MAC.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU STATEMENT OF POLICY

Last modified March 21, 1994



This document has been created in an effort to write the previously unwritten
rules followed by the archivists of mac.archive.umich.edu (hereafter
"mac.archive" or "the archive").  This document is intended to be complete,
but it may be updated or modified at any time by the archivists (hereafter
"we" or "us") of mac.archive without notice.


SUBMISSIONS
We will archive any and all items that will function on a Macintosh or that
are related to a Macintosh, with the exceptions noted below.  While all of the
archivists actively seek new and interesting items from outside sources, for
the most part we depend on the submissions of others for the contents of the
archive.  Any file not found in the archive may be requested, and we will do
our best to locate it, but we cannot guarantee the availability of any file.

DESCRIPTIONS OF FILES
All submitters are encouraged to submit a brief description of every file, but
they are not required to do so.  We will use such a description in the entry
for the file in /mac/00help/index.txt (hereafter "the index").  In the absence
of a suitable description, the archivists will write one, usually based on
information contained within a readme file, if present.  All descriptions are
intended to be as accurate as possible within the space constraints of the
index; any inaccurate or misleading descriptions will be suitably modified as
soon as they are pointed out to us.  We make every effort to retain any
information sent to us regarding a submission.  This information is generally
stored at the beginning of the BinHexed file, before the start of the BinHex
data.

DECOMPRESSING FILES
All submissions are downloaded and translated out of any compression format(s)
(hereafter "decompressed") before being added to the archive in compressed
form.  Any file that cannot be decompressed will be be rejected pending a
resubmission that can be successfully decompressed.

FILE NAMES
With few exceptions, files are archived bearing a name of the form
filename1.01.cpt.hqx.  For each file, "filename" is replaced by the actual
name of the file *after* it is decompressed.  The name under which a file is
submitted is not relevant and will never be assumed to be correct.  If a
submission contains more than one primary file, it will be archived under the
name judged by the archivist to be most important and/or relevant, and the
other file or files will be mentioned in the index description.  If the true
name of a submission contains non-alphanumeric characters (including but not
restricted to spaces, periods, exclamation points and question marks), they
will be omitted from the name of the file when archived.  If a file requires
another program for its use (example: a file called "Database" that requires
FileMaker to be accessed), the name of the required program may be placed at
the head of the name as archived (example: filemakerdatabase.cpt.hqx).  If the
true name of a file ends in a numeral, that numeral may be spelled out in the
archived file name if it is likely to create confusion with the version
number.
    A version number, if present, comes directly after the filename.  All
decimal points following the first are omitted.  When possible, version
numbers will be determined from information in the file's Get Info box;
version numbers indicated by the submitter will never be assumed to be
correct.
    The standard three-letter abbreviations for the compression format or
formats relevant to the file are appended to the end of the archived file
name, with a period preceding each of at most two formats.
    If the archived file name exceeds 31 characters when created according to
the above rules, the true file name should be abbreviated in a manner judged
to be appropriate to the archivist so that the archive file name does not
exceed 31 characters.
    Filenames never contain upper case characters.

FILES THAT CRASH
The archivists will make every effort to ensure that no submission will cause
a downloader serious problems.  In most cases, "serious problems" entails a
system crash ("bomb"), but may cover a host of problems including but not
restricted to the loss or corruption of data.  All executable files will be
executed to verify that, at the very least, the application does not
immediately crash.  All HyperCard stacks will be executed using the latest
version of HyperCard, which is 2.1 at this writing.  All documents will be
viewed in some sort of word processor.  For other types of files, all attempts
will be made to ensure some basic sort of functionality, but the archivists do
not have access to every software and hardware combination that a submission
may require for proper functioning.  Rather than penalize users for the
deficiencies of the archivists, we will accept such untestable submissions on
the word of the submitter if they conform to the other requirements listed in
this document.  Note that each archivist has a system that may be configured
differently from each other and from each other.  The determination of any
archivist with regards to the tendency of any submission to cause a "serious
problem" is final.

DELETION OF FILES
In general, files added to the archive will remain available for a long time,
which currently is in the range of several years.  Any file determined to be
corrupted or otherwise damaged will be removed immediately upon such
determination.  The main archivist (currently "[email protected]")
may remove very large or very old files at any time without warning or notice.
All files so removed are stored on tape.  If you need a file that has been
removed from the archive, notify the main archivist;  there is a possibility
that it can be restored.

VIRUSES
All submissions are screened for viruses using the latest version of a popular
virus-detection program, usually (but not restricted to) Disinfectant.

COMPRESSION FORMATS
Acceptable formats for compressed archives are limited to StuffIt (all
versions) and Compact Pro for Macintosh-executable files.  Programs intended
to be executed on another platform, including but not restricted to UNIX, may
be archived in a format native to that platform.  Any file intended for use on
a Macintosh submitted in another format will be converted without notice to
the submitter into either Compact Pro or StuffIt format.  For space concerns,
files submitted in StuffIt 1.5.1 format may be converted to StuffIt 3.0 or
Compact Pro format at the discretion of the archivist and without notice to
the submitter.  All binary files are stored in BinHex format to facilitate
transfer over the Net.  Text files may be stored as text files with no
compression.  The compression format of every file is indicated in the index.

SELF-EXTRACTING ARCHIVES
With the exceptions noted below, self-extracting archives are not accepted.
Any file submitted as a self-extracting archive will be converted without
notice to the submitter to its non-self-extracting counterpart if submitted as
a Compact Pro or StuffIt self-extracting archive.  Any self-extracting
archive generated by another program will be converted to a StuffIt or Compact
Pro archive without notice to the submitter.  The sole exceptions are
compression programs themselves, which may be submitted in their native self-
extracting format.  It is the opinion that anyone who can figure out how to
download a file can figure out how to download the appropriate decompression
application stored in /mac/util/compression/.  Self-extracting archives
therefore serve no purpose, yet occupy additional disk space in the archive
and require longer download times.

COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE
Commercial software will not be accepted for archiving at mac.archive.  Every
effort is made to determine the commercial status of any submission,
regardless of the claims or beliefs of the submitter in this regard.  Such
submissions will be rejected with a stern notice to the submitter and further
action may be taken if deemed appropriate.  Items of questionable provenance,
including but not restricted to most submissions lacking readme files, will be
assumed to be commercial and will be rejected with a notice to the submitter.
Any commercial software archived through the misunderstanding or ignorance of
an archivist will be removed as soon as it is indicated to be commercial.  For
the purposes of this document, commercial software includes all software that
may not be freely distributed, including but not restricted to prerelease
versions and private documents.

APPLE SOFTWARE
All software produced by Apple Computer, Inc. is commercial software, and as
such is generally ineligible for archiving at mac.archive.umich.edu.  Some
Apple-copyrighted software may be archived if it is submitted as part of a
larger group of files including a readme stating that the software in question
was properly licensed for distribution from Apple.  The readme file also must
also contain a clear statement of Apple's licensing and copyright restrictions.
Some Apple software is also available by anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com.

THE UMICHLICENSED DIRECTORY
The files in /mac/misc/umichlicensed are commercial programs licensed for use
at the University of Michigan.  These files are visible by anonymous ftp, but
they are not accessible by anonymous ftp.  To get to them, you need to
be able to authenticate as a member of the University of Michigan community.
If you need help accomplishing this, call 764-HELP.

UPDATES
All programs (hereafter "updaters") whose sole purpose it to update another
program are stored in the /mac/misc/update directory.  This includes both
updaters for commercial programs and updaters for other programs in the
archive.  If we receive an updater for a program already in the archive, we
will run the updater on that program and rearchive the updated version as well
as the updater.

COPYRIGHTS
The archivists interpret United States copyright law as stating that all
published works are protected by copyright for a period of seventy-five (75)
years.  Published works include conventional works such as books, movies,
recordings, etc., as well as computer software.  The author may relinquish
copyright protection on any software by stating that the software is in
"public domain."  In the absence of such a statement, it is our assumption
that all software is protected by copyright.  For an excellent article on
this subject, refer to _Macworld_, May 1994, p. 124.

GIFS, SOUNDS, QUICKTIME MOVIES, ETC.
As described in the section on copyrights, all items published in the last
seventy-five (75) years are assumed to be protected by copyright.  Scans of
copyrighted materials, recordings of copyrighted sounds, QuickTime of
copyright movies are illegal and will be rejected with a note to the
submitter.  Because of the difficulty in determining provenance, we will
rarely accept graphics, sounds, or QuickTime of any form.

FONTS
A font is a type of computer program, and as such is protected by copyright.
Any font converted for use on a Macintosh from another hardware platform or
any font converted from TrueType to PostScript formats (or vice versa) will be
viewed as modified software and treated as such.

MODIFIED SOFTWARE
No software may be modified without permission of the author(s) unless such
software has been released into the public domain.  Submissions of such
software will be rejected with a note to the submitter.

FILES UNRELATED TO THE MACINTOSH
In a very broad sense, one could state that any text file will "function" on
a Macintosh.  Similarly, it is a trivial matter to "wrap" a text file in either
an executable Macintosh viewer, in a HyperCard stack, or in another sort of
"wrapper."  In this era of electronic information exchange, there are literally
gigabytes (if not terabytes) of data readily available in some sort of form
that could be accessed through the Macintosh.  Except in extreme cases of
general-purpose utility, information files without a direct relevence to the
Macintosh will not be accepted for inclusion in these archives.  Information
files need not necessarily be restricted to text-only format.

UNLIMITED POWER OF ARCHIVISTS
Despite attempts in this document to address all possible contingencies, the
archivists expect that there there will be submissions that do not fall into
any of the categories above.  Similarly, the archivists expect that there will
be occasional exceptions to the policies detailed in this document.  Because of
these unforseeable circumstances, the archivists at mac.archive.umich.edu
reserve the right to reject any file for any reason, with or without notice
to either the submitter or the author of said file.  The archivists will not
be held responsible for any real or perceived loss caused by our failure to
accept a file.

APPEALS OF DECISIONS MADE BY ARCHIVISTS
Because the archivists are human, we sometimes make erroneous decisions.
Anyone who wishes to question a decision made by the archivists should contact
us at the address below.  Objections posed as polite queries may generate a
more positive response than those posed in an abusive, argumentative or
threatening manner.


Any correspondence relating to these policies or any other matters
concerning the operation of the archive should be directed to
[email protected].


THE ARCHIVISTS ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY
FILES RETRIEVED FROM THE ARCHIVES AT MAC.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU.


BinHex, Compact Pro, Disinfectant, Gif, HyperCard, Mac, Macintosh, PostScript,
QuickTime, StuffIt, TrueType, and UNIX are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective holders.

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