On Sat, May 1, 2021 at 2:22 PM Robert Riebisch <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi Jim,
>
> >> I would have hoped to find "files" named latests.zip and latestx.zip (or
> >> something like that), which always link to the latest version.
> >
> > If Ibiblio were still an ftp site, I would agree. But I believe this
> > is very confusing when the files are displayed via a web server.
> > Ibiblio only serves files via the web; they no longer support ftp. And
> > when viewing on a web server, all links look like files or directories
> > (whatever they are pointing to). Adding a link called "latest.zip" on
> > an ftp server can provide a "pointer" to the latest file. On a web
> > server, adding a link called "latest.zip" will make it look like just
> > another file on the web server.
>
> I see.
>
> I sometimes wish, progress in IT would make it sure, changes are real
> advancements. Maybe I'm getting old...
>
> I remember Ibiblio providing support for rsync some years ago.
> (Or was that some other FreeDOS mirror?)
Yes, Ibiblio used to offer rsync once upon a time, but I think they
stopped offering that some years ago. I don't remember for sure, but I
recall that they stopped offering rsync around the time I was in my
Master's program. That suggests 2012 to 2014.
Ibiblio stopped providing FTP access only a short time ago,
comparatively - maybe three or four years ago. Now everything is HTTPS
(or HTTP as a fallback).
> >> "Even the longest journey..." You know it. ;-)
> >>
> >
> > Yup, it's always one thing or another. One of the pain points for not
> > keeping Ibiblio well organized over the years. (I think we had a
> > pretty good overall structure, but dumping all versions into one
> > directory makes things harder down the road when there are a lot of
> > versions.)
>
> Not with ISO 8601 dates in filenames. ;-)
The task overhead is that I'll need to rename all the files .. and I
don't know a good way to automate that. I'll have to do it manually,
which is a pain. There's a real mix of files on Ibiblio. Even the same
program might use a different way to name files. Not just the "date
stamp" filenames in LBACACHE .. but consider programs like CuteMouse:
1.4:
ctmous14.zip
1.5:
ctmous15.patch.zip ctmous15.zip
1.6:
ctmous16a.zip
1.7:
ctmous171.zip ctmous173.zip ctmous17s.zip ctmous17x.txt ctmous17x.zip
1.9:
ctmous19b1.zip ctmous19b2.zip ctmous19b3.zip ctmous19.zip
1.9alpha:
ctmous191a1.zip
2.0alpha:
ctmous20a4.zip
2.1beta1:
ctmouse21b1.zip
2.1beta2:
ctmouse21b2.zip
2.1beta3:
ctmouse21b3.zip
2.1beta4:
ctm21b4.zip history.txt INDEX old
Some files have a "ctmous" prefix, others have a "ctmouse" prefix, and
one file has a "ctm" prefix. It probably depends when the developer
created the zip file, if they wanted to keep the 8.3 file naming
convention, or if it didn't really matter at the time. When the
CuteMouse releases were in a single directory, the zip files were:
ctm21b4.zip
ctmous14.zip
ctmous15.patch.zip
ctmous15.zip
ctmous16a.zip
ctmous171.zip
ctmous173.zip
ctmous17s.zip
ctmous17x.zip
ctmous191a1.zip
ctmous19b1.zip
ctmous19b2.zip
ctmous19b3.zip
ctmous19.zip
ctmous20a4.zip
ctmouse21b1.zip
ctmouse21b2.zip
ctmouse21b3.zip
To put all of those files back into a single directory AND HAVE THEM
DISPLAY IN SORTED ORDER means I'd have to rename everything to have
the same prefix. That probably means renaming files to use the
"ctmouse" prefix.
If it was just CuteMouse, that's not a big deal. But there are many
more programs that changed their way of naming files. I'll have to
examine and rename ALL THE FILES for every program. That's a lot of
work.
When I started to organize files on Ibiblio, I thought the fastest
route would be to create directories for each "version" and then just
move files into those directories. That doesn't take very long ("mv -v
*17* 1.7" makes that pretty easy).
There's also the Usability concern. As developers, *we* can probably
interpret that ctmous19b2.zip is "1.9 beta 2" .. but how do *users*
interpret that filename? I've actually received "Help me" emails from
users, asking if they need to download all three files
(ctmous19b1.zip, ctmous19b2.zip, and ctmous19b3.zip) .. thinking that
it was a multi-part release. (Disclaimer: I didn't get that question
about CuteMouse, but for some other program .. I'm using CuteMouse as
an example, though.)
Others have also asked what "21" means in a filename, and if that's
older or newer than a file labeled "201." Again, developers might
correctly interpret that "201" is version "2.0.1" and "21" is version
"2.1" .. but non-developers have trouble with that.
But by organizing Ibiblio so that we have a "2.0" directory and a
"2.1" directory addresses that question. Users will be able to figure
out which one is the latest version, and they can go there to download
the right file.
I suppose I could rename all the files to have a version name in the
file. That would require renaming ALL FILES on Ibiblio to use a
filename format like:
cutemouse-2.1beta3.zip
So for CuteMouse, that would be:
mv ctmous14.zip cutemouse-1.4.zip
mv ctmous15.patch.zip cutemouse-1.5.patch.zip
mv ctmous15.zip cutemouse-1.5.zip
mv ctmous16a.zip cutemouse-1.6a.zip
mv ctmous171.zip cutemouse-1.7.1.zip
mv ctmous173.zip cutemouse-1.7.3.zip
mv ctmous17s.zip cutemouse-1.7-src.zip
mv ctmous17x.zip cutemouse-1.7-exe.zip
mv ctmous19b1.zip cutemouse-1.9beta1.zip
mv ctmous19b2.zip cutemouse-1.9beta2.zip
mv ctmous19b3.zip cutemouse-1.9beta3.zip
mv ctmous19.zip cutemouse-1.9.zip
mv ctmous191a1.zip cutemouse-1.9.1alpha1.zip
mv ctmous20a4.zip cutemouse-2.0alpha4.zip
mv ctmouse21b1.zip cutemouse-2.1beta1.zip
mv ctmouse21b2.zip cutemouse-2.1beta2.zip
mv ctmouse21b3.zip cutemouse-2.1beta3.zip
mv ctm21b4.zip cutemouse-2.1beta4.zip
(I assume I've correctly interpreted the version numbers.)
That would provide clarity to what version you're looking at in a
single directory listing, but consider I'll have to rename EVERYTHING
on Ibiblio. That's a LOT of maintenance work. Sorting things into
directories like "2.0" and "2.1" seems easier.
Jim
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