The X/Open Information Server ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In response to a request contained in the body of a mail message, the Information (Info) Server will mail back one or more documents. In many ways this facility is similar to the Document Server, but there are a number of significant differences: 1) The Document Server enforces a level of security, by allowing access only to documents related to the groups to which the requester belongs. This makes it particularly suitable for its primary purpose - holding documents for company review. The requester's name is checked to be a known X/Open alias. 2) The Info Server is for publically available documents or programs, the best example of which is TET. As such it is an alternative to the new Anonymous FTP service, for those without an Internet connection. There are no checks on access to either of these services. The Info Server filestore is currently divided into the following subjects, each within its own directory : Corrigenda Requirements Pubscatalogue XBSP XDSF XPG3_Brand XPG4_Brand tet These directories may hold files, or sub-directories. You may request this top-level index; each of the directories above also holds its own index of documents which you may request and this will identify any subdirectories. The format of requests: ---------------------- The formal syntax of the request is: request: index | topic: index | v v v request: index | topic: index | v v v (etc) v request: end In plain English, this means mail to info-server@xopen.co.uk with a set of lines in the message body of the following form (anything contained on the subject line is ignored *** but see Tricks, below): request: index topic: index request: end to get the top level index, or request: subject topic: index request: end to get the index for a subject, such as tet, or request: subject topic: filename-1 topic: filename-2 topic: filename-3 topic: filename-4 request: end to get 4 files from the chosen directory. If there are subdirectories, the topics may take the form : topic: subdirectory/filename (The examples below may help). Everything after the "request end" is ignored. The words 'request', 'topic' and 'end' are keywords and they may use upper or lower case. The field that follows is separated by tabs, spaces or : For example, to request a detailed index of tet, use: request: tet topic: index request: end and a message similar to the following will be returned: X/Open tet request index ------------------------ 81,751 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part1of7 81,763 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part2of7 81,418 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part3of7 81,918 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part4of7 81,172 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part5of7 79,894 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part6of7 46,749 Nov 5 14:42 Rel1.10/part7of7 and to request all the files that make up tet release 1.10 one would use: request: tet topic: Rel1.10/part1of7 topic: Rel1.10/part2of7 topic: Rel1.10/part3of7 topic: Rel1.10/part4of7 topic: Rel1.10/part5of7 topic: Rel1.10/part6of7 topic: Rel1.10/part7of7 request: end On the other hand, to request a detailed index of XPG4_Brand, use: request: XPG4_Brand topic: index request: end and a message similar to the following will be returned: X/Open XPG4_Brand request index ------------------------------- csq --- 28,191 Oct 2 14:22 LMX_serv 22,982 Sep 30 10:31 X400_gate 23,678 Sep 30 10:31 X400_msg_acc 7,752 Sep 11 15:15 ada 7,108 Oct 2 14:22 base_profile 14,336 Sep 11 15:15 bsft 39,179 Sep 11 15:15 c_lang 9,444 Sep 11 15:15 cobol 53,887 Sep 11 15:15 commands 9,839 Sep 11 15:15 cpi-c 19,023 Sep 30 10:31 dir_access 7,778 Sep 11 15:15 fortran 15,978 Oct 28 15:44 isam 8,884 Sep 11 15:15 mag_media 18,379 Sep 23 10:32 nfs 12,194 Sep 23 10:29 nfs_serv 7,773 Sep 11 15:15 pascal 53,876 Sep 30 10:32 rel_dbase 7,793 Sep 11 15:15 term_i-f 11,207 Sep 11 15:15 win_api 14,738 Sep 11 15:15 win_disp 34,957 Sep 11 15:15 xsh 26,809 Sep 23 10:33 xti waiver ------ 30,760 Sep 22 09:48 AG.waivers 733 Sep 22 09:48 README 4,619 Sep 22 09:48 doc.example 3,275 Sep 22 09:48 doc.template 1,597 Sep 22 09:48 orig.vsx Since the files are held within subdirectories, to retrieve the waiver README file one would send the following : request: XPG4_Brand topic: waiver/README request: end If anything is not recognised, then the entire message is forwarded to the postmaster@xopen.co.uk for processing by hand. An error in one line will cause the remainder to be ignored. Special Notes: ------------- The keyword 'line-limit' is useful for people who have mail systems that can only deal with small messages. Consider the following request: line-limit 1000 request: XPG4_Brand topic: csq/ada topic: csq/commands request: end This would mail out ada and commands information in 1000 line chunks (Not including message header information). The line limit must lie between 1000 and 200000000. The default is to send the file in 1 message. A complex request could look like this: line-limit 1000 request: XPG3_Brand topic: csq/quest line-limit 2000 request: XPG4_Brand topic: csq/ada topic: csq/commands request: end Sending to someone else ----------------------- The keyword 'reply' will override any 'From:' type line in the mail header, thus allowing one to request mail to be sent to someone other than the mailer. It could be repeated, to send things to multiple addressees. Eg :- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- reply: s.omeone@anon.co.uk request: XPG4_Brand topic: index reply: a.nother@ibid.co.uk request: XPG4_Brand topic: index request: end +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Tricks ------ In the case of a simple request, it is possible to put it in the Subject: line of the mail item. Separate the topic from the request with a semi-colon (;) as in this example. Subject: request XPG4_Brand; topic index