At the request of Richard Schaal, I'm posting our recent
interchange about some of what he's done for a Un*x X*press reader.
Selden
seb@lns62.lns.cornell.edu
==========
>From: IN%"rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com" 17-DEC-1993 12:38:43.70
>To: IN%"SEB@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU"
>CC:
>Subj: RE: Software Activities - How To Distribute?
>
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> 17 Dec 93 10:36:17 -0700
>Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 10:36:15 -0700 (MST)
>From: rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com (Richard Schaal)
>Subject: RE: Software Activities - How To Distribute?
>In-reply-to: <01H6L0VOM30Y8WX4CP@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU> from
> "Selden E. Ball, Jr." at Dec 17, 93 10:54:33 am
>To: SEB@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (Selden E. Ball, Jr.)
>Message-id: <9312171736.AA27952@valet.phx.mcd.mot.com>
>MIME-version: 1.0
>X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22]
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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>
>According to Selden E. Ball, Jr.:
>>
>> Richard,
>>
>> 1. What software/hardware environment does your Xpress reader need?
>> (I finally gave up in disgust with the "official" no-longer-supported
>> Amiga software.)
>
> I am currently running UNIX SVR3
>
> My general experience with 'C' is that minor changes would be needed
> to build for a PC, but I don't know much about the Amiga.
>>
>> 2. Do you have any documentation that you'd be willing to post or
>> email to people who'd like to look it over before the "official"
>> release? (like me :-)
>
>Sure, here is a "history" maintained by sccs as I made changes to the source.
>The comments are a bit cryptic, but the code is easier to read.
>Note that "date and time created" refers only to the date and time the source
>was introduced to sccs, and is not to be construed as an attempt to claim
>authorship.
>
>Also, here is what the current options have grown to.
>
>usage: x
> -n time write news files ever time minutes
> -s write stocks to the file stock_data instead
> of stock/<symbol>
> -v verbose description of activity
> -V VERBOSE description of activity
> -q silent activity
> -b background activity
> -t trace activity
> -w put weather reports in weather/<state>
>
>------------------- Delta History for Makefile --------------
[long history log moved to the very, very end of this message ...Selden]
>
>>
>> 3. In addition to providing source in tar (or compressed tar.Z or tar.gz)
>> I suspect that a few people would very much like it if you could
>> provide binaries in compressed archives specific to some architectures.
>> e.g. Mac in sit/hqx, MSdos in zip, Amiga in lzh, etc.
>
>I got a note from Brian Smithson offering to assist in setting up the
>source archive. Your question brings up a problem that I had not considered,
>though. I live in such a "ivory tower" world, that I assume everyone on the
>list is fluent in 'C', and can deal with (port) source code from one platform
>to another.
>
>How many people on the list have compilers...?
>What platforms are represented....?
>How many people can code in 'C'...?
>
>
>
>MAYBE if you posted this exchange, we could generate enough interest/traffic to
>find out the answers to the questions above.
>
> Regards,
> Richard
>
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Selden
>> ======
>> Selden E. Ball, Jr.
>>
>> Cornell University Voice: +1-607-255-0688
>> Laboratory of Nuclear Studies FAX: +1-607-255-8062
>> 230A Wilson Synchrotron Lab BITNET: SEB@CRNLNS
>> Judd Falls & Dryden Road Internet: SEB@LNS61.TN.CORNELL.EDU
>> Ithaca, NY, USA 14853-8001 HEPnet/SPAN: LNS61::SEB = 44283::SEB
>>
>
>
>--
>Richard Schaal
>Motorola Computer Group
>M/S AZ43 DW278
>2900 South Diablo Way, Tempe, AZ 85252
>Voice: (602)438-3519 Fax: (602)438-3836
>E-Mail: rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com
>"This is a great place to work.... there's a going away party every Friday!"
>
==============================================================
>From: IN%"rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com" 17-DEC-1993 13:28:19.02
>To: IN%"SEB@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU"
>CC:
>Subj: RE: Software Activities - How To Distribute?
>
>Return-path: <rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com>
>Received: from phx.mcd.mot.com (busboy.phx.mcd.mot.com) by
> LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (PMDF V4.2-13 #3448) id
> <01H6L68SLUOW8WX5DM@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU>; Fri, 17 Dec 1993 13:27:56 EST
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> LAA14571; Fri, 17 Dec 1993 11:23:09 -0700
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> 17 Dec 93 11:25:11 -0700
>Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 11:25:10 -0700 (MST)
>From: rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com (Richard Schaal)
>Subject: RE: Software Activities - How To Distribute?
>In-reply-to: <01H6L4NEJ7MA8WX4CP@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU> from
> "Selden E. Ball, Jr." at Dec 17, 93 12:47:01 pm
>To: SEB@LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (Selden E. Ball, Jr.)
>Message-id: <9312171825.AA29645@valet.phx.mcd.mot.com>
>MIME-version: 1.0
>X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22]
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>Content-Length: 1105
>
>According to Selden E. Ball, Jr.:
>>
>> Richard,
>>
>> I did post my questions to the list.
>> Shall I leave it to you to post a (shorter?) response?
>
>Unfortunately, I didn't keep a copy of what I sent to you.
>
>> (I suspect that most will be uninterested in the change log).
>
>Perhaps you could shorten it or cut it out, and then post the response?
>
>>
>> For what it's worth, many Unix utilities (particularly gnu software,
>> netnews readers and servers, etc) are available for AmigaDOS.
>> It has a fully preemptive scheduler, unlike MacOS and MS-DOS.
>> SAS sells full featured ANSI C and C++ compilers.
>> (I've been procrastinating on upgrading my copy)
>
>I suspect the larger part of the code is portable, the serial driver interface
>and whether the serial port requires conditioning will be a concern with each
>platform that is encountered.
>
>>
>> Selden
>>
>
>
>--
>Richard Schaal
>Motorola Computer Group
>M/S AZ43 DW278
>2900 South Diablo Way, Tempe, AZ 85252
>Voice: (602)438-3519 Fax: (602)438-3836
>E-Mail: rschaal@phx.mcd.mot.com
>"This is a great place to work.... there's a going away party every Friday!"
==============================================================
>------------------- Delta History for Makefile --------------
>
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added clean and clobber targets. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:50 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for fill.c --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/26 by rschaal:
> Attempts to speed up the process of formatting a line.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> The non-breakable space treatment suffers when the compiler is
>drainbamaged. First, the character constant was mis-interpreted. Second
>the switch won't work because the constant is too large for a char type
>without changing the sign. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes required for compilation on Motorola 68k platform. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:50 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for news.c --------------
>Delta 1.8 on 93/10/26 by rschaal:
> Bogus timestamps in articles can cause core dumps if we believe
>the input stream.
>MRs
>Delta 1.7 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/18 by rds:
> Supress nulls in sports articles.
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Add verbose options to quiet the receiver.
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes required for compilation on Motorola 68k platform. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:51 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for stock.c --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Processing of stock quote can be improved by targeting sprintf()
>directly at the buffer you want rather than concatenating an intermediate
>buffer. This relies on sprintf() returning the length of the addition.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> quiet compiler complaints. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for stock_ta.c --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for strings.c --------------
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:53 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for x.c --------------
>Delta 1.8 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Change for readability... unknown unit type 0.
>MRs
>Delta 1.7 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Redistribute processing time. Checksum can be calculated while
>receiving, which gives more time to the processing of the received block.
>This time is enough to cause the receive buffer to overflow and create a
>pseudo line hit.
>MRs
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/16 by rds:
> isprint() is a macro in ctype.h
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Add verbose options to quiet the receiver.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:53 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for x.h --------------
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Expand the range of defines. Generally the defines make the code
>easier to understand by providing a name rather than a number.
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Added definitions for format types. I just don't like constants.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> The non-breakable space treatment suffers when the compiler is
>drainbamaged. First, the character constant was mis-interpreted. Second
>the switch won't work because the constant is too large for a char type
>without changing the sign. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:54 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for io.h --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/19 by rschaal:
> date and time created 93/10/19 15:10:19 by rschaal
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for unix-io.c --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/19 by rschaal:
> date and time created 93/10/19 15:10:03 by rschaal
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for ng.map --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/27 by rds:
> Fix up the map to capture all newsgroups known at this time.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/27 by rds:
> Adjust the map to include new and possibly bogus categories.
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Update map to accomodate new categories. Actually, the reader
>should be more peive and allow anything that is not rejected with
>the asterisk, rather than rejecting stuff which is not fully described.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Eliminated a blank line at the end.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 08:51:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for xprcv-s.cf --------------
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes per Richard Harms
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 09:37:20 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for xprcv.cf --------------
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes per Richard Harms
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 09:36:44 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for Makefile --------------
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added clean and clobber targets. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:50 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for fill.c --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/26 by rschaal:
> Attempts to speed up the process of formatting a line.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> The non-breakable space treatment suffers when the compiler is
>drainbamaged. First, the character constant was mis-interpreted. Second
>the switch won't work because the constant is too large for a char type
>without changing the sign. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes required for compilation on Motorola 68k platform. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:50 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for news.c --------------
>Delta 1.9 on 93/10/28 by rds:
> I got the conditional assignment reversed on the value of month in the
>time stamp.
>MRs
>Delta 1.8 on 93/10/26 by rschaal:
> Bogus timestamps in articles can cause core dumps if we believe
>the input stream.
>MRs
>Delta 1.7 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/18 by rds:
> Supress nulls in sports articles.
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Add verbose options to quiet the receiver.
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes required for compilation on Motorola 68k platform. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:51 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for stock.c --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Processing of stock quote can be improved by targeting sprintf()
>directly at the buffer you want rather than concatenating an intermediate
>buffer. This relies on sprintf() returning the length of the addition.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> quiet compiler complaints. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for stock_ta.c --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for strings.c --------------
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:53 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for x.c --------------
>Delta 1.8 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Change for readability... unknown unit type 0.
>MRs
>Delta 1.7 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Redistribute processing time. Checksum can be calculated while
>receiving, which gives more time to the processing of the received block.
>This time is enough to cause the receive buffer to overflow and create a
>pseudo line hit.
>MRs
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/16 by rds:
> isprint() is a macro in ctype.h
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/15 by rschaal:
> Added various levels of verbosity, added fully quiet mode, added
>background operation. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Add verbose options to quiet the receiver.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:53 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for x.h --------------
>Delta 1.6 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Expand the range of defines. Generally the defines make the code
>easier to understand by providing a name rather than a number.
>MRs
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/21 by rschaal:
> Added definitions for format types. I just don't like constants.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/20 by rschaal:
> Fixed long article bug, non-breakable-space works now, copyright
>added, alternate map file added, alternate input param added. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/11 by rds:
> The non-breakable space treatment suffers when the compiler is
>drainbamaged. First, the character constant was mis-interpreted. Second
>the switch won't work because the constant is too large for a char type
>without changing the sign. (rds)
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Added changes from diffs.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 07:01:54 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for io.h --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/19 by rschaal:
> date and time created 93/10/19 15:10:19 by rschaal
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for unix-io.c --------------
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/19 by rschaal:
> date and time created 93/10/19 15:10:03 by rschaal
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for ng.map --------------
>Delta 1.5 on 93/10/27 by rds:
> Fix up the map to capture all newsgroups known at this time.
>MRs
>Delta 1.4 on 93/10/27 by rds:
> Adjust the map to include new and possibly bogus categories.
>MRs
>Delta 1.3 on 93/10/27 by rschaal:
> Update map to accomodate new categories. Actually, the reader
>should be more peive and allow anything that is not rejected with
>the asterisk, rather than rejecting stuff which is not fully described.
>MRs
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Eliminated a blank line at the end.
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 08:51:52 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for xprcv-s.cf --------------
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes per Richard Harms
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 09:37:20 by rds
>MRs
>------------------- Delta History for xprcv.cf --------------
>Delta 1.2 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> Changes per Richard Harms
>MRs
>Delta 1.1 on 93/10/10 by rds:
> date and time created 93/10/10 09:36:44 by rds
>MRs