FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
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Copyright 1989 by the International FidoNet Association. All
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The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
received.
Just what the world needs -- another BBS program! Well, since
everyone else has written one, why not us?
Some of you may already be familiar with Kitten 1.00 -- the
world's tiniest BBS program. Kitten didn't do much; no message
bases, no uploads, no games, nothing but a bulletin and a short
list of files for download. But if that was all you needed, then
Kitten was the best choice because she was so easy to set up.
In version 2.00 Kitten has grown up a bit. She can still be the
simple, unassuming system she was before, and when she is she's
just as easy to set up as ever.
But if you tell her to, Kitten can grow into a real LION!
o Unlimited message bases.
o Five access levels and up to sixteen access control flags.
o An unlimited number of menus -- all fully definable by you.
o "Hacker control" from the simple to the sublime -- limited
only by your own imagination.
o Conditional menus, allowing menu flexibility unheard of in a
BBS program.
o The ability to run "outside" programs with full redirection
(see what the user sees, and you can type too) and a built-in
watchdog for carrier AND for session time limit.
o File upload/download ability to an unlimited number of file
areas, with file access under your control at all times.
To see a sample of just how WILD a Kitten can get, check out
Irene & Leo's Funhouse at (201) 473-5371 (outside of business
hours only, please).
Kitten 2.00 comes complete with copious documentation and two
sample configurations to get you started. Whether your needs are
simple or incredible, you owe it to yourself to take a look at
Kitten!
Files mentioned this week:
KITTEN.ARC The Kitten BBS package.
FidoNews 6-10 Page 2 6 Mar 1989
KITTEN.ARC may be downloaded from our technical support bulletin
board at (201) 473-1991, or may be file-requested from either
520/1015@AlterNet or 1:107/1015@FidoNet.
Next week: USNO
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FidoNews 6-10 Page 3 6 Mar 1989
Nodelist Flags and Brownshirts
Evolution, Growth, and Political Structures
In any society, there is a continual problem of the rules and
rulemakers not always being able to keep up with the technologies
that drive the society. FidoNet is no exception, and the
nodelist flags is a golden example of this.
The defacto standard for nodelist flags has been considerably
different than the written standards for quite some time.
Recently, the FTSC has attempted to bring them closer to parity
in the form of a new FTS-0005.
Threatened Actions By A Now-ExRC
When I was an RC, one of the things that irked me in a big way
was a threat by another RC to drop any nodes whose flags did not
correspond to the written spec. That RC commissioned a program
that would seek and comment out any nodes not in compliance.
I did not, and do not, see why a node that has flags that don't
match a written spec should be dropped from the nodelist, except
in those cases where it clearly indicates bad faith on the part
of the sysop. For instance, saying CM when you are not. But to
be dropped because you have AKA:xxxx setting seems more than a
little bogus to me. That's a problem between an RC and an NC,
since it's the NC who prepares the entries, not the sysop. If
totally illegal values are coming in a given NC's segment, you
fire the creator of the segment, not the nodes being
ill-represented.
This is the kind of thing that scares me most about FidoNet - we
seem to have two extremes for rules - either they don't apply at
all, or we are going to use them as excuses for ax grinding.
User Flags
Primary Intent On My Part: To Give Lee Kemp A Place For Keys
In direct recognition of the fact that our political structures
in FidoNet don't work well or efficiently, I pressed to have the
user flags added to the FTSC spec. The intent of these flags was
to provide a place for people to try new things out in the
nodelist without rigamarole from the coordinator structure. To
legally provide for a mechanism for the organic growth that is
clearly needed - a place where ideas can be tried, and either
flourish, die, or be incorporated into some idea, without some
hardass coordinator imposing his world view on what is supposed
to be an egalitarian network.
My specific, short term intent was to provide Lee Kemp with a
place to store PKSCrypt keys in his nodelist entry. Later in
this article, you'll see how.
FidoNews 6-10 Page 4 6 Mar 1989
Growing Out of The User Realm
Implicit in this is the assumption that some user flags will
migrate to the more standard flags. For instance, once everyone
agreed on some mechanism for encoding a signature key (from
attempts in the user flags), the mechanism might be standardized
by the FTSC, and moved into the "standard" flags area.
Coordinator Actions
In Hindsight, The Coordinator Flags Were Suggested
As an afterthought, I suggested that a second, parallel set of
flags be created, called Coordinator flags. This was suggested
because the FTSC nodelist specification serves a number of
networks. The coordinator flags would allow a particular local
political structure to have it's own set of flags implemented in
such a way that any robust, general purpose nodelist processor
would not barf, while still keeping the "garden" of the user
flags free from intervention.
The uses that came to mind for this related to things like
identifying EchoMail hubs, SDS nodes, etc.
These flags could be added ONLY with the approval of the given
coordinator structure, where in the case of the user flags, the
coordinator structure would have little, if any, say over.
As Usual, Coordinators Usurping The Users of the Network
But as it stands, the coordinators of FidoNet have decided to
take it upon themselves to use and control the User flags, while
the FTSC has ignored the coordinator flags. As usual, you and I
are left at the mercy of a bunch of people who didn't understand
the intent to begin with.
Par for the course. I guess I should have expected this. For
once, let's get them to do it right. Tell your NC you want to
use your User Flags for just that - user flags, and if the
coordinators want some flags to control, let them get their own.
For now, just ask your NC for the USER_NOT_*C_FLAG! flag. If you
have an AKA or PN flag, have them make it an UAKA or UPN flag.
That's what they were created for. You. Not them. If he tells
you he can't, ask him when the coordinators are going to live by
the rules they've written rather than the ones they make up along
the way?
JonesNose Flags
I have submitted a request to my NC for the following flags:
UPN5555,PK2E5F9D0D0999
FidoNews 6-10 Page 5 6 Mar 1989
PN5555 means I use private net 5555.
The latter is a 7 digit PKSCrypt key set, packed as two, six
digit hexadecimal values. (If someone would be kind enough to
netmail me a copy of what they think the key would look like, I'd
be much obliged.)
Harry Lee
1:321/202@FidoNet
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FidoNews 6-10 Page 6 6 Mar 1989
Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
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FidoNews 6-10 Page 7 6 Mar 1989
8 May 1989
Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be
holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs
through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat.
19 May 1989
Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
24 Aug 1989
FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose,
California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89
for info.
5 Oct 1989
20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
Hal DuPrie 1:101/106 Chairman of the Board
Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
Ray Gwinn 1:109/639 Vice President - Technical Coordinator
David Garrett 1:103/501 Secretary
Steve Bonine 1:115/777 Treasurer
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732? Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Hal DuPrie 1:101/106
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1
13 Rick Siegel 1:107/27 Steve Bonine 1:115/777
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
15 Larry Kayser 1:104/739? Matt Whelan 3:3/1
16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
17 Rob Barker 1:138/34 Steve Jordan 1:102/2871
18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Bob Swift 1:140/24
19 David Drexler 1:19/1 Larry Wall 1:15/18
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233
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FidoNews 6-10 Page 9 6 Mar 1989
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
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US Funds to:
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USA
Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
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Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors
was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been
established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your
input to this Conference.
