Date:	Mon, 22 Apr 1996 09:37:41 +0200 (IST)
From:	Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To:	naderr AT topaz DOT cqu DOT edu DOT au
Cc:	Stewart McDonald <smcdonal AT pcug DOT org DOT au>, djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: Djgpp in australia?
In-Reply-To:	<199604220654.QAA00172@linuxbox.nse.com.au>
Message-Id:	<Pine.SUN.3.91.960422092318.16578A-100000@is>
Mime-Version:	1.0

On Mon, 22 Apr 1996, root wrote:

> 	archie.au://micros/pc/oak/vendors/djgpp
> 
> If you want to find a piece of software, a very qwel avenue to
> take is: email archie AT archie DOT au (or whatever archie you please,
> I use archie.rutgers.edu beacuse it is more comprehensive) ... and

Archie is not really helpful (IMHO) in finding large packages such as 
DJGPP.  It really shines if you are looking for a specific file, because 
you can then judge how good the hit is by looking at the date of the file 
that archie returns.  So if you know that DJGPP includes gcc272b.zip, you 
can use archie to find the latest copy.  However, if you ask archie to 
look for "djgpp", in general you'll be in deep trouble: most of the hits 
will be hopelessly out of date old versions, and the timestamp of the 
directory (djgpp is a directory) is not really helpful.

Also, most archie servers leave much to be desired in their update 
policy, and you must know the various servers quite intimately to decide 
which one to use.  For instance, how would an innocent user know that the 
rutgers server is better?  (And btw, if you want to see one of the best, 
try the one from Austria, archie.univie.ac.at.)

And of course, if you are after the latest version of some hottest 
software, don't use archie at all, because the best servers only update 
their databases once in a month; many don't do even that much.

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