Article View: comp.graphics.avs
Article #106Xnetlib idea for AVS
From: Albert Boulanger
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 23:39
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 23:39
269 lines
10133 bytes
10133 bytes
I thought the Xnetlib tool was really neat. Does anybody have a desire
to do something like that for the AVS archive? It would be neat to do
something like this in AVS itself!
Here is the readme for Xnetlib:
xnetlib(2.0) (11 Mar 92) xnetlib(2.0)
NAME
xnetlib - an X interface to netlib
DESCRIPTION
Xnetlib is a new version of netlib recently developed at the
University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Unlike netlib, which uses electronic mail to process
requests for mathematical software, xnetlib uses an X Window
graphical user interface and a socket-based connection
between the user's machine and the xnetlib server machine to
process software requests. Xnetlib is available to anyone
who has access to the TCP/IP Internet.
INSTALLATION
To install type:
% xmkmf
% make
and
% make install
or, perhaps more likely
% cp xnetlib ~/whereEverYou/Want/it/bin
Xmkmf uses imake to create a makefile from the provided
imakefile. Both xmkmf and imake should be installed on your
system as part of the X distribution, so if you get an error
on the xmkmf command talk to your system manager or check
your command search path. As a last resort, you might also
try editing Makefile.std as necessary and typing 'make -f
Makefile.std'.
The Xnetlib.res file contains some resources you may want to
edit and include in your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file.
See also the postscript map of xnetlib resources,
resourcemap.ps. (Note: there are reports that
resourcemap.ps wont print on some older printers, we are
working on a fix for this.)
To run xnetlib type: % xnetlib
(The Athena Widget set is required to build xnetlib.)
OPERATION
Each time xnetlib starts up it contacts the netlib server at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (surfer.epm.ornl.gov) to get
the latest list of index files. Any new or updated index
files may then be downloaded as you wish. (When xnetlib is
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xnetlib(2.0) (11 Mar 92) xnetlib(2.0)
started for the first time you really ought to get them
because xnetlib is not very useful otherwise.) At this time
there are about 200 of these files, each about a page or two
in size. By default, these files are placed in
$HOME/xnlData. To begin the transfer of these files press
the 'set up' button, then 'download new index files'. If you
Cancel this process or if for some reason a file can't be
transferred, xnetlib will forget it ever got any of the
batch. The good files will still be used but they will be
treated as out of date the next time you start xnetlib.
If several people at the same site are using xnetlib, you
may want to maintain one shared collection of index files
instead of maintaining several separate collections. To do
this set the resource to that directory. The effect of the
'publicData' resource is that the xnlData directory and
files in it are world writable so that anyone may update the
indices. (You might even set this as the default in the
source. See the fallback_resources in main.c.) To avoid
problems the index directory is locked when someone is
downloading index files. If the lock gets stuck for some
reason remove the xnlPath/LOCK file.
To get files from xnetlib, click on 'library' (for example)
and then select from the list of libraries. Click on the
files you want and then click 'download'.
INDEX FILES
The index files are stored locally in your xnlPath directory
under indexitems. They are written with the '.desc' suffix.
These are the same files you might get by sending for the
index by email from netlib.
PLATFORMS
Most development of xnetlib is being done on an IBM RS/6000
running the X11R5 server and libraries. It has been tested
on Sun, Decstation 5000, Sequent, NeXT (w/CoExist), HP9000,
and Convex. It has been tested under these window managers:
olwm, mwm, dxwm, twm.
Please tell us about other environments it runs (or doesn't
run) under.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The most important improvement in the next release of
xnetlib will be index file caching. This feature will give
users the option of eliminating or reducing in size the
local database of index files. Requested indices not found
in the local database will be retrieved on the fly from the
xnetlib server.
Multiserver support - perhaps you want to get files from
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xnetlib(2.0) (11 Mar 92) xnetlib(2.0)
other servers.
General FTP support - with or without special index files on
the remote machine.
More.
Please send us your comments. (xnetlib@cs.utk.edu)
A ONE LINER
We have included a command line interface to netlib. It was
a last minute sort of thing and has not been well tested. To
make it, type:
cc -DSTANDALONE -o netlibget nl_access.c
or your system's equivalent. Type 'netlibget' to see the
usage line. Netlibget uses the same routines to talk to
netlib that xnetlib does.
X RESOURCES
whoEntrySep: the separator displayed between entries in the
NA-NET white pages database. The default is '-------'.
whoPrintCommand: the format string for the print command of
the NA-NET white pages database. The string must contain a
%s which is replaced with the name of the file which is
printed. The default is 'lpr %s'.
showWhoInfo: whether to show instructions for adding your
name to the NA-NET white pages database. The default is
True.
xnlPath: path to the local xnetlib database. The default is
$HOME/xnlData.
publicData: if True, save index files world writeable. The
default is False.
xnlDownloadPath: path to directory where the files you
select are downloaded. The default is $HOME/xnlFiles
depCheck: if True then any files required by the items you
explicitly request are downloaded also. The default is True.
showReceiveAnyway: if True then the receive button is not
greyed out when there is nothing to download. The default is
False.
confirmQuit: if True you are asked if you truly want to exit
when you press the Quit button. The default is True.
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xnetlib(2.0) (11 Mar 92) xnetlib(2.0)
dontWarp: sometimes xnetlib tries to help you out by placing
the cursor where it thinks you may want it. Set to True if
you don't care for this type of behavior. The default is
False.
These colors affect the status window background:
okColor: the happy color, normally green
badColor: the 'something's wrong' color, normally red
cautionColor: the 'something's almost wrong' color, normally
yellow
BUGS
On Ultrix, you MUST either have MIT X windows (not
DECWindows) installed, OR have the "Unsupported X11
Components" software subset loaded, in order to compile
HeNCE. The include files supplied with vanilla DECWindows
are incompatible with those supplied by MIT and required by
Xnetlib.
AUTHORS
This work is directed by Jack J. Dongarra, Univ. of
Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Tom Rowan,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supported in part by the
Applied Mathematical Sciences subprogram of the Office of
Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy, under contract
DE-AC05-84OR21400, and in part by the National Science
Foundation under contract NSF ASC-9103853.
Xnetlib has evolved over a period of time between 1991 -
1992 and has had help from: David Bolt, Univ. of Tennessee
Jennifer Finger, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Andy Pearson,
Univ. of Tennessee Bill Rosener, Univ. of Tennessee Jon
Richardson, Univ. of Tennessee Andrea Van Hull, Northwestern
Univ. and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Xnetlib 2.0 was written by: Reed Wade, Univ. of Tennessee
Fasthelp code from: Ken Bateman, Virginia Tech and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
A very special thanks to victims of the prerelease code.
Convex fixes from: salevin@drl.mobil.com
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Technical Details
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!olivea!news.bbn.com!news.bbn.com!aboulang From: aboulang@bbn.com (Albert Boulanger) Newsgroups: comp.graphics.avs Subject: Xnetlib idea for AVS Message-ID: <ABOULANG.92Aug12163938@tiryns.bbn.com> Date: 12 Aug 92 23:39:38 GMT Reply-To: aboulanger@bbn.com Organization: BBN, Cambridge MA Lines: 269 NNTP-Posting-Host: tiryns.bbn.com