ARCHIE(1)ARCHIE(1)NAME
archie - query the Archie anonymous FTP databases using
Prospero
SYNOPSIS
archie [ -cers ] [ -a ] [ -l ] [ -t ] [ -m hits ]
[ -N [ level ] ] [ -h hostname ] [ -o filename ]
[ -L ] [ -V ] [ -v ] string
DESCRIPTION
archie queries an archie anonymous FTP database looking
for the specified string 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
directories.) If you want a list of every filename that
contains emacs anywhere 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 rea
sonably good editor, like GNU Emacs or vi, for more infor
mation 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.)
-r Search using a regular expression.
-s Search substrings ignoring the case of the
letters.
-ofilename If specified, place the results of the search
in filename.
-a Output results as Alex filenames.
-l Output results in a form suitable for parsing
by programs.
-t Sort the results inverted by date.
-mhits Specifies the maximum number of hits (matches)
to return (default of 95).
-Nlevel Sets the niceness 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 accordingly. (Note: VMS users will
have to put quotes around this argument, and
-L, like "-N45"; VMS will otherwise convert it
to lowercase.)
-h hostname Tells the client to query the Archie server
hostname.
-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
servers.
-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
regular expression search. This is so if there are
matches that are particularly obvious, it will take a min
imal 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 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 bene
fit 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
generate 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 modi
fying it slightly depending on where you think your prior
ity 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
anything but extra resources. (We all know what those
searches would be for.)
ENVIRONMENT
ARCHIE_HOST
This will change the host archie 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 man
ual 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.
Read the file README.ALEX distributed with this client for
more information on what Alex is and how you can take
advantage 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 (whee
lan@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 Neu
man and George Ferguson (ferguson@cs.rochester.edu).
BUGS
There are none; only a few unexpected features.
Archie (Prospero) 26 October 1992 ARCHIE(1)
