Another alternative is our own DOS Upload form.
Please, notice that we require certain fields no matter in which format the
rest of the document is.
Also notice, that any non-Linux products may NOT be entered to the LSM server.
============================================================================= Linux Software Map Entry Template Release: 09AUG94 ============================================================================= The LSM is a directory of information about each of the software packages available via FTP for the Linux operating system. It is meant to be a public information resource. All entries have been entered by volunteers all over the world via email using the template below. New versions will appear first on sunsite.unc.edu and will be announced in the newsgroup comp.os.linux.announce . Discussions pertaining to the LSM will be held in the newsgroup comp.os.linux.misc . Any questions or comments can be entered in comp.os.linux.misc or sent to me directly at lars.wirzenius@helsinki.fi. As of the end of July, 1994, the LSM is being maintained by Lars Wirzenius. The Linux Software Map was originally conceived and maintained by Jeff Kopmanis. As of the end of July, 1994, it is being maintained by Lars Wirzenius. We owe Jeff a lot for making LSM the asset it is. ============================================================================= Instructions ============================================================================= *PLEASE* use the entry template at the end when submitting information. It has been designed so that all you have to do is fill in the blanks and send it in as is. Your entry will be read into the database directly from your email response with little if any hand manipulation. DO NOT RENAME FIELDS. DO NOT REMOVE THE BEGIN OR END MARKERS. There are no longer any limits on the fields lengths, but please try to be short. Complete as many fields as possible. I strongly encourage developers to complete all the fields, as its more descriptive. You must fill in at least the Title, Version, Entered-date, Description, and Primary-site fields. Make any corrections to an existing entry that are necessary. The initial data came from a variety of sources, and is not at all assumed to be correct. Remember to update the Entered-date field if you update an existing entry. ============================================================================= Lsmtool ============================================================================= I've written a small (and still fragile) tool to make it easier to browse and update the LSM. It will only work on a new style database (09AUG94). Find it on sunsite.unc.edu (I don't know yet where there). Filename is lsmtool-0.1.tar.gz. Source only. ============================================================================= As of the 09AUG94 version... ============================================================================= The 09AUG94 version of the template is a radical change from the syntax of earlier versions. It is not upward compatible. There are several reasons for the change: * no limits on line lengths * less awkward multi-line format * nicer method (for the user) for specifying the ftp site and files * one entry for all files comprising a package The new version is identified by the "Begin3" line that starts it. Earlier versions had "Begin" and "Begin3". Old versions will be accepted for a while, but please use the newest one to make things easier for me. ============================================================================= The LSM Entry Form ============================================================================= The general syntax is now similar to that of netnews headers, i.e., a keyword (at the beginning of a line), a colon (with no spaces separating it from the keyword), and text that may be continued to the next line by starting each continuing line with whitespace (space, tab). Empty lines are also allowed (unlike netnews). Since fields may be several lines long, there is no longer a separate keyword for each line (we now have one "Description" keyword, where the older versions had "Desc1", "Desc2", and so on). There are no limits on the line lenght or the number of lines for one keyword, but please try to be short, especially in the description. Don't put the whole README into the description, usually half a dozen of lines is more than enough. Please keep each line (including keyword) below 80 characters for maximal viewing comfort. Use a tab width of 8 spaces, or don't use tabs at all. Mandatory fields: Title, Version, Entered-date, Description, Primary-site. Descriptions of the fields (an empty form is included at the end; use that to fill in). PLEASE NOTE THAT THE "Begin3" AND "End" LINES ARE ESSENTIAL. IF YOU REMOVE THEM, THE ENTRY WILL BE USELESS AND WILL REQUIRE MANUAL EDITING BY ME AND I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT. Note that case is significant. Begin3 Title: The name of the package. Please use the same title for the LSM entry of each version, so as to make it easier to find entries for new versions of packages that already have one in the data base. Version: Version number or other designation. Use a date if nothing else is appropriate. Entered-date: Date of when the LSM entry was last modified. Note that you should fill in both Version and Entered-date. Description: Short description of the package. Keywords: A short list of carefully selected keywords that describe the package. Author: Original author(s) of package. In RFC822 format (i.e., something that will fit into a From: or To: header of a normal Internet mail message). Preferred format: mailname@site.domain.top (Full name) Other formats will be converted to this format, if time and energy of LSM maintainer will allow it. Multiple persons may be given, one per line. Maintained-by: Maintainer(s) of Linux port. Same format as Author. Primary-site: A specification of on which site, in which directory, and which files are part of the package. First line gives site and base directory, the rest give the sizes and names of all files. Names are either relative to the base directory, or full pathnames. If the ftp site does not use Unix style pathname syntax, then the full pathname must be given every time. The pathname must not contain spaces. Example: Primary-site: sunsite.unc.edu /pub/Linux/docs 10kB lsm-1994.01.01.tar.gz 997 lsm-template 22 M /pub/Linux/util/lsm-util.tar.gz The file size may be given in bytes (no suffix), kilobytes (k, kb), or megabytes (M, MB). The suffix may be separated with spaces, and may be in upper case or lower case. The size can be left off. For very large packages that are contained within one directory (say, a distribution), only the directory need be listed. Adding a trailing slash makes it clear that it is a directory. The filename should be the final location, not an "incoming" directory. If you don't know the final location, at least make a good guess (since files _will_ be moved from incoming, it is not a good guess). Alternate-site: One alternate site may be given. It should not be a site that mirrors the primary site (these are best found from a list of mirror sites), but should be one that maintained separately. More sites carrying the package can be found using Archie. The syntax is the same as for Primary-site, but if there is only one line (i.e., no files are specified), they are assumed to be the same as for Primary-site. Alternate-site: ftp.funet.fi /pub/OS/Linux/doc/lsm Alternate-site: foo.bar /pub/lsm 11 kB lsm-1994-01-01.cpio.Z 0.1 kB lsm-template.Z 22 MB lsm-util.tar.gz Original-site: The original package, if this is a port to Linux. Syntax is as in Primary-site, with the same handling of missing filenames as in Alternate-site. Platforms: Software or hardware that is required, if unusual. A C compiler or floppy disk would not be unusual, but a Python interpreter or tape drive probably would be. If the requirements are evident from the description, it need not be repeated here. Copying-policy: Copying policy. Use "GPL" for GNU Public License, "BSD" for the Berkeley style of copyright, "Shareware" for shareware, and some other description for other styles of copyrights. If the use or copying requires payment, it must be indicated. End ============================================================================= IAFA ============================================================================= The IAFA (Internet Anonymous Ftp Archives) have a form similar to LSM for specifying similar information about files. The 24JUL94 version of LSM is much more close to the IAFA format, but is still not quite the same. Straight IAFA is not suitable for LSM. It only allows one filename (many packages consist of several files). It is also awkward because it specifies different formats for records for different types of files. (This information is based on a draft version of a description on the iafa format from the iafa work group. The draft is dated 92.06.10; it was the newest I could find, but if there are any newer ones with significant changes, please send me information.) However, this revision of the LSM format tries to be as close to iafa as possible. The major differences are: * Package-name, Document-name, and Dataset-name are converted to one Primary-site (with site and location taken from Maintained-at, if given, or filled in by LSM maintainer). * Field names "Author" and "Revision-date" converted to "Authors" and "Version". * Other fields are added to the database as is. * Added fields: primary-site, alternate-site, original-site, entered-date, checked-date, and checked-status. * an LSM template _must_ begin with "Begin3" and end with "End", with both delimiters being the only things on the line (except for trailing whitespace), and must be at the beginning of the line. This is to make it easier to automatically extract them from news articles and such. * fields in an LSM entry can be in whatever order We only support iafa records for packages, documents and datasets. ============================================================================= Empty Template ============================================================================= Cut this out, fill it in, send it to me. Begin3 Title: Version: Entered-date: Description: Keywords: Author: Maintained-by: Primary-site: Alternate-site: Original-site: Platform: Copying-policy: End