Subject: [netatalk-admins] Web-based search for netatalk volumes

From: Neil McAllister <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 1998 00:36:19 -0800

I recently knocked together a little CGI based utility in Perl to help me
out with some issues I had at the office, and it occurred to me that it
might be useful to other people as well.

What it is, is a Web-based "search engine" for netatalk volumes on a Unix
server.  It comes in two parts; one script to create an index file of the
specified volume, and another that operates as a CGI and allows the user to
peform searches on those index files, and outputs the results in nice Mac
OS-friendly HTML -- meaning: if you use a Mac, you should be comfortable
with this interface.  The software was designed with largely computer
illiterate graphic designers in mind.  A lot of the icons used were
"stolen" straight from the Mac OS, etc.  You can search by file name, date,
type/creator, size, as well as enclosing folder name, and combinations of
these.

I actually use this program not so much to perform searches on "active"
netatalk volumes, but mostly I create index files of HFS format CD-ROMs
mounted with the "fork=netatalk" option of hfsfs.  Still, Finder searches
of mounted netatalk volumes can take a long time, so it's possible it could
be useful to people who often find themselves searching their netatalk
server as well -- provided you don't mind your searches only being as
accurate as the last cron job that created an index file of the server,
that is.

I wish I could point you to an URL that would demonstrate what I'm talking
about.  Unfortunately, I would probably need you to sign a nondisclosure
agreement to do that.  If you'd like to see a screen capture of the
software running, send me an email and I'll send you one, so you can get an
idea of what I'm talking about.

Or, if you're interested in what I've described, and know a little bit
about setting up CGI scripts, Perl, and so forth, then I'll send you the
whole ball of wax.  It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for an
Apache-saavy admin to set it up for a test or two.

If you want to give it a whirl, it's yours for the asking -- consider it my
contribution to the community, seeing as how the netatalk source code
itself is largely over my head.  All I ask in return is that;  1.) If you
didn't write it, don't take credit for it.  And 2.) If you modify it, or
find fault in it, write me and let me know your findings.  I don't claim to
be anything more than a mediocre Perl hacker, and I certainly don't know a
whole lot about netatalk... so I'm sure there's room for improvement.
That's kind of the point of this email, in fact. The users on my network
make lousy beta testers.

Any takers -- drop me a line.
--
Neil McAllister, Systems Administrator
Primo Angeli Inc., San Francisco, CA USA
mailto:[email-masked]    http://www.primo.com