Re: Uploads: Correction

["N. Sivin" nsivin@xxxxxxxx]

I find that I am spending more time than I have repackaging programs and
other files to be uploaded so that they will be accessible to subscribers.

I don't make rules, but I hope everyone who uploads will keep in mind these
suggestions:

1. Most important, don't send me the file until you are satisfied with
everything in it and are unlikely to revise something in it (e.g., the
description) and send it again next month. I don't have time to prepare the
files, enter them in CATALOG.DOC, write a notice for the list, etc., more
than about once a month.

2. Please make sure that the package contains a clear description and
instructions, whether you put them in separate files or include everything
in one program file. Keep in mind that you can put as much text as you want
in an XPL program, either after the exit command or at the beginning,
between a ≪GLxx≫ command and a ≪LBxx≫ command. I am glad to have a brief
description for CATALOG.DOC in the cover message for me, but it should be in
the file as well.

3. I normally upload files in the most appropriate of 3 formats. If the file
is pure lower ASCII (i.e., can survive the Internet passage across platforms
without change) and not extraordinarily long, I post it as text. If it is
extremely long (I am not sure this even applies to the XyWrite list), it is
likely to be zipped and stored as a binary file.

If the file is not lower ASCII, for instance if it is an XPL program, or is
already in UU- or XX-encoded form, I post it as a XXE file. UUE files are
regularly corrupted when, between here and you, they pass across 4 or 5
platforms. The format is similar, but XXE encodes into a narrower range of
ASCII characters that do not vary from one platform's character set to another.

Since both of these forms are text files, they too are posted in the text
area, and can be ordered by email or chosen directly using a Web browser
from
gopher://ccat.sas.upenn.edu:70/11/software\xywrite

All binary files (including long XPL programs or those that consist of
several files) and all files that reach me in ZIP form are uploaded as zip
files. I can always put several XX-encoded programs in one text file, but
this takes additional time, so ZIP encoding is more attractive. See
CATALOG.DOC for downloading instructions, or point your browser to
ftp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/pub/eaan
for binary files.

4. If you have a file that needs special handling, or you prefer a certain
format, or you do not want any alterations, let me know at the outset.

N. Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3325, U.S.A.
nsivin@xxxxxxxx