The package feature  took about 45 minutes to write,  including testing time.
It wasn't really difficult at all. I  am therefore certain that the NIC *could*
add it into NICSERVE in less than one month ( ;-) ) if they really *wanted* it,
the point is they  never intended to provide it (what  would they offer? QUESXX
PACKAGE? JUSTIFY NICPKG?  :-) ). But then  what can you expect  from people who
need 3 weeks to do a DIRM ADD and a  CARD LOAD, one week to set up a dummy list
with two  userids in it,  and test  the thing at  the *incredible* rate  of one
test mailfile a day? (gosh, that's really a hard day's work ;-) )
 
  Ooops, I realize this  is not the 1789-L list. Never mind  :-) Anyway, I have
decided to implement packages this way:
 
1) You make  all the files  available on the server,  along with a  file called
   "packagename $PACKAGE".  This file lists all  the files which belong  to the
   package, and  ought to list  itself (so that  the recipient can  check which
   files  are missing  and  which are  there). It  can  also contain  comments.
 
2) The $PACKAGE file is just a normal file,  which you can GET and PUT the nor-
   mal way. Its GET code should be set  according to the GET codes of the files
   in the package -- see below.
 
3) When you do a GET xxxx PACKAGE, the GET code of the $PACKAGE file is checked
   and if  it turns  out you are  allowed to get  the package,  LISTSERV starts
   sending  the individual  files one  after the  other. The  GET code  of each
   individual file  is still  checked, though.  If a file  is missing  (not yet
   available or suchlike), it is skipped.
 
4) You can't PUT a  PACKAGE. You must issue a PUT for  each individual file, of
   course.
 
5) If you AFD/FUI to  a package, you get an AFD/FUI anytime one  of the file is
   updated. You  do not  get AFD/FUI  for the  whole package  but just  for the
   files which have been updated.
 
You can try  GET CHAT PACKAGE on my  server, but please note that  it WILL send
you all the  files... except the (huge) helpfiles which  I purposefully did not
make available yet :-)  You can GET CHAT $PACKAGE if you just  want to see what
the definition file looks like.
 
The Netserv cache-disk  is working fine in  test mode here. We'll  see... It is
implemented by means of a user-tailorable  exit being called when a PUT command
is received for an unknown file, and there will soon be a similar exit for GET.
 
  Eric