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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84 chuqui version 1.7 9/23/84; site nsc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: cleaning up the net -- software solutions proposed
Message-ID: <3013@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 21-Jul-85 04:09:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc.3013
Posted: Sun Jul 21 04:09:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jul-85 22:42:06 EDT
References: <2961@nsc.UUCP> <331@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Distribution: net
Organization: The Dreamer Fithp
Lines: 38
Summary: 

In article <331@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>Chuqui says:
>> 3) Etiquette enforcements: [...]  I suggest that the inews software be
>> modified to mung headers to enforce specific cross-posting restrictions.
>
>	I see a problem.  You start with a list of newsgroups and rules for
>what should be done when articles are cross-posted to those groups.  This
>is fine, but you don't want to build the rules too deeply into the system.
>Newsgroups come and go; the rules will become obsolete, and people will
>have to go digging into their software to change them.  The idea, however,
>is fundamentally sound.
>
>	How about having a file which is a list of productions.

Actually, newsgroups seem to come with some regularity, and go with some
rarity, but that is beside the point.

It is really easy to talk about building a text file that inews uses to
define the restrictions. It is even easier when you don't have to write the
parser for that file, or worry about eating CPU cycles every time an
article comes in (remember, the file implies reading the file, parsing the
file, and acting upon it -- a non-trivial load if it isn't done very
carefully. While I agree that there is a need for flexibility in the
restriction set, I don't want to write that kind of code, and I'm not at
all sure it is neccessary. All we REALLY need to do is add a function call
to inews called something like 'mung_header()', pass it the header
structure, and then put the function itself in the file 'header_munger.c'.
Then, when the ettiquette rules change, some person makes the modifications
and reposts the .c file, and everyone recompiles inews. That gives us the
same sort of flexibility without the overhead of fopen(), fclose(), and all
of those fread() calls.

chuq
-- 
:From the carousel of the autumn carnival:        Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui   nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

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