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From: mark@cogent.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.sources.wanted,comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: General file transfer by E-mail
Message-ID: <197@cogent.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Apr-87 01:29:06 EST
Article-I.D.: cogent.197
Posted: Tue Apr  7 01:29:06 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Apr-87 03:36:20 EST
References: <1824@vax135.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@cogent.UUCP (Mark Steven Jeghers)
Organization: Cogent Software Solutions, Stockton, CA
Lines: 75
Xref: utgpu comp.mail.misc:158 comp.sources.wanted:857 comp.unix.questions:1642

In article <1824@vax135.UUCP> booth@vax135.UUCP (David Booth) writes:
>
>	WANTED: Network Independant File Transfer by Electronic Mail
>	------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The problem: how to transfer an arbitrary file from one arbitrary site
>to another using existing network connections.

A possible strategy might be to treat all files as binary rather than
"this is text/that is binary", and then do a binary-to-text conversion.
There is some such program to do this now.  I forget the name.  Then,
the stuff would be mailable, regardless of it's original contents.

>1.  The software should be able to send a file: (a) of ANY SIZE; (b) of
>ANY CONTENTS; (c) from ANY SITE to any other site that is reachable by
>electronic mail.

(1) would be achieved i *think* (not certain), (2) would be achieved for
sure, but it would cost you some efficiency since the total byte count
would be increased, (3) would be achieved as long as each site has the 
program to convert files to a mailable form AND also a program to put it
back to it's original form again upon receipt (my next point, see below).

>2.  The software should use error detection and/or correction so that
>the received file can be GUARANTEED CORRECT and complete, with a
>negligible probability of error (if it arrives at all).  In particular,

UUCP would take care of that.

>the software must get around the various arbitrary constraints imposed
>by existing mailers, such as message line and character maximums,
>printable characters only, no "." alone on a line, no "from" in the
>first column, etc.

The decoding side would have to be "smart" so that it could discard
unwanted "garbage lines" above and below the text to be decoded.
That would make things much easier for the person on the receiving
end.  It would be a "black box" to them.  Little expertise needed.

>3.  It should be very EASY TO PORT the software to a new site that does

In C for portability of course...

>(For example, by first sending a small
>receiving program, and using it to bootstrap the full software.) 

Initial installation would require technical expertise most likely.
It is doubtful that this can be escaped.

>Does anyone know of such software?  Does anyone know of an existing
>effort to write it?  Does anyone have comments on how it should be
>done?

bits and pieces of this exists already in the UUCP world, and would
need to be pieced together under a neat "roof".  I assume that you
don't wish to be using the file xfer facilites that UUCP aleady
offers (or perhaps you cannot for some reason).  If you wish to
extend this outside of the UUCP realm then some portability must be 
sacrificed, but it still might be a workable concept.

>Electronic mail is already in place, and arbitrary file transfer is
>such a fundamental need, it seems crazy (and frustrating!) that we
>still must revert to the stone age practice of writing and shipping
>magnetic tapes.

Agreed.  We use UUCP file transfer extensively.  We send very FEW tapes.
This issue is not new.  Nor are the points I have made.
-- 
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|     Mark Steven Jeghers: the terrorist smuggling CIA weapons to Libya      |
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