On 2018 Mar 09 09:46:50, you wrote to me:
is the only upload area on the system... some systems allow users to
upload directly into the destination directory but that requires that
they categorize the same way the operator does... some systems have
multiple
Most of the time, I think users can figure out the best place (or at
least a good place) for a file to go.
not so much in our 30+ years... some do, yes... after a period of learning... we take the easy way out and have one directory where all uploads go... it appears in all our groups... it makes maintenance easier to have to only look in one place and move the files to another... it is a hell of a lot easier then
having to traipse all over the file base looking for new files uploaded since some date and then deciding if they are in the right place or needing to be moved... plus it is easier for us to flip a switch and not allow any downloads from the uploads directory if we need to...
A Synchronet utility, for instance, probably isn't going to go
anywhere else besides a Synchronet utility file area. :)
true... now consider a utility like Allfix... it works with certain BBSes directly without having to use a files.bbs shim to talk to a proprietary tool... if Allfix were to support SBBS, we would have its area listed in the General BBS Utilities group as well as the specific groups for the BBSes it is known to work directly with... this way, RA folks can find it in the RA BBS Utilities group and folks running unsupported BBSes can find it in the General BBS Utilities group so they can use it like SBBS folks do now with files.bbs shims...
NOTE: we are not using "shim" in a derogatory manner, here... we know that on some BBSes, files.bbs /is/ the database for that area... on other BBSes, they have a proprietary database format and most generally allow importing and exporting of files.bbs to update that area... this to facilitate tools that can't talk directory to those proprietary database files...
Sometimes it can be a little vague though - I've seen some software packages that include a version of the program for multiple platforms
(it might include the DOS version, OS/2 version, Win32 console
version, etc.), so those could be difficult to decide which file area
to put it in..
that's why you put them in one area and list the area in different groups... for example, using Allfix again, all the various flavors of Allfix are distributed in one area... if you have groups for various operating systems, you could list that Allfix area in each of those OS groups... /if/ groups within groups are allowed, you could have a tree like this...
DOS Software Group
DOS BBSes Group
RA BBS area
RA UTILS area
Allfix area
DOS Mailer Group
FD Mailer area
Binkleyterm Mailer area
LNX Software Group
LNX BBSes Group
SBBS area
SBBS Utils area
MBSE BBS area
Mystic BBS area
Mystic Tools area
Mystic Doors area
LNX Mailer Group
Binkd Mailer area
IREX Mailer area
OS2 Software Group
OS2 BBSes Group
Lora BBS area
Allfix area
OS2 Mailer Group
Binkd Mailer area
WIN Software Group
WIN BBSes Group
SBBS area
SBBS Utils area
Mystic BBS area
Mystic Tools area
Mystic Doors area
Allfix area
WIN Mailer Group
Argus Mailer area
Radius Mailer area
Taurus Mailer area
Binkd Mailer area
IREX Mailer area
this way someone looking strictly for DOS stuff doesn't have to go wading through stuff for other OSes... the only time they would even see stuff for other OSes would be when they looked at something like Binkd, for example, which has binaries for three of the above listed base OS-oriented groups... or Mystic which supports two of them with a third planned... then you have Allfix which supports all four listed OSes... some BBS software allows for file areas trees like this... a lot doesn't... groups are only good for categorizing stuff... sure, one could easily forego groups altogether and just list all areas directly... it is just a logical grouping method, that's all... the actual structure of directories on the disk won't look like this... this is only a logical structure in the BBS...
yes, we left out MAC, Amiga, *BSD and others in the above example :shrug:
)\/(ark
Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
... God gave us booze to keep the Irish from ruling the World.
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