Goldy the gopher client & Gainer the gopher server

Trilby · 2017-05-01 00:17:04

I've been tinkering with the gopher protocol lately and haven't been able to find a reliable yet minimal gopher client that will run on a modern OS. So I made one.

Along the way I realized that it'd also be quite easy to make a gopher server too. So I threw together one of those - not quite so much on a whim, but rather that there's nothing better for really abuse-testing these tools than being able to control both ends of the communication. I don't have to wonder what the dumbest gopher client or server out there might do - I can make the dumbest client/server, so if they can tolerate each other, everything else in gopherspace should be easy.

That said this has a long way to go to even be considered "beta". But it's functional for casual browsing.

Please see the README for details including basic usage.

Before you try to use the Gainer server, be sure to be aware of the security implications of using a pre-beta server software. I make no promises that your computer will not be infested by gophers that eat all your files, crap on your desktop, and scare your cat. I would appreciate a 3rd party review of the drop_priveleges function in gainer.c. There is also currently no service file for gainer. But this is easily fixed once gainer is ready for normal use.

jasonwryan · 2017-05-01 01:00:35

The client works great. Can't help but read it as godly-gopher, though. I may need to alias that.

Trilby · 2017-05-01 01:18:03

Originally I just called it "gopher" but that was a bit to ... generic. So I went with Goldy, the mascot of the UMN where the protocol originated. For the server, I just looked up any other gopher mascots an found Gainer.

And everyone knows all gophers are godless beasts of the underworld.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-05-01 00:17:04

Goldy the gopher client & Gainer the gopher server

#2 2017-05-01 01:00:35

Re: Goldy the gopher client & Gainer the gopher server

#3 2017-05-01 01:18:03

Re: Goldy the gopher client & Gainer the gopher server

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