





                                                SDN INTERNATIONAL(sm)
                                   The Shareware Distribution Network




                                SDN Shareware User Kit - Revision #12
                                    Guidelines for User Participation




                    Published from The SDN Project, January 23rd 1996
                       (c)Copyright 1996 Ray Kaliss - The SDN Project
















    This document is Copyright The SDN Project 1996 and the property of
    Ray L.  Kaliss as The SDN Project.

    This  document  in  not  public  domain.   It  is  intended  as  an
    informational   document   for   Shareware   author's   considering
    distribution via  SDN International.  This  document may  be copied
    whole and unmodified for that intent only.

    Official SDN International Policy is  formulated by The SDN Project
    and published  at The  SDN Project Bulletin  Board in  Meriden, CT,
    U.S.A.   203-634-0370.  Policy  posted online  at  The SDN  Project
    supersedes policy in circulation or of earlier date.



                           -=   Copyright  =-

    SDN, The  SDN Project, the service  mark of SDN  International (sm)
    and SDNews! as used by The SDN Project are Copyright 1989 - 1996 by
    Ray  L.  Kaliss  and  can  not be  used  with  out express  written
    permission.





1. SDN INTERNATIONAL(sm)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    SDN  International  is  The Shareware  Distribution  Network  since
    January 1989.   The trusted and  respected pipeline to  hundreds of
    bulletin boards  among Fidonet's  30,000 and  growing participating
    boards.

    Beyond  that -  SDN distributes  through  satellites, Internet  and
    major online  services.  SDN  is always  open to  other avenues  of
    distribution.

    SDN  reaches  all  of  North  America   and  into  Europe  such  as
    Switzerland, Denmark,  Germany and further.   SDN is  imported into
    the United Kingdom,  Australia, Israel, Puerto Rico  and many other
    countries.

    Software distributed by SDN is Shareware for DOS, Windows, and OS/2
    operating systems.  United States  Copyright laws defines shareware
    as 'Try before you buy'.  When you obtain files by SDN distribution
    you should read  the copyright and license of the  program you have
    obtained  to learn  the author's  terms of  your trial  use of  the
    product.  Shareware is  a distribution method and  you are expected
    to use the  product for a limited  time, set by the  authors terms,
    and pay  the authors  asking registration price  if you  decide you
    would like to use the product longer.




2. WHAT ARE SDN FILES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    SDN files  are shareware author's  programs that authors  have been
    sent to  SDN International for  processing and  distribution.  Each
    file is a compression of individual  program files into one archive
    for easy downloading.

    As an  example, you might  see this type of  listing on the  BBS or
    online service that you log into.

    FILES           SIZE  DATE     DESCRIPTION
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    3MENU10.ZIP     112987  02/15/93 Three-Menu 1.0 easy DOS menu system
    MYED410.ZIP     648833  02/15/93 My Editor 4.10 programmers editor
    OLCOM51.ZIP    1290000  02/19/93 ONLine COM 5.1 full featured terminal

    Each  archive  file  contains  an   author's  complete  program  in
    compressed  form.   When  you  download that  file,  you  have  the
    complete program  ready to  be un-packaged.  The  file is  named to
    reflect the program and version number it contains.

    SDN files are  compressed using PKWare's pkzip,  pkunzip.exe should
    be used to decompress, or unpackage them.




3. WHAT ARE SDN.ID FILES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Inside every SDN there is a pure  ASCII text file that you can read
    to get a description of the program.  The files name is SDN.ID.  It
    lets you know you have a program  that was distributed via SDN.  If
    the secruity  seals are  not broken,  you can  be assured  you have
    recieved  the  authors  program,  complete  and  in  the  form  and
    condition the author  released it in.  Nothing  has been extracted,
    nothing added, and nothing changed.


             XMENU    EXE     60123    12-11-93    7:44p
             XMENU    DOC    123564    12-13-93   12:00p
             MENUAPP1 DAT      2345    10-01-93   10:00a
        -->  SDN      ID       1200    10-12-93    1:00p
             UTILONE  EXE     47567     2-04-93    2:00p




    On most  BBS'es where you  can find SDN files  you may also  find a
    message area  in the  message base where  copies of  each program's
    SDN.ID are  posted.  This makes  for easy  browsing of all  the SDN
    programs posted at the BBS.




4. TESTING AUTHENTICATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Each file distributed via SDN is  enclosed in a two security seals.
    The Zip  Authentication Verification or  -AV, will be  tested unpon
    decompression.  The other  security is the SDNSeal(c)  security and
    may be tested  using SDNTest(c).  If you can not  find SDNTest, you
    can  download  it from  The  SDN  Project  BBS at  203-634-0370  as
    sdntestd.zip for DOS and sdntestp.zip for OS/2.  Put SDNTEST.EXE on
    path, then,  to test the SDNSeal  on any file SDN  has distributed,
    enter...

        C:>sdntest filename.zip

    If the results  are good, the file has indeed  been distributed via
    SDN International,  it is  not corrupt  and had  not been  tampered
    with.  Any  failure means either the  file was not  distributed via
    SDN, the file has been tampered with, or the compression has become
    corrupt.  In  any failure case,  use the  program only at  your own
    risk.




5. DECOMPRESSION OR UNPACKING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    To unpackage  an SDN  file, you need  the program  pkunzip.exe from
    PKWare's zip program  version 2.04g or later.  It is  best to place
    this program 'on path' which means to place it in a directory given
    in  the  "PATH=" statement  of  your  config.sys.  Since  the  /DOS
    directory is usually on path, you can place it there.  Now you will
    be able to use it no matter what your currant directory may be.

    Change to the directory in which you have placed the SDN Zip file.

    For the sake of  example, let us say that the name  of the file you
    wish to decompress is "xword110.zip"..  you would unpackage it this
    way.

        C:>pkunzip xword110

    During decompression, each file is tested  for Zip security and you
    should see an -AV beside each file as it decompresses.


     
/eof
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