Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!aurs01!roberson From: roberson@aurs01.UUCP (Charles "Chip" Roberson) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: Software to go from Fidonet to Usenet, and vice versa Message-ID: <59485@aurs01.UUCP> Date: 30 Jan 91 13:43:10 GMT References: <2336.27A61D0B@ofa123.fidonet.org> Sender: news@aurs01.UUCP Reply-To: roberson@aurxc2.UUCP (Charles "Chip" Roberson) Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh NC Lines: 74 In article <2336.27A61D0B@ofa123.fidonet.org> rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) writes: >On Charles "Chip" Roberson writes: > > CR> Try looking around for a program called UFGATE (Usenet Fidonet GATEway) > >The documentation isn't that bad. The problem most people have setting up >Ufgate is lack of understanding of the uucp/Usenet/Internet world. I won't go into my understanding (or lack thereof) but the documentation is more like a man page than a user's manual. Also, if you check the UFGATE Echo I believe you will see that there have been several people complaining about setting up UFGATE. One example was what to do about creating the directories for the newsgroups? UFGATE would not run until we manually created a complete directory structure for newsgroup. Another example was having to compile the nodelist to suit UFGATE's format when TPBoard and FrontDoor use a different format. > CR> It also doesn't work with some of the FidoNet mailers. >Most of the mailers in common use work quite well with Ufgate. Obviously one >would avoid using a mailer that doesn't work with Ufgate. That's one hell of an arrogant attitude. The mailer was there first and in this case it was FrontDoor which is well used. Many people have complained about making UFGATE work with FrontDoor (and others) and the documentation was no help. Just because someone wants to add functionality to their system, they have to change their mailer? On top of this the source code and documentation is almost 3 years old. A lot has changed since then. Trying to reach Late Night Software was not fruitful. > CR> And lately FidoNet has been some resistent to > CR> becoming an integral part of the other network communities. I find the > CR> attitude disappointing and myopic. > >I haven't seen any resistance to gatewaying to the Usenet world. In fact all >Fidonet nodes have Internet addresses. Gateways have been in place for some >time now. I did not say "gatewaying to the USENET world". What I was alluding to was the policy statement that came down in the FidoNet Newsletter at the end of last year which made FidoNet very inflexible when it comes to internetworking. > CR> We have been told to look at waffle, but waffle is a full blown BBS. > CR> However, someone seems to say that waffle can be used as a gateway. >Waffle does not include any gatewaying functions. That was our understanding after reading the waffle documentation. But we don't know why people keep telling us to use it. > CR> Generally, there are very few on FidoNet who know how to gateway to > CR> usenet, so you have a lot of work to do on your own. >Depends on what you mean by "very few". Well, go back and look at Jim McDaniel's *many* pleas on the UFGATE echo for help. He did not receive one useful answer. We have since abandoned UFGATE, switched to UUPC/extended and wrote our own gatewaying software. Please do not ask for the sources or executables because they are not available at this time. Conclusion: unless one has a relatively specific configuration, a good knowledge of USENET, and a lot of patience, UFGATE is not a good choice. * Work: 2912 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC 27609 (919) 850-5011 * (...!mcnc!aurgate!roberson) || (roberson%aurgate@mcnc.org) || * (71500.2056@CompuServe.com) || (Chip.Roberson@f112.n151.z1.fidonet.org) #include