Newsgroups: news.software.b
Path: utzoo!utstat!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Subject: Re: Time for 8 bit news, isn't it?????.
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 90 05:40:16 GMT
Message-ID: <1990Jul21.054016.10409@looking.on.ca>
References: <1990Jul13.022224.25441@lth.se> <3119.269d97ea@mccall.com> <777@hades.ausonics.oz.au> <15688@bfmny0.BFM.COM>

Why should binaries be split up into smaller bits, particularly bits as small
As 50K?

If I'm going to lose parts of a multi-part binary, I may as well lose the
whole thing.

I wrote the ABE/DABE system to make that easier to deal with, but even so,
having to deal with missing parts and assembly, etc., is a pain.

At the very least, raise the limit to something manageable like 500K or
1 meg, set it as an explicit limit in the next RFC, and leave splitting
to only the very largest binaries.

But there is a problem.  Say we sit down and make a news system that
can handle 500K 8 bit binary files.  Great.  Slowly, people start to run
that system.

But what moderator is going to post these in his/her binary group?  Knowing
that they will break at many sites, for a LONG time to come.

So there will have to be two groups, one for pure binaries and one for split
ones.  And thus we double the load, and we have nothing to encourage the
sites running old software to upgrade.

So in the end we gain nothing.


This is nothing new.  The last major changes in the format of news articles
were Supersedes: and References:   These were added around 1985 -- that's
centuries ago in the computer/networking world.

AND WE STILL CAN'T USE THEM TODAY!!!!

Not a good sign.  Drastic measures are needed.

I would support a move to design a binary transmission format, have the
new releases of B and C news support them, and have all the moderators switch,
thus forcing anybody who wants binaries to get off their duffs and upgrade.

This would work as binaries are one of the biggest draws of usenet for many
sites.

But before doing this, I would say we should sit down at a usenix and
list out all the other new features we want, then implement them, because
we won't get another chance for 5 years to upgrade the format.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473