Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!ladcgw!fmayhar
From: fmayhar@ladc.bull.com (Frank Mayhar)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Dynamic "smart" expiration?
Keywords: goal driven, space based
Message-ID: <1990Jan8.230624.8684@ladc.bull.com>
Date: 8 Jan 90 23:06:24 GMT
References: <1989Dec27.033817.9953@smsc.sony.com> <1989Dec28.063932.13720@robohack.UUCP> <68634@looking.on.ca> <1989Dec29.213539.2801@utzoo.uucp> <6118@yunexus.UUCP> <69448@looking.on.ca> <1120@utoday.UUCP> <`QF52&@rpi.edu> <69654@looking.on.ca>
Organization: Bull HN Information Systems Inc. Los Angeles Development Center
Lines: 20

OK, Henry, I concede that it's effectively impossible to change *all* the
newsreaders in existence.  And it's impractical to store all .newsrc files
in one central location.  Still, it should be possible to keep a list of
subscribers, the machines that they live on, the last article they've seen
in each group, and the time they saw it.  If you do it right (e.g. by
constructing a set of library routines to maintain the stuff), you should
be able to retrofit this into existing newsreaders, and into NNTP.  Ignore
any entries that have "expired," i.e. their last access time is too long
ago.  Retrofit this into NNTP, rn, and a couple of the other most popular
readers, and run with it.  If a sysadmin has a newsreader that doesn't
support the subscription list, and he wants it, he can add it; he has the
libraries that support it.  This would solve the problem of having enough
information for a goal-driven expire, and of running arbitron in a
distributed environment.

How's that?
-- 
Frank Mayhar  fmayhar@ladc.bull.com (..!{uunet,hacgate,rdahp}!ladcgw!fmayhar)
              Bull HN Information Systems Inc.  Los Angeles Development Center
              5250 W. Century Blvd., LA, CA  90045    Phone:  (213) 216-6241