• fidonet.org

    From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to All on Sun Aug 11 16:02:46 2019
    Now that the obligatory knock knock jokes are out of the way, why is the fidonet.org domain no longer being updated? Is it a technical thing or a lack of resources thing or something else?

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Frank Linhares on Sun Aug 11 22:09:31 2019

    Now that the obligatory knock knock jokes are out of the way, why is the fidonet.org domain no longer being updated? Is it a technical thing or a lack of resources thing or something else?

    Give me something to update it with ... that would be a good start.

    So what do you propose?

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)
  • From Terry Roati@3:640/1321 to Ward Dossche on Mon Aug 12 11:15:58 2019

    Hi Ward,

    What happened to the old Fidonet Webring? Is it still working?

    Terry


    On Aug 11, 2019 10:09pm, Ward Dossche wrote to Frank Linhares:


    Now that the obligatory knock knock jokes are out of the way, why is the FL>> fidonet.org domain no longer being updated? Is it a technical thing or a FL>> lack of resources thing or something else?

    Give me something to update it with ... that would be a good start.

    So what do you propose?

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)

    Terry Roati - 3:640/1321 tfb-bbs.org

    ... Platinum Xpress & Wildcat!..... Nice!!!!
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v7.0
    * Origin: The File Bank BBS! (3:640/1321)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Ward Dossche on Sun Aug 11 22:18:30 2019
    Give me something to update it with ... that would be a good start.

    So what do you propose?

    Well.... I have updated an older perl script I found that takes the nodelist and creates the appropriate CNAME records for the nodes in the nodelist, including SRV records for those who don't operate on standard ports. It spits out a bind conf file.

    I am currently using it for the scinet-ftn.org domain, f100.n1.z77.scinet-ftn.org resolves to my system for example.

    I'm also gating netmail <-> email, but that's a whole other story.

    I would be more than glad to do it on a weekly basis, but I don't know who is currently looking after fidonet.org or if they are even using bind.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

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    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Frank Linhares on Mon Aug 12 09:36:47 2019

    ... but I don't know who is currently looking after fidonet.org or if
    they are even using bind.

    Me.

    Feel free to educate me.

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Ward Dossche on Mon Aug 12 09:13:52 2019
    Feel free to educate me.

    Not sure what you mean but as per the FTSC spec on DNS distributed nodelists
    a DNS server should be updated using the current nodelist. Like I said, I
    have a functioning perl script that does that, it works currently on another net that I run under a different domain.

    I'm just wondering why fidonet.org hasn't been updated using the current nodelist in a while.

    I have also been speaking to Nick over on this side of the pond about reactivating the old uucp gate for Zone 1 as I am also doing that for another net including enterprise grade spam and virus protection for it.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Frank Linhares on Mon Aug 12 15:33:01 2019
    Frank,

    I'm just wondering why fidonet.org hasn't been updated using the current nodelist in a while.

    That is a good question and something that needs to be worked on. The problem to be avoided there is that there are 4 nodelists every week, probably all named the same and likewise also 4 diff files. There will be bright people who are going to mix it all up, but let me have a shot at this.

    I have also been speaking to Nick over on this side of the pond about reactivating the old uucp gate for Zone 1 as I am also doing that for another net including enterprise grade spam and virus protection for it.

    From days gone by I remember tonnes of spam being imported into the net that way.

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Ward Dossche on Mon Aug 12 09:41:40 2019
    That is a good question and something that needs to be worked on. The problem to be avoided there is that there are 4 nodelists every week, probably all named t he same and likewise also 4 diff files. There will
    be bright people who are goin g to mix it all up, but let me have a shot at this.

    Is there not already an official fidonet nodelist that is compromised of all
    4 zones published every Friday?

    From days gone by I remember tonnes of spam being imported into the net that way .

    Although anti-spam technology is way better than it was even 5 years ago, fighting spam is a never ending game. There are many options, at least for gated netmail that I currently use to eliminate pretty much all of it like converting any base64, mime and html email to text and parsing it for valid content. Denying anything with an attachment as it wouldn't be gated anyway. Using RBLs and greylisting.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Frank Linhares on Mon Aug 12 16:23:30 2019
    Is there not already an official fidonet nodelist that is compromised of all 4 zones published every Friday?

    Please define "official" ?

    For historical reasons every ZC produces his/her own "official" world nodelist.

    There has been a time of "dissagreement" or let's call it "coordination issues"
    ...

    Much of that has ebbed away and ever since ZCs started producing daily lists, also of their zone, we are pretty much in-sync within a 24hr period.

    Now I think there are just differences in the prolog- and epilog-sections, not so much in the actual content.

    A point of contention remains the Z4-portion...

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Ward Dossche on Mon Aug 12 10:39:42 2019
    Much of that has ebbed away and ever since ZCs started producing daily lists, al so of their zone, we are pretty much in-sync within a 24hr period.

    Good enough. A perl script could easily be written to grab all 4 nodelists
    and only use the portion of nodelist that pertains to said zone etc...

    My question is, who is currently maintaining the DNS servers for fidonet.org.
    a lookup of the fidonet.org domain shows them somewhere in Italy bust as for updates, none have been done for a very long time.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Tommi Koivula@2:221/1.1 to Frank Linhares on Mon Aug 12 20:18:06 2019
    Hi Frank.

    12 Aug 19 09:41:40, you wrote to Ward Dossche:

    Although anti-spam technology is way better than it was even 5 years ago, fighting spam is a never ending game. There are many options, at least for gated netmail that I currently use to eliminate pretty much all of it like converting any base64, mime and html email to text and parsing it for
    valid
    content. Denying anything with an attachment as it wouldn't be gated
    anyway.
    Using RBLs and greylisting.

    I'm also running a gateway. I'm allowing only plain text messages to the gateway, it blocks spam very well, as well as rbl's and spamassassin.

    'Tommi

    ---
    * Origin: IPv6 Point at [2001:470:1f15:cb0:2:221:1:1] (2:221/1.1)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Tommi Koivula on Mon Aug 12 13:37:40 2019
    I'm also running a gateway. I'm allowing only plain text messages to the gateway , it blocks spam very well, as well as rbl's and spamassassin.

    I agree, it does a great job at keeping only valid messages being gated.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
    |07disksh0p|08!|07bbs |08% |07bbs.diskshop.ca |08% |07mystic goodness |11SciNet |03ftn hq |08% |07https://diskshop.ca/scinet

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: % disksh0p!bbs % bbs.diskshop.ca % SciNet ftn hq % (1:229/101)
  • From Andrew Leary@1:320/219 to Frank Linhares on Tue Aug 13 02:21:03 2019
    Hello Frank!

    12 Aug 19 09:41, you wrote to Ward Dossche:

    Is there not already an official fidonet nodelist that is compromised
    of all 4 zones published every Friday?

    Each Zone Coordinator publishes their own version of the nodelist, using their own segment plus the segments they have received from their fellow ZCs. It's been done that way ever since the International Coordinator position became vacant.

    The confusion that can occur is due to all ZCs using the same filenames (NODELIST and NODEDIFF) for their versions of the nodelist. You cannot apply a Z2-created NODEDIFF to the Z1-created NODELIST, as it will result in an invalid nodelist.

    The ZCs have attempted to combat this with the daily nodelists by naming the files and archives with the zone number; eg. Z1DAILY for Zone 1.

    Although anti-spam technology is way better than it was even 5 years
    ago, fighting spam is a never ending game. There are many options, at least for gated netmail that I currently use to eliminate pretty much
    all of it like converting any base64, mime and html email to text and parsing it for valid content. Denying anything with an attachment as
    it wouldn't be gated anyway. Using RBLs and greylisting.

    Good luck on that project!

    Andrew

    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    * Origin: Phoenix BBS * phoenix.bnbbbs.net (1:320/219)
  • From Ward Dossche@2:292/854 to Andrew Leary on Tue Aug 13 10:32:52 2019
    Andrew,

    It's been done that way ever since the International Coordinator
    position became vacant.

    Bullshit !!

    It has "always" been done like that with the home-Zone up front. For example in
    Z2 the sequence will be Z2 Z1 Z3 Z4, and in zone 3 it will be Z3 Z1 Z2 Z4. This
    dates from the days of slow processors and small/slow hard drives when software
    was unable to index and searches for a specific node were done sequential. As most searches were done in the home-zone, placing that home-zone in pole-position significantly sped-up the search.

    The ZCs have attempted to combat this with the daily nodelists by naming the files and archives with the zone number; eg. Z1DAILY for Zone 1.

    Again: bullshit !!

    The "daily" came into being in Z2 and was the pet-project of Michiel van der Vlist, Wilfred Van Velzen, Kees Van Eeten and myself. When we started with it, and as a consequence also with daily ZONE2-file, it caused a loud sigh in certain other zones (not in Z3 nor Z4).

    It was only when Nick Andre ascended to the ZC1-position that all nodelist-issues faded-away in less than 2 weeks and he started producing a Z1-daily also with the reliability of a Swiss timing-machine. At that point in time, "I" decided to rename our Z2 DAILYLST to Z2DAILY in order to prevent the type of confusion that exists with NODELIST/NODEDIFF (and which was used happily by certain individuals to fuel the zone warz).

    The naming was never subject of any broad discussion in the ZCC and I don't know if any of the other zones followed suit.

    \%/@rd

    --- D'Bridge 3.99
    * Origin: Home of the ORG (2:292/854)
  • From Janis Kracht@1:261/38 to Ward Dossche on Tue Aug 13 21:49:42 2019
    nodelist-issues faded-away in less than 2 weeks

    eh.. not quite.

    Kind of 'recently' though Nick DID start hatching updates in the NODELIST directory, and that helped my pre-configured scripts. Thanks Nick :)

    Though yes, it is heaven indeed having Nick in the Z1C chair, certainly for some people.. and a deserved break for me and my family after 20 some years IIRC.

    I've just been laughing at all your comments about the historical "problems with Z1 nodelist", seeing Nick automating such jobs and more :) Timestamps do tell a story for when the Thursday night nodelist gets distributed, old friend.

    You may now write a diatribe which I will ignore :)

    Take care,
    Janis

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-4
    * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)
  • From Nick Andre@1:229/426 to Janis Kracht on Wed Aug 14 02:39:34 2019
    On 13 Aug 19 21:49:42, Janis Kracht said the following to Ward Dossche:

    Kind of 'recently' though Nick DID start hatching updates in the NODELIST directory, and that helped my pre-configured scripts. Thanks Nick :)

    You're welcome. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "recently", the custom software and scripts I wrote to generate the Zone 1 nodelist and all its flavours have not changed in over a year now. If I did not publish routinely in the NODELIST echo, I would be nailed to the cross by the Nodelist Police.

    The Zone 1 Nodelist and all flavours contain a few added random tid-bits of
    my design to eliminate any accusations or guesswork as to the accuracy.
    There are three echoes here for obsessive-compulsive types to verify the status of my system at any given time; especially the Z1DAILY echo.

    Nick

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)
  • From Wilfred van Velzen@2:280/464 to Frank Linhares on Wed Aug 14 16:14:59 2019
    Hi Frank,

    On 2019-08-11 16:02:46, you wrote to All:

    why is the fidonet.org domain no longer being updated? Is it a
    technical thing or a lack of resources thing or something else?

    Btw: Are you aware of binkp.net? It does what fidonet.org used to do with DNS. It's updated from the current nodelist atleast weekly (maybe even daily)...

    Bye, Wilfred.

    --- FMail-lnx64 2.1.0.18-B20170815
    * Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)
  • From Frank Linhares@1:229/101 to Wilfred van Velzen on Wed Aug 14 10:47:00 2019
    Btw: Are you aware of binkp.net? It does what fidonet.org used to do
    with DNS. I t's updated from the current nodelist atleast weekly (maybe even daily)...

    I am, but my original intent (now well regretted) was to bring the same back
    to fidonet.org. Instead, an honest innocent question has turned into all of this.

    |15frank |08// |15netsurge
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  • From Fernando Toledo@4:902/26 to Frank Linhares on Fri Oct 18 14:00:01 2019
    El 12/8/19 a las 10:13, Frank Linhares escribi├│:
    Feel free to educate me.

    Not sure what you mean but as per the FTSC spec on DNS distributed nodelists a DNS server should be updated using the current nodelist. Like I said, I have a functioning perl script that does that, it works currently on another net that I run under a different domain.

    Hi Frank,

    can you post a output from your script from the actual nodelist?
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
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