Received: with LISTAR (v1.0.0; list gopher); Mon, 14 May 2001 10:07:19 -0500 (EST) Return-Path: <jgoerzen@complete.org> Delivered-To: gopher@complete.org Received: from alexanderwohl.complete.org (unknown [64.64.82.251]) (using TLSv1 with cipher EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA (168/168 bits)) (Client CN "alexanderwohl.complete.org", Issuer CN "John Goerzen -- Root CA" (verified OK)) by pi.glockenspiel.complete.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69F4B3B807; Mon, 14 May 2001 10:07:18 -0500 (EST) Received: by alexanderwohl.complete.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 28DD87A2B; Mon, 14 May 2001 10:07:12 -0500 (EST) To: gopher@complete.org Subject: [gopher] Re: Trying to figure out setting up Gopher server References: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0105120153250.17728-100000@chaos.electrontrap.org> From: John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> Date: 14 May 2001 10:07:11 -0500 In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0105120153250.17728-100000@chaos.electrontrap.org> (James Milne's message of "Sat, 12 May 2001 02:08:57 -0400 (EDT)") Message-ID: <87ae4gc6lc.fsf@complete.org> Lines: 78 User-Agent: Gnus/5.090004 (Oort Gnus v0.04) XEmacs/21.1 (Cuyahoga Valley) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-archive-position: 158 X-listar-version: Listar v1.0.0 Sender: gopher-bounce@complete.org Errors-to: gopher-bounce@complete.org X-original-sender: jgoerzen@complete.org Precedence: bulk Reply-to: gopher@complete.org List-help: <mailto:listar@complete.org?Subject=help> List-unsubscribe: <mailto:gopher-request@complete.org?Subject=unsubscribe> List-software: Listar version 1.0.0 X-List-ID: Gopher <gopher.complete.org> List-subscribe: <mailto:gopher-request@complete.org?Subject=subscribe> List-owner: <mailto:jgoerzen@complete.org> List-post: <mailto:gopher@complete.org> List-archive: <http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/archives/> X-list: gopher

Good morning James!

James Milne <jmilne@electrontrap.org> writes:

> I'm interested in using Gopher for a few projects I have in mind, but > I'm having some trouble figuring out how to actually set things up.

Glad to hear it!

> When I pull everything up in Lynx, I get this: > > Gopher Menu > > (FILE) Net.txt (DIR) HTML-files > (DIR) Text-files

I should mention here that it is a known bug in Lynx that the first two items in a Gopher menu are displayed on a single line. That happens everywhere.

> sorta explain what everything is, etc. I haven't found the > documentation on how to do that, or perhaps I haven't understood the > documentation on how to do that.

It's probably not documented :-)

Gopher, the original gopher protocol, has various document types -- 0 for text, 1 for directory, etc. There is a type 'i' that is used for information. With UMN gopherd, you can create a file that looks like this:

Name=Welcome to gopher at quux.org! Type=i Path=fake Numb=1

Name= Type=i Path=fake Numb=2

Name=This server has a lot of information of historic interest, Type=i Path=fake Numb=3

I have a script (that is included in gopherweblink in Debian, BTW) that will take a simple text file and generate this file, so you don't have to edit this hideous monster by hand :-)

> I'm also somewhat confused as to what I should be using at > times. .map, .cap, .link, etc...

The .cap are for individual directories. Other than that, it wouldn't hurt to stick to the filenames as mentioned in the gopherd manpage. However, UMN gopherd will actually parse any dotfile in the directory that looks like it's of the right format. So you can use whatever names you like.

> I know Gopher isn't really "pretty", and I'm more interested in > getting results, but it would still be nice to layout everything nicer > and explain things a bit better. Can anyone provide a nice guide on > how to actually "write" Gopher sites, akin to the many HTML tutorials > I could find?

I'm not sure if there are any comprehensive ones out there, but feel free to ask your questions here. At the simplest level, you can simply arrange your documents in a directory hierarchy and let people get to them via gopher. On a more advanced level, you can include links to files in other locations or on other servers. It's also possible to serve up HTML and related formats via gopher.

-- John

-- John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> www.complete.org Sr. Software Developer, Progeny Linux Systems, Inc. www.progenylinux.com #include <std_disclaimer.h> <jgoerzen@progenylinux.com>