From: tnelson@ncrcan.Canada.NCR.CA (Tim Nelson)
Newsgroups: news.misc,news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Archie: how to use it
Date: 14 Dec 92 21:44:37 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: NCR Canada Ltd. Mississauga, Ontario

In article <1992Dec9.235446.24048@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com> shmuelm@mcil.comm.mot.com writes:
>
>First of all thanks for the info.
>
>I have other questions regarding this,
>Because I have no direct access to nodes outside MOTOROLA, what should I do in order
>to get to archie and get info out of it ??
>Does ftpmail supports it ??  (if so, how ??)

Check out "internetserv" posted to one of the *.sources newsgroups
a while ago.  (If enough people ask for it, I will post it here)

It is a script written by someone at "Northern Lights", which uses email
to simplify access to ftpmail, archie, the oracle.  (I may have forgotten
one or two).

Below is the man page for internetserv from the package.

Don't forget the commercial restriction at the bottom.

Hope this helps.

tim
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INTERNETSERV(1)			The Northern Lights		INTERNETSERV(1)


Name
	internetserv - Requsests Internet services to be sent via return email


Syntax
	internetserv				(Interactive mode)
	internetserv archie			(Interactive archie mode)
	internetserv nslookup			(Interactive nslookup mode)
	internetserv oracle			(Interactive oracle mode)
	internetserv pitmanager			(Interactive pitmanager mode)
	internetserv help			(Command line help)

	internetserv /file/name user@host.site	(Command line FTPmail)
	internetmail user@host.site /file/name	(Command line FTPmail)


Services

	FTPmail		via ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com

	FTPmail is the sending of file Get request(s) to decwrl. It, being
	directly on the Internet, will queue and then, usually within 3-6
	hours, actually perform the FTP. It then sends the text output or
	uuencodes/btoas and sends the binary output to the requesting machine.
	This is an indespensible service for machines that do not possess
	direct Internet hookups, and is internetserv's major function.

	ARCHIE		via archie@archie.ans.net (and various other sites)

	Archie allows one to enter a regular expression to be used to
	search all Internet anonymous and archival FTP sites. A list of matches
	is mailed back to the user. Archie is the perfect companion to FTPmail.
	It allows you to find a desired program. Then, use FTPmail to actu-
	ally obtain the program.

	NSLOOKUP	via resolve@cs.widener.edu

	A standard Internet service that looks up an Internet IP number (4
	groups of numbers sepearated by periods) from that machine's domain
	address.

	ORACLE		via oracle@cs.indiana.edu

	A long-standing "humor/entertainment" service which also can server
	as a valuable anonymous consultation tool, standing between the Oracle
	of Delphi and Dear Abby. While anonymity is guaranteed, some of the
	best questions and answers are posted to the USENET newsgroup:

			rec.humor.oracle

	and even  rec.humor.funny once in a while. Anyone posting to this
	service may be THEMSELVES required to answer a question, in the Oracle
	style and tradition, and as witty as possible. The USENET Oracle is
	self-perpetuating. I've tried it personally, and it is both funny and
	refreshing. Since it is not likely to go away, it is included here
	in the internetserv program.

	PITMANAGER	via mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu

	For want of a better name I've dubbed this service "Pitmanager." Men-
	tioned in some detail in the "How to discover the email addresses of
	people you want to contact" manual circulated in comp.mail.misc, this
	group is a resource to search the list of most or all USENET Posters
	in the last 2 or so years for matching usernames and hostname domain
	address components. ALL SEARCHES ARE OR, THAT IS, EACH SUBMITTED WORD
	STRING IS SEARCHED SEPARATELY, and the report includes the GECOS field
	which usually contains their first and last name. So if you searched for
	smith ihnp4	Pitmanager will search for all USERNAMES equal to the
	string 'smith' or 'ihnp4', and also all hostnames or middle or high
	domain components equal to 'ihnp4' or 'smith'. So it would turn up
	both: smith@foo.bar.com and xyzzy@pringles.ihnp4.net and also turn
	up xyzzy@smith.com and sort these into one BIG report. It is left up
	to the user to determine which partial match is *the* match they
	are looking for. NAMES that are 'smith' without their usernames reflec-
	ting the fact are overlooked.

	FUTURE SERVICES AND SERVICES PASSED UP

	There is a nice system in France that does REVERSE NSLOOKUP, and MX
	RECORD searches, etc. It may be added in a future release. Passed up
	were either new or temporary-sounding services, such as a Russian
	semi-free system that offered Fax by email and Postal letters by email.
	Most Internet services require telnet, not email, anyway, so we are
	still hoping some of the good ones such as the Weather Underground will
	start to offer email service....which is not so delayed when you consi-
	der the *fast* less than 1 hour turnaround time for email directly to
	and from a machine on the Internet, such as UUNET or PSI.


Usage of services

	The internetserv script KNOWS all the rules and destination systems for
each service supported, including maximum requests per email message. These, in
some cases, can be overridden or changed by editing the USER CONFIGURATION
SECTION which is manditory to edit anyway, to include such things as your
default domain host name. Caution: Do not change any service user@domain.name
address EXCEPT ARCHIE, which can be picked from the list, whichever is the
closest to you phisically or virtually.

	All prompts have online help available by typing ? or H, and a Q will
quit, and an S will show the body of any message it is forming for you. Every
service will require a confirmatory Y or N to send the request if invoked in-
teractively.

	ONLY THE FTPmail SERVICE AND Archie SERVICE ARE SUPPORTED NONINTERAC-
TIVELY FROM THE COMMAND LINE. However, you can type 'internetserv oracle' to
choose Oracle mode without having to type this as your answer to the Ftp:
prompt. This program will first want you to supply either the IP or domain
address of the Internet machine to FTP from, unless you are using Archie, Ns-
lookup, Oracle, or Pitmanager modes, in which case enter one of these words.
Then internetserv will ask Chdir: to request the public FTP directory for you
to CHDIR to (like UNIX 'cd' and used in the Internet version of FTP). Then it
will supply a looping Get: prompt, where you continually enter program names
from the CHDIRed directory until you either: type a <return> at a blank Get:
line, or reach the max. requests per message maximum. Then, finally, this
script will ask Send? at which you may type either a Y for yes or N for no,
or type an S for show to show the message body it has composed. If you make
a mistake type N and START OVER. There is no editing of requests.

	One more note is that, prior to entering the files to Get:, you must
employ A for ASCII (or type 'ascii'), or B for binary (or type 'binary') to
specify the DATA TYPE. Since types vary greatly, we decided not to include a
default data type as a check against user forgetfulness. However, we *did*
employ a data encoding default type of 'uuencode', since this program is
popular and available for so many different system types. You may also enter
'btoa' at a Get: prompt to change the encoding to use the BTOA and ATOB pro-
grams, which are also used but not as frequently as uuencode. Typing an H
at a Get: prompt reveals all the options you have. One other one worth no-
ting is 'compress', which can be used to compress binary type data that is
not *already* in compressed *.Z form on the FTP archive machine. Using 'btoa'
and/or 'compress' will only work if a B for binary has been typed and is in
current force. The script will know and inform you if not. This enforcement is
done SINCE THE FTPmail SERVICE DOES IT, like virtually all seeming "quirks" of
internetserv.

	This file was first released at the start of November 1992 as the file
'ftpmail', but we were informed there already *is* an ftpmail, so we changed
the name to 'internetserv'. Since FTPmail mode is the default and major use
of this script, you still may want to call it 'ftpmail' as a command when you
install it into one of your machine's bin/command directories. Also install the
other included short little scripts 'oracle', 'nslookup', and 'archie' since
they simply invoke internetserv in the corresponding interactive mode, and save
typing on the command line.


Other files included in this release

	Are the OFFICIAL HELP FILES from ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, the not
supported but possibly soon to be French system that does NSLOOKUP type
functions, the mail-server@pit-manager.mit.com help file, which does not
contain any mention of our "Pitmanager" service that internetserv uses (it
is also an archive server machine), and the good USENET Oracle help file.


Target systems

	Internetserv will ONLY WORK ON BOURNE-SHELL SUPPORTED UNIX systems,
and although no real problems have been reported (that were not due to the
required USER CONFIGURATION or the TOP LINE OF THE PROGRAM, or internal-vs.-
external use of the 'echo' command), no guarantees of any kind are inferred.
Data is "as is" without express or implied warranty of any kind, and you
take your chances.

	All commercial use is permitted ONLY with prior authorization from
the author Daniel Ray.   Good Luck!


INTERNETSERV(1)			The Northern Lights		INTERNETSERV(1)

--cut-here-----------------ouch!-ouch!-----call-the-paramedics!!!------
-- 
Tim.Nelson@Canada.NCR.CA
NCR Canada +1 416 819 4112


-- 
Tim.Nelson@Canada.NCR.CA
NCR Canada +1 416 819 4112