<html><head><meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark"></head><body><pre style="word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">\title{Access to the UK \TeX\ Archive}
\vskip-\medskipamount
\section{Interactive}
    Interactive access to the archive is not, at present, provided.
\section{File Transfer}
    However, you may use NIFTP to access any of the files in the
    archive; send a transfer request for the required file (which must
    be named explicitly, no wildcard search mechanism exists).  The
    first file you should fetch is {\tt\lowercase{[TEX-ARCHIVE]00README.TXT}}
which gives
    some clues as to the directory hierarchy of the archive.

    The file {\tt\lowercase{[TEX-ARCHIVE]00DIRECTORY.LIST}} contains the names of
every
    file in the archive; {\tt\lowercase{[TEX-ARCHIVE]00DIRECTORY.SIZE}} gives
their sizes
    and creation dates as well.  The latter file is approximately 6\,Mbyte in
    size.

    Queue the transfer request specifying the site as
{\tt\lowercase{%
UK.AC.ASTON.TEX}},
username
    |public|, password |public|; note that it {\it is\/} necessary to specify the
    directory (|[tex-archive]| for those files mentioned above, and
    subdirectories of it for most other files) in your request, because
    the |public| account does not reference this directory by default.

\section{Mail Transfers}
    An alternative access method is through the TeXserver, which accepts
    requests sent by e-mail, and returns its response by the same
    method.

    To get started, send a mail message to 
\begintt
TeXserver@Uk.Ac.Aston.TeX
\endtt
    with
the body of your message consisting only of the TeXserver
    command |HELP|; you should receive a `receipt' for your request, and
    later the help information which describes the rest of the commands
    available.

    Receipts are sent within a few minutes of arrival of your request;
    if the request is valid, it will be queued for later processing. 
    Generally speaking, you should receive the requested information
    within about another hour, but it could be delayed if the server is
    heavily loaded.

    If you don't get the receipt within a reasonable time (say 6 hours),
    then please try only once more: it may be that the server is unable
    to route mail back to you.  If this happens to you, please send
    details of your request, and any response (including bounced mail
    reports) to me at the address given at the end of \TeXline.

    You shouldn't normally fail to get a receipt, but it may occur with
    sites on the BT PSS network who have routed their requests to
    TeXserver through one of the PSS-\Janet\ gateways; the TeXserver
    account isn't authorized to route traffic back by the same route. 
    If you know of another route back to you that the server could use
    (for example, {\tt uk.co\dots} sites may have registered with |uk.ac.ukc|
to
    act as a relay for them), then you may try once more, specifying
    your address relative to Aston in a |PATH| command on a line preceding
    the |HELP| command; for example |fred@uk.co.somefirm| could send the
    following request:
\begintt
PATH fred%uk.co.somefirm@uk.ac.ukc
HELP
\endtt
Good luck!
\author{Brian {Hamilton Kelly}}

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