Access to the File

The Jargon File is available for browsing here.

You can download an installable HTML tarball from here.

You can browse the recent changes. Entries with only trivial changes (spelling, punctuation, references, minor changes of phrasing) have been omitted from the change list.

Text versions of the File are available through a historically appropriate interface.

You can also download a copy of the Jargon File masters and the production tools used to generate HTML and TeX versions.

Finally, you can also look at the entries that have been deleted from the File over the years.

Requests that we email the File will be ignored. Also note that the info version has been phased out; it's an HTML world now.

Why There Are No diff Files

Many people have asked why I don't release diff files for new versions, so people can avoid having to fetch the whole thing each time. It's because diffs tend to lose the actual semantic changes in a lot of noise resulting from very low-level tweaks (typo fixes, re-justifications, etc.). This bulks the diffs up to the point where I don't think they're enough smaller than the File itself to justify the hassle costs of issuing or using them.