Volume 6, Number 51 18 December 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Copyright 1989 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No article submitted by a FidoNet SysOp will be rejected if it is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 A Christmas Poem ......................................... 1 Anudder Christmas Poem ................................... 3 D'Bridge 1.30 Single-line / Press release ................ 4 Internetwork Gateway Policy .............................. 6 TosScan, The Ultimate FrontDoor Echomail Processor ....... 23 Algorithm, The Personal Programming Newsletter ........... 27 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 28 From The Node At The End Of The Universe ................. 28 3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 31 Latest Software Versions ................................. 31 And more! FidoNews 6-51 Page 1 18 Dec 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= A Christmas Poem ---------------- Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the shop, The computers were whirring; they never do stop. The power was on and the temperature right, In hopes that the input would feed back that night. The system was ready, the program was coded, And memory drums had been carefully loaded; While adding a Christmasy glow to the scene, The lights on the console flashed red, white, and green. When out in the hall there arose such a clatter, The programmer ran out to see what was the matter. Away to the hallway he flew like a flash, Forgetting his key in his curious dash. He stood in the hallway and looked all about, When the door slammed behind him,and he was locked out. Then, in the computer room, what should appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer; And a little old man, who with scarcely a pause, Chuckled: "My name is Santa... the last name is Claus." The computer was startled, confused by the name, Then it buzzed as it heard the old fellow exclaim: "This is Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, And Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen." With all these odd names, it was puzzled anew; It hummed and it clanked, and a main ciruit blew. It searched in its memory core, trying to "think"; Then the multi-line printer went out on the blink. Unable to do its electronic job, It said in a voice that was almost a sob: "Your eyes--how they twinkle--your dimples so merry, Your cheeks so like roses, your nose like a cherry, Your smile--all these things, I've been programmed to know, And at data-recall, I am more than so-so; But your name and your address (computers can't lie), Are things that I just cannot identify. You've a jolly old face and a little round belly, That shakes when you laugh like a bowlful of jelly; My scanners can see you, but still I insist, Since you're not in my program, you cannot exist!' FidoNews 6-51 Page 2 18 Dec 1989 Old Santa just chuckled a merry "ho,ho," And sat down to type out a quick word or so. The keyboard clack-clattered, its sound sharp and clean, As Santa fed this "data" into the machine: "Kids everywhere know me; I come every year; The presents I bring add to everyone's cheer; But you won't get a thing-- that's plain to see; Too bad your programmers forgot about me." Then he faced the machine and said with a shrug, "Happy Christmas to all," as he pulled out its plug. Submitted by Phil Buonomo 1:107/583@FidoNet, 520/583@AlterNet ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-51 Page 3 18 Dec 1989 THE NIGHT BEFORE BETA TEST 'Twas the night before beta test, and all through the house, not a program was working not even a browse. The programmers hung by their tubes in despair, with hopes that a miracle soon would be there. The users were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of inquiries danced in their heads. When out in the machine room there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter. And, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a super-programmer (with a six-pack of beer.) His resume glowed with experience so rare, he turned out great code with a bit-pusher flair. More rapid than eagles, his programs they came, and he cursed and muttered and called them by name: On update On add On inquiry On delete On batch jobs On closing On functions complete. His eyes were glazed over, fingers nimble and lean, from weekends and nights in front of a screen. A wink of his eye, and a twitch of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, turning specs into code, and then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger upon the "ENTER" key, he brought it all up and it worked perfectly. The updates updated; the deletes, they deleted; the inquiries inquired; and the closings completed. He tested each whistle, he tested each bell, with nary an a bug, all had gone well. The system was finished, the tests were concluded, the users' last changes were even included. Yet the users exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt, "It's just what we asked for but NOT what we want." -- arthur bozlee Submitted by Phil Buonomo 1:107/583@FidoNet, 520/583@AlterNet ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-51 Page 4 18 Dec 1989 D'Bridge Software, 1:18/68 15 December 1989 Fidonet EMAIL users: This is just a note to let you know that the 1.30 Single-line version of D'Bridge has been released. It may be obtained via many distribution sources and is available for download or WaZOO-style file-request from 1:18/68, 1:105/3 and 1:273/905. There's no sense in wasting Fidonews space with technical details. Just try it; you'll like it. It's unlike any mailer you've seen before... PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT D'BRIDGE IS A COMMERICIAL PRODUCT. Request: DBRIDGE or DB130*.* for the full distribution package. These files total 778,678 bytes and take about 13-14 minutes with an HST. (You've been warned!) DB130A.ZIP DBRIDGE0.130 D'Bridge installation control file DBRIDGE1.130 D'Bridge (1 of 7) ORDER-DB.TXT D'Bridge Order form USA-EAST.COS Example cost file MODEMS.SEL Modem default file READ.ME This document DB130B.ZIP DBRIDGE2.130 D'Bridge (2 of 7) DBRIDGE3.130 D'Bridge (3 of 7) DBRIDGE4.130 D'Bridge (4 of 7) DBRIDGE5.130 D'Bridge (5 of 7) DBRIDGE6.130 D'Bridge (6 of 7) DBRIDGE7.130 D'Bridge (7 of 7) X00.SYS FOSSIL driver courtesy of Ray Gwinn X00.DOC Documentation for X00.SYS DB130INS.ZIP INSTALL.EXE D'Bridge installation program INSTALL.DOC Simple instructions INSTALL.EXE DB130DOC.ZIP DBRIDGE.DOC D'Bridge User's Guide DB130UPG.ZIP UPGRADE.DOC D'Bridge Upgrade Guide Chris Irwin, 305-232-5245 Technical support D'Bridge Software 800-762-4197 Credit card orders Suite 208 305-255-6460 FAX 15321 South Dixie Highway 305-232-9365 EMAIL, 1:18/68 Miami, FL 33176 FidoNews 6-51 Page 5 18 Dec 1989 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-51 Page 6 18 Dec 1989 Tim Pearson - 1:286/703 ----------------------- Introduction ============ I expect that many in FidoNet will view the draft of the Internetwork Gateway Policy document published in this issue with some puzzlement. Some will not have more than a cursory awareness that Other Networks even exist. Others will, initially, not understand why the current tendency of most other FidoNet Technology Networks (FTNs) to "grab a zone and go" is causing technical and administrative difficulties within FidoNet. Many may be under the quite mistaken impression that FidoNet somehow sanctions or assigns zone numbers to other FTN networks. Very few will be aware that FidoNet currently exchanges net and echomail traffic with networks whose technology and addressing scheme is not that of FidoNet. Most folks, quite rightly, believe in the old maxim: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In this article, I will try to explain why most current internetwork communication methods are broken and why we feel that this document will at least lay the groundwork for correcting the problems that currently exist. Why Zones Don't Work -------------------- Those who designed the addressing scheme used within FidoNet intended that zones be used to denote large geographic areas of the world. The zonegate concept was developed to facilitate economical and flexible interzone communication. Zonegates provide economy by concentrating interzone messages at the zonegate; allowing many messages to be combined and compressed before they make the expensive "jump" to the other zone. Zonegates provide addressing flexibility by allowing net and node numbers to be duplicated across zones. For example, all FidoNet zones may contain a net 123 or a node 123/456. This allows each zone coordinator a substantial amount of freedom in how they set up the zone's addressing scheme. Zonegate technology specifically does not, however, provide the functionality necessary to run a proper network to network gateway. The inherent design assumes too much. It assumes that the zonegate's FidoNet address will be something that it will not be in the case of a network gateway. It assumes that there is only one "zone" for any given zone number. It assumes that the "from" Zone:Net/Node of the message need not be modified. None of these things may be properly assumed in the network gateway scenario. The result of attempts to make zonegate technology serve in a network gateway role is that both FidoNet and the other network are plagued with invalid, unknown addresses. The problem is compounded when more than one other network attempts to use the same illicit zone number. Private netmail replies to FidoNews 6-51 Page 7 18 Dec 1989 echomail messages (one of the basic tenets of FidoNet) become impossible. The problem is further aggravated when users on a network to which FidoNet is properly gated (UUCP / Internet for example) attempt to reply to a message containing one of these illicit zone numbers. The message arrives at the FidoNet / Internet gate. Automatic forwarding from that point becomes impossible since the "to" address is not a valid FidoNet address. Usually, the FidoNet gateway sysop has no idea where to manually forward the message. What Will Work -------------- The solution to this growing problem is to require that messages, while in FidoNet, contain only valid FidoNet addresses. Period. A proper gateway will make all messages emanating from it into FidoNet appear technically as if they originated from the gate's FidoNet address just as if a user on that FidoNet system had entered the message. If an "other network" address is to appear in the message, it must appear elsewhere (in a location not relied upon by FidoNet mailer software for routing, duplicate checking, etc.), such as in the message body. With that accomplished, the technical problems disappear with the sole exception being the education of the users in both networks as to how and where to place the other network's address before sending the message to the gate. Several techniques have been considered. The imposition of a standard method is beyond the scope of this group's mandate. That will be left to the FTSC, and the software developers. It is our sincere hope that a standard method will be put forth in the near future. Otherwise, users will have to remember multiple methods of gateway addressing depending upon which network the messag