F I D O N E W S -- Volume 14, Number 19 12 May 1997

F I D O N E W S -- Volume 14, Number 19 12 May 1997
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
| _ | 1-904-409-7040 [1:1/23] |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
| | | \ \\ | Editor: |
| | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:18/14 |
| |__U__| / \// | |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| submissions=> [email protected] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

GO AHEAD MAKE MY DAY!

Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
Zone 2 reports problems in Italy ......................... 1
2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 2
International BBS Week Update ............................ 2
A cover up ............................................... 2
3. ARTICLES ................................................. 3
Police crack-down on Fido-nodes in zone-2/region-33 (It .. 3
It Can't Work? ........................................... 4
4. COLUMNS .................................................. 7
Lock and Load: Special Edition ........................... 7
5. GETTING TECHNICAL ........................................ 9
FSC-0068 - Proposed Replacement for FTS-0004 ............. 9
FSC-0069 - Proposal for FidoNet (FTN) Domain Name Servi .. 14
FSC-0070 - Improving Fidonet/Usenet gating/Dupe Checkin .. 21
6. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 24
Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 129 ...... 24
7. ECHOING .................................................. 25
North American Backbone Echo Changes [Mar-Apr] ........... 25
8. NET HUMOR ................................................ 27
How to install software .................................. 27
9. QUESTION OF THE WEEK ..................................... 30
Who has OLD Nodelists out there? ......................... 30
10. NOTICES ................................................. 31
Future History ........................................... 31
And more!
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 1 12 May 1997

=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================

Law enforcement in many places still hasn't moved into the current
century it would appear. Humans are slow to catch up with technology
and this is particularly true for the computer communication
revolution now underway.

We also see it in the U.S. [so-called technology leader of the world]
in the form of the C.D.A. [Computer Decency Act] and lots of local
crimes against information by the uninformed or ill-informed.

At least FidoNet, for the moment, is still a leading light in the
fight for progress and information spread! Go get 'em Italian Sysops!

Still no IC. The ZEC election in Zone 1 appears to be unraveling. Same
old stuff.

Keep those cards and letters coming! [grin]

C.B.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 2 12 May 1997

=================================================================
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
=================================================================

International BBS Week Update
by David Chord (3:771/1560/[email protected])

Things are moving along slowly for International BBS Week. So far,
only a few people have bothered to do something about it, although
some of those who have should be able to contribute quite a bit to
help get things moving.

There has been a request to move the date, as the first week of June
is a bit early to do any adequate planning, espically for something
hoped to have world-wide media coverage. At this stage, there is no
definite date, it is open for discussion.

Also, I have created a new echo for the discussion and planning of
International BBS Week - INTBBS_WEEK. This will be co-moderated by
Anne Pickets (3:772/270, Ivy Iverson (1:154/170) and myself, if Ivy
and Anne accept this proposal. If you haven't already connected to the
echo, please badger your local Hub/N(e)C into getting a feed for it.
Hopefully, an echo will be a much better method of discussion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

--- Following message extracted from NETMAIL @ 1:18/14 ---
By Christopher Baker on Fri May 09 00:11:13 1997

From: Bob Moravsik @ 1:2606/583
To: Fidonews @ 1:18/14
Date: 30 Apr 97 07:08:45
Subj: A cover up

* Original to Jason Steck of 1:285/[email protected]

cc: Zorch Freezberg
Fidonews

Jason:

My link cut from ZEC was done by for political reasons. Its well
known that ZEC is really TWO conferences. Its not against Fidonet's
policy to have two conferences with the same tag. Bodger's node was
put in the seenbye as I CHOOSE to not provide MY MESSAGES to him.

Your continuing this charade just points out what a DISHONEST WEESEL
you are. You are out to create a problem then drop out of Fidonet in
laughter. Resign NOW...Fidonet will be far better off without you.

Bob Moravsik

-----------------------------------------------------------------
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 3 12 May 1997

=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================

Police crack-down on Fido-nodes in zone-2/region-33 (Italy)
By Ward Dossche, 2:292/854
ZC/2

For the second time in a relatively short period the Italian police
cracked-down on some Fidonet-nodes in Italy (zone-2/region-33) May
7th at 7.30am thereby effectively shutting down substantial portions
of the net.

The hardware of some 3 nodes was seized pending investigation.

Suspicion of distributing child-pornography is held against the
sysops but people in their immediate vicinity, among which the RC for
region-33, describe this as a terrible mistake probably due to
misinformation of the concerned prosecutor or total ignorance about
the difference between Fidonet and Internet.

I have already written to the Italian ambassador and the Italian
delegation at the European Commission, both in Brussels. This is the
text:

Dear Sirs:

I am the European coordinator of the world-wide Fidonet computer-
network.

Fidonet is a low-cost-technology network which unites computer-
communication hobbyists all over the world. At present there are
worldwide 26.847 systems connected of which 15.904 are in Europe
and 415 in Italy itself.

This network reaches worldwide millions of people, organizations,
schools, etc.. who rely on it as their window to the world.

It has been brought to my attention that 3 eminent members of
Fidonet in Italy in the cities of L'Aquila, Naples and Taranto were
faced with seizure of their private computer-equipment on May 7th
on suspicion of distributing child-pornography.

People that I know in the Rome-area whom are trustworthy to me
vouch for the 3 individual citizens that the claims being made by
the local authorities are unfounded.

I support this point of view.

It is now the second time that Italian law-enforcement seriously
hampers the operation of this network which is completely non-
commercial and run on private funds as a hobby by individual
system-operators.

The lack of distinction by certain Italian law-enforcement officers
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 4 12 May 1997

between honest hobbyists who function in the regulated
environment that Fidonet is and the unregulated internet where
anything and everything is possible, is a blame to the professional
abilities of these individual Italian law-enforcement officers.

I would like to be kept officially informed as to the status of
this matter and would like to ask you to inform your government
that in the meantime hundreds of thousand, if not millions,
individuals worldwide will have received this message and are
watching on how it will be solved.

I am looking forward to your further communications,

(signed)

Although everyone does as he/she pleases I would encourage
individuals to look for the addresses of their local embassies or
consulates and in a kind of cut-and-paste technology write similar
letters of protest.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Ward

-----------------------------------------------------------------

It Can't Work?
By: Clay Tannacore 1:372/4

As many of you serious readers of FIDONEWS are aware, I have, over the
last several months, been on a somewhat unavailing campaign to merge
FidoNet with EchoMail. I have stated many reasons for this and
creditable ones *were* included. However, over those months, I have
been inundated with many ideas and opinions contrary to my views.
Varied opinions have been expressed in opposition of my ideas and many
of those were, in themselves, creditable.

Some of the rationale why the two entities should not and could not be
accomplished led me to the belief that perhaps, the readers weren't
completely sane. While a number of the opinions expressed seemed to
have merit, I felt I should perhaps rethink my views or at least
investigate the idea of an emergence of a policy that would direct
both associated entities to be one. Of course, among the creditable
opinions rendered were a reasonably abundant scattering of ideas as to
how I might increase my sexual activities with some rather unworkable
arrangements in placement of my partner and myself. Needless to say,
I was not of the mind to attempt any of these recommendations, as
testified to by my presence once again in FIDONEWS, and the fact that
I have not had occasion to seek out professional attention from a
chiropractor.

Nonetheless, I did feel obligated to take a more prolonged and
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 5 12 May 1997

in-depth look at what I was advocating. During this time period, I
had the opportunity to observe the power struggle taking place in
Zone1 for the ZEC1 position. I have read numerous messages in the
NL_SYSOP Echo, as well as a number of posts in other related areas.
It was only after observing and following these message areas that I
started to comprehend what so many individuals had been attempting,
all along, to make me aware of.

It would appear that if EchoMail was indeed included in the
jurisdiction of FidoNet under POLICY4, and if a tyrannical type were
to be installed into a position such as ZEC, this despot could, with
very little exertion on his/her part, promote the overtaking of the
whole of FidoNet. With the use of intimidation, threats, controlling
of EchoMail feeds, and to some extent, bribery, place himself in such
a position as to have every member in FidoNet totally dependent on
him/her. To some extent this contemptuous situation is already taking
place and without the unification of the members of that region, this
poisonous alliance of a few will prevail.

Getting back to the original intent of this article - the merging of
FidoNet with EchoMail. It is now my enlightened position that in the
interest of FidoNet, and those who are a part of this association,
that both FidoNet and EchoMail can *never* be successfully merged.
Both entities should remain separate and apart but both entities
should attempt to strengthen the versions of their active policy
documents. While I no longer feel that POLICY4 should include in its
body any mention of social behavior which in itself would be
destructive to that policy. I immovably believe a policy outlining
behavior within EchoMail that is distributed by FidoNet, should be
enacted and placed in affect at the earliest possible time. This
behavioral policy document should set minimal standards for all
EchoMail and Echoes distributed via the FidoNet association.

Specific language should be included in this document detailing the
consequences of not complying with the language. Special attention
should be integrated within the document, taking into consideration
that the users of EchoMail are not necessarily members of FidoNet and
are not governed by POLICY4, or ECHOPOL. It should be stressed that
latitudes when dealing with non-members may vary depending upon the
situation at hand. However, rules and procedures must be
administered properly, for the benefit of FidoNet as a whole, and
equability for the end user.

I would suggest that an Echo be set up, with a moderator in each
region linked together via EchoMail, for discussions and suggestions
pertaining to this document. Input from different sections and
segments of FidoNet will be imperative in order to make this
undertaking workable.

I realize this is an open invitation to those of you who feel nothing
in FidoNet needs changing but I assure you that something has to be
done in order for FidoNet to survive. We have to attempt to bring
back into the folds of this association those users who have moved on
to the Internet. We have a golden opportunity to restore FidoNet to
the prominence it once had. Once the user discovers that the Internet
is nothing but a commercial venture with no personality, no
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 6 12 May 1997

friendliness and, no closeness or brotherhood, FidoNet can, with a
little effort on our part, be number one again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 7 12 May 1997

=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================

Lock and Load: Special Edition
Robert Parson (1:3822/1)

There normally would not be a column for this week, but with the
pending International BBS Week, I thought I'd write a News Release you
can use. Just fill in the blanks in the first and last paragraphs
with the appropriate information, and fax or mail this to your local
news outlets (Newspaper, Radio, TV).

As I've discussed before, don't expect to receive any media coverage
from a News Release. You're competing with dozens, possibly hundreds
of other pieces of mail or faxes that media outlets receive each day.
Also remember, some newspapers may simply re-write the news release
without contacting you.

I'd like to know if you get any media coverage. You can contact me at
the above Fidonet address, or (gasp!) the internet at [email protected]

I'd like to know: Who you are, the name and city of your BBS, the name
and city of the media outlet, what sort of outlet they are (radio, tv,
newspaper, magazine, wire service, etc), the name of the reporter, the
date the article appeared, and the general tone of the article
(favorable, unfavorable, bemused).

Next week: the return of our regularly scheduled column.

Good luck!

---> Cut here! <---

International BBS Week
June 1-7 1997

(BBS Name) in (City) is joining with tens of thousands of other
Computer Bulletin Board systems worldwide in celebrating International
BBS Week June 1st through 7th.

Most BBSes, as they are commonly called, are operated by hobbyists
from their homes. They allow other computer users to call in with
their modems to exchange messages and files and to play games.

As with any hobby, the exact number of BBSes is unknown. However, at
last count FIDONET listed nearly 33 thousand nodes, or incoming phone
lines. Fidonet is the oldest and largest amateur network connecting
BBSes worldwide. Some BBSes offer other networks, some offer none,
and other BBSes may even be connected to the Internet.

Many BBSes provide their services for free, although some do charge a
small fee for access.

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 8 12 May 1997

For more information on International BBS Week, contact (BBS Name)
System Operator (Your Name) at (Voice phone), or leave a message on
the BBS by calling (BBS Number) with a modem.

-30-

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 9 12 May 1997

=================================================================
GETTING TECHNICAL
=================================================================

[This is part of the continuing FidoNet History series featuring the
FTSC Standards and Proposal documents to-date. This docs have been
reformatted to 70 columns where required which may cause tables to
appear askew. Node and telephone numbers may be outdated.] Ed.

Document: FSC-0068
Version: 001
Date: 13-Dec-1992

A Proposed Replacement For FTS-0004

Mark Kimes
1:380/16@fidonet

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.

Echomail documentation:
======================

Definition:
==========
Echomail, sometimes called broadcast or conference mail, is netmail
(ref. FTS-0001) containing additional control information that allows
it to be "echoed" (forwarded) from node (site) to node. Echomail is
divided into areas, or conferences, with unique names.

The format for packets, message headers and message text is identical
to that specified for netmail in FTS-0001.

Control lines in general:
========================
A control line is a line of text in the message's body (the
nul-terminated text portion of a message following the binary header;
see FTS-0001) ended by a carriage return. Some control lines are
preceded by a ^a (control-a, ASCII character 1) and are sometimes
referred to as "kludge lines." Kludge lines are normally not shown
when displaying a message; the reading software will treat the initial
^a as meaning "not (normally) for human consumption."

Required control information:
============================
AREA: An AREA tag is what makes the difference between netmail and
echomail. The AREA line must be the first line in an echomail
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 10 12 May 1997

message's body. An AREA line's format is simply:

AREA:<areaname>

The AREA tag is specifically _not_ preceded by a ^a. It might be a
good idea for an application to allow for but not produce AREA tags
with ^a prefixes.

Where <areaname> is the unique name of the echomail conference. For
compatibility with existing software, area names should not begin with
the plus or minus ("+" or "-") symbols. Area names must not contain
control characters (less than ASCII character 32, a space). Leading
and trailing spaces on the area name should be ignored (and preferably
not produced). Compares on the area name should be case insensitive.

Area names are generally kept as short as possible while still
maintaining uniqueness and some sense of what the area's topic is
about.

The purpose of the SEEN-BY control line is to protect fully connected
polygon topology (see Topology below) from duplicate message looping.
Keeping SEEN-BYs beyond a small topology group is wasteful and should
be avoided, but a message must contain at least "Tiny Seenbys" in
order to avoid choking older mail processors. Tiny Seenbys are the
node currently processing the message and any nodes to which that node
is sending the message. This means that in all cases a SEEN-BY line
will contain more than one address.

SEEN-BYs are located after any Origin line and before any PATH
line(s).

A SEEN-BY line has the following format:

SEEN-BY <net/node> <[net]/node> ... <[net]/node>

The 2-D addresses following the SEEN-BY tag are "net sticky," which
means that net information is not duplicated if unchanged from the
previous address listed. For example, if 380/20 sends a message to
380/16, 380/100 and 170/1, the SEEN-BY line would read:

SEEN-BY 170/1 380/16 20 100

SEEN-BY tags are specifically _not_ preceded by ^a. It might be a
good idea for applications to allow for but not produce SEEN-BY tags
with ^a prefixes.

SEEN-BY addresses _are_ specifically sorted by net/node. It might be
a good idea for applications to allow for but not produce unsorted
SEEN-BY addresses.

SEEN-BY lines should not exceed 79 bytes in length; if more addresses
are required than can be represented on one line, a carriage return
followed by another SEEN-BY tag followed by more addresses should be
added.

Current practice is to strip SEEN-BYs at zone and domain gates since
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 11 12 May 1997

their 2-D nature make them useless for duplicate message checking
beyond a given zone.

Optional control information:
============================
Origin: Origin lines, when they appear, contain the text " * Origin:
" at the start of the line, and an address in parentheses at the end
of the line. Between these two portions of the line there may be some
other text which can be ignored. Origin lines may contain addresses
in many formats, from simple 2-D net/node to 5-D domain addresses.

An echomail processor should never choke because a message contains no
Origin.

Origin lines are specifically _not_ preceded by ^a, and should be no
longer than 79 characters in total length.

Some existing mail processors may choke on echomail that does not
contain an origin line. Therefore, for maximum compatibility,
echomail processors should have an option, perhaps on a conference-by-
conference basis, to assure all messages originating at a site contain
an Origin (adding a default one if not already present). In
situations where an Origin is not used, a MSGID (see below) should be
used so that private (netmail) replies are possible.

Some gateways add their own Origin line and change any existing Origin
line to " # Origin: <rest of original origin>". You should keep this
in mind if attempting to use Origin lines to find the "real" origin of
a message.

PATH: PATH line(s), when they appear, follow the message's SEEN-BY
line(s). PATH lines are specifically preceded by ^a, and should be no
longer than 79 characters in length.

PATH lines have only one purpose: to convey to a human some
information about which systems have processed (forwarded) a message,
and in what order. The 2-D (net/node) nature of PATH coupled with the
practice of not stripping PATH lines from a message at zone gates make
it impossible to reliably use for the prevention of duplicate message
looping (you can't tell if 380/16 refers to 1:380/16 or 2:380/16, or
Dufusnet#1:380/16 instead of Fidonet#1:380/16).

A PATH line has the following format:

^aPATH <net/node> <[net]/node> ... <[net]/node>

Like SEEN-BYs, PATH lines consist of a tag, ^aPATH, followed by 2-D
"net sticky" addresses. Unlike SEEN-BYs, PATH is specifically _not_
sorted, and it's possible there will be only one address. For
example, assuming all nodes support PATH, given that a message
originates on 380/16, and goes through 380/20 to 380/100, the PATH
line at 380/100 would read:

^aPATH 380/16 20

and the PATH line at 380/20 would read simply:
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 12 12 May 1997

^aPATH 380/16

Other optional information:
==========================
Tear line: A tear line, when it appears, consists of three dashes
("---") at the beginning of a line, sometimes followed by a space and
some text, possibly the name of the editor, packer, or BBS that
created or first manipulated the message. Tear lines, when present,
are located just before the Origin line.

Tear lines serve no control purpose, but are often placed into
messages for historical reasons. They should be considered as what
they are: just part of the message text.

MSGID: A control line defined in FTS-0009. Identifies the origin
address of the message, and provides a unique serial number that can
be used for linking replies and duplicate message control.

REPLY: A control line defined in FTS-0009. In conjunction with
MSGID, can be used to link replies to original messages.

INTL, TOPT: Netmail routing control lines defined in FTS-0001. These
control lines should not appear in echomail as they impart "false"
information after the first "stop" due to the nature of echomail.

FMPT: A control line defined in FTS-0001. Identifies point portion
of from address. This control line should not appear in echomail
unless there is no MSGID and the Origin line doesn't list the point
portion of the address.

You may find other (experimental) kludge lines in an echomail message.
Generally speaking, a kludge which is "netmail only," like a routing
kludge or a "VIA" line, should not appear in echomail. Remember that
the cost of transmitting a message will be borne by many nodes, and
extraneous, unuseful information produces unnecessary additional cost.
All control information in echomail messages should be kept as small
as possible.

If you're curious about the uses of an experimental kludge and/or are
considering supporting it, check for an FSC-* document covering it.

Security considerations:
=======================
Echomail processors that attempt to provide a "secure" environment
should not rely on the message header address, but use the packet
header address (and possibly the password field) instead. The packet
header field will reflect who sent you the message. Message header
addresses are usually also changed to reflect the forwarder instead of
the "real" origin, but this is not guaranteed (and perhaps not even
desirable). To find the "real" origin of a message, check for a MSGID
and/or Origin line.

Topology considerations:
=======================
Nothing creates duplicate message loops faster than bad topology.
Consider the following simple diagram:
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 13 12 May 1997

B<---->C
^ ^
A<-------->| |<-------->F
v v
D<---->E

This topology contains a duplicate message loop. Consider: B
receives mail from A and forwards to C, D and F. C, D and F forward
to E. If we connect the polygon so:

B<---->C
^\ /^
A<-------->| \/ |<-------->F
v / \ v
D<---->E

In this topology (fully connected polygon), no such duplicate message
sending occurs. While fully connected polygons can be effective in
some networks (these are the reason SEEN-BYs can be necessary for more
than backward compatibility), a better topology in general is the star
and/or tree:

+<-->E
^
|
v
another tree +<-->D<-->+<-->F
^ ^ ^
| | |
| | v
v v +<-->G
another tree <--->A<--------->B<-->+
^ ^ +<-->H
| | ^
| | |
v v v
another tree +<-->C<-->+<-->I
^
|
v
+<-->J

Echomail topology should be carefully monitored by the systems
involved to prevent formation (or quickly disassemble) costly
duplicate message looping constructs.

Acknowledgements:
================
Tom Jennings "created" Fidonet. Jeff Rush "created" echomail. Bob
Hartman's ConfMail docs served as the echomail specification for
years, and did so admirably; the mail moved.

Related documents:
=================
FTS-0001 (transport layer, packet format, various kludge
lines)
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 14 12 May 1997

FTS-0009 (MSGID and REPLY)
FSC-0039 (alternate packet header format)
FSC-0043 (hints on recognizing control information)
FSC-0045 (alternate packet header format)

-30-

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Document: FSC-0069
Version: 001
Date: 13-Dec-1992

A Proposal
for
A FidoNet (FTN) Domain Name Service
Robert Heller
1:321/153
Locks Hill BBS

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.

Information
-----------

The purpose of this FSC is to describe my ideas for migrating
FidoNet(r) networks from a "static" nodelist to a domain based
nameserver type of address resolution scheme. This document does
not propose a definitive scheme, only one posible scheme. Other
schemes are posible - this document just presents one as a starting
point for discussion.

1. Introduction
---------------

In this document I plan to present a simple domain nameserver scheme
for FidoNet(r) networks. This scheme could be implemented easily,
since no new connection protocols would be needed and in fact little
new software would be needed.

Nameserver queries would be implemented as File Requests for magic
filenames. The files would contain the information needed to perform
the desired address resolution. These files would be built by the
nameserver in advance by an off-line process. That is, they would be
pre-computed - the querying node would not be left hanging on the line
while the nameserver went off and did a database lookup.
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 15 12 May 1997

2. Addresses
------------

A domain nameserver based FidoNet would use three levels of
addressing: virtual (most abstract), logical, and physical (least
abstract).

2.1 Virtual Addresses

A node has 1 or more virtual addresses, one of which is it primary
address and the others are aliases. A virtual address is a totally
symbolic address and is formatted just like an InterNet address:

node.domain

where node is the node's name and domain is a domain specification and
can have any number of [sub-]* domains. For example, my system could
have a virtual address of:

LocksHill.DeepWoods.com.fidonet.org

The node and domain segment strings consist of letters (upper and
lower case are equivelant), digits, dash (-), underscore (_), and
dollar sign ($) characters and must begin with a letter.

Virtual addresses generally convey no geographical or routing
information. They are intended purely for human convience purposes -
they are really little more and a node name, with some added
information.

2.2 Logical Addresses

A node can 1 or more logical addresses, although having only 1 is
preferable. A logical address is exactly an existing 3-4D FidoNet(r)
address:

Zone:Net_or_Region/Node

or

Zone:Net_or_Region/Node.Point

A logical address is used by mail packers and mail routers. It is the
addresses exchanged in YooHoo/2U2 packets and live in the Type-2
packet headers.

2.3 Physical Addresses

A node has exactly one physical address. In FidoNet(r), this is
typically the telephone number assigned by the telephone company. (It
is posible that some nodes have something else as a "physical"
address, for example a point which is connected to its bossnode via a
LAN connection or a hardwired COM port.) A multi-line BBS typically
has one line for FidoNet(r) connections or multiple logical and
virtual address, at least one per line. The physical address is used
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 16 12 May 1997

by the mailer program to actually make a connection.

3. The Domain Database
----------------------

The domain database would consist of four ASCII text files, probably
compressed:

1) The domain table. This text file maps between virtual
addresses and logical addresses. It also defines aliases
as well and lists nameservers.

2) The mail-exchanger table. This text file describes the
prefered netmail routing. For each domain tail, it lists
one or more node names that handle incoming mail for
those domain tails. This file only uses virtual
addresses. Its data is consulted by high-level mail
routers, that take out-bound mail messages and combines
them into bundles that are later packed into mail packets
(which are routed to logical address fetched from the
domain table).

3) The capability file. This file describes any extra
services or capabilities a node might provide. This
includes (but is certainly not limited to): gateway
services (to other FTN or to non-FTN networks),
alternitive low-level connection protocols (i.e. UUCP,
SLIP, etc.), and file echos (SDS, SDN, etc.). This file
is meant as a catch-all for misc. optional information
that might be usefull.

4) The nodelist segment file. This file contains the mapping
from logical address to physical address, and is in fact,
a presnt-day NodeList file, except it is a "sparce"
nodelist. That is, it only describes the nodes at the
immediate level of the nameserver and nodes at the level
above and below the nameserver.

3.1 Format of the domain table file.
------------------------------------

The domain table file contains 1 or more lines of text. Lines
starting with a semi-colon (;) are comments and are ignored when this
file is processd. Each non-comment line contains two or more fields
separated by commas:

field1,field2,...,fieldN

The first field is a field type keyword. The field types defined are
(case is not important):

DEFAULT,domaintail

Defines the default domain tail to append to domain names in the
rest of the file. Domain tail must begin with a dot (.). Any
subsequent domain names that do end in a dot will get the specified
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 17 12 May 1997

domaintail appended before further processing.

NAMESERVER,domaintail,domain,preference

Defines a domain server for domaintail. Domain is the virtual
address of the server node and preference is a preference value, a
number giving a relative value when looking for a server to contact.
A higher number means this is a better node to try and a lower number
means this is a backup server. The preference gives a ranking for
multiple servers for a given domain tail.

ALIAS,domain1,domain2

Defines that domain1 is an alias for domain2.

ZONE,zone-number
REGION,region-number
NET,net-number

Defines default values to use in subsequent ADDRESS lines. Region
and net lines are effectivly interchangable and are used for
documentary reasons.

ADDRESS,domain,logical-address

Defines the logical address for domain. The logical-address can be
missing fields. Missing fields are supplied from prior ZONE, REGION,
and NET lines. Node and point numbers cannot be defaulted.

3.1.1 Sample domain table.

;; Domain table for Network 999 (N_Luna) of zone 444 (the Moon)
;; (c) Copyright 2001 Network 999
;;
;; Our default domain
Default,.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org
;; Our zone
Zone,444
;; Our Net
Net,999
;; Our NC, Jim
Alias,N_Luna_Net,Jims_SpaceSuits
;; Our NEC, Sally
Alias,N_Luna_NEC,Sallys_Lunies
;; Our namesevers
;; Note empty domaintail - the default is used
NameServer,,N_Luna_Net,100
NameServer,,N_Luna_NEC,50
;; Out of net nameservers
;; Our Zone nameserver
NameServer,.moon.fidonet.org.,Moon_NS.fidonet.org.,100
;; Our IC nameserver
NameServer,.fidonet.org.,FidoNet_NS.fidonet.org.,100
;; Use the IC nameserver for non-fidonet addresses
NameServer,.,FidoNet_NS.fidonet.org.,100
;;
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 18 12 May 1997

;;
;; Nodes
;;
Address,Jims_SpaceSuits,100
Address,Sallys_Lunies,110
Address,Moon_Rock_BBS,120
Address,Monolith_HQ,200
Address,Space1999,210
Address,LostOnTheMoon,240
Address,NorthLunaics,300
;;
;; Out of net addresses
;;
Address,Moon_NS.fidonet.org.,999/100
Address,FidoNet_NS.fidonet.org.,1:1/0
Address,naEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org.,999/1
Address,eurEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org.,999/2
Address,ozEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org.,999/3
Address,saEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org.,999/4
Address,AfricaEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org.,999/5

Some notes about the above - the underscores (_) are part of the names
and do not indicate spaces. The case mixing is stylistic and is an
aid to readablity. The above is a net level domain table. It also
includes nameserver definations for higher levels, so nodes in N_Luna
net can perform address resolutions to out of net addresses.

3.2 Format of the mail exchanger table file.
--------------------------------------------

The mail exchanger table file contains 1 or more lines of text. Like
the domain table lines starting with a semi-colon (;) are comments and
each non-comment line contains a list of three comma-separated values:

domaintail,domain,preference

Where domaintail is a domain suffix of a posible mail address, domain
is the virtual-address of a node that handles the domain suffix's
mail, and preference is a preference value (higher number is more
prefered than a lower number).

3.2.1 Sample mail exchanger table file

;; Mail exchanger table for Network 999 (N_Luna) of zone 444 (the
;; Moon)
;; (c) Copyright 2001 Network 999
;;
;; Local mail can go via either the NC or NEC, with the NC
;; getting a higher preference
.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,N_Luna_Net.moon.fidonet.org,100
.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,N_Luna_NEC.moon.fidonet.org,90
;; Out of zone mail goes through the zone gates
.naEarth.fidonet.org,naEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org,50
.eurEarth.fidonet.org,eurEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org,50
.ozEarth.fidonet.org,ozEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org,50
.saEarth.fidonet.org,saEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org,50
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 19 12 May 1997

.AfricaEarth.fidonet.org,AfricaEarth_gate.moon.fidonet.org,50
.JupiterNet.org,Monolith_HQ.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,50

Some notes about the above - undefined domain tails don't have a
defined mail exchanger - this will a node trying to send such mail to
do a nameserver call to get mail exchanger and any other info needed.
( The above is probably unrealistic - a more realistic mail exchanger
table might have a default mail gateway. And/or a zone-local inter-
network nameserver.)

3.3 Capability file.
--------------------

The capability file lists virtual-address and any extra services it
might provide. Semi-colon (;) in column one means a comment. The
non-comment lines are of the format:

virtual-address,keyword:value,keyword:value,...

Where virtual-address is a node's virtual address. There can be any
number of lines with the same virtual-address. The keyword:value
pairs accumulate (as if there was only one very long line for that
virtual-address).

3.3.1 Sample capability file.

;; Capability file for Network 999 (N_Luna) of zone 444 (the Moon)
;; (c) Copyright 2001 Network 999
;;
Jims_SpaceSuits.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,Protcol:UUCP-Z,File:SDSURISC
Jims_SpaceSuits.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,File:PDNVIRTWIND,File:PDNVIRTR
EAL
Monolith_HQ.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,Protocol:X2500,Gateway:JupiterNet.
org Space1999.N_Luna.moon.fidonet.org,File:PDNNUKEWASTE

3.4 The NodeList Segment File.
------------------------------

The nodelist segment file is just a FTS-0005 nodelist file, except it
is "sparce", that is, it only contains just enough info to translate
the logical addresses in the corresponding domain table file.

4.0 Nameserver Implementation.
------------------------------

Nameservers would be implemented by using the existing file-request
methods presently in existance. Five magic filenames would be setup:

DNSDTABL - Domain table file
DNSMXTBL - Mail Exchanger table file
DNSCAPAF - Capability file
DNSNODEL - NodeList segment file
DNSALL - An archive file containing all four of the files.

All a nameserver would need to do would be to provide these five
files, probably in some sort of commonly acceptable archive format.
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 20 12 May 1997

The real filenames should have some sort of predictable, but unique
name probably based on the level of the nameserver and the number of
the zone, region, or network the nameserver serves.

4.1 Nameserver Levels.
----------------------

Nameservers would exist at various levels:

1) At the zone level. The zone level nameserver(s) would
supply information for the current zone level nodes,
regional level nameservers, and would also have
information about the zone level nameservers in all other
zones.

2) At the regional level. The regional level nameservers
would supply information for the current region level
nodes (indpendent nodes), the current zone nameserver(s)
(up level), and network level nameservers. In some
smaller zones, the region level *might* be skipped. The
RC also makes the regional level domain info available to
each of the region's independent nodes.

3) At the network level. The network level nameservers
would supply information about the current network level
nodes (regular nodes), and the current regional
nameserver(s). Also, the NC delivers or makes available
the network level domain info to each of the nodes in the
local network.

(If the regional level is skipped, the network nameservers would
contain entries for zone level nameservers and zone level
nameserver(s) would contain network nameserver info instead of
regional nameserver info.)

5.0 Database Updates and Management.
------------------------------------

Each node gets the network (region for independents) level info. These
updates are handled much the way nodediffs get handled at present. The
existing nodediff structure is really a generic text file difference
editor and should work for any sort of text file. If the node needs
additional info for regular connections, it is up to the node's sysop
to schedule regular file requests to the nameservers that supply the
additional info needed. (This might require a cascade of requests,
depending on nameserver dependencies - posibily a "make" like utility
could be used to generate the requests.) A compiled database would be
a merge of the data files a node gets from its NC (or RC for
independents) and any additional info the node fetches.

Because the information supplied at each level only relates to that
level and the levels just above and below, updates are mostly local in
nature. There is no need to pass detailed network level info to the
RC. All that is needed is for the NC to pass the local info, merged
with the regional nameserver info to the network's nameservers and
pass the network's nameserver info to the RC. Likewise the RC only
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 21 12 May 1997

needs to merge the regions indepent node info with the network
nameserver info (passed up from the NCs) and zone level nameserver
info (passed down from the ZC) and pass this to the regional
nameservers and to pass info on the region's nameserver(s) to the NCs.
Things are much the same at the zone level, except the ZCs pass their
own zone level nameserver info to each other. Nothing like the full
nodelist ever gets passed around.

6.0 Final Thoughts.
-------------------

This document is by no means complete. It is intended as "food for
thought". I hope that the members of the FTSC and others will read
this and think about these ideas and maybe even setup experimental
nameservers and see how it goes. I expect lots of feedback.

Robert Heller
1:321/153

-30-

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Document: FSC-0070
Date: 15-Jul-94
Revision: 002

Improving Fidonet/Usenet gating and Dupe Checking

Franck Arnaud, Fidonet 2:320/213.666

Status of this document
-----------------------

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

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

Introduction
------------

The complexity of Usenet/Fidonet gating and the large number of
gateways has led to a non-negligible quantity of duplicates appearing
regularly in both the Usenet and Fidonet worlds. This proposal
defines a standard method for gateway software to deal with
conversion of message identifiers between both worlds, so that we can
improve the reliability of Usenet/Fidonet gateways.

In this document "^" means <control-A> (character 01h).

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 22 12 May 1997

History
-------

Revision 002 adds details and makes the Fidonet to Usenet sheme FTS-
0009 compliant.

Usenet To Fidonet Message Identifier Conversion
-----------------------------------------------

A major problem is preventing messages gated into Fidonet from RFC822
from being gated back to Usenet at another gateway with a new message
id. The easy way to solve that is simply to store the RFC message ID
in a kludge line. This kludge line could also allow identifying
messages gated from Usenet (this could be used by message editors to
allow private replies to the nearest uucp gateway for example).

It is proposed that the ^RFCID: kludge is used to store the RFC
Message-ID: in Fidonet messages. Of course, the use of the RFCID
kludge doesn't replace the standard fts-0009 Message-ID:.

(Usenet) Message-ID: <[email protected]>
to (Fido) ^MSGID: 2:300/400.5 6789fedc
^RFCID: [email protected]

Note ^RFCID does not include the Message-ID enclosing "<" and ">".

Then if a gateway finds a ^RFCID line in a Fido message, it will use
it in the Usenet message ID, instead of converting the ^MSGID.

Fidonet to Usenet Message Identifiers Conversion
------------------------------------------------

The dupe checking in Usenet is based on the message ID. Fidonet now
has its own standard message identification standard (fts-0009).

So it would be interesting if the same Fidonet message gated at
different gateways had the same ID in Usenet to help news processing
programs in stopping dupes.

The proposed fido ^MSGID: to RFC1036 Message-ID: conversion method is
defined as below:

The ^MSGID: value (a string) is not parsed and converted as below to
the ID part of Usenet's Message-ID. The Message-ID domain is the
fidonet domain, "fidonet.org" if the gated echomail comes from the
Fidonet(tm) network.

To convert the MSGID string, the following rules are applied:
- Alphanumeric (a-z,A-Z,0-9) characters are kept intact (case
preserved).
- Non-alphanumeric characters - including the space beetwen the
origin address and the serial number - are converted to '-'.

Some examples:

(Fido) ^MSGID: 2:300/400 12345AbC
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 23 12 May 1997

to (Usenet) Message-ID: <[email protected]>

(Fido) ^MSGID: 15:300/400.50@somenet abcd6789
to (Usenet) Message-ID: <[email protected]>

(Fido) ^MSGID: Internet.Domain.org aBcD1234
to (Usenet) Message-ID: <[email protected]>

(Fido) ^MSGID: "LZKkoe$1982 98a" 45678bcd
to (Usenet) Message-ID: <[email protected]>

-30-

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 24 12 May 1997

=================================================================
COORDINATORS CORNER
=================================================================

Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 129
By Ward Dossche, 2:292/854
ZC/2

+----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+
|Zone|Nl-101|Nodelist-108|Nodelist-115|Nodelist-122|Nodelist-129|%%|
+----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+
| 1 | 8837| 8675 -162 | 8675 0 | 8519 -156 | 8430 -89 |31|
| 2 | 15902|15993 91 |15992 -1 |15952 -40 |15904 -48 |59|
| 3 | 800| 800 0 | 800 0 | 800 0 | 800 0 | 3|
| 4 | 548| 547 -1 | 547 0 | 548 1 | 543 -5 | 2|
| 5 | 87| 87 0 | 87 0 | 87 0 | 87 0 | 0|
| 6 | 1083| 1083 0 | 1083 0 | 1083 0 | 1083 0 | 4|
+----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+
| 27257|27185 -72 |27184 -1 |26989 -195 |26847 -142 |
+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 25 12 May 1997

=================================================================
ECHOING
=================================================================

North American Backbone Echo Changes [Mar-Apr]
by Lisa Gronke, 1:105/16
[email protected]

Summary of backbone & quasi-backbone echo changes during Mar & Apr.

Brought to you courtesy of (unix) diff.

diff (backbone.na + backbone.no) 02-Mar-97 04-May-97 [edited].

Added to the backbone
-----------------------
> BBS_INTERNET DOS/Win/OS2/Unix Internet BBS Applications
> EP-ANNOUNCE EPubNet File Announcement Echo
> EP-GENERAL EPubNet General Chat Echo
> EP-SYSOP EPubNet Sysop Echo
> FIDOWORK The FidoNet Workshop
> MOVING Our Mobile Society
> MTN_BIKE (low traffic since 4/1/97)
> OLD_ENGINE Fidonet Nostalgia and Old Engine discussion
> TOTT_JC Juvenile Court
> WIN97 Windows 97 Echo

Removed from the backbone or quasi-backbone
-------------------------------------------
< ABLED_ATHLETE (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< CARIBBEAN_CHAT (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< CPALSY (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< CRIME_QUEST Crime Quest doorgame discussion area
< C_ABILITY (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< DAIRY_FARM (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< DENTISTRY (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< DESCENT (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< GEN4SALE BUY TRADE OR SELL GENEALOGY PRODUCTS, SERVICES
< INTRACTABLE_PAIN Discussion of Intractable Pain, Treatments
< IN_COUNTRY (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< LOTAKIDS (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< MM1_TECH (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< MOVIETV (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< NEW (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< NEW_WAVE_MUSIC (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< NON-FICTION (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< OASIS (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< REENACT Reenacting & Living History
< ROBO_LINK (low traffic since 1/1/97)
< RTSOFT (not in EchoList since 1/1/97)
< SEEDSWAP (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< SPANISH.GEN (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< VFALSAC (low traffic since 2/1/97)
< WIN_VS_OS2 (low traffic since 2/1/97)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 26 12 May 1997

o There are 764 echos in backbone.na [04-May-97] (down 14)
(actually 763 echos, since WIN.SYSOP is listed twice)
o There are 55 echos in backbone.no [05-Mar-97 (no change)
o for a total of 819 backbone & quasi-backbone echos (down 14)
(actually 818 echos, since WIN.SYSOP is listed twice)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 27 12 May 1997

=================================================================
NET HUMOR
=================================================================

From: "Mike Riddle" <[email protected]>
To: "Baker, Christopher" <[email protected] (Christopher Baker)>,
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 97 13:13:32 -0600
Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: (Fwd) VERY FUNNY!! How to install software.

==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE==================
To: "Martin B. Paskind" <[email protected]>,
Subject: VERY FUNNY!! How to install software.
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 97 16:44:24 -0500
From: Ppromom <[email protected]>

-- [ From: Ppromom * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

"How To Install Software -- A 12-Step Program"
by Dave Barry

1. Examine the software packaging until you find a little printed box
that explains what kind of computer system you need to run the
software.

It should look something like this:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
2386 PROCESSOR OR HIGHER
628.8 MEGAHERTZ MODEM
719.7 MB FREE DISK SPACE
3546 MB RAM
432323 MB ROM
05948737 MB RPM
ANTILOCK BRAKING SYSTEM
2 TURTLE DOVES

NOTE: This software will not work on your computer.

2. Open the software packaging and remove the manual. This will
contain detailed instructions on installing, operating, and
troubleshooting the software. Throw it away.

3. Find the actual software, which should be in the form of either a
3.5-inch floppy diskette or a CD-ROM, located inside a sealed
envelope that says:

LICENSING AGREEMENT:

By breaking this seal, the user hereinafter agrees to abide by all
the terms and conditions of the following agreement that nobody ever
reads, as well as the Geneva Convention and the U.N. Charter and the
Secret Membership Oath of the Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 28 12 May 1997

and such other terms and conditions, real and imaginary, as the
Software Company shall deem necessary and appropriate, including the
right to come to the user's home and examine the user's hard drive,
as well as the user's underwear drawer if we feel like it, take it or
leave it, until death do us part, one nation indivisible by the
dawn's early light,... finders keepers, losers weepers, ...

4. Hand the software to a child aged 3 through 12 and say, "(Name of
child) , please install this on my computer."

5. If you have no child age 3 through 12, insert the software in the
appropriate drive, type SETUP" and press the Enter key.

6. Turn the computer on, you idiot.

7. Once again type "SETUP" and press the Enter key.

8. You will hear grinding and whirring noises for a while, after
which the following message should appear on your screen:

The Installation Program will now examine your system to see what
would be
the best way to render it inoperable. Is it OK with you? Choose one,
and be honest:

+-----+ +------+
| YES | | SURE |
+-----+ +------+

9. After you make your selection, you will hear grinding and whirring
for a very long time while the installation program does who knows
what in there. Some installation programs can actually alter
molecular structures, so that when they're done, your computer has
been transformed into an entirely new device, such as a food
processor.

At the very least, the installation program will create many new
directories , sub-directories, and sub-sub-directories on your hard
drive and fill them with thousands of mysterious files with names like
"puree.exe," "fester.dat, " and "doo.wha.."

10. When the installation program is finished, your screen should
display the following message:

CONGRATULATIONS

The installation program cannot think of anything else to do to
your computer and has grown bored. You may now attempt to run your
software. If you experience any problems, electrical shocks,
insomnia, shortness of breath, nasal discharge, or intestinal
parasites, you should immediately *!@!$)$%@&*^)$*!#$_$*^&.

11. At this point your computer system should become less functional
than the federal government, refusing to respond even when struck with
furniture.

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 29 12 May 1997

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 30 12 May 1997

=================================================================
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
=================================================================

Ron Amos at 1:138/102 is looking for very old Nodelists that he can
file-request or download from an Internet site.

Have you got any?

If so, please send him a Netmail or send me an answer for next week's
Issue of FidoNews. A FidoNews .ANS would probably be better since
there are others who are also interested in finding a source for old
Nodelists for historical purposes.

Thanks.

C.B.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 31 12 May 1997

=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================

Future History

17 May 1997
Independence Day, Norway.

3 Jun 1997
2 years since FidoNet had an International Coordinator.

6 Jun 1997
National Commemoration Day, Sweden.

12 Jun 1997
Independence Day, Russia.

1 Jul 1997
Canada Day - Happy Birthday Canada.

9 Jul 1997
Independence Day, Argentina.

13 Oct 1997
Thanksgiving Day, Canada.

1 Dec 1997
World AIDS Day.

10 Dec 1997
Nobel Day, Sweden.

12 Jan 1998
HAL 9000 is one year old today.

22 May 1998
Expo '98 World Exposition in Lisbon (Portugal) opens.

1 Dec 1998
Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by
Tom Jennings.

31 Dec 1999
Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed.

1 Jan 2000
The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec.

15 Sep 2000
Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens.

1 Jan 2001
This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E.

-- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 32 12 May 1997

Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 33 12 May 1997

=================================================================
FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING
=================================================================

Latest Greatest Software Versions
by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264

Note: Mid-May, I will phase out the entire "Old Info" section. As
always, I'll be happy to process any information I get, either before
or after it is phased out.

-=- Snip -=-

Submission form for the Latest Greatest Software Versions column

OS Platform :
Software package name :
Version :
Function(s) - BBS, Mailer, Tosser, etc. :
Freeware / Shareware / Commercial? :
Author / Support staff contact name :
Author / Support staff contact node :
Magic name (at the above-listed node) :

Please include a sentence describing what the package does.

Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264

-=- Snip -=-

MS-DOS:
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Act-Up 4.6 G D Chris Gunn 1:15/55 ACT-UP
ALLFIX 4.40 T S Harald Harms 2:281/415 ALLFIX
Announcer 1.11 O S Peter Karlsson 2:206/221 ANNOUNCE
BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX
Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP
BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOS_260.ZIP
BinkleyTerm-XE XR4 M F Thomas Waldmann 2:2474/400 BTXE_DOS
CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR
CheckPnt 1.0a O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 CHECKPNT
FastEcho 1.45a T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FASTECHO
FastEcho/16 1.45a T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FE16
FidoBBS (tm) 12u B S Ray Brown 1:1/117 FILES
FrontDoor 2.12 M S JoHo 2:201/330 FD
FrontDoor 2.20c M C JoHo 2:201/330 FDINFO
GEcho 1.00 T S Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO
GEcho/Plus 1.11 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO
GEcho/Pro 1.20 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO
GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO
GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GED
GoldED/386 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEX
GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM
GoldNODE 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEN
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 34 12 May 1997

Imail 1.75 T S Michael McCabe 1:1/121 IMAIL
ImCrypt 1.04 O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT
InfoMail/86 1.21 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFOMAIL
InfoMail/386 1.21 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFO386
InterEcho 1.19 T C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IEDEMO
InterMail 2.29k M C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IMDEMO
InterPCB 1.52 O S Peter Stewart 1:369/35 INTERPCB
IPNet 1.11 O S Michele Stewart 1:369/21 IPNET
JD's CBV 1.4 O S John Dailey 1:363/277 CBV
Jelly-Bean 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY
Jelly-Bean/386 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY386
JMail-Hudson 2.81 T S Jason Steck 1:285/424 JMAIL-H
JMail-Goldbase 2.81 T S Jason Steck 1:285/424 JMAIL-G
MakePl 1.9 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 MAKEPL
Marena 1.1 beta O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 MARENA
Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAX
McMail 1.0 M S Michael McCabe 1:1/148 MCMAIL
MDNDP 1.18 N S Bill Doyle 1:388/7 MDNDP
Msged 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41D.ZIP
Msged/386 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41X.ZIP
Opus CBCS 1.79 B P Christopher Baker 1:374/14 OPUS
O/T-Track 2.66 O S Peter Hampf 2:241/1090 OT
PcMerge 2.8 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE
PlatinumXpress 1.3 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PX13TD.ZIP
QuickBBS 2.81 B S Ben Schollnick 1:2613/477 QUICKBBS
RAR 2.00 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR
RemoteAccess 2.50 B S Mark Lewis 1:3634/12 RA
Silver Xpress
Door 5.4 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 FILES
Reader 4.4 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 SXR44.ZIP
Spitfire 3.51 B S Mike Weaver 1:3670/3 SPITFIRE
Squish 1.11 T P Tech 1:249/106 SQUISH
StealTag UK 1.c... O F Fred Schenk 2:284/412 STEAL_UK
StealTag NL 1.c... O F Fred Schenk 2:284/412 STEAL_NL
T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL
Telegard 3.02 B F Tim Strike 1:259/423 TELEGARD
Terminate 4.00 O S Bo Bendtsen 2:254/261 TERMINATE
Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK
TosScan 1.01 T C JoHo 2:201/330 TSINFO
TransNet 1.00 G S Marc S. Ressl 4:904/72 TN100ALL.ZIP
TriBBS 11.0 B S Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRIBBS
TriDog 11.0 T F Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRIDOG
TriToss 11.0 T S Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRITOSS
WaterGate 0.92 G S Robert Szarka 1:320/42 WTRGATE
WWIV 4.24a B S Craig Dooley 1:376/126 WWIV
WWIVTOSS 1.36 T S Craig Dooley 1:376/126 WWIVTOSS
xMail 2.00 T S Thorsten Franke 2:2448/53 XMAIL
XRobot 3.01 O S JoHo 2:201/330 XRDOS

OS/2:
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALLFIX/2 1.10 T S Harald Harms 2:281/415 AFIXOS2
BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX
Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP
BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BOS2_260.ZIP
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 35 12 May 1997

BinkleyTerm-XE XR4 M F Thomas Waldmann 2:2474/400 BTXE_OS2
CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR
FastEcho 1.45a T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FE2
FleetStreet 1.19 O S Michael Hohner 2:2490/2520 FLEET
GEcho/Pro 1.20 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO
GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO
GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEO
GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM
GoldNODE 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEN
ImCrypt 1.04 O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT
Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAXP
Msged/2 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41O.ZIP
PcMerge 2.3 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE
RAR 2.00 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR2
Squish 1.11 T P Tech 1:249/106 SQUISHP
T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL2
Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK
XRobot 3.01 O S JoHo 2:201/330 XROS2

Windows (16-bit apps):
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL
FrontDoor APX 1.12 P S Mats Wallin 2:201/329 FDAPXW

Windows (32-bit apps):
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL
Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP
BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BW32_260.ZIP
CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR
GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEO
GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM
Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAXN
Msged/NT 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41W.ZIP
PlatinumXpress 2.00 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PXW-INFO
T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAILNT
WinFOSSIL/95 1.12 r4 F S Bryan Woodruff 1:343/294 WNFOSSIL.ZIP
WinFOSSIL/NT 1.0 beta F S Bryan Woodruff 1:343/294 NTFOSSIL.ZIP

Unix:
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ifmail 2.10 M G Eugene Crosser 2:293/2219 IFMAIL
ifmail-tx ...tx8.2 M G Pablo Saratxaga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX
ifmail-tx.rpm ...tx8.2 M G Pablo Saratxaga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX.RPM
Msged 4.00 O G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED
Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK

Amiga:
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrashMail 1.23 T X Fredrik Bennison 2:205/324 CRASHMAIL
CrashTick 1.1 O F Fredrik Bennison 2:205/324 CRASHTICK
DLG Pro BBOS 1.15 B C Holly Sullivan 1:202/720 DLGDEMO
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 36 12 May 1997

GMS 1.1.85 M S Mirko Viviani 2:331/213 GMS
Msged 4.00 O G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED
Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK

TrapDoor 1.86.b2 M S Maximilian Hantsch
2:310/6 TRAPDOOR
TrapDoor 1.86.b2 M S Maximilian Hantsch
2:310/6 TRAPBETA
TrapToss 1.50 T S Rene Hexel 2:310/6 TRAPTOSS

Atari:
Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BinkleyTerm/ST 3.18pl2 M F Bill Scull 1:363/112 BINKLEY
JetMail 0.99beta22
T S Joerg Spilker 2:2432/1101 JETMAIL
Semper 0.80beta M S Jan Kriesten 2:2490/1624 SMP-BETA

Function: B-BBS, P-Point, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, G-Gateway, T-Tosser,
C-Compression, F-Fossil, O-Other. Note: Multifunction will
be listed by the first match.

Cost: P-Free for personal use, F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial,
X-Crippleware, D-Demoware, G-Free w/ Source

Old info from: 01/27/92
---------------------------------------------------------------------

MS-DOS Systems Other Utilities Other Utilities
-------------- Name Version Name Version
-------------------- --------------------
Network Mailers 2DAPoint 1.50* Netsex 2.00b
Name Version 4Dog/4DMatrix 1.18 OFFLINE 1.35
-------------------- ARCAsim 2.31 Oliver 1.0a
D'Bridge 1.30 ARCmail 3.00* OSIRIS CBIS 3.02
Dreamer 1.06 Areafix 1.20 PKInsert 7.10
Dutchie 2.90c ConfMail 4.00 PolyXarc 2.1a
Milqtoast 1.00 Crossnet 1.5 QM 1.00a
PreNM 1.48 DOMAIN 1.42 QSort 4.04
SEAdog 4.60 DEMM 1.06 RAD Plus 2.11
SEAmail 1.01 DGMM 1.06 Raid 1.00
TIMS 1.0(mod8) DOMAIN 1.42 RBBSMail 18.0
EEngine 0.32 ScanToss 1.28
Compression EMM 2.11* ScMail 1.00
Utilities EZPoint 2.1 ScEdit 1.12
Name Version FGroup 1.00 Sirius 1.0x
-------------------- FidoPCB 1.0s@ SLMail 2.15C
ARC 7.12 FNPGate 2.70 StarLink 1.01
ARJ 2.20 GateWorks 3.06e TagMail 2.41
LHA 2.13 GMail 2.05 TCOMMail 2.2
PAK 2.51 GMD 3.10 Telemail 1.5*
PKPak 3.61 GMM 1.21 TGroup 1.13
PKZip 1.10 GROUP 2.23 TIRES 3.11
GUS 1.40 TMail 1.21
NodeList Utilities Harvey's Robot 4.10 TosScan 1.00
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 37 12 May 1997

Name Version HeadEdit 1.18 UFGATE 1.03
-------------------- HLIST 1.09 VPurge 4.09e
EditNL 4.00 ISIS 5.12@ WEdit 2.0@
FDND 1.10 Lola 1.01d WildMail 2.00
MakeNL 2.31 Mosaic 1.00b WMail 2.2
Parselst 1.33 MailBase 4.11a@ WNode 2.1
Prune 1.40 MSG 4.5* XRS 4.99
SysNL 3.14 MsgLnk 1.0c XST 2.3e
XlatList 2.90 MsgMstr 2.03a YUPPIE! 2.00
XlaxNode/Diff 2.53 MsgNum 4.16d ZmailH 1.25
MSGTOSS 1.3 ZSX 2.40

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Key to old info:
+ - Netmail Capable (Doesn't Require Additional Mailer Software)
* - Recently Updated Version
@ - New Addition
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 38 12 May 1997

=================================================================
FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY
=================================================================

[this must be copied out to a file starting at column 1 or
it won't process under PGP as a valid public-key]

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Clear-signing is Electronic Digital Authenticity!
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=61OQ
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] or download it from the
Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 anytime except 0100-0130 ET and Zone
1 ZMH at 1200-9600+ HST/V32B. The FidoNews key is also available on
the FidoNews homepage listed in the Masthead information.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 39 12 May 1997

=================================================================
FIDONET BY INTERNET
=================================================================

This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the Editor as
of this appearance.

============

FidoNet:

Homepage http://www.fidonet.org
FidoNews http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html
HTML FNews http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6894/
WWW sources http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html
FTSC page http://www2.blaze.net.au/ftsc.html
Echomail http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/index.html
WebRing http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fnetring.html

============

Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org

Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html

Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/

Region 13: http://www.smalltalkband.com/st01000.htm

Region 14: http://www.netins.net/showcase/fidonet/

Region 15: http://www.smrtsys.com/region15/ [disappeared?]

Region 16: http://www.tiac.net/users/satins/region16.htm

Region 17: http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/region17.htm

Region 18: http://www.citicom.com/fido.html

Region 19: http://home1.gte.net/bhamilt/index.htm

============

Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org

ZEC2: http://fidoftp.paralex.co.uk/zec.htm [shut down?]
Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fidonet.ch/z2_elist/z2_elist.htm

Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish)

Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (in German)

Region 25:
http://members.aol.com/Net254/

Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 40 12 May 1997

Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (in French)

Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (in Swiss)

Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (in Spanish)
REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr

Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/

Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (in Greek and English)

Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl

============

Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org

============

Zone 4: (not yet listed)

Region 90:
Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (in Spanish)

============

Zone 5: (not yet listed)

============

Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org

============

-----------------------------------------------------------------

FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 41 12 May 1997

=================================================================
FIDONEWS INFORMATION
=================================================================

------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION -------

Editor: Christopher Baker

Editors Emeritii: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell,
Donald Tees

"FidoNews Editor"
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS 1-904-409-7040, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds)

more addresses:
Christopher Baker -- 1:18/14, [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews Editor
P.O. Box 471
Edgewater, FL 32132-0471
U.S.A.

voice: 1-904-409-3040 [1400-2100 ET only, please]
[1800-0100 UTC/GMT]

------------------------------------------------------

FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in
these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of
FidoNews.

Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1997 Christopher Baker. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For
use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or
the Editor.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or
file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal
address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request
FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific
back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSEnn.ZIP] for a
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 42 12 May 1997

particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP
where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the
current year [7], i.e., FNWSFEB7.ZIP for all the Issues from Feb 97.

Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number
1 - 14 for 1984 - 1997, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in
size from 48K to 1.4M.

INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via:

http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm
ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/
ftp://ftp.aminet.org/pub/aminet/comm/fido/

*=*=*

You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to:

[email protected]

with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist

and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the email
distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist with no
message to the same address above.

*=*=*

You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6894/

STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request -
Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from:

ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/

Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents
for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 11 Megs.

=*=*=*=

The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also
available almost immediately after publication on the Editor's new
homepage on the World Wide Web at:

http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html

There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and
to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email
link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from
FIDONEWS 14-19 Page 43 12 May 1997

1:1/23 [1:18/14] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from
Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 as FIDONEWS.ASC in File Area 18. It
is also posted twice a month into the PKEY_DROP Echo available on the
Zone 1 Echomail Backbone.

*=*=*=*=*

SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable
from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators
also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it.

"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141,
and are used with permission.

"Disagreement is actually necessary,
or we'd all have to get in fights
or something to amuse ourselves
and create the requisite chaos."
-Tom Jennings

-30-

-----------------------------------------------------------------