USENIX Board Studies UUCP

[Barry Shein]

My thoughts...

1. What level are we talking about? Just transport level? Should this
new protocol fit underneath all existing UUCP applications?
Particularly management applications (e.g. the /usr/spool/uucp/
structure, uulog, etc.)?

2. If we're just talking about transport (maybe even if not) then I
think the way to go is "tried and true".

How about CSNET's Dial-up IP (or equivalent)?

It's in production and has the nice advantage that you're getting into
a protocol (and learning administration/management) which is the same
when you upgrade to a leased line, WAN service and probably the same
technology as you're using on your LAN. A lot of the knowledge will be
portable.

With ISDN coming and cheaper leased line alternatives I suspect most
people would be better off moving towards WAN protocols that can later
support them on higher-grade connections.

I realize there are possibly problems with Dial-Up IP but it would
seem a lot more effective to deal with those than to just invent
something. Unless someone really wants to support a huge amount of
work, including probably appealing to standards bodies and all that.

Then everyone can start using NNTP and other existing protocols (ftp
etc) on top of this transport. It dovetails with existing work.

I'm sure there's plenty of good work that would need to be done to
make Dial-Up IP completely satisfactory, but that's kind of the whole
idea. If it were all perfect we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Just a couple of thoughts.
-- 
        -Barry Shein

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