Mirrors and ftp sites

[Peter Murray-Rust]

Firstly , to say I'm very gratified by the response - several people have mailed
and offered to mount my software, for which many thanks.  Perhaps I wasn't
clear enough but it was closer to what Ingo is suggesting that I was asking for.


In message <199704101218.OAA03641 at kneipfix.rz.tu-clausthal.de> Ingo Macherius writes:
> Peter Murray-Rust said:
> 
[...]
> 
> In my understanding your inention is the improved accessibility to
> software. Improvement in this case means bandwidth and the ability to
> download all related resources from one (mirror) server. It may include
> kind of HOWTO for the installation of the various tools.

Exactly.  For mature software an excellent service is provided by Robin
Cover, Steve Pepper and others.  For xml-dev however, it is particularly useful
to be able to go to a single site and make sure that you have:
	- the closest version 
	- the latest version
	- any ancillary material that may be useful.

[...]
> 
> My suggestion is to concentrate on ftp level and daily mirrors in a 
> standardized way. This means all mirrors should have the same organisation
> regarding directories, filenames and help texts. Just like CPAN. 

I think that there is a lot to be said for this communality, because of the 
way that XML is developing.  We are going to need to get used to transporting
collections of resources (e.g. catalogs, stylesheets, java classes) in a 
coherent manner and it's important that all the components are present on a
site.  I think it's going to be critical for those who are new to the 
field:
	'How do I set up an XML environment?'
	'just go to XYZ and download a parser, a browser, the beginner's
XML-catalog, the core entity sets, ...'

[... idea of using XML deleted...]
I think it's a very nice idea to use XML to create tools to manage our
resources, but I wouldn't want to wait until this is built.  Perhaps it
can be done in parallel.
> 
[...]
Ingo, assuming this is an offer to set up a resource site you don't need
permission from anyone :-) - just go ahead.  And many thanks.

	P.


-- 
Peter Murray-Rust, domestic net connection
Virtual School of Molecular Sciences
http://www.vsms.nottingham.ac.uk/

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