* 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.

