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authorgnulists <gnulists>1993-03-21 23:50:52 +0000
committergnulists <gnulists>1993-03-21 23:50:52 +0000
commite91a241cc39ced76fc2ff3fa7cea95df9de3dd79 (patch)
treed1f10ea1b042980b138075723d801b30f9e90dc0 /GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE
parentf9cbf46eb68f36dbc87c63663284d38ddf4576f1 (diff)
downloademacs-e91a241cc39ced76fc2ff3fa7cea95df9de3dd79.tar.gz
Formerly GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE.~4~
Diffstat (limited to 'GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE')
-rw-r--r--GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE82
1 files changed, 55 insertions, 27 deletions
diff --git a/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE b/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE
index dac1f9fd6ac..aaf4899af52 100644
--- a/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE
+++ b/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE
@@ -1,25 +1,26 @@
-*- text -*-
- Getting GNU Software, 20 Jan 92
-Copyright (C) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ Getting GNU Software, 21 Mar 93
+Copyright (C) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
- Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute
- verbatim copies of this document provided that the
- copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved.
+
+ Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
+ copies of this document provided that the copyright notice and
+ this permission notice are preserved.
* GNU and the Free Software Foundation
Project GNU is organized as part of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-The Free Software Foundation has the following goals:
- 1) to create GNU as a full development/operating system.
- 2) to distribute GNU and other useful software with source code and
-permission to copy and redistribute.
+The Free Software Foundation has the following goals: 1) to create GNU
+as a full development/operating system. 2) to distribute GNU and
+other useful software with source code and permission to copy and
+redistribute.
Further information on the rationale for GNU is in file
-/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/GNU (All files referred to are on the Internet host
-prep.ai.mit.edu.
+`/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/GNU' (all files referred to are on the Internet host
+prep.ai.mit.edu).
-Information on GNU Internet mailing lists and gnUSENET newsgroupscan
-be found in file /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/MAILINGLISTS.
+Information on GNU Internet mailing lists and gnUSENET newsgroups can
+be found in `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/MAILINGLISTS'.
* How To Get The Software
@@ -27,22 +28,45 @@ The easiest way to get a copy of the distribution is from someone else
who has it. You need not ask for permission to do so, or tell any one
else; just copy it. The second easiest is to ftp it over the
Internet. The third easiest way is to uucp it. Ftp and uucp
-information is in file /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FTP.
+information is in `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FTP'.
If you cannot get a copy any of these ways, or if you would feel more
confident getting copies straight from us, or if you would like to get
some funds to us to help in our efforts, you can order one from the
-Free Software Foundation. See file /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB.
+Free Software Foundation. See `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB' and
+`/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/ORDERS'.
+
+* What format are the *.z files in?
+
+Because the unix `compress' utility is patented (by two separate
+patents, in fact), we cannot use it; it's not free software.
+
+Therefore, the GNU Project has chosen a new compression utility,
+`gzip', which is free of any known software patents and which tends to
+compress better anyway. As of March 1993, all compressed files in the
+GNU anonymous FTP area, `prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu', have been
+converted to the new format. Files compressed with this new
+compression program end in `.z' (as opposed to `compress'-compressed
+files, which end in `.Z').
+
+Gzip can uncompress `compress'-compressed files and `pack' files
+(which also end in `.z'). This is possible because the various
+decompression algorithms are not patented---only compression is.
+
+The gzip program is available from any GNU mirror site in shar, tar,
+or gzipped tar format (for those who already have a prior version of
+gzip and want faster data transmission). It works on virtually every
+unix system, MSDOS, OS/2, and VMS.
* Available Software
-** GNU Emacs
+** GNU Emacs
-The GNU Emacs distribution includes:
+The GNU Emacs distribution includes:
- manual source in TeX format.
- an enhanced regex (regular expression) library.
-See file /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/MACHINES for the status of porting Emacs to
+See `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/MACHINES' for the status of porting Emacs to
various machines and operating systems.
** C Scheme - a block structured dialect of LISP.
@@ -53,16 +77,16 @@ prep.ai.mit.edu. The full ftp distribution can be found on
zurich.ai.mit.edu.
Problems with the C Scheme distribution and its ftp distribution
-should be referred to: <bug-cscheme@prep.ai.mit.edu>. There are two
-general mailing lists: <scheme@mc.lcs.mit.edu> and
-<info-cscheme@prep.ai.mit.edu>. Requests to join either list to:
-<info-cscheme-request@prep.ai.mit.edu> or
+should be referred to: <bug-cscheme@martigny.ai.mit.edu>. There are
+two general mailing lists: <info-cscheme@martigny.ai.mit.edu>and
+<scheme@mc.lcs.mit.edu>. Send requests to join either list to:
+<info-cscheme-request@martigny.ai.mit.edu> or
<scheme-request@mc.lcs.mit.edu>.
** Other GNU Software
-A fuller list of available software are in the files
-/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB and /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FTP.
+A full list of available software are in `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/ORDERS' and
+`/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DESCRIPTIONS'.
* No Warranties
@@ -79,6 +103,10 @@ Software Foundation, please express your satisfaction with a donation.
Your donations will help to support the foundation and make our future
efforts successful, including a complete development and operating
system, called GNU (Gnu's Not Un*x), which will run Un*x user
-programs. For more information on GNU and the Foundation, contact us
-at Internet address <gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu> or the foundation's US Mail
-address found in file /pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB.
+programs. Please note that donations and funds raise by selling
+tapes, cd-roms, and floppy diskettes are the major source of funding
+for our work.
+
+For more information on GNU and the Foundation, contact us at Internet
+address <gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu> or the foundation's US Mail address
+found in file `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB'.