Subject: Wuarchive, wu-ftpd, and patches/diffs

From: Andrew Robert Ellsworth <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 16:13:50 -0600 (CST)

After reading the mail concerning a residing place for the new flavors of 
wu-ftpd, it occurred to me that there's no reason we can't harbor the new 
versions.  So, for those of you who would like to see the new versions 
mirrored/stored on wuarchive, I'm proposing the following:

Currently, the original wu-ftpd (version 2.4) is stored on wuarchive in 
/packages/wuarchive-ftpd.  I plan on leaving the original in its current 
location, and making a few subdirectories off of the wuarchive-ftpd 
directory, like ./patches, ./academ, etc.  

However, for obvious security reasons, uploading directly to /packages (or
anything but /pub, for that matter) is not allowed; so I'll have to be the
one to add new files/directories.  I'm open to suggestions regarding the
best way to do this; my initial idea is to have interested parties e-mail
me telling me where to get the files they want uploaded, and then
(presumably) I'd download the files and put them in the correct places.  I
think this would work OK, at least initially; if I start getting flooded
with upload requests then I might consider asking for volunteers to handle
the requests.

As far as integrity checking goes (ensuring that no one sends us patches
inserting "back doors", etc.), I think that it would be best to establish
a certain set of people who are well-trusted in this area, and only accept
new items from those people.  (In addition to cutting down on "hacked"
wu-ftpd's, it would prevent everyone and their dog from submitting their
own personal patches for wu-ftpd).  Then again, we could simply put up a
"use at your own risk" sign, and leave it at that.

Please let me (and the list) know what you think.  Thanks.

Andy Ellsworth             | "...The wind was not the beginning.  There are
[email-masked]         | neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of
Assistant Admin, wuarchive | the Wheel of Time.  But it was _a_ beginning..."
http://cec.wustl.edu/~are1 |          --The Wheel of Time saga, Robert Jordan