW* letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU
for your GET commands to work. Replying to this letter will *NOT*
work!

-----

What if the GET doesn't work? First, realize that it may take several
hours for the LISTSERV to process your request and send the file
back to you (hence the "patience" quote at the opening of today's
lesson). 25,000 requests, even at one second per request, is going
to take a LONG time to process!

If, after an incredible amount of time has passed, you have not
heard back from the LISTSERV, double check that you used the
correct address: LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU (that's "you-ay-won-vee-em").
Second, make sure the GET command is in the BODY of your letter.
Finally, make sure that you have included all of the parts of the
GET command (GET filename filetype f=format).

If, after all of this, the command still does not work, talk with your
local Internet service provider (do NOT write to me). Chances are, the
problem is that your mail program is putting the wrong return address
onto your letters. This is a local problem, and your local Internet
service provider should be able to give you some suggestions.
(Again, do NOT write to me!)

Have fun :)

SOURCES:

(1) LISTSERV User Guide, EARN Association, July 21, 1993


   PATRICK DOUGLAS CRISPEN    THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS LETTER DO NOT
    PCRISPE1@UA1VM.UA.EDU      NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE
  THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA      UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - TUSCALOOSA

      ROADMAP: COPYRIGHT PATRICK CRISPEN 1994. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.