ARCHIE(1) USER COMMANDS ARCHIE(1) NAME archie - query the Archie anonymous FTP databases using Prospero SYNOPSIS archie [ -cers ] [ -a ] [ -l ] [ -t ] [ -m _h_i_t_s ] [ -N [ _l_e_v_e_l ] ] [ -h _h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e ] [ -o _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ] [ -L ] [ -V ] [ -v ] _s_t_r_i_n_g DESCRIPTION archie queries an archie anonymous FTP database looking for the specified _s_t_r_i_n_g using the Prospero protocol. This client is based on Prospero version Beta.4.2 and is provided to encourage non-interactive use of the Archie servers (and subsequently better performance on both sides). This man page describes version 1.3 of the client. The general method of use is of the form % archie string This will go to the archie server and ask it to look for all known systems that have a file named `string' in their FTP area. archie will wait, and print out any matches. For example, % archie emacs will find all anonymous FTP sites in the archie database that have files named emacs somewhere in their FTP area. (This particular query would probably return a lot of direc- tories.) If you want a list of every filename that contains emacs _a_n_y_w_h_e_r_e in it, you'd use % archie -c emacs Regular expressions, such as % archie -r '[xX][lL]isp' may also be used for searches. (See the manual of a reason- ably good editor, like GNU Emacs or vi, for more information on using regular expressions.) OPTIONS The options currently available to this archie client are: -c Search substrings paying attention to upper & lower case. -e Exact string match. (This is the default.) Archie (Prospero) Last change: 26 October 1992 1 ARCHIE(1) USER COMMANDS ARCHIE(1) -r Search using a regular expression. -s Search substrings ignoring the case of the letters. -o_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e If specified, place the results of the search in _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e. -a Output results as Alex filenames. -l Output results in a form suitable for parsing by programs. -t Sort the results inverted by date. -m_h_i_t_s Specifies the maximum number of hits (matches) to return (default of 95). -N_l_e_v_e_l Sets the _n_i_c_e_n_e_s_s of a query; by default, it's set to 0. Without an argument, ``-N'' defaults to 35765. If you use -N with an argument between 0 and 35765, it'll adjust itself accord- ingly. (Note: VMS users will have to put quotes around this argument, and -L, like "-N45"; VMS will otherwise convert it to lowercase.) -h _h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e Tells the client to query the Archie server _h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e. -L Lists the Archie servers known to the program when it was compiled, as well as the name of the default Archie server. For an up-to-date list, write to ``archie@archie.mcgill.ca'' (or any Archie server) with the single command of _s_e_r_v_e_r_s. -V With the verbose option, archie will make some comments along the way if a search is going to take some time, to pacify the user. The three search-modifying arguments (``-c'', ``-r'', and ``-s'') are all mutually exclusive; only the last one counts. If you specify -e with any of ``-c'', ``-r'', or ``-s'', the server will first check for an exact match, then fall back to the case-sensitive, case-insensitive, or regu- lar expression search. This is so if there are matches that are particularly obvious, it will take a minimal amount of time to satisfy your request. If you list a single `-' by itself, any further arguments will be taken as part of the search string. This is intended to enable searching for strings that begin with a `-'; for example: % archie -s - -old will search for all filenames that contain the string `-old' in them. RESPONSE Archie servers are set up to respond to a number of requests in a queued fashion. That is, smaller requests get served Archie (Prospero) Last change: 26 October 1992 2 ARCHIE(1) USER COMMANDS ARCHIE(1) much more quickly than do large requests. As a result, the more often you query the Archie server, or the larger your requests, the longer the queue will become, resulting in a longer waiting period for everyone's requests. Please be frugal when possible, for your benefit as well as for the other users. QUERY PRIORITY Please use the ``-N'' option whenever you don't demand immediacy, or when you're requesting things that could gen- erate large responses. Even when using the nice option, you should still try to avoid big jobs during busy periods. Here is a list of what we consider to be nice values that accurately reflect the priority of a job to the server. Normal 0 Nice 500 Nicer 1000 Very Nice 5000 Extremely Nice 10000 Nicest 32765 The last priority, Nicest, would be used when a job should wait until the queue is essentially empty before running. You should pick one of these values to use, possibly modify- ing it slightly depending on where you think your priority should land. For example, 32760 would mean wait until the queue is empty, but jump ahead of other jobs that have selected Nicest. There are certain types of things that we suggest using Nicest for, irregardless. In particular, any searches for which you would have a hard time justifying the use of any- thing but extra resources. (We all know what those searches would be for.) ENVIRONMENT ARCHIE_HOST This will change the host _a_r_c_h_i_e will consult when making queries. (The default value is what's been compiled in.) The ``-h'' option will override this. If you're running VMS, create a symbol called ARCHIE_HOST. SEE ALSO For more information on regular expressions, see the manual pages on: regex(3), ed(1) Also read the file archie/doc/whatis.archie on archie.mcgill.ca for a detailed paper on Archie as a whole. Archie (Prospero) Last change: 26 October 1992 3 ARCHIE(1) USER COMMANDS ARCHIE(1) Read the file README.ALEX distributed with this client for more information on what Alex is and how you can take advan- tage of it. AUTHORS The archie service was conceived and implemented by Alan Emtage (bajan@cs.mcgill.ca), Peter Deutsch (peterd@cs.mcgill.ca), and Bill Heelan (wheelan@cs.mcgill.ca). The entire Internet is in their debt. The Prospero system was created by Clifford Neuman (bcn@isi.edu); write to info-prospero@isi.edu for more information on the protocol and its use. This stripped client was put together by Brendan Kehoe (brendan@cygnus.com), with modifications by Clifford Neuman and George Ferguson (ferguson@cs.rochester.edu). BUGS There are none; only a few unexpected features. Archie (Prospero) Last change: 26 October 1992 4