SST: the Supersonic Search Tool

The FAST File and Archive Searcher

Copyright (c) 1988-1991 by Keith Ledbetter


_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER



A note to BBS sysops
--------------------

There has been a minor uprising in the Sysop community over what
are perceived as "strong-arm" tactics by the ASP. This controversy
stems from the ASP's recommended inclusion of a file called VENDOR.DOC
that outlines to "diskette vendors" the guidelines they must follow
before distributing software written by ASP members.

Many BBS sysops interpreted this clause to mean that they could not
distribute software such as SST on their BBS systems without going
through the pain of writing to the author and receiving permission to
distribute the software, or by joining the ASP as an "ASP Approved Vendor".

Now, I must admit that I am guilty of simply including that file with
my software once I became a member of the ASP. After reading it much
more thoroughly, I now see that this clause needs to be rewritten -- as it
is now, it's much too vague and cumbersome for SysOps.

My stand on this issue is simple. While I whole-heartedly support the
Association of Shareware Professionals, I also feel that BBS systems are
the heart and soul of the Shareware distribution network. None of my
programs would have near the saturation that they have today if it weren't
for the BBS community. For this reason, I have removed the VENDOR.DOC
file from all of my shareware distribution packages. And, I apologize to
all of the SysOps and User-group members who interpreted my actions of
including the VENDOR.DOC file as trying to pressure them into joining
the ASP.

- Keith Ledbetter



Name Change
-----------

As you've probably noticed by now, the name of this program has been
changed from WHEREIS to SST ("the Supersonic Search Tool"). The main reason
behind this was the literally hundreds of requests I've had over the last
few months to give the program a unique name. To quote a few hundred
people: "There must be a thousand 'Whereis' programs out there! I'm
sooooo confused!". (Well, maybe they weren't THAT forlorned ).
Anyway, from now on the program will be known as SST_vvv.ZIP on all BBS's,
where "_vvv" will be the version number (as in SST_50A.ZIP for version 5.0a).


Of course, if you prefer to keep it named WHEREIS after you download the
program, simply "REN SST.EXE WHEREIS.EXE" and you'll never know anything has
changed. SST will continue to support the old "WHEREIS" and "WI_DRIVES"
environment variables, or you can change them to the newer "SST" and
"SST_DRIVES" forms.


Branding Instructions for Registered Owners
-------------------------------------------

If you have a registered copy of SST, you can continue to BRAND your serial
number and name into the program just as before. The only thing you must
take into account is that your BRAND.EXE program by default looks for a file
named WHEREIS.EXE to brand. This means you must do one of the two following
things to brand SST.EXE:

1.) Rename SST.EXE to WHEREIS.EXE and then execute BRAND,

or

2.) Give BRAND the name of the file on the command line, like this:

C:> BRAND SST.EXE



The Files
---------

You should have the following files after Un-ZIPing SST:

read me : this file
sst exe : the program file
sst doc : the main documentation file
history doc : history of the changes to SST
license doc : registration form
sst des : a description of WhereIs for BBS's