Xnetlib is a new software distribution tool recently developed at
the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The goal in developing xnetlib was to provide
Internet users faster and easier access to netlib's large collection of
software, data, and documents. Unlike netlib, which uses e-mail
to process requests for software, xnetlib uses an X Window interface
and socket-based communication between the user's machine and the
xnetlib server
machine to process software requests. This enables users to
search through a large distributed collection of software easily and to retrieve
requested software in seconds.