v05INF1: Welcome to comp.sources.misc! (Last changed: 10/21/88)

[Brandon S. Allbery]

[I give up; I was going to wait until I had moved .misc to uunet, but it'll
be another month at this rate (busy, busy, busy, aaaaargghh!).

MANY changes; I've been reviewing the whole handling of sources-misc, and I
would like to make some changes to its handling.  ++bsa]

This is the first of two messages comprising the monthly Info posting for
comp.sources.misc.  Hopefully, any questions you have will be answered here;
if they are not, send mail to me (comp-sources-misc-request@<backbone>), the
moderator.

This message is the Welcome! document, which describes my policies and
commitments.  The second part of this posting is the Index for the newsgroup;
archive requests are best handled by specifying the Archive-Name or
volume/issue number for the posting, or alternatively my Message-ID.  Please
do NOT use the article number within the newsgroup:  this varies based on lost
messages or articles received out of sequence, and is purely local.

> Introduction <

Comp.sources.misc is sort of a "catch-all" sources group.  The intent is that
small sources, non-Un*x sources for which no newsgroup exists, and sources
which the moderators of comp.sources.unix and comp.sources.games will not
accept can be sent here.  This does not mean that large Un*x sources will not
be accepted, but they will probably gain a wider distribution if they are
sent to comp.sources.unix.  They also slow down the flow of sources through
this newsgroup, as they are processed and posted separately.

As a result, the group will be run in an informal fashion.  In general,
*any* program source code will be accepted, but discussion will be routed to
comp.sources.d and "sources wanted" requests to comp.sources.wanted, rather
than cluttering this newsgroup.  (Please do not send either to me, they don't
belong here.)

This newsgroup isn't expected to be a high-volume one, since the "big" stuff
should be sent elsewhere.  However, it is to be hoped that people still have
the desire to post their favorite prompt generators, integer square root
algorithms, etc.  (If the last days of net.sources are any indication, they
do.)

> Why moderated? <

The moderated comp.sources.misc replaced the unmoderated net.sources in May
1987.  This was done by the Usenet backbone in response to the observed fact
that net.sources was largely NON-sources by number of articles.  Mail I have
received indicates that the majority of people are willing to trade the
small delays (mainly caused by network delays in mail) for having a source
group that isn't full of noise.

As stated above, the only reason a submission will be rejected is if it is
a non-source.  I, as the moderator, am striving to get things out as quickly
as possible while not posting non-sources; testing is not done.  If it's
something that's worth testing, it probably belongs in comp.sources.unix
instead.  (Send submissions to comp-sources-unix@<backbone> in that case.)

> What sources are posted here? <

I will post directly any sources:  little stuff like "my favorite dice-roll
program" or etc., non-Un*x sources, as well as the standard stuff.  In
particular, I have made arrangements to handle VMS sources, and I have a
program to create VMS DCL "shar" files.  (I do *not* have a way of testing
them, since I don't have access to any VMS sites.)

Please consider sending larger postings to comp.sources.unix, and games to
comp.sources.games.  Large Un*x sources are tested, insofar as it is possible
for me to do so; I now have access to Xenix V, System V release 3.1, and
Ultrix 1.2, so hopefully it will be possible.  However, doing so is rather
difficult and will encompass major delays in posting.  It also slows down the
posting of the smaller sources that are the "meat" of the newsgroup.

Shareware and copyrighted sources are NOT welcome in comp.sources.unix.  I
regret this, since it makes my life harder as the moderator who accepts
everything; I must arrange to test them and post them, as described above.
Still, they *do* at least see the light of day eventually.  (It may be
preferable to send these and other sources to the unmoderated group alt.sources
in the original "alt" hierarchy [see the "Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies"
document in news.groups].  Be warned, however, that the "alt" subnet does not
yet have as complete a distribution as the mainstream Usenet.)

> Guidelines for fast processing of submissions <

The readers of this newsgroup would prefer that posters follow certain
guidelines.  Not following these guidelines may result in long delays, since
some things *must* be fixed for news to accept the submission, and others fixed
so that I can spend time processing submissions rather than responding to
flames.  ;-)

* Do NOT send me uuencoded "arc" files, even of sources.

* Please use "shar", "cshar", "bundle", etc. to package files.  Preferably,
  use cshar or mkshar:  these guard against mangling by older news programs,
  Bitnet mailers, etc.  I must repack non-shar'ed submissions so that they
  have a better chance of surviving older mail/news systems and inter-network
  interfaces to Bitnet, etc.

* PLEASE INCLUDE A Subject: HEADER!!!  Certain large postings (e.g. uEmacs)
  arrived at ncoast sans Subject: line; this requires me to edit the messages
  and add subject lines for both inews and the archive list.

* Please do not address submissions to ncoast!allbery; this has a more
  direct slowdown effect, as ncoast's mailer takes up to 15 minutes to start
  up when the mailbox is large.  It also requires me to manually edit the
  headers of the message; the official address uses a filter which does the
  hard work automatically.

* The proper submission address for ANY moderated newsgroup is of the form:

			newsgroup-name at backbone-site

  The newsgroup name uses hyphens as separators, not periods (sendmail does
  not appreciate the periods); "comp-sources-misc" is an example.  Backbone
  sites are the major news feeds (excepting att.att.com, which does not pass
  mail) which serve large areas.  (No, ncoast isn't one.  Uunet is.)  Be
  warned that some backbone sites may use "sources-misc" instead of
  "comp-sources-misc"; there was some confusion about it at the inception of
  comp.sources.misc.

  Newsgroup-related mail that is *not* a submission should be sent to the
  same address as above, with "-request" added to the newsgroup name; for
  example, "comp-sources-misc-request at uunet.uu.net".  Please do not send
  them to the submission address *or* to any of my mailboxes.

  Please do NOT send sources to *any* of my regular mailboxes.  This will
  cause possibly long delays while I reroute the mail to the proper address
  (which may well be on another machine).  Note that since ncoast's free disk
  space is never large, it is possible for large submissions sent to my
  mailbox on ncoast to be lost along with any other submissions or ordinary
  news and mail traffic.

* Please do not package binaries and sources in the same submission.  Since
  I must send out the binaries separately, this results in a delay while I
  break apart the shar and rebuild it, then resubmit the binaries separately.

* One way to solve the problem of an announcement not going out the same day
  as the posting it announces:  send the announcement to me UNDER SEPARATE
  COVER (see the previous guideline) with instructions as to where it should
  be posted, and I will insure that both go out the same day.  The same goes
  for binaries and/or other material associated with a source; send it under
  separate cover and tell me what to do with it.

  Note that this may not always be possible; for example, while the group
  remains on ncoast I will have to submit articles from there, and ncoast
  doesn't carry very many newsgroups (disk space, again).

> Archiving <

Alas, ncoast is cramped for space, so I cannot do archiving.  I do, however,
add archive headers to posted submissions, suitable for manual or automatic
archiving and archive retrieval.  The archive Index is posted each month
as part of the Welcome! posting.

The format of the archive header is:

	Comp.sources.misc: Volume 2, Issue 45		for submissions, and
	Comp.sources.misc: Volume 2, Administrivia 2	for administrivia.

Each posting also has an Archive-Name, which is a single word of (generally)
6-8 letters which tries to be somewhat descriptive.  You may want to use this
instead of the volume/issue number.

I am trying (again!) to arrange for an archive.  This archive will be available
for anonymous FTP, but not for UUCP.  I will also see about an archive server,
but this will of necessity have somewhat severe restrictions on volume per
day; I'm a guest on the system in question, and I don't want to be kicked off
because I made it difficult for the intended users to get their work done.
More information when it's ready, hopefully when the move is completed.

> The Oz Connection <

As with the other moderated sources groups, Australia has a sub-moderator to
handle the local load; this reduces bills and increases both speed and the
chances of your submission actually making it out onto the net.  The sub-
moderator is john at basser.cs.su.oz.au.

> Other Information <

The list of archive sites is included with the Index, in the next posting.

The Index format will be changing soon, as people have complained about the
inability to esily "grep" the current two-line format.  I had been trying
to make the lines fit on my 80-character screen, but... oh, well.

THE NEWSGROUP IS MOVING!!!  I am currently arranging for comp.sources.misc
to move to UUNET.  The account already exists, although mail aliases and such
still point here on ncoast because the submission server and posting programs,
etc. are not in my opinion secure enough to be set loose on another system.
(Ncoast is another matter, as I'm one of the "root" people and can be abso-
lutely certain that no unauthorized person can obtain the source to the server
program and that my dorectory structure has sufficiently restrictive permis-
sions to prevent trouble.  But if I were in charge of uunet, I'd be wary of
running someone else's program from /usr/mail/aliases unless it was absolutely
secure.)  This is another good reason *not* to send submissions directly to
me on ncoast; it can take as little as 10 minutes or as long as a day to send
mail to my account on uunet, depending on Internet delays at hal or uunet,
UUCP delays on ncoast or hal, and whether ncoast's users feel like letting
UUCP sites find an available dial-in line or not.

> Policy Changes <

Most of these have been discussed above, but I'm laying them out here for
easy reference.

* Submissions not packaged with "shar" will be detained until I can wrap them
  up with a suitable "shar" program.  This can be a significant delay if I'm
  busy.

* Large sources WILL be tested, insofar as I am capable of doing so.  (It
  would not have been possible for me to test JetRoff, as I don't have access
  to ditroff and only occasional access to a LaserJet [and no time for non-
  business work when I *do* have access to it].)  Programs that depend on
  X Windows can be compiled but not tested.  Programs expecting a Sun console
  can't even be compiled by me.  Again, please try comp.sources.unix first!

* I am going to start using the Supersedes: header and at the same time
  supersede volume/issue numbers and archive names.  I will also cancel
  and possibly reuse volume/issue numbers and archive names for the occasional
  cancelled submission.  Automatic archive maintainers take note.  The index
  format will also change to a single-line format.  Also, I will try to deal
  with the current haphazard Archive-Name structure, which sometimes has
  duplicates and even occasionally changes single submissions into directories
  without warning.  (Does Dynix support ndbm?  The online manual doesn't
  discuss it.)

* Sending submissions to my mailboxes on ncoast, uunet, or elsewhere is NOT
  a good, fast, or even safe way to get them posted.  PLEASE use the correct
  address as shown above.

++Brandon, your friendly neighborhood comp.sources.misc moderator.