Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!pyramid!octopus!pete From: pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: IDEA: reader-initiated sendme protocol Message-ID: <270@octopus.UUCP> Date: 30 Jun 88 19:43:51 GMT Reply-To: pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) Organization: Octopus Enterprises, Cupertino CA Lines: 43 Maybe this is an old idea, but I think it might provide a good long-term solution to some of our troubles: We have an IHAVE/SENDME protocol that works automagically. Suppose that the moderator of a particular newsgroup posted a message along the lines of: Archived-Name:Available-At: csu-archives This is part 1 of 10 of the new newsprogram.... The reader could respond simply by hitting the 'sendme' key. A control message would then be forwarded towards the nearest archive site (csu-archives being an alias for the comp.sources.unix archive sites), until it reaches a site that either already has the message in question, or [an efficiency improvement that might be optional at first] until the message reaches a site that has already requested the message. In the latter case, requests would pile up until the requested message arrives, then be filled. This method would limit distribution of big stuff to just those sites that request it. To make everything wonderful, we'd probably want to add information to the sys file (and maybe the maps) regarding which paths may be used for such distributions. This seems like a nice combination of the best of both worlds (mailed requests and flooding-distribution) to me. It almost seems like it could be implemented partially on top of IHAVE/SENDME. Instead of IHave/SendMe, it is IHave/I'llGetIt4U. Do any of you new-news-version-implementors have any idea whether this, or some useful subset, is implementable without too much pain? Or is this just pie in the sky? Pete -- OOO __| ___ Peter Holzmann, Octopus Enterprises OOOOOOO___/ _______ USPS: 19611 La Mar Court, Cupertino, CA 95014 OOOOO \___/ UUCP: {hpda,pyramid}!octopus!pete ___| \_____ Phone: 408/996-7746