HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: devet@wsinis05.info.win.tue.nl (Arjan de Vet)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: Things you'd like to see WAISed.
Date: 4 Apr 92 21:41:11 GMT
Reply-To: devet@info.win.tue.nl
Followup-To: alt.wais
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

In article <1992Apr4.174147.822@ennews.eas.asu.edu>
sridhar@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Sridhar Venkataraman) writes:

>Here is a suggestion for a server for news.answers (or the List of
>Info. Postings which seems to be a superset of news.answers). The
>foll. should convey fairly well my points.

I'm experimenting with a WAIS server for news.answers at my site. I've
written some PERL scripts to archive news.answers and generate an INDEX
file. The files are available on:

	ftp.win.tue.nl:/pub/usenet/news.answers/

The WAIS server is not yet public available (and maybe it won't, see
further). The PERL scripts rkive.pl and index.pl can be found as:

	ftp.win.tue.nl:/pub/usenet/index.pl
	ftp.win.tue.nl:/pub/usenet/rkive.pl

>And I guess it shouldn't take much disk space too to store such a
>database. Since I am an ordinary user without cron privileges and
>since my usenet access is through NNTP setting up such a database is
>almost impossible. Any takers? Or is it already available?

The news.answers files take 5Mb, the WAIS index files take 10Mb. I'm also an
ordinary user and will have to ask our sysops for permission to make this
WAIS server available world-wide. However, I think it is worth the disk
space to have a WAIS server for news.answers (with an enourmous amount of
information) at every institute that receives news.answers: fast WAIS access
and only using the local networks!

Arjan
From: opsrjh@uccvma.ucop.edu (Richard Hintz)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: NeXT client: removing sources from question's browser
Date: 16 Apr 92 23:20:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: agate.sl240INN98g
Reply-To: opsrjh@uccvma.ucop.edu (Richard Hintz)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: oz.ucop.edu

I know this is a rookie question, but...
I tried both cutting and deleting a source from the question's browser without  
success.  Any ideas?
--
Richard Hintz    hintz@oz.ucop.edu
University of California
Newsgroups: alt.wais
From: Andrew Nielsen <anielsen@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: WAIS server for Macintosh?
Organization: Winthrop Technology
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.0
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 05:53:08 GMT

Hello world,

Is there a WAIS server for the Macintosh yet?

Regards, Andrew

_________________________________________________________________________
Andrew D. Nielsen                       E-mail: anielsen@uniwa.uwa.edu.au
Macintosh Support Specialist
Winthrop Technology                  
The University of Western Australia                    Tel: +61-9-3801757
NEDLANDS WA 6009   AUSTRALIA                           FAX: +61-9-3821688
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: Security issues: forged docids
From: cctr127@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Jason Haar, Network Consultant, CSC)
Date: 7 Apr 92 11:45:59 +1200
Distribution: alt
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

In article <MYCROFT.92Apr6072254@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu>, mycroft@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum) writes:
> 
> I just noticed in my server log that someone decided to forge a docid
> and grab my password file a few weeks ago.  This is just a wee bit
> antisocial.  I won't publicly embarass the asshole; I'm sure he knows
> who he is.
> 

Ekkk!

What security hole is this? 

Is this something we all have to look out for - I've turned off my WAIS server
until I hear more about this problem - I for one don't much fancy the idea of
my passwd file being accessible over the Internet...

Could someone supply some more information - a patch would be nicer still...

Cheers

Jason Haar.
From: ratzan@rwja.umdnj.edu (Lee Ratzan)
Newsgroups: alt.wais,alt.gopher
Subject: lethal misuse of databases-fatal retraction
Keywords: misuse fatal retraction databases
Date: 14 Apr 92 14:32:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: rwja.1295
Followup-To: ratzan@umdnj.edu
Organization: Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway NJ

We extend our use and access of online networked databases.

But consider... a few bits of false information amidst gigabytes
of data. Who would notice? Who would care? Who would bother
to check.


I submit for your review an information intrigue entitled
"Fatal Retraction" which appears in the current issue of
the Wilson Library Bulletin (March 1992, vol 66, no 7, p 30).
It is available at most public and university libraries.

Your comments are welcome!


Thank you,


Lee Ratzan
From: brewster@quake.think.com (Brewster Kahle)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: A list of WAIS sites (posting again)
Date: 7 Apr 92 14:13:01
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: quake.think.com
In-reply-to: chermesh@chen.bgu.ac.il's message of 6 Apr 92 18:19:57 GMT


It is a pretty long list (over 200 now).  so it can be FTP'ed from
/wais/wais-sources.tar.Z@think.com 

-brewster



In article <1992Apr6.181957.7957@ramon.bgu.ac.il> chermesh@chen.bgu.ac.il (Ran Chermesh) writes:
Path: think.com!spool.mu.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!news.ysu.edu!ysub!psuvm!frmop11!barilvm!vms.huji.ac.il!ramon.bgu.ac.il!chen.bgu.ac.il!
    chermesh
   From: chermesh@chen.bgu.ac.il (Ran Chermesh)
   Newsgroups: alt.wais
   Date: 6 Apr 92 18:19:57 GMT
   Article-I.D.: ramon.1992Apr6.181957.7957
   Sender: usenet@ramon.bgu.ac.il (The Ever-So-Great Usenet)
   Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
   Lines: 10


   Is there a place where I can find a list of WAIS sites?
   Or, even better, can anyone post such a list on the alt.wais?

		      Ran Cheremsh
   --
   Ran Chermesh                                  E - M A I L
   Behavioral Sciences Dept.                     ===========
   Ben-Gurion University                  Internet: CHERMESH@BGUVM.BGU.AC.IL
   Beer-Sheva 84105                                 CHERMESH@CHEN.BGU.AC.IL
--
Brewster Kahle					Thinking Machines Corporation
Brewster@Think.com				245 First Street
Project Leader					Cambridge MA 02142
Wide Area Information Servers			617-234-2874 (or -1000)

Newsgroups: alt.wais
From: mycroft@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum)
Subject: Security issues: forged docids
Organization: None.  Utter chaos.
Distribution: alt
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 12:22:54 GMT


I just noticed in my server log that someone decided to forge a docid
and grab my password file a few weeks ago.  This is just a wee bit
antisocial.  I won't publicly embarass the asshole; I'm sure he knows
who he is.

I've known this was a problem from the very beginning.  I had simply
hoped that I would never have to deal with it.  Unfortunately, I do.  I
can't have people running around grabbing every bit of information off
my machine, and I suspect there are people who are much more concerned
about it than I.

What I've done here is to set up the server to chroot itself.  This is
not absolute security, but it's better.  I've also written a fake
/etc/passwd, in case anyone tries to grab it again.  It starts off like
this:

  My WAIS server
  --------------

  I've gone through some effort to set up this server and maintain it.
  I'm currently doing a lot of work to get more data into it.  I don't
  get paid for it, and I don't ask for anything.  I do it because I think
  information should be free, and because I enjoy (in some sense) making
  it available to other people.  I expect some small amount of courtesy
  in return.

  There is some information, like my password file, that I would prefer
  to keep private.  The reasons should be obvious.  When I see someone
  actively trying to undermine what little security I have in place, I
  begin to wonder why I even bother with this at all.

  [...]

<sigh>

--
- mycroft, wishing for a better species
From: brewster@quake.think.com (Brewster Kahle)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: Is there a WAIS server for patents?
Date: 7 Apr 92 14:09:21
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: quake.think.com
In-reply-to: berger@sfc.sony.com's message of Sat, 4 Apr 1992 04:53:51 GMT


There is not a complete enough patent db on WAIS at this time.  You will
have to use the old-style methods:  CDROMs and paper.

Someday...

-brewster


In article <1992Apr4.045351.4984@sfc.sony.com> berger@sfc.sony.com (Bob Berger) writes:

   Newsgroups: alt.wais
Path: think.com!mips!mips!sfcsun!berger
   From: berger@sfc.sony.com (Bob Berger)
   Keywords: n
   Organization: SONY Advanced Video Technology Center San Jose, CA USA
   Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1992 04:53:51 GMT

   As I am thnking of doing a patent search, I was wondering if there are any
   WAIS servers of US or International patent databases?

   -- 
   Bob Berger  -  SONY Advanced Video Technology Center
   685 River Oaks Parkway  San Jose, CA 95134 408-944-4964 FAX:  408-954-1027  
   INTERNET: berger@sfc.sony.com   UUCP: [uunet,mips]!sonyusa!sfcsun!berger
--
Brewster Kahle					Thinking Machines Corporation
Brewster@Think.com				245 First Street
Project Leader					Cambridge MA 02142
Wide Area Information Servers			617-234-2874 (or -1000)

Newsgroups: alt.wais
From: dewayne@netcom.com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Subject: Re: WAIS server for Macintosh?
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 92 08:50:25 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

In article <1992Apr12.055308.6032@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> Andrew Nielsen <anielsen@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> writes:
>Hello world,
>
>Is there a WAIS server for the Macintosh yet?
>
>Regards, Andrew
>
	My company is in the process of developing such a server.  We expect
that it will be done in July and we intend to put it out in the public
domain.  We will post more details to this list with more details when we are
ready to release it.

Regards,
-- Dewayne



-- 
Dewayne Hendricks, WA8DZP          ! CIS: 75210,10    AppleLink: D6547
Tetherless Access Ltd.             ! Packet Radio: WA8DZP @ K3MC
43730 Vista Del Mar                ! AOL: HENDRICKS 
Fremont, CA 94539-6250             ! Internet: dewayne@netcom.com
From: brewster@quake.think.com (Brewster Kahle)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: -registering wais indices (was: news ==. wais)
Date: 7 Apr 92 14:16:12
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
	<BREWSTER.92Apr2141354@quake.think.com>
	<rik.702539520@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au>
NNTP-Posting-Host: quake.think.com
In-reply-to: rik@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au's message of 6 Apr 92 05:52:00 GMT


please do not leave the -register switch in.  It sends a piece of email to
wais-directory-of-servers@quake.think.com (which is a couple of us here).

Therefore, please just do it once.  Once a .src file is created, it is not
changed, so you can edit it only once.

-brewster




In article <rik.702539520@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au> rik@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au (Rik Harris) writes:
Path: think.com!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!mips!mips!munnari.oz.au!bruce!goanna!minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au!monu6!nella13.cc.monash.edu.au!rik
   From: rik@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au (Rik Harris)
   Newsgroups: alt.wais
   Date: 6 Apr 92 05:52:00 GMT
   Article-I.D.: nella13.rik.702539520
   References: <1992Mar24.192850.1@rddvax.decnet.lockheed.com> <BREWSTER.92Apr2141354@quake.think.com>
   Sender: news@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (Usenet system)
   Reply-To: rik.harris@fcit.monash.edu.au
   Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
   Lines: 23

   brewster@quake.think.com (Brewster Kahle) writes:

   >Many netnews sources are put into wais as public and private sources.

   >Using Cron to update the sources is common.

   >waisindex -t netnews -mem 10 -R /usr/spool/news/foo

   >will work.

   This reminds me.  If I were to regularly 'waisindex' a source (possibly
   in cron) that has been registered, should I leave the -register line in?
   Common sense tells me I shouldn't, but what if I want the
   "Files of type...." or the rest of the description updated?  Should I
   just '-register' every now-and-then to update them, or put the
   '-register' option in the cron job?

   rik.
   -- 
   Rik Harris - rik.harris@fcit.monash.edu.au         || Systems Programmer
   +61 3 571-2895 (AH & ans.mach) +61 3 573-2186 (BH) || and Administrator
   Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,   || Vic. Institute of
   Caulfield Campus, Monash University, Australia     || Forensic Pathology
--
Brewster Kahle					Thinking Machines Corporation
Brewster@Think.com				245 First Street
Project Leader					Cambridge MA 02142
Wide Area Information Servers			617-234-2874 (or -1000)
From: rik@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au (Rik Harris)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: -registering wais indices (was: news ==. wais)
Date: 6 Apr 92 05:52:00 GMT
Reply-To: rik.harris@fcit.monash.edu.au
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.

brewster@quake.think.com (Brewster Kahle) writes:

>Many netnews sources are put into wais as public and private sources.

>Using Cron to update the sources is common.

>waisindex -t netnews -mem 10 -R /usr/spool/news/foo

>will work.

This reminds me.  If I were to regularly 'waisindex' a source (possibly
in cron) that has been registered, should I leave the -register line in?
Common sense tells me I shouldn't, but what if I want the
"Files of type...." or the rest of the description updated?  Should I
just '-register' every now-and-then to update them, or put the
'-register' option in the cron job?

rik.
-- 
Rik Harris - rik.harris@fcit.monash.edu.au         || Systems Programmer
+61 3 571-2895 (AH & ans.mach) +61 3 573-2186 (BH) || and Administrator
Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,   || Vic. Institute of
Caulfield Campus, Monash University, Australia     || Forensic Pathology
From: wyle@bernina.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: German WAIS
Summary: help text, stoplist, Buttons, strings in German
Date: 10 Apr 92 09:36:42 GMT
Organization: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, CH

If anyone cares, I have translated all messages, strings, button
labels, help files, etc. of the wais-8-b4.tar.Z distribution to
German.

I also enlarged the maximum word length and included a German stoplist
in the ir section.

I then indexed 20 Mbytes (25,000 articles) of Schweizerische
Depechenagentur (SDA) German news articles for 1992 and ran a server
for a short time (no longer available) for a course about Information
Retrieval.

Finally, I eliminated some of the un-wanted buttons (previous and next)
in the document display window and re-wrote the wrapper scripts.

If anyone wants the diffs let me know.  If someone wants to pay me
to do the same thing for French. . .

Cheers,
Newsgroups: alt.wais
From: datta@cs.uwp.edu (David Datta)
Subject: WAIS server naming conventions
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Parkside
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 01:04:18 GMT

Now that we are starting to get up there in numbers for WAIS servers,
it might be a good idea to come up with some naming conventions that
will help the users (gasp! :-) determine what some of these servers are
referring to. It will also I think help when trying to decide what to
call new servers.

For example, I am about to set up a bunch of databases for various
music mailing lists, should I call them:

mail-list-jarre, mail-list-tadream, mail-list-yello, mail-list-*

or 

music-mail-list-*

or maybe, take suggestion from USENET conventions and make them:

rec.music.lists-*

etc...

Should we have some general guidelines or suggested naming conventions?

I dunno, am I just fussin about nuttin?
-- 
-Dave datta@cs.uwp.edu.
Visit the music FTP archives at cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4)
From: kurt@think.com (Kurt Thearling)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: Electronic books
Date: 10 Apr 1992 17:51:42 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: zetes.think.com

In article <alan.702878000@edstar> alan@edstar.ucsb.edu (Alan Moses) writes:
>[ Follow-up on postings in alt.wais by Kurt Thearling 
>  (kurt@Think.COM) and Bob Weiner (rsw@cs.brown.edu) 
>  regarding electronic books.]
>
>Regarding the original question:
>
>> 	"What is the economic incentive for a writer/publisher to
>> 	produce new books since electronic versions could be copied with 
>> 	ease?"
>
>my response is that the incentive is based on the creation of a
>new product for a new market, not simply a new form competing
>against an old form. It is important not to base your model of
>electronic publishing on a narrow conception of the nature of a
>book.

Exactly!  My thesis is that if books remain as they are today (except in an
electronic format), there will be problems.  The primary one being that
technology cannot prevent copying.  But in addition, the fact that the new
publishing techology will open up new avenues of expression will push
consumer demands toward more innovative uses of publishing technolgy.

>I see at least three areas where ebooks could offer something
>beyond the text-delivery of current book publication: access,
>communication, and integration of related tools. 
>
>- access: an ebook could supplement the basic text by providing
>  links to a vast amount of underlying and supporting information 
>  (e.g., WAIS, etc.), ... 

>- communication: an ebook could provide the reader with access
>  to the author and other readers of the book.  ...

>- integration: the process of reading extends beyond the act of
>  passively absorbing the represented text. ...

>Taken all together, such an ebook would be a very different
>entity than today's paper-based text. It would be a hybrid
>product that would be both a text and a program. 

I think all three of these items will provide vast improvments to books. I
also think that the last item ("integration") will provide some of the
necessary dynamics to prevent copying from being as easy as with a static
book. 

One thing though, communication will soon start to be a problem.  Imagine
the internet with 10 times the number of current readers.  If you think the
signal to noise ratio is low now, imagine what it will be like when
everybody has access to it.  I think the next great revolution in
communications will be the widespread use of intelligent commuications
agents that search out and find informaion that an individual will find
useful.  These agents will also wade throught the thousands of pieces of
email that you receive to get rid of the junk email.  There are many people
now who don't read their email because of the sheer volume.  This is
starting to be a real problem.

- kurt

ps.  My responses to Bob Weiner's email will be included in the next issue
of wais-discussion.  They should have been included in the last issue but
somehow they weren't
From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: wais-8-b4.1 waisindex runs out of memory
Date: 12 Apr 92 18:38:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: pit-mana.JIK.92Apr12143804
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology


I just updated to b4.1, and stumbled upon an annoying problem when
trying to rebuild my WAIS index of USENET FAQ postings.

Although I am not specifying any memory size with "-mem", waisindex
still runs of of memory and coredumps (producing a coredump that is
over 6 meg big) when attempting to build the index.

I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that if no "-mem"
option is specified, the program is smart enough not to run out of
memory.

If not, then how do I know how much memory I should tell it to use
when building the index?

In short, how do I get the index to build?

Also, I find it somewhat annoying that the program coredumps when
malloc et al return a NULL pointer.  That's silly.  We know why the
program is failing, there's no need for a coredump.

-- 
Jonathan Kamens						jik@MIT.Edu
MIT Information Systems/Athena		    Moderator, news.answers
    (Send correspondence related to the news.answers newsgroup
	{and ONLY correspondence related to the newsgroup}
		 to news-answers-request@MIT.Edu.)
From: terry@unx.ucc.okstate.edu (Terry J. Klarich)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: wais client software wanted for vm or mvs
Date: 17 Apr 92 14:46:11 GMT
Organization: Oklahoma State University Computer Center


I am looking for a wais client for vm or mvs.  If anyone could help, I would
appreciate the trouble.


-- 

Terry Klarich (n5hts)
Oklahoma State University Computer Center
Stillwater Oklahoma
Newsgroups: alt.wais
From: chooper@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: WAIS logging wish list
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 02:09:01 GMT

WAIS wish list entry #1726746

I'd like to see the WAIS server logging changed so it tries to resolve the IP 
number of the incoming client to a full Internet hostname. This means the code 
1 entries in the log would only have the raw IP number if it couldn't be
resolved by the DNS.

From a quick look at the code, all that is needed is a call to gethostbyname 
in server.c - I am sure it would be pretty simple for all you C programmer
types out there ;-) (consider it a personal challenge!).

If this gets done, I'll be able to rewrite my SAS log analysis program to do
all sorts of useful stuff. As it is, a bunch of meaningless IP numbers don't
really cut it. I'd like to be able to do a breakdown by domain for a start.

Fingers crossed,

Todd

--
Todd Hooper                                                Computing Centre
                                            Curtin University of Technology
                                                          Western Australia
Internet : hooper_ta@cc.curtin.edu.au
Phone    : +61 9 351 7467 (24 hour messaging system) Fax +61 9 351 2673
From: berger@sfc.sony.com (Bob Berger)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Accessing Internet WAIS through a firewall machine?
Keywords: n
Date: 8 Apr 92 04:47:36 GMT
Article-I.D.: sfc.1992Apr8.044736.9105
Organization: SONY Advanced Video Technology Center San Jose, CA USA


Is there  an easy way to have a WAIS client access WAIS servers on the
Internet if the client's host can not directly access the internet?

Normally to access the internet, we have to telnet to the firewall machine
and then ftp or telnet into the Internet.

Would ther be a way that I could create a special relay daemon on the
firewall machine to serve our LAN? Does this even make any sense? 

Is WAIS service considered a security hole?

How do other people handle this?


-- 
Bob Berger  -  SONY Advanced Video Technology Center
685 River Oaks Parkway  San Jose, CA 95134 408-944-4964 FAX:  408-954-1027  
INTERNET: berger@sfc.sony.com   UUCP: [uunet,mips]!sonyusa!sfcsun!berger
From: science@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Zimmermann)
Newsgroups: alt.wais
Subject: Re: Electronic books
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:21:34 GMT
Organization: Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center
X-Organization: (formerly David Taylor Research Center)


ease of copying could be advantageous for authors who want to
distribute work "shareware"-fashion, trying for direct contributions
from readers without the publishing-industry middleman ....

I have also wondered whether an electronic shareware-like version of
Salman Rushdie's SATANIC VERSES wouldn't be a good way for him to keep
the book "in print"; apparently threats against publishers caused a
consortium to quasi-anonymously release the current paperback
edition....

Best,  ^z