From: ian@airs.com (Ian Lance Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,alt.sources.d
Subject: Taylor UUCP version 1.03 now available
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:09:48 GMT
Followup-To: comp.mail.uucp

Version 1.03 of the Taylor UUCP package is now available.  Taylor UUCP
is a complete free UUCP package distributed under the GNU Public
License.

The main improvement from 1.02 is probably the addition of uustat.

I have been told that the Free Software Foundation intends to adopt it
as their official UUCP package.  I am also told that it is being
distributed with beta copies of BSD/386.

The file is named taylor-uucp-1.03.tar.Z.  It is 721079 bytes long.
It is available for anonymous FTP from
	convex.com in pub/taylor-uucp
	prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu
Because it is on prep, it should soon be automatically mirrored to the
following sites:
	archive.eu.net, ftp.funet.fi, isy.liu.se, ftp.diku.dk,
	ugle.unit.no, ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp, wuarchive.wustl.edu,
	gatekeeper.dec.com, uxc.cso.uiuc.edu, and
	ftp.uu.net (under /packages/gnu).

Please try to retrieve it from a local site.

It is also available for anonymous UUCP or FTP from osu-cis in
pub/taylor-uucp.  Ask uucp@cis.ohio-state.edu for anonymous UUCP
instructions.

Here is the beginning of the README file from the distribution.

WHAT IT IS

This is the complete source code for a Unix UUCP package.  It provides
everything you need to make a UUCP connection.  It includes versions
of uucico, uuxqt, uux, uucp, uustat, uulog and uuname, as well as
uuchk (a program to check configuration files) and tstuu (a test
harness for the package).

The Free Software Foundation plans to make this their standard UUCP
package.

The package currently supports the 'f', 'g' (in all window and packet
sizes), 't' and 'e' protocols.  If you have a Berkeley sockets
library, it can make TCP connections.  It supports a new configuration
file mechanism which I like (but other people dislike).

The package has a few advantages over regular UUCP:

    You get the source code.

    It uses significantly less CPU time than most UUCP packages.

    You can specify a chat script to run when a system calls in,
    allowing adjustment of modem parameters on a per system basis.

    You can specify failure strings for chat scripts, allowing the
    chat script to fail immediately if the modem returns ``BUSY''.

    If you are talking to another instance of the package, you can
    restrict file transfers by size based on the time of day and who
    placed the call.

On the other hand:

    It only runs on Unix.  The code is carefully divided into system
    dependent and system independent portions, so it should be
    possible to port it to other systems.  It would not be trivial.

    You don't get uusched, uuclean, uusend, uuq, uusnap, uumonitor,
    uuto, uupick, uutry, uupoll, etc.  If you have current copies of
    these programs, you may be able to use them.  I expect to
    eventually write some form of uusched and uuclean, though uuclean
    especially may not resemble the usual version.  I believe the
    supplied uustat program allows you to do everything that uuq,
    uusnap and uumonitor do.  uuto, uupick, uutry and uupoll can be
    done as shell scripts.

    The package does not read modemcap or acucap files, although you
    can use V2 configuration files with a BNU Dialers file or a dialer
    file written in my new configuration file format.

    The package cannot use BNU dialer programs directly, although it
    can with a simple shell script interface.

    There is no TLI support.  Hopefully by the next version.

If you start using this package, I suggest that you join the mailing
list (see above) to keep up to date on patches and new versions.  I am
also open to suggestions for improvements and modifications.

CHANGES SINCE 1.02

For a complete list, see ChangeLog.

    As usual, many bugs were fixed.

    Several useful and interesting programs and scripts are provided
    in the contrib directory.  See contrib/README for details.

    The programs uustat, uulog and uuname were added.  uucp and uux
    support a -j switch to provide a jobid which uustat can use to
    remove the job.

    Configuration can now mostly be done automatically by a shell
    script.  Adminstrative choices, as well as a few system parameters
    the shell script cannot figure out, are made by editing a new
    header file.

    The code was successfully tested on a System III machine with a 16
    bit processor (with segments; it would take work to pare the
    executable size down to 64K).

    Security was enhanced significantly.  It should no longer be
    possible to uucp a file to which the user does not have read
    access.  When accepting a uucp from a remote system, the
    destination directory must be world writeable.

    If a file cannot be sent to a remote system for some reason, it is
    saved in a directory (typically /usr/spool/uucp/.Preserve) so the
    UUCP administrator can do something with it.

    Signal handling was improved and made much more reliable.  uucico
    will now handle a SIGHUP signal by terminating the current
    session; if appropriate, it will go on to call another system.
    uucico will attempt to acquire the communication port as a
    controlling terminal in order to receive the SIGHUP.  If uucico
    receives a SIGINT signal, it will let the current session finish
    but not start any new ones.  If uuxqt receives a signal, it will
    let the current job finish but not start any new ones.  If uucp or
    uux receive a signal, they will clean up any files they may have
    created.

    Debugging was improved, and individual types of debugging can now
    be selected by name.  The following types are known: abnormal, chat,
    handshake, uucp-proto, protocol, port, config, spooldir, execute,
    incoming, outgoing.

    uucico and uuxqt may now be replaced by shell scripts even on
    systems which can not exec shell scripts; the shell will be
    invoked if necessary.

    A new status type, ``wrong time to call'' is now be written to the
    system status file.

    The configuration files may now continue lines by using a
    backslash as the last character of the line.

    A new ``max-uuxqts'' command was added to the configuration file
    to control that maximum number of uuxqt processes which may
    execute simultaneously.  If the code is compiled to support only
    BNU configuration files, it will read the Maxuuxqts file to get
    this value.

    A new ``lockname'' command was added to the port file to allow
    control over the lock file name used for that port.

    A new ``protocol'' command was added to the port file to allow a
    port to specify which protocols which should be used over it.
    This allows support of the similar feature in the BNU Devices
    file.

    A retry time can now be specified with the ``time'' or
    ``timegrade'' commands.

    A name may now be given to an alternate; this name will appears in
    the log file when the alternate is used.

    The TCP server code is somewhat more robust, but still has no way
    to bind a reserved port.

    The -U flag (maximum file size) produced by SVR4 UUCP is now
    recognized and supported; Taylor UUCP will not produce it, as it
    uses other mechanisms.  File restart is not supported yet.

    The default 'g' protocol window size was changed to 7.

    The log file now records the port used on outgoing calls and the
    login name and port used on incoming calls.
-- 
Ian Taylor                     ian@airs.com                    uunet!airs!ian
First person to identify this quote wins a free e-mail message:
``Do you make a grievance of weighing so many pounds only, instead of three
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Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp