[gopher] Re: Gopher block!

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, May 29, 2005 at 02:36:12PM -0500, brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> OK, I have a gopher server up and running...problem is, I really don't
> know where to start!  Sure, I've read the pygopherd documentation, but
> I don't have a clear picture of what a typical gopher file looks like
> (formatting of selectors, layout, etc.).

Well, like a Web site, "typical" is not necessarily possible :-)

You can take a look at quux.org to get a feel for what it looks like to
the user.

So, if you take a look at the top-level page of quux.org, here's an
excerpt for the .Links file for that directory:

Path=./Software
Name=Software and Downloads

Path=/Software/Gopher/servers
Host=+
Port=+
Name=Other Gopher Servers
Type=1

Path=/Archives/index
Host=+
Port=+
Name=Index to Quux.Org
Type=1

The first stanza sets the name for a specific directory.  The next two
add entries to the directory index that wouldn't already be there.  The
UMN gopherd manual may provide better detail than PyGopherd currently
does on the setup.  PyGopherd's UMNDirHandler will parse UMN files.

> Like Alessandro, I too miss the simpler times. I often wonder where
> technology went wrong when it turned down the path of what I call
> "prerequisite complexity," something I see quite often in my IT life:
> The idea that technology requires ever-increasing complexity, whether
> or not the problem that is being solved actually warrants it.  

Indeed.  See XML :-)

> Setting up a gopher server is my insignificant way of protesting the
> bloat that permeates all that is Internet-related.  

Excellent.  Welcome aboard!

-- John