From lwb@cs.utexas.edu Wed Aug 10 04:14:40 1994
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 94 14:10:42 CDT
From: "Lance W. Bledsoe" 
Reply to: act@zilker.net
To: act@zilker.net, moroni@zilker.net, zion@zilker.net
Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted,comp.answers,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: How to find sources

I thought this might be useful...


The following information was forwarded to this list from a newsgroup,
and is for information purposes only.

Lance Bledsoe assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the
information presented here.

--------------------------------- cut here ----------------------------------

Archive-name: finding-sources
Submitted-by: kent_landfield@sterling.com (Kent Landfield)
Original-Author: jik@security.ov.com (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Version: 1.138
Last-modified: June 30, 1994

[ If you would like to get a current copy of this file send an   ]
[ email message to send-finding-sources-faq@sparky.sterling.com  ]
[ and it will be mailed to you.                                  ]

I.      Table of contents

This article contains the following sections.

        I.      Table of contents
        II.     Introduction
        III.    How do you find sources?
        IV.     Things not to do
        V.      Searching techniques in detail
                1. Usenet source newsgroups
                2. The "archie" database
                3. The "ftpable-readmes" WAIS database
                4. Comp.archives
                5. Comp.sources.wanted
                6. Prospero
                7. Mail server queries
        VI.     File retrieval techniques in detail
                1. By anonymous ftp
                2. By anonymous UUCP
                3. By mail
                   a. Uunet mail archive
                   b. BITFTP
                   c. Ftpmail
                   d. AT&T's netlib archive
                   e. Periodic posting archives
                   f. Trickle mail servers
                   g. Other mail servers
        VII.    Credits

To find a particular section, search forward for a line beginning with
the Roman numeral corresponding to the desired section.  For example,
search forward for "IV." at the beginning of the line to find the
section entitled "Things not to do".  Alternatively, if your news
reader supports commands to "undigestify" and/or skip to the next
section in a digest message, you can use those commands to view this
message, since it is in digest format (the section you are reading now
is the "preamble" of the digest).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

II.     Introduction

This posting discusses the resources available to people who are
looking for source code.  Please read it before posting source code
requests to comp.sources.wanted, alt.sources.wanted or any other
newsgroup.

Comments about, suggestions about or corrections to this posting are
welcomed.  If you would like to ask me to change this posting in some
way, the method I appreciate most is for you to actually make the
desired modifications to a copy of the posting, and then to send me
the modified posting, or a context diff between my posted version and
your modified version (if you do the latter, make sure to include in
your mail the "Version:" line from my posted version).  Submitting
changes in this way makes dealing with them easier for me and helps to
avoid misunderstandings about what you are suggesting.

DO NOT send me private E-mail asking me to help you locate source
code.  Nearly everything I know about finding sources is documented in
this posting.  If you can't find something by following the
instructions below, then I'm not going to be able to find it either.
Furthermore, sending me E-mail asking for help BEFORE following the
instructions below is completely out of the question.

------------------------------

III.    How do you find sources?

The method you use for locating sources depends on exactly what you
are looking for.  Here are several possible routes to follow; pick the
one that best suits your needs.  The descriptions below mention
general techniques (e.g. "Check the Usenet source newsgroup indices.")
which are described in detail later in this posting.  These
descriptions are listed in order from most preferred to least
preferred solution.  You will notice that "Post in
comp.sources.wanted" is listed last.  This is because posting
a message in comp.sources.wanted should only be used as a last resort
when you have exhausted all other alternatives.

Once you have located your source code using the instructions below,
you can retrieve it via anonymous ftp or E-mail (depending on what is
accessible to you and on where the code is archived); this is
described in detail later in this posting.

Before following *any* of the routes below, the first thing you should
do is exhaust the local resources that are available to you.  Often, a
program that you are looking for will already be accessible somewhere
on your system.  Since each site has different local resources, it's
impossible to give details here about the resources at any specific
site.  All that can be said is, "Find someone at your site to ask."
Nearly every site has someone whose job it is to answer questions from
other users, and the sites that don't have someone doing it officially
often have someone doing it unofficially.  If you cannot find what you
want after checking things out locally, or if you can't find anyone to
ask, then proceed as follows.

1. "I know the name of the program I want, but I don't know where to
   get it."

   a. Check the indices for the various main Usenet source newsgroups.

   b. Check with archie.

   c. Check comp.archives.

   d. Check the "ftpable-readmes" WAIS database.

   e. Post to comp.sources.wanted.

   f. If you are looking for an MS-DOS program, check
      pd1:

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