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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label uploads</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Contributing a file to the archives</h3>
<p>You have something to submit to the archive &mdash; great!  Before we even
start, here&rsquo;s a check-list of things to sort out:
<ol>
<li> Licence: in the spirit of TeX, we hope for free software; in
  the spirit of today&rsquo;s lawyer-enthralled society, CTAN
  provides a 
  <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/licenses.html">list of &ldquo;standard&rdquo; licence statements</a>.
<li> Documentation: it&rsquo;s good for users to be able to browse
  documentation before downloading a package.  You need at least a
  plain text <i>README</i> file (exactly that name); best is a
  PDF file of the package documentation, prepared for screen
  reading.
<li> Name: endless confusion is caused by name clashes.  If your
  package has the same name as one already on CTAN, or if your
  package installation generates files of the same name as something
  in a &ldquo;normal&rdquo; distribution, the CTAN team will delay
  installation while they check that you&rsquo;re doing the right thing:
  they may nag you to change the name, or to negotiate a take-over
  with the author of the original package. 
  <a href="FAQ-findfiles.html">Browse the archive</a> to ensure uniqueness.
<p>  The name you choose should also (as far as possible) be somewhat
  descriptive of what your submission actually <em>does</em>; while
  &ldquo;descriptiveness&rdquo; is to some extent in the eye of the beholder,
  it&rsquo;s clear that names such as <i>mypackage</i> or <i>jiffy</i>
  aren&rsquo;t suitable.
</ol>
<p>If you are able to use anonymous <i>ftp</i>, get yourself a copy of
the file <i>README.uploads</i> from any
<a href="FAQ-archives.html">CTAN archive</a>.  The file tells you
where to upload, what to upload, and how to notify the CTAN
management about what you want doing with your upload.
<p>You may also upload via the Web: each of the principle CTAN
sites offers an upload page &mdash; choose from
<a href="http://www.ctan.org/upload.html">http://www.ctan.org/upload.html</a>,
<a href="http://www.dante.de/CTAN/upload.html">http://www.dante.de/CTAN/upload.html</a> or
<a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/upload.html">http://www.tex.ac.uk/upload.html</a>; the pages lead you through the
process, showing you the information you need to supply.
<p>If you can use neither of these methods, ask advice of the

  <a href="mailto:ctan@dante.de">CTAN management</a>:
if the worst comes to the worst, it may be possible to mail a contribution.
<p>If it&rsquo;s appropriate (if your package is large, or regularly updated),
the CTAN management can arrange to <i>mirror</i> your
contribution direct into the archive.  At present this may only be
done if your contribution is available via <code>ftp</code>, and of course the
directory structure on your archive must &lsquo;fit&rsquo;.
<dl>
<dt><tt><i>README.uploads</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/README.uploads">README.uploads</a>
</dl>
<p><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=uploads">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=uploads</a>
</body>