2002-02-16 21:38:40 +00:00
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<TITLE>File Forwarding in Fidonet Technology Networks.</TITLE>
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<PRE>
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| Document: FSC-0087
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| Version: 001
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| Date: 31 October, 1995
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| Robert Williamson FidoNet#1:167/104.0
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File Forwarding in Fidonet Technology Networks
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Robert Williamson FidoNet#1:167/104.0 robert@ecs.mtlnet.org
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Purpose:
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To document current practices in File Forwarding and the minimum
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requirements and known extensions of the TIC file format.
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Acknowledgements:
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The TIC file format was introduced by Barry Geller, in the MSDOS
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File Forwarder, Tick. Useful extensions to this format were introduced
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by Harald Helms, in the MSDOS FileForwarder, AllFix.
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Terminology:
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FTN - Fidonet Technolgy Network, such as FIDONET, AMIGANET or IBMNET.
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Sometimes used interchangably with the term DOMAIN.
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FNC - FileName Conversion, process of converting filenames to msdos 8.3
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format for transmission.
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FQFA - Fully Qualified FTN Address, the format is
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FTN#Zone:Net/Node.Point
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CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Check, method to determine whether some data
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has been altered. CRC-32 is used in File Forwarding.
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TIC - a file that contains control information for the File Forwarding
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system. These files are named xxSTAMP.TIC, where xx is an
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abbreviation representing the File Forwarding program name and
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stamp is a unixdate stamp truncated to 6 characters.
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UTC - Universal Time Coordinated, the time at the 0o meridian
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(Greenwich); previously called GMT
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forwarding - the process of creating and sending tic files and the
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associated file to one's downlinks.
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ticking - the processing of reading and verifying a tic file and it's
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associated file.
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hatching - the process of introducing a new file into a fileecho
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cross-hatching - the process of forwarding a file from one fileecho
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(ususally restricted) to another
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Associated File - The file listed in the FILE field of the TIC file.
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Note that use of UPPERCASE on tic file keywords in this document in
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for display purposes only.
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Format of a TIC file:
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Addressing:
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In a tic file any form of FTN address representation from 3d to
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FQFA may be used. All File Forwarders must understand the
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following formats:
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zone:net/node - 3D
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zone:net/node.point - 4D
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zone:net/node@ftn - 5D - point 0 assumed
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zone:net/node.point@ftn - 5D
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ftn#zone:net/node.point - fqfa
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File Forwarders should have configurable options per site as to the
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type of addressing each of it's downlinks can understand.
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Dates:
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All dates are expressed in UTC.
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TimeDateStamps:
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All TimeDateStamps are unix TimeDateStamps (# of seconds since Jan
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1, 1960) in UTC and expressed in hexadecimal notation.
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Case Insensitivity:
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the format is completely case-insensitive. It is general practice
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that the first letter of a keyword is uppercase. This is not a
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requirement.
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Order Dependancy:
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keywords are not order dependant.
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Order dependancy is required in some groupings of a keyword, such
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as PATH, VIA, DESC and APP.
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Modification of address fields on PassThrough:
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The forwarding site may modify the addresses in any keyword field
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to make them compliant with the addressing limitations of each
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downlink.
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Stripping of SeenBys:
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The forwarding site may strip seenbys to current FTN, ZONE or NET,
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when not forwarding outside of current FTN, ZONE or NET. This does
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not imply nor permit the stripping of of a direct downlink which is
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outside the current strip filter.
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Keywords:
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There are no colons on keywords.
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Each keyword line is terminated with CR LF pair.
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The maximum length of a keyword line is 256 characters, including the
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CRLF termination. Some keyword lines may have a shorter limit.
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Keywords are separated from their data by a single space. There is
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no space if there is no data associated with the keyword.
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eg: ReturnReceipt
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Keywords are case-insensitive and order independant.
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Keywords not understood are to be passed-though.
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Known Keywords that are blank should not be passed though.
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For example, an empty AREADESC, could be either dropped or the
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blank replaced with the proper description.
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Most Keywords are passed through when processing.
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There are exceptions. In some cases, a site-specific replacement
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may be created.
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Keywords marked with a ^ should not be passed-through.
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Keywords marked with a * are REQUIRED when processing a TIC file.
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If any of these are missing, the tic file should be considered as
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BAD and the associated file not forwarded to downlinks.
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Keywords marked with a # are CREATED when hatching or forwarding.
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*# AREA [AreaName]
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the TagName of the file area.
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AREADESC [description of area] OPTIONAL
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a short (80 chars) description of the file area. This could be
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the description found in FileBone.NA
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*# FILE [File being sent]
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the name of the file being sent, no path
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the filename must conform to msdos 8.3 format, unless it is known
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that the receiving site can handle longer filenames.
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^# FULLNAME [original filename before FNC] OPTIONAL FNC only
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the original filename (no path) before FileName Conversion
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*# CRC [CRC-32 in hex]
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crc of the file being sent, 8 hexadecimal characters
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^ MAGIC [MagicName] OPTIONAL
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Name under which the file can be FREQed from the site listed in
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FROM. This is NOT passed though when forwarding, unless the
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MAGIC name is the same on the forwarding site. It can be
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replaced by the appropriate name.
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REPLACES [FileName] OPTIONAL
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Filename (no path) of a file hatched in the AREA that the
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associated file replaces. If the site expects FNC files, and the
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filename does not confrom to msdos 8.3 convention, the REPLACES
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name should also be FNC.
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# DESC [Description]
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Description of the file, limited to 80 characters per line,
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including CRLF termination.
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If multiple LDESC lines are used, the DESC line must provide the
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maximum information. No File Forwadrer is required to passthough
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or make use of any extra DESC line after the first.
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# LDESC [multiple lines]
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A long description of the file. LDESC does NOT replace DESC, it
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is used IN ADDITION to the short description. No File Forwarder
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is required make use of LESC lines.
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# SIZE [Bytes] OPTIONAL, SHOULD be required
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Length of the file in bytes
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DATE [TimeDateStamp]
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TimeDateStamp of the file. Can be date of creation of archive.
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RELEASE [TimeDateStamp]
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Date when file is TO BE released. Usually used by SDS, but can
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be used by ADS as well.
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AUTHOR [name]
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Name of the author of the software package being hatched. This
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field is obviously not applicable to Newsletters, Nodelists and
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Diffs and the like.
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SOURCE [authors_address]
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FTN address of the Author of the software package being hatched.
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Not necessary the same as the ORIGIN hatch site. Does not have
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to be an FTN address.
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^ APP [program] [Application Specific Information]
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The APP keyword is a keyword known to programs of the name
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indicated. APP'S are order dependent and must be passed though.
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*# ORIGIN [Address]
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Site where file entered the fileecho
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*^# FROM [Address] [Pwd]
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Site that is forwarding the file to the next site. Pwd is
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optional and rarely used, IF AT ALL. Pwd is NEVER passed through.
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^ TO [Address] OPTIONAL
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Site to which this TIC and the assocaited file are being sent.
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This keyword is included in the .TIC file when:
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a) the file is being routed via another system which permits
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such routing.
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b) the platform in use does not have any FTN software
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independant method of associating a file nd it's
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destination. eg. platforms that do not have filenotes
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that could contain this information as part of the
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filesystem.
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If the address in the TO line is that of the receiving site, the
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field is not passed through when forwarding. If the address in
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the TO lines IS NOT that of the receiving site, it should be
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forwarded to the TO site, if a routing agreement is in place with
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the sending site.
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*^# CREATED [by] [Program Banner]
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File Forwarder which created the TIC file. This is generally in
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the form:
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Created [by] program_name version [copyright_info]
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VIA [FROM CREATED] OPTIONAL (tracking)
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Copy of CREATED line of FROM, with 'Created [by]' stripped and
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FROM prepended. Always passed though. The VIA is only created
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by the receiving site when forwarding. It is never created by the
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hatching site. Therefore, in any TIC file, the addresses in the
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FROM and VIA should never be the same.
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examples:
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Via 1:167/100 ALLFIX+ 4.31 Copyright (C) 1992,95 Harald Harms (2:281/910)
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Via FIDONET#1:167/104.0 XTick 3 Copyright (c) 1995 Robert Williamson FIDONET#1:167/104.0
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*# PATH [Address] [TimeDateStamp] [date and time]
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Address of Site which has forwarded the file. TimeDateStamp,
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date and time is that of when the Site received and Processed the
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file.
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* # SEENBY [Address]
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Site which has received the file. There are multiple lines of
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Seenby and they are unordered.
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* PW [password]
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Site or Area password. This is case-insensitive and should be at
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least 5 characters in length.
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PGP [signature]
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PrettyGoodPrivacy signature. To be discussed.
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^ ReceiptRequest -no data- OPTIONAL
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A request to the receiving system to generate a IsReturnReceipt
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(attribute word bit 13) messsage, in the same manner it would if
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it had received a message with the FileAttach an ReturnReceipt
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attributes and a subject of the filename.
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There is NO requirement to recognize this keyword. It should
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never be passed through.
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Transmission of Files:
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The associated file, that is, the file Listed in the FILE field of the
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TIC file, should always be sent FIRST. In the case of a failed session,
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sending the FILE first prevents the orphaning of the file that is
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normally caused by the deletion or movement of the TIC file to BAD.
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File Forwarders should not move or delete orphaned TIC files, but this
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can neither be relied upon nor mandated.
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File Forwaders should be transparent to the renaming of file by
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mailers. This means that if the mailer renames a duplicate file by
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renaming or bumpinmg a numeric extension, the File Forwarder should be
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able to use the size and crc fields of the TIC to find and properly
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rename the associated file referred to in the TIC.
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File Forwaders should always delete and dequeue unsent TIC files when
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re-hatching the same or updated version of an associated file. The
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implementor may wish to allow exceptions for periodicals such as
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nodediffs and newsletters.
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-to be continued-
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</PRE>
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2003-08-18 11:48:36 +00:00
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<A HREF="index.htm"><IMG SRC="../images/b_arrow.png" ALT="Back" Border="0">Go Back</A>
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2002-02-16 21:38:40 +00:00
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</HTML>
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