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Be FTP Site Uploading Guidelines

As a service to our developers, Be offers a ftp archive in the US with mirrors stationed around the world. We have storage space for quite a lot of stuff, and want to act as a central repository so that everyone knows where to get things centrally.

The normal process for uploading to these sites has been loosely defined in the past. This document sets the guidelines for how to use this service in the future.

First, all transactions with the ftp servers is done with a user login of anonymous; use your email address as the password.

All incoming files should be placed in the /incoming directory

File archives are to be submitted in one of the three possible ways:

  1. Zipped folder containing your software & documentation.
  2. Zipped folder containing your "home-brew" installer & a ReadMe file explaining what the installer is, does, etc.
  3. PackageBuilder installer.

All zipped archives are to be zipped directories containing your software - we will not accept .zip entries that, upon extraction, extracts all your loose software and ReadMe's, thus confusing the user what belongs with your software and what doesn't.

Also, zipped archives are not to assume they are in a specific location upon decompression. If your software requires that parts go into specific directories, either tell the user via a readme included in your directory with your software or use an installer (a shell script could very easily do this for you).

All files should be accompanied by a <filename>.txt file. This file should contain some standard useful information and be formatted accordingly:

=====================
         File:
       Author:
      Release:
Compatibility:
     Location:
  Description:
        Notes:


=====================

DESCRIPTION

File: This is the name of the actual file that you have uploaded. Again, the archive should be in one of the following formats:

  • Zip - The .zip archive is created with the zip and unzip utilities. This format is popular because the zip tool will preserve the type and creator information on your files.

  • PackageBuilder - Package Builder can be used to install packages that need files placed in particular directories. This is a particularly nice choice for those packages which have shared libraries that need to go into the /system/lib directory.

Author: We want to be able to give credit where it is due, so put your name and email address here if appropriate. This also gives us someone to contact if there is something wrong with the archive.

Release: This is the release date of the package. This information gives people a chance to see if there is a newer version of a package than what they may already have. You should put a version and release date on it.

Compatibility: If your package works on a particular release of the OS, this should be stated. Note that applications compiled under Preview Release 2 will not work under Preview Release 1. Preview Release 1 applications will, however, work under Preview Release 2.

Location: Where should the file be placed within our hierarchy. All files will be placed into the /pub directory tree, so you can leave this part off, and just name the specific directory in which it should live.

Description: A one-line description of the program, no more than 50 characters long.

Notes: Any additional information you might have as to special instructions, originator information, or any further description (or readme) of the package should go in here. In this section you should include any special instructions about removing older versions of your files that may be laying around.

Here is a sample:

         File: hairy.zip
       Author: Network Hairy (hairy@foo.com)
      Release: 2.0 (Dec. 25th, 1996)
Compatibility: R3
     Location: contrib/network
  Description: This is the source for an ftp server for 
               the BeOS.
        Notes: I spent a lot of time on reworking ftp so 
               that it would work perfectly on satellite 
               links to Mars.  Here are the fruits of my 
               labors.

The intention is to provide us with enough information to be able to understand what the file is, and where it should go in our directory structure. We would like to be able to automate the process of moving files around as much as possible, so please stick to the specified format, it will make things easier (and your file will be posted sooner).

WHAT IS THE PROCESS

  1. Create a .txt file for your package.
    Example: Where the actual package is ftp.zip, you should create a file - ftp.txt, and it should be in the standard .txt format as previously specified.

  2. Send a message to ftparchive@be.com. This message should contain a subject line of:

    [NEW FTP] package.txt

    where package.txt is the name of your package that you are uploading. This will alert us to the fact that there is something new to take a look at and transfer.

  3. Make or update a Beware entry in the Registered Developer Area indicating the existence of your package. This is important! Tens of thousands of users check BeWare every week for applications, and keeping your BeWare entry up to date is critical for keeping your users up to date.

What we do for each file is download it to a BeOS system, unpack it, and try to run it. If it can be unpacked, installed, and run, then we go ahead and move it to the desired location. If any of these steps cannont be performed, then you will receive an email message saying we couldn't install the package. Also, if you don't include the .txt file, or if there isn't a BeWare entry, then your package won't be moved.

You should try to download your files once they've been moved into the /pub directory, just as a check of whether your upload was successful.

If you are transferring files to our ftp.beeurope.com site, the same instructions apply. These files will be transferred to the primary ftp.be.com site on a nightly basis.

Thanks for your help in following this format,
The Be Developer Support Team

 

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