Distribution of mathematical software via electronic mail

A large collection of public domain mathematical software is now available via electronic mail. Messages sent to "netlib@anl-mcs" (on the Arpanet/CSNET) or to "researchlnetlib" (on the UNIX network) wake up a server that distributes items from the collection. For example the one-line message, "send index" gets a library catalog by return mail. We describe how to use the service and some of the issues in its implementation.