Useful Lockers

The following is a partial list of useful lockers. To access them, type add filesystem. Many of them have a file named README in their top-level directory, which will have more information about the filesystem, its layout, and whom to contact for more information.

: gnu contains software written and distributed by the Free Software Foundation, such as gcc, a C/C++/Objective C compiler; gdb, a source-level debugger; gnuchess, a chess program; bison, a replacement for YACC; and gas, an assembler. These programs are available in varying degrees for various platforms. Send any problems or questions to gnu@athena.mit.edu.
: consult contains software written and/or maintained by Athena's MIT-IS-CSS Consultants. The consult locker contains programs for the vax, rt, decmips, RS/6000, NeXT, and Sun4 machines. Read /mit/consult/README for instructions to use or learn about software contained in consult. Send any problems or questions to consult@athena.mit.edu.
: games is a random collection of games and puzzles. Currently, the games locker supports games for vax, rt, decmips, and RS/6000 to varying degrees, in addition to games to be run within Emacs. The locker also contains source code for most of the games that are installed. Look at the /mit/games/POLICY file in the games locker for rules about submissions. Send any problems or questions to bug-games@athena.mit.edu.
: info contains up-to-date information about the status of Athena software and hardware, such as notices of impending or emergency machine shutdowns. Comments should be sent to bugs@athena.mit.edu.
: net-directory contains the network directory produced at the University of Texas, as well as other information about the Internet network. See the README file in /mit/net-directory/README for more information.
: watchmaker is maintained by the so-called ``watchmakers,'' a group of student systems programmers at Athena. BEWARE! Most of the programs in the locker are esoteric and only useful to experienced systems hackers, but some of the programs are of general interest. Report any problems or bugs to watchmakers@athena.mit.edu.
: graphics The graphics locker contains various graphics-related programs useful for viewing and manipulating graphics. See the Graphics section of this guide for more information.
: postscript is a collection of interesting and useful PostScript programs and utilities. See the discuss meeting on postscript_hacks for information about what is currently stored in the filesystem. PostScript is a page description language developed by Adobe Systems Inc. and is available on all of Athena's printers. It is a public locker, with world write access turned on, so that anybody may place copies of useful PostScript code into it for central storage. Problems should be sent to the discuss meeting above.
: perl Perl is an interpreted language that fills in the area between shell programming and C programming. The locker contains both source and binaries, and various sample programs. If you're interested, you should also look in /afs/sipb.mit.edu/contrib/perl a collection point for perl contributions.
: rfc contains all the current Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Requests For Comment (RFC's). These server are documents on ``standards''. It also has an index, /mit/rfc/rfc-index.txt, which you should definitely read, because the proposals are listed only by number.
: frame FrameMaker is an excellent but mostly untested publishing tool, which handles word processing, books, page layout, and graphics. You are encouraged to play around with it; it is a complicated program, and very very new (as of August, 1993, anyway), but will be supported by Athena. Documentation is being written even as you read this, unless it's already done, in which case it will be available from Graphic Arts. Look at the README file in /mit/frame/README for more information.
: dotfiles The dotfiles locker contains a number of extensively modified dotfiles. Many of these may be useful, and there are a number of neat hacks that you can play with; but be sure you know what you are doing before you hack your own dotfiles. Read the README file in /mit/dotfiles/README for an explanation of how the locker is set up.
: Some other neat lockers are shakespeare, bible and weather. They're just about exactly what you think they are. Look around in them; ask your friends for their suggestions; see what you can find on your own.

Kerberos: Athena's Watchdog

Kerberos; also spelled Cerberus. "n. The watch dog of Hades, whose duty it was to guard the entrance--against whom or what does not clearly appear;...is known to have had three heads..."

-Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary

Kerberos is the system designed by MIT to provide security on the Athena network. This document will not provide you with a complete description of the mechanisms and the math used by Kerberos; it will explain the necessity for Kerberos, and will quickly summarize what Kerberos does. For more information, you can look at the Kerberos section of the Athena Technical Plan, the PostScript file /mit/kerberos/doc/techplan/techplan.PS.

Why Kerberos is needed.

mkgray@