www.pa.msu.edu/hep/d0/ftp/spin/spin_appl_note_01.txt
1-FEB-2000

             Hand Updating the Spin$Map File
             ===============================

  There may be cases where one may want to, or need to,
hand-edit the Spin$Map file.  This is easy to do.
Then simply use Spin to put the updated file back on the server.


Why would you want to do that?
------------------------------

  - to prune an obsolete entry.
   While "dead entries" have little impact on performance,
   they may become a nuisance the day you want to register
   a new file with the same name.

  - to move an existing file to a different directory.

  - to correct operator errors when entering the target directory
    for a new file.

  - to add a new file that has the same name as an existing file.
    While this is discouraged, it may be necessary, e.g. another
    index.html file.


How to proceed:
---------------

  0) The location of the Spin$Map file is
     http://www.pa.msu.edu/hep/d0/ftp/spin/spin$map

  1) Grab a copy of this file like any other file.

  2) Edit the file with your favorite editor.
    (note: on UNIX use quotation marks around the file name
     to handle the dollar sign in the file name).

  3) Spin the file back.


How does this work?
-------------------

  - The spin$map file contains an entry for itself, which specifies
    its version number and its target location, like any other file.

  - Spin will notice that it is updating the spin$map file, and
    will skip the step of updating the version it pulled from the
    server to avoid overwriting the changes you just made.


Additional note:
---------------

  Each new version of the spin$map file is also archived like
any other files.  Every time you use spin to update ANY web file,
the updated spin$map is also archived.   So don't worry,
screw-ups are recoverable.

Spin$Map Entry Format:
----------------------

  Just modifying the file name (first field) or target directory
(second field) should be straightforward.

  If you become more ambitious, here is what spin expects to find.

  - You need 6 fields with at least one space separating each field
   (and no space within a field).

  - The first field is the file name.
    Use lowercase, but spin will force lowercase anyway.

  - The second field is the target directory.
    Use lowercase, but spin will force to lowercase anyway.
    No leading slash is present in the target name (second field),
    but the file will "heal itself" if you forget it.
    A trailing slash is present, but again, no big deal.

  - The third field is the version number as a 4 decimal digit
    number with leading zeroes.  Again, no big deal if you don't have
    the right number of digits.  It has to be a decimal number.

  - The fourth and fifth fields are not used at the moment,
    "N N" is a good value.

  - The sixth (last) field is the last modification time stamp.
    This date is not parsed by spin, just displayed,
    which means that typos won't cause problems.
    A good time stamp will be written the first time you use the entry.