RE: Naming/Format conventions for INDEX files

[Hank Nussbacher <[e-mail]>]

On Thu, 23 Jul 1992 17:11:06 CDT you said:
>On Thu, 23 Jul 92 19:20:38 +0200, Markus Stumpf
><[e-mail]> posted:
>> In Germany we plan to standardize (sp?) the format and naming of ftp-server
>> index files! This is a sensitive area as it should support all OS
>> platforms.                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>After seeing the drafts and looking through the archives, a good question
>is if the intent here is to only "support all" OS platforms which are Unix
>or "support all" platforms.  Many things I have seen, I would love to
>see someone do under VAX/VMS (which remains a footnote for a to-do, from
>everything I can tell).  Indeed, draft.part.I and draft.part.II, the two
>drafts, cannot be retained under VMS without somehow bastardizing the names
>-- moreover, MGET via ftp is impossible!
>
>> Currently we are discussing a format, which could easily be generated by
>> GNU find, which runs (and is designed to run) on a wide variety of
>> platforms!
>>
>> The current format looks like (comments welcome)
>>      512        1991-02-25 19:50        /pub/BSD/4.3-tcpip/
>>   447001        1991-02-06 14:10        /pub/BSD/4.3-tcpip/bind-4.8.3.Z
>>       31        1992-07-18 15:59        /pub/BSD/386BSD/0.1 -> ../../..
>>                                                    /public2/BSD/386BSD/0.1
>
>I'd vote for the VMS format dir/col=1/nohead/wid=(file=45)/size/date:
>
>MX_ROOT:[MLF]00README.TXT;1                        13   6-SEP-1991 08:09:54.96
>MX_ROOT:[MLF]BNB.P;1                                6  29-JUL-1991 16:49:02.68
>
>The format is:
>disk:[directory]filename.extension;revision     blocks date        time
>                                  (1 block = 512 bytes)

How about the VM/CMS format or a CDC NOS/VE format? :-)  Seriously,
if you are going to propose a standard, don't make in Unix-centric.

>The earlier you think about something other than Unix, the better!  Right
>now, worrying about format is trivial -- worrying about the interface
>between OS'es (rather than flavors of the same OS) is what needs to be
>looked at.  To me, this is not trivial as I will very soon be working on
>the administrative team for parallel Unix and VMS AFA hosts out of the same
>site -- which I would like to see somewhat parallel.  The IAFA, at least in
>title, gives me hope; in practice, though, I am in despair.

I fully agree.  Lets not make this into the Unix IAFA.

>
>Regards,   George
>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>George D. Greenwade, Ph.D.                            Bitnet:  BED_GDG@SHSU
>Department of Economics and Business Analysis         THEnet: SHSU::BED_GDG
>College of Business Administration                    Voice: [phone]
>P. O. Box 2118                                        FAX:   [phone]
>Sam Houston State University              Internet:        [e-mail]
>Huntsville, TX 77341                      [e-mail]
>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Hank Nussbacher
Israel