Document: FSC-0046
Version:  005
Date:     30-Aug-94








           A Product Idenfifier for FidoNet Message Handlers

                           Joaquim Homrighausen
                      2:270/17@fidonet or [email protected]

                             August 30, 1994

        Copyright 1994 Joaquim Homrighausen; All rights reserved.



Status of this document:

    This FSC suggests a proposed protocol for the FidoNet(r) community,
    and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
    Distribution of this document is unlimited.

    Fido and FidoNet are registered marks of Tom Jennings and Fido
    Software.


   Purpose

   This document should serve as a guide for the product identfier, PID
   hereafter, format for FidoNet message handlers. The purpose behind PIDs
   is related to my attempt to remove the requirement of Origin lines in
   conference mail messages.

   While I fully understand that this won't happen in all conferences, I
   would like to provide the facility to those who can use it (i.e. for
   conferences where all the participants are using software that supports
   messages without origin lines).

   Another use for PIDs is to minimize the excessive amount of information
   some programs put on the tear lines which increases overall
   transportation cost and time of conference mail.


   PID

   A PID replaces the program identifier often seen on the tear line of
   conference mail messages and is hidden behind a ^A (ASCII SOH, 01h).
   This also allows for better tracking of software causing problems in
   conferences.

:   Only one PID per message is allowed and should only be added by the
:   program that creates the message. I.e. programs passing the message on
:   to someone else may not add additional PIDs. If a PID is added, no
:   program information may be present after the tear line.

   A PID also offers the ability to add serial numbers to identify a
   specific copy of a program as being the source of a message with little
   or no effort.


   Format

     ^APID: <pID> <version>[ <serial#>]<CR>


   Sample

     ^APID: FM 2.11.b<CR>

     Would identify FrontDoor's editor, beta version 2.11 and replace:

      --- FM 2.11 (beta)


   Fields

   pID         The ID of the product responsible for creating the message.
               This should be kept as short as possible. The maximum
               length for this field is 10 characters.

   version     The version of the product including any alpha, beta, or
               gamma status. Only the relevant part of the version should
               be included. I.e. 1.00 should be expressed as 1, 1.10 as
               1.1 and 1.01 as 1.01. Alpha, beta, or gamma status should
               be expressed by appending a / or . followed by a, b, or g
               and optionally a revision indicator, such as a1, b2, etc.
               The maximum length for this field is 10 characters.

   serial#     The serial number of the product, omitted if irrelevant
               or zero. The maximum length for this field is ten (10)
               characters.


   TID

   TIDs or "Tosser IDs" started to appear shortly after the first
   revision of this document was released. They are added by Conference
   Mail ("EchoMail") processors when a message is exported from the
   local message base and injected into the network distribution scope
   for a conference.

   When a Conference Mail processor adds a TID to a message, it may not
   add a PID. An existing TID should, however, be replaced. TIDs follow
   the same format used for PIDs, as explained above.


   List of products

   The accompanying file, PIDLIST.TXT, is a list of products known to
   support the PID proposal. Software authors are encouraged to inform
   the author of this document of changes and additions to this list.

    --- end of file "fsc-0046.005" ---