Date   : Thu, 06 Nov 1986 22:07:00 MST
From   : Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: Distributing CP/M sources

> While having the SIMTEL20 archives is a truly wonderful thing, it
> is less than reliable for me.  I have requested a couple of files
> as many as 3 times (requests separated by at least a week)
> without getting any response from them at all.  Other files I
> have received parts 2 and 3 of three, and never gotten part 1.

> Maybe I am doing something wrong?

> It would be very nice to have a *reliable* source...

The source is only as reliable is the mail routes when using the
archive server.  Host "seismo" has blocked any messages originating
from the server because they do not wish to handle the mail traffic it
generates.  You must use a path other than seismo.  Here are some
that work...

To obtain up to five files in a single request message by netmail from
the public domain archives kept on SIMTEL20.ARPA, send a message to:

ARCHIVE-REQUEST@SIMTEL20.ARPA, or via uucp:
...!ucbvax!simtel20.arpa!archive-request
...!uw-beaver!simtel20.arpa!archive-request
...!decwrl!simtel20.arpa!archive-request
...!lll-crg!simtel20.arpa!archive-request

The message body must contain lines beginning with the keyword SEND,
one SEND line for each file requested.  Case is not significant.

The general syntax of a SEND line is:

SEND format filename

In general, a filename consists of the following components:

device:<directory>file.type.generation

"device:" is usually PD:, and the combination of PD:<directory> is
expected unless an alias has been advertised of the form "alias:",
which takes the place of both device and directory fields.  The
generation field may be left off and defaulted to the highest
generation number.  "file.type" follows the usual filenaming
conventions.

In all formats listed below, if the file to be sent is larger than
55K, the file is sent in numbered parts.  The parts must be
reassembled in order and edited to remove any headers, preface, and
trailers before the process can be reversed to reconstruct the
original file.

Allowable formats are:

SEND HELP
        This file you are reading now.

SEND INFO
        A detailed description of the SIMTEL20 Archives, which
        includes this file, pointers to certain key files, and
        descriptions of various file transfer programs and related
        utilities.

SEND BOOTSTRAP
        A brief quick reference listing of filenames of the key
        utilities used to reconstruct files sent by the compression
        and encoding techniques listed below.

SEND DIR filespec
        This format returns a CRC list of the requested files, and is
        the only format which allows wildcard filenames (but not
        wildcard directory names).  The list is sent as an ASCII text
        file.  The wildcard characters are "*" and "%".  The asterisk
        means any number of characters, while the percent sign means
        exactly one character.  Either or both may appear in any
        combination in either or both the file or type fields, while
        only the asterisk may appear in the generation field.

SEND RAW filename
        If the file is ASCII, it is sent as-is, regardless of size.
        This format is the least efficient over network and mail
        gateway resources.  Use this format only if you absolutely
        must.

With the four formats listed below, if the file is ASCII and under 25k
characters, it is sent as-is, as if RAW format was requested.  Binary
files are always processed according to the requested format.
However, a request for ARC or SQ processing of files with type .ARC,
.LBR, or .%Q% is ignored and the original file is either uuencoded or
hexified (if possible), according to the requested format.  If the
file was not sent RAW, a short preface is inserted at the front of the
message describing the process actually taken and a CRC entry
describing the original file.

SEND ARE filename  or  SEND filename
        The original file is made into a uuencoded ARC file.

SEND ARH filename
        The original file is made into a hexified ARC file if the ARC
        file is under 64K bytes long.  Otherwise, an apology is
        returned instead of the requested file.

SEND SQE filename
        The original file is made into a uuencoded SQueezed file.

SEND SQH filename
        The original file is made into a hexified SQueezed file if the
        Squeezed file is under 64K bytes long.  Otherwise, an apology
        is returned instead of the requested file.

To get started in finding your way around the SIMTEL20 archives, send
another request: SEND INFO