
     INTERIM POLICY OF THE UCSD PASCAL USERS' GROUP LIBRARY

Obtaining Library Software.

     Floppy disks full of donated Pascal programs are available from the
Library as follows:

     8-inch, single-sided, single-density UCSD- or CP/M-format disks are $10 
each postpaid (California residents MUST add 6% sales tax; Canadian and
Mexican recipients should add $3 per order for the extra hassle involved;
other out-of-country sales must add $8 for the first disk of an order and
$1.50 per each additional disk to cover air mail) from Jim Gagne, Datamed
Research, 1433 Roscomare Road, Los Angeles CA 90024. Both UCSD Pascal and CP/M-
compatible Pascals are supported, though UCSD programs will require
modification to run under other systems.

     5-1/4 inch diskettes of UCSD software (2 or 3 are required to hold an 8-
inch volume) are available from Bruce Sherman, SofTech Microsystems, 9494
Black Mountain Road, San Diego CA 92126.  Pricing is not yet established, but
will probably exceed $20 per volume due to order processing costs.  (We are
looking for volunteers to distribute the various 5-1/4 inch formats so we can
offer them at lower cost.) Software of interest only to users of certain 
systems will as a rule not be distributed to incompatible systems.  Contact
Bruce for further information.

     Western Digital has indicated an interest in distributing Users' Group 
software on 8-inch disks compatible with the Microengine (these are NOT UCSD 
compatible because of differences in disk sectoring).  In addition, they can 
provide Microengine users with software that will enable them to convert UCSD
standard disks on their machines.  Contact them directly for more information.

     You can obtain a free disk volume of your choice by donating software to
the group if the software is accepted (see below).

     Any user may copy Users' Group software and give it away to others FREE
for nothing.  This includes OEM's and retailers.  However, if any charge
whatsoever is made to the recipient of the software, then: 1) the maximum
charge is limited to a $5 fee per volume plus the retail cost of each floppy
disk and 2) the Users' Group must be reimbursed $2 per disk volume sold.  (A
disk volume is the contents of one 8-inch, single-sided, single-density
diskette.) These charges apply no matter how indirectly the seller obtains
Users' Group software.  These editing fees should be paid to Datamed Research
at the above address, within a month's time of the sale.

     All software is furnished with the understanding that no one may sell it
for profit without the written consent of the author.  In addition, the 
software MAY NOT be copied without continuing to carry whatever statements of
authorship it may now contain.  Finally, despite hard work to maintain the 
highest standards possible, we of course cannot guarantee in any way that
programs obtained from the Users' Group Library will be suitable for your
intended purpose.

     
Submitting Software.

     We are interested in receiving software from anyone who may wish to 
contribute.  Every type of program is welcomed, and we are particularly eager
to receive donations of software tools: those procedures and programs you
have developed to make your programming simpler and more productive, and
which may be of broad interest to the Pascal community.  Such items as double-
precision integer packages, business math routines, generic input/output
processing, program timers and debuggers, system utilities, and reports of
specific techniques to speed UCSD programs are particularly desired.  It is
clear that if we can all develop the habit of donating particularly useful
tools to the Users' Group, a broad base of software support will quickly
develop which will benefit us all enormously.

     To be accepted, software must: 1) be in source form, 2) be relatively 
free of bugs, 3) be reasonably clearly written and documented so that it may
be easily modified, 4) come with sufficient instructions so that we can use
it, 5) be capable of being placed in the public domain, and 6) not have been
received previously from someone else.  If you have an especially long program
or one that is for some reason tricky to compile, you may wish to submit
object code as well as source.  Certain items may be submitted in object form
only: if you have a quality program undergoing development that you eventually
wish to sell, we would be willing to pilot it for you if it is of sufficient
interest to the group at large and works moderately well.  I am certain many
members would enjoy writing you with their comments, and you should wind up
with a product of much higher quality in a much shorter time than is the rule.

     We are also interested in reports of bugs in the system or user software
(preferably with fixes or kludges to get around them) and documentation of the
more obscure aspects of UCSD Pascal.

     
Editors.

     Many people have written to UCSD and SofTech wishing to assist in the
organization of a users group library.  We think this is grand.  Because it
makes little sense for the collection and distribution of programs to be
scattered all around the country, we plan to set up the following structure
for now and see how it works: Anyone who wishes to collect a disk full of
software may submit it to the Users' Group (send them to Datamed Research; 8-
inch diskettes preferred).  Fundamentally, the requirements for the acceptance
for the software are those stated previously; in addition, the disk editor
must have checked out the programs and organized them in some way.  You
should have a catalog of the files on the disk, and a separate file
containing: 1) descriptions of each program, 2) what you think of it, and 3)
any remaining documentation required for use.  Note that we are specifically
committed to full and complete documentation ON THE DISK whenever possible.
Programs should be of general interest, although it is all right to include
hardware-specific programs if they solve a pressing need.  (I would prefer to 
put most of the hardware-specific material on a special disk, which users can
ignore if they wish.)

     If you submit a disk that is reasonably well put together, you will: 1) 
be listed as editor of that volume, 2) receive $1 for each disk SOLD
(remember, many will be given to friends), and 3) be placed on the official
UCSD Pascal Users' Group Library Roster of Editors, and receive all past and
future volumes of the Users' Group library, so we can coordinate our efforts. 
(I reserve the right not to send you ALL the Users' Group volumes if this
thing gets too big and you haven't contributed for a while.) A word of
warning: most of the Pascal disks now floating around have much less work put
into them than we feel is required for them to be generally useful. I, in
particular, am a FANATIC about making our products helpful and/or fun to
programmers of various persuasions.  So the $1 payment per disk is intended to
reimburse you in part for the very real effort required to create a disk with
truly useful contents.
