Accessing Files

To access binaries in the Info-Mac archive at an info-mac mirror, use your machine's ftp program. First select a mirror site to connect to; they are listed in the same directory as this file, and called mirror-list.txt. You can use either ftp or WWW access; choose a mirror site which has the protocal listed. The web access sites are fairly self explanitory, once you connect with your browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer). To access via ftp, use any ftp program (or www browser) to connect to the ftp URL specified in the mirror-list.txt file. The account name is "anonymous" and you should use your email address as the password, if requested. You should be able to transfer binaries with a statement like "get app/silly-paint.hqx" or by using the GUI interface of a Mac ftp client program. NOTE: Almost all files (even binaries) in the Info-Mac archive are in text format, even though they may not be human-readable. Hence, a FTP transfer using a text-only option, often called ASCII, should work in all common cases. Note that most archives have a limit to the number of users that can be connected at any one time to improve the performance. They will usually give you a message if your connection was rejected for this reason. Here are some simple commands to move you around the directory structure. This example assumes that you started in the /info-mac directory. cd app # move into the app directory ls # list the files there get planet.hqx # transfer a file to your computer cd .. # move back up to the parent directory cd help # and so on... Most Info-Mac files are stored in BinHex 4.0 format. We have adopted the common practice of labeling such files with .hqx extensions. To take these files and use them on your Macintosh, you must first run them through a program which will convert them from .hqx format into a regular Macintosh file. On Unix systems, you can use the mcvert program, stored as cmp/mcvert.shar. You can also do the conversion on your Macintosh by using any of a number of utilities, including BinHex 4.0, StuffIt, or Compact Pro. We recommend using Compact Pro because it is slightly more convenient and reliable than the other tools. Note: do NOT use BinHex 5.0 as it is incompatible, for some very brain-damaged reasons. Most modern WWW browsers and FTP clients will unpack your downloaded files automatically. Many of our files also have been compressed to save space. You'll know that they have been when the file name after converting to Macintosh format ends with a .sit, .cpt, .sea, or .pit extension. Here is a table to help you with the reconstruction: Extension Created By Recommended unpacker Notes .pit PackIt II StuffIt obsolete format .sit StuffIt Compact Pro/StuffIt has type SIT! StuffIt Deluxe Stuffit Expander has type SITD .cpt Compact Pro Compact Pro .sea various itself (double-click on it to unpack) In summary, there are generally five steps to pulling…