Acquiring and Installing the Netlib Software

CAUTION: The most common problems with the email interface to Netlib are corrupted mail addresses, network errors, and so on. You ought to be reasonably expert with email before installing the Netlib email server.

To obtain the Netlib email server software, send the following message to netlib@netlib.org:

send netlib from misc

Netlib will return a shar file with instructions at the beginning as to how it should be unbundled. This guide assumes that the software is unbundled in a directory named /netlib/admin. After unbundling, carry out the following steps:

1. Edit the call to chdir in bin/reply.c to point to the place where the source code is stored on your system. /netlib is assumed for illustration here.

2. Edit /netlib/admin/LIBS to reflect what you are distributing. Items strictly for local users go in LIBS.lcl and index.lcl; edit function groupid() in reply.c to define ``local users''. If everything is public, groupid() can simply return 0. As it currently stands, ``local'' addresses are those whose machines are in /netlib/admin/groups/local; if any machine name in groups/enemies is found, processing is aborted.

   Suppose you have a library eispack that you want to install. Make the directory /netlib/eispack; copy in files such as rg.f; create a file index there; add some lines to /netlib/admin/LIBS like

   
           eispack => eispack
           eispac => eispack

   (That second line is to allow for misspellings; use your imagination and watch the logfiles for common mistakes.) Be sure that the line

   
           master => master

   is in LIBS, so that people can get the main index.

3. Edit the various disclaimers in /netlib/admin/mess. You may also wish to add disclaimer files in the source directories.

To activate mail processing:

*  if you run \command{sendmail}, put
          netlib: "|/netlib/admin/bin/reply"
          netlibd: "|/netlib/admin/bin/netlibd"
   into /usr/lib/aliases and execute newaliases;
*  if you run \command{upas}, put
          Pipe to \file{/netlib/admin/bin/reply}
   in \file{/usr/spool/mail/netlib} and make that file owned by
   "netlibd" and similarly put
          Pipe to \file{/netlib/admin/bin/netlibd}
   in \file{/usr/spool/mail/netlibd} and make that file owned by 
   yourself;
*  else if your system has no equivalent mechanism, try the
   daemon in /netlib/admin/bin/Old-mail-sys.

The script admin/bin/netlibd contains (on line 3) cd /netlib, which you may need to change. Because Berkeley's alias facility provides no way to set the userid, you probably should put your name and address in the message so people know who is actually sending the mail.

To try the system out, echo send index mail netlib and expect return mail in a couple minutes. A line should be added to /netlib/admin/log and admin/stderr should remain empty.

Once the basics are working, you can polish things a bit.

• Create ``.depend'' files in each Netlib directory to represent the relationship between source files there. Not only is this file itself useful to browsers, but by changing the lines in LIBS to the form

  
          eispack => -leispack

  you can teach Netlib to respond to a request for rg from eispack by sending not just rg.f, but also balbak.f, hqr2.f, and so on.

• You should permanently save /netlib/admin/log so that bug fixes can be distributed, traffic measurements made, and annual summaries sent to code authors. The format of the log is: date time [address] bytes-sent library/item possibly followed by: L = list, F = find. The [address] is followed by ``l'' if the address was recognized as local. In contrast, the copy of incoming messages kept in /tmp/netreq is for debugging mail headers and monitoring illegal request syntax. Discard when convenient (perhaps by an rm in /etc/rc) or, if you prefer, comment out the line in reply.c:handle() that writes the file.