From: john@math.nwu.edu (John Franks)
Subject: Re: .gopher files
Reply-To: john@math.nwu.edu
Organization: Dept of Math, Northwestern Univ
Distribution: comp
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:04:15 GMT

In article <MAILQUEUE-99.920814102151.75@rc.rug.nl>, HAIJKO@RC.RUG.NL writes:
> Dear sirs,
> 
> A while ago I visited Kees Visser at the Mathematic departement of
> our University. The Mathematic departement has its own gopher server
> wich can be reached via the server of the Groningen University.
> 
> He showed me a patch he made on the gopherd software.
> The most important improvement he made was the introduction of a
> .gopher file to replace .cap and .link
> 
> In his own words (quote):
> 
> >    I introduced a new special file '.gopher'. It has the same
> >    function as a normal .link file, but if it exists, the gopherd
> >    will not look at any other files. '.gopher' substitutes both .cap
> >    and .link . This has the following advantages:
> >    - there's no need for a special gopher directory structure: any
> >      existing datastructure can be a gopher structure by adding
> >      these .gopher files.
> >    - it's fast: in stead of looking at all the files, one single
> >      file has to be read. caching is no longer needed.
> >    - it's easy to have hidden files: simple don't include them in a
> >      .gopher file.
> >    - all files can have two names: the file name and the name you
> >      like to see in the menu, with one extra .gopher file instead of
> >      many .cap files.
> >      The file name is the one what is shown in the index and should
> >      be not as long as the menu name.
> >
> 
> Now we are thinking about using this patch but hesitate because of
> the extra work of mantaining it. We like to stik to the standard
> software but are tempted because of the great improvements. The
> .gopher file also makes it easier to make tools for maintaining our
> server.
> 
> 
> We like to hear the opinion of the development team and others !
> 
> Haijko Wind
> Computing Centre University Groningen
> Haijko Wind
> Rekencentrum R.U.G
> tel: 050-633379
> H.H.J.Wind@rc.rug.nl


This sounds like a great improvement!  I have long thought that gopher
management would be much easier if .cap was a file rather than a
directory.  But there really is no reason the .cap file should be
separate from the .link file.

As gophers grow the problem of maintaining server data will become more
significant.  Anything which can be done to ease this will be extremely
valuable.  Let's hope that as the gopher software develops the issue of
ease of maintenance will get a high priority.  I was somewhat
disappointed to see no mention of this as a priority it the gopher team
wish list.  The .cap mechanism especially is awkward and laborious to
set up.

Another strategy to achieve many of the advantages of the Groningen
server is to keep all the .link and .cap information in one file or one
file per directory and build a utility to write all the appropriate
.link and .cap stuff in the appropriate place.  This is much less
elegant and wouldn't have the efficiency advantages of the .gopher
scheme described above.  On the other hand it would be compatible with
any new versions of the server.

-- 

John Franks 	Dept of Math. Northwestern University
		john@math.nwu.edu

Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gopher