There are more than 1200 known anonymous FTP accounts. They all contain different files and programs.
No one user knows which program is available on all such accounts.
To help to search for a program in those 1200+ known archives, Archie was created.
The Archie database is constructed over the period of one month. During that month, Archie visits 1/30 (approximate) of the anonymous FTP sites registered within, and collects all file/program names stored at each and every location.
archie is then used to interrogate the Archie database to find the location of a specific program.
There are approximately 21 known Archie servers around the world.
archie.uqam.ca (French help facility)are the current North American ones.
archie.sura.net
archie.unl.edu
archie.internic.net
archie.rutgers.edu
An interactive ASCII connection with one of the above five servers is done by telneting to them, and logging in as archie.
The command
prog keywordis then issued, and the search through the database starts. When the search ends, results will be issued to the screen.
helpwill invoke the help facility.
quitwill leave archie and bring you back to the local system.
Any Archie servers may also be contacted through electronic mail by sending mail to
archie@server_nameThe content of the mail message is the same command executed within an interactive archie session.
Finally, the easiest way of accessing the Archie server is with the help of xarchie. Its ``point-and-click" interface make it easier and simpler to use.
xarchie accesses an Archie server, which contains the database of information. Using that information, xarchie may then automatically connect to the site storing the package, then download it to the local system.
To invoke the package, issue
xarchie
Figure 13.3 illustrates the xarchie interface.
Figure 13.3: The xarchie interface.
To search for a particular package, enter your search term in the bottom pane. The user-friendly interface makes this utility easy to use.