Editing Archie (search engine)

{{short description|FTP search engine}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox software
| screenshot = Archie search engine.png
| caption = Screenshot of Archie
| author = [[Alan Emtage]]
| developer = Bunyip Information Systems, Inc.
| released = {{start date and age|df=yes|1990|9|10}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/comp.archives/LWVA50W8BKk/wyRbF_lDc6cJ|title=[next] An Internet archive server server (was about Lisp)|last=Deutsch|first=Peter|date=11 September 1990|access-date=2017-12-29}}</ref>
| discontinued = yes
| latest release version = 3.5
| latest release date = 1996
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system = [[Oracle Solaris|Solaris]], [[IBM AIX|AIX]]
| genre = [[Web search engine]]
| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/19980221172140/http://www.bunyip.com/products/archie/|bunyip.com/products/archie/}} (original product page, archived)<br>
{{URL|https://archie.serialport.org/}} (online instance)
}}
{{Internet history timeline}}
'''Archie''' is a tool for indexing [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]] archives, allowing users to more easily identify specific files. It is considered the first [[Internet]] [[Search engine (computing)|search engine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The First Search Engine, Archie |url=http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/projects/timeline/1990archie.htm |access-date=2007-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621141150/http://isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/projects/timeline/1990archie.htm |archive-date=21 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The original implementation was written in 1990 by [[Alan Emtage]], then a postgraduate student at [[McGill University]] in [[Montreal]], [[Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |work =PC Magazine| title =Archie |url =https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/archie |access-date =2020-09-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author =Alexandra Samuel| title=Meet Alan Emtage, the Black Technologist Who Invented ARCHIE, the First Internet Search Engine| date=21 February 2017 |url =https://daily.jstor.org/alan-emtage-first-internet-search-engine/ |publisher=[[ITHAKA]]| access-date =2020-09-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author =loop news barbados |title =Alan Emtage- a Barbadian you should know| url =https://barbados.loopnews.com/content/alan-emtage-barbadian-you-should-know |publisher=loopnewsbarbados.com|date =2019-08-30 |access-date =2022-04-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author =Dino Grandoni, Alan Emtage |title =Alan Emtage: The Man Who Invented The World's First Search Engine (But Didn't Patent It)| url =https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alan-emtage-search-engine_n_2994090?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jb25zZW50LnlhaG9vLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABveQefuoczW_8_bxwbOgluVTUPvIfv5s_OP1jMgUJd8MCwKc148lvXb7HAHXY48P_Be6wXMW0LKlLRfQzJNalLpuwnp7F6NpbyDC2BG10OveS2qtubkO0PhJ8-juP3M2a9K2ygbWuoUhOCvO-1NA6-YQKA8BtdZEcsfUUI_M-8S |work=[[HuffPost]]| date =April 2013|access-date =2020-09-21 }}</ref>
Archie was superseded by other, more sophisticated search engines, including [[Jughead (search engine)|Jughead]] and [[Veronica (search engine)|Veronica]], which were search engines for the [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]] protocol. These were in turn superseded by directories like [[Yahoo!]] in 1995 and search engines like [[Google Search|Google]] in 1998. Work on Archie ceased in the late 1990s. A legacy Archie server was maintained for historic purposes in Poland at [[Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling]] in the [[University of Warsaw]] until 2023.

With assistance from the University of Warsaw, a new Archie server was created and opened for public access at The Serial Port, a web-based computer museum, on 11 May 2024.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUwR9xdEuZI |title=We brought back the Internet's first search engine |author=The Serial Port |website=YouTube |date=11 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Purdy |first=Kevin |date=2024-05-16 |title=Archie, the Internet's first search engine, is rescued and running |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/archie-the-internets-first-search-engine-is-rescued-and-running/ |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Origin ==
Archie first appeared in 1986, while Emtage was the [[Systems management|systems manager]] at the [[McGill University School of Computer Science]]. His predecessor had attempted to persuade the [[institution]] to connect to the [[Internet]], but due to the expensive cost — roughly $35,000 per year for a sluggish link to [[Boston]] — it had been challenging to persuade the appropriate parties that the [[investment]] was worthwhile.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-09 |title=Article by Kevin Savetz (, ) |url=http://www.savetz.com/articles/ibj_bunyip.php |access-date=2023-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709215925/http://www.savetz.com/articles/ibj_bunyip.php |archive-date=9 July 2015 }}</ref>

The name derives from the word "archive" without the 'v'. Emtage has said that contrary to popular belief, there was no association with the [[Archie Comics]].<ref>[[BBC Radio 4]] - [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nmz7x Saturday Live], 7 November 2009</ref> Despite this, other early Internet search technologies such as [[Jughead (search engine)|Jughead]] and [[Veronica (search engine)|Veronica]] were named after characters from the comics. [[Interarchy|Anarchie]], one of the earliest graphical FTP clients, was named for its ability to perform Archie searches.

==Function==
The earliest versions of Archie would simply search a list of public anonymous [[File Transfer Protocol]] (FTP) sites using the [[Telnet]] protocol and create index files available via FTP. To view the contents of a file, it had first to be downloaded. The indexes are updated on a regular basis (contacting each roughly once a month, so as not to waste too many resources of the remote servers) by requesting a listing. These listings were stored in local files to be searched using the [[Unix]] {{kbd|[[grep]]}} command.

The developers populated the engine's servers with databases of anonymous FTP host directories.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3giDAwAAQBAJ&q=archie+search+engine&pg=PT49|title=A Rough Guide to the Internet|last=West|first=Nicholas|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781471005374|language=en}}</ref> This was used to find specific file titles since the list was plugged in to a searchable database of FTP sites.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Search Engine Optimization Bible |last=Ledford|first=Jerri L.|date=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780470452646 |location=Hoboken, NJ|pages=4}}</ref> Archie did not recognize natural language requests nor index the content inside the files. Therefore, users had to know the title of the file they wanted. The ability to index the content inside the files was later introduced by [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]].

==Development ==
Emtage and Heelan wrote a script allowing people to log in and search collected information using the [[Telnet]] protocol at the host "archie.mcgill.ca" [132.206.2.3].<ref name="peter">{{cite web |title=Peter Deutsch: archie - An Electronic Directory Service for the Internet |url=http://www1.chapman.edu/gopher-data/archives/Internet%20Information/whatis.archie |access-date=2012-02-23}}</ref> Later, more efficient front- and back-ends were developed, and the system spread from a local tool to a network-wide resource and a popular service available from multiple sites around the [[Internet]]. The collected data would be exchanged between the neighbouring Archie servers. The servers could be accessed in multiple ways: using a local client (such as ''archie'' or ''xarchie''); [[telnet]]ting to a server directly; sending queries by [[electronic mail]];<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/EFF_Guide/eeg_139.html|title=EFF's (Extended) Guide to the Internet - Your Friend Archie|website=www2.cs.duke.edu|access-date=2020-01-08|date=12 September 1994}}</ref> and later via a [[World Wide Web]] interface. At the peak of its popularity, the Archie search engine accounted for 50% of Montreal Internet traffic.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Archie-a Darwinian development process  |date=2000 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/815865 |access-date=2023-12-14 |doi=10.1109/4236.815865 |last1=Deutsch |first1=P. |journal=IEEE Internet Computing |volume=4 |pages=69–71 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 1992, Emtage, along with [[J. Peter Deutsch]] and some financial help from McGill University, formed [[Bunyip Information Systems]] with a licensed commercial version of the Archie search engine used by millions of people worldwide. Heelan followed them into Bunyip soon after, where he together with [[Bibi Ali]] and Sandro Mazzucato significantly updated the Archie database and indexed web pages. Work on the search engine ceased in the late 1990s, and the company dissolved in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canada Business Listing |url=https://www.can1business.com/ |access-date=2024-05-13 |website=CAN1 Business |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Alan Emtage]]
* [[Jughead (search engine)|Jughead]]
* [[Veronica (search engine)|Veronica]]
* [[Wide area information server]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Archie—A Darwinian Development Process. Peter Deutsch. [[IEEE Internet Computing]], January/February 2000, 4(1):69-71. Part of Millennial Forecasts, {{doi|10.1109/4236.815865}}.
*P. Deutsch, A. Emtage, A. Marine, [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1635 ''How to Use Anonymous FTP''] (RFC1635, May 1994)

==External links==
* [https://archie.serialport.org/ Online instance of Archie]
* [http://archie.icm.edu.pl/archie_eng.html Last surviving Archie web interface] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111030402/http://archie.icm.edu.pl/archie_eng.html |date=11 January 2020 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archie Search Engine}}
[[Category:Internet Standards]]
[[Category:Unix Internet software]]
[[Category:Internet search engines]]
[[Category:History of the Internet]]