Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!dual!ucbvax!broome From: broome@ucbvax.ARPA (Jonathan C. Broome) Newsgroups: net.sources Subject: remote manual server/client source available Message-ID: <9814@ucbvax.ARPA> Date: Fri, 9-Aug-85 21:32:58 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.9814 Posted: Fri Aug 9 21:32:58 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 07:41:50 EDT Reply-To: broome@ucbvax.UUCP (Jonathan C. Broome) Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 50 Keywords: Want some extra disk space??? [ burp ... ] I've seen a couple of requests for manual page servers lately, and just happen to have written such a client/server pair that we have in use on some of our machines around here... This is a feeler to see if anyone else out in netland is interested in it. If you would like a copy of the code, MAIL me a note indicating so, and depending on responses received in the next two weeks [I'm going on vacation], I will either mail directly or post the source (it totals about 3K lines). ============================================================================= Jonathan C. Broome University of California at Berkeley ...!ucbvax!broome broome@ucb-vax.berkeley.edu ============================================================================= ================================= Some stuff from the READ_ME file: ================================= Features: o Eliminates the space wasted by man pages on all hosts (except servers), allowing "man" access to machines with no or minimal disk (ie. uVAXes) o Seeks out the server with the lowest load (assuming several are available) and allows servers to be prioritized, resulting in the fastest possible response (and best handling of downed hosts). o Each server can set a load threshold so it can reject connections if becoming overloaded. o Reduces the hassle of maintaining copies of man pages on multiple hosts. o Because all users are accessing the same set[s] of pages, the chances of "hitting" a formatted page are much greater, leading to fewer waits. o Allows users to have their own local set of man?/cat? directories, specified by MANPATH environment variable. o MANPAGER / PAGER environment variable to specify output paginator o Server has very flexible configuration file, accomodating source and formatted pages *anywhere* on the system. You can easily add sections (ie. "cad" or "usg" or "bsd" or ....) Can be easily reconfigured for multiple machine types, allowing one server to keep machine-specific pages for multiple cpu types, catering specially to each client. o DOES allow for local man pages for host-specific stuff (like Ingres), so you don't have to worry about it ....