Comp.compilers mail server, at last

I have finally set up a mail server to let people without FTP access
retrieve back messages from comp.compilers. If you have FTP acccess,
please FTP files from primost.cs.wisc.edu which will be much faster.
(My machine connects only via uucp, so it can take hours for messages
to turn around.)


The mail server lives at compilers-server@iecc.cambridge.ma.us. Here is
its help file:


Welcome to the comp.compilers mail server. You can retrive any message
posted to comp.compilers as well as index files to help you find what you
need, and a few other compilers-related files. This is the "help" file.


To request a file from the server, mail your request to
compilers-server@iecc.cambridge.ma.us. It will be received by a rather
dumb shell script adapted from the comp.archives KISS server. It
understands the following commands:


path <path> This lets the requestor override the address that would
normally be extracted from the header.


help This is equivalent to the command `send help'.


index This is equivalent to the command `send index'.


send <file> Send a file, see below.


quit Nothing past this point is interpreted. This is provided so
that the occasional lost soul whose signature contains a line
that looks like a command can still use the server without
getting a bogus response.


The server interpets the subject line of the message.


Only one file is permitted per command line, although multiple commands
per message are allowed.


Each message has an ID number of the form YY-MM-NNN where YY and MM are the
year and month and NNN is the message number within the month. For example,
send a message containing:


send 91-01-003


to get the third message from January 1991.


The comp.compilers message index is in a separate file for each year with
the names index86, index87, etc. You can get the files via, e.g.:


send index90


The message index files contain all of the Subject: lines (with "Re:"
edited out) and the message ID and number of lines in lines of each
message. The file "index" lists the rest of the available files.


At this point, all requests are handled when received. Please be moderate
in what you request. If I find that my machine overloaded with server
requests (keep in mind that its connection to the world is a single modem) I
will have to institute the sort of tedious flow controls that other servers
have.


If you want large numbers of back messages, please FTP them from
primost.cs.wisc.edu if you can or else get them by modem from the Channel 1
BBS as described in the monthly posting, which you can retrieve as the file
"monthly".


Regards,
John Levine, comp.compilers moderator


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