Re: Naming/Format conventions for INDEX files

[Albert Langer <[e-mail]>]

> > We are going to write a small script that converts the new index format
> > to plain ls-lR for sites using index parsers restricted to that.
> I'm not convinced it would be completely trivial, you've got to
> convert the date format. Also you have to re-arrange the positions of
> stuff in the file.  It wouldn't be impossible, but neither would it be
> trivial.

If anybody wants it I've got an awk based script that does this stuff
and properly takes into account date format, embedded spaces (and
leading and trailing) etc etc. Based on previous version by Mark
Moraes, but thoroughly mutilated. It worked with trees of horrible
Macintosh file names including hidden files and directories. 
(Would you believe that when I had it working as long as there
were no LEADING spaces in the FIRST filename of a directory, used
to determine start position for remaining names, it turned out that
Macinotsh virus protection system uses filenames that start with
leading spaces!)

Main "feature" was that it also worked with 14 character Sys V filename
limit (by converting longer path segments names to multiple segment
path names), so as to automate ftping from BSD to Sys V. (Yeah,
SINCE then I got hold of R4 :-)

I still think it SHOULD have been completely trivial, but with MY
script skills it grew to an unmanageable mess which I had originally
intended to polish up a bit at least to the point where it could be
passed on for somebody else to finish properly, but I eventually abandonded
it on the assumption that there are better solutions around. (Archie and
the various mirror sites etc MUST have solved these problems by now...)

Did more than just parse the ls-lR though - maintained mirror databases and
thorough error checking for comparison between request and result
of ftping a tree.

Worth checking with archie developers (and lookup archie itself)
for better solutions now available, but anybody interested is
welcome to my mess if only as an example of what to avoid. :-)

Will just email it on request with current messy "notes" and no
attempted cleanup and respond to any questions (other than "why
didn't you give up on writing scripts much sooner"), rather than
attempt to document it to avoid questions.

P.S. cc to Peter Elford is follow up on ancient promise to pass it
on. My advice is don't bother looking at it. :-)