* Number nine,  number nine, number nine, ...
Number nine,  number nine, number nine, ...

[This was written a few years back. I'm running it without contacting¨
the author. Note that with the advent of TICK/FLEA, a lot of technical¨
hurdles are gone... 

With the PGP package, as it exists without change in MSDOS excutable¨
form, exceedingly high security could be had for "free". Each net would¨
simply generate their nodelist fragment as a DIFF, PGP it, and FLEA/TICK¨
it. Whenever a file appears in the ZnnnLST directory, you simply handle¨
it as a NODEDIFF. That's all. (You could even manually rename each¨
incoming file NODEDIFF.1, NODEDIFF.2, etc so existing software would¨
accept it!

--tomj]



    Decentralizing the FidoNet <tm> Nodelist - Decentralizing FidoNet¨
Power

                        Randy Bush 1:105/6 16 Jun 89

Think of FidoNet as a confederation of local nets.  Forget regions. ¨
Forget zones except as a way of saving telco charges by concentrating¨
messages and as a way to segment the total nodelist.  FidoNet returns to¨
being a collection of local nets, as it was before the region and zone¨
hierarchies were added just a few years ago.

In each zone there is an echo, call it ZnnnLIST, to which every NC in¨
that zone subscribes.  In the North American zone, it is Z001LIST.  For¨
the moment, do not worry about the security or reliability of this echo,¨
but things like sequence numbers, checksums, and RSA public key¨
signatures can be used to address such problems (you are aware that RSA¨
can be used to send a validatable signature, yes?).

When an NC's net (or hub) segment undergoes significant change¨
(significant is that which would be likely to affect callers from¨
outside one's own net), then the NC posts a processed version of that¨
segment to the ZnnnLIST echo.  The processing could be to create a¨
difference file, compress the file, maybe RSA signature encode it, or¨
whatever else is deemed necessary.  A simplistic scheme to start is a¨
collection of lines of the form

    add z:n/n <new node line>
    del z:n/n
    chg z:n/n <altered nodel line>

similar to the prerevolutionary nodediff file.

By placing the processed segment in the ZnnnLIST echo, each net's¨
nodelist segment(s) will be automatically distributed to all other nets¨
within that zone.  This is the essence of the scheme.

Each NC automatically accumulates the changes to the zone nodelist as¨
they pass by in the ZnnnLIST echo for their zone.  Once a week (or two),¨
they create a difference file against last week's accumulated zone¨
nodelist, and distribute this new difference file within their local¨
net.  The nodes within the net are thus insulated from all change, and¨
do not have to change their prerevolutionary batch files or programs.

The zonegates exchange periodic diffference files for their zones, and¨
make the lists (or difference files) of the other zones available within¨
their own, likely via the local ZnnnLIST echo.  Since the advent of¨
zonegates, one need not know much about a node in another zone, only the¨
sysop's name and the node number. So we could choose to reduce the size¨
of lists we keep of other zones, if the thought is not too scary.

Note that a first prototype of this methodology could be constructed¨
from existing software plus a few days of coding.


--------

Credits:

  o FidoNet is a trademark of Tom Jennings.

  o UucpNet/Internet distribute the maps via their equivalents of¨
echomail.

  o This idea in this general form was first spoken of by Tom Jennings¨
in the FIDOBETA echo in May '89.

  o Ken Ganshirt refocussed my attention on it when I whined about the¨
current FidoNet hierarchic power structure.

