NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/mail/uucp/2654

Text File | 1993-01-28 | 2.5 KB | 49 lines

Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Path: sparky!uunet!uunet.ca!infotax!dave
From: [e-mail] (David Blackwood)
Subject: Re: problems with the UUCP maps--duplicate node names
Organization: Revenue Canada, Taxation; Office Communications Division
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:18:49 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Lines: 38

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Blackwood) writes:
>Automatic expiry of map entries after a fixed period of time.  If you
>don't renew your map entry by resubmitting it at least annually then it
>simply gets dropped.  That may not solve the duplicate name problem but
>it would certainly go a long way toward eliminating non-existent and
>inactive sites.

Since I made the above comment, perhaps I should expand upon it.  By "a
fixed period of time" I didn't mean a month.  Six months, a year, or
even two years might not be unreasonable.  All map entries carry a
"modified on" date (#W) and an administrative e-mail address (#E).  A
simple shell script could generate an e-mail message to the
administrative address [5 | 11 | 23] months after the "modified on"
date to remind the administrator to submit a new map.  A similar shell
script could delete any entry that carries a "modified on" date of more
than [6 | 12 | 24] months ago.

Properly run sites should be reviewing and updating their map entries on
a semi-regular basis anyway.  Automatic expiry of entries should not
generate any more work for a coordinator than there should be already
and obviously the answer to the more work problem is greater automation.

Should we do it?  Driver's licenses do expire, even if you stop driving
and don't notify them.  House addresses also expire if the house no
longer exists (a map entry equates to a house not to a resident of that
house).  Would it solve the duplicate name problem - no.  Would it
improve mail connectivity - probably.

On the duplicate name issue, that could and should be resolved by the
map coordinators refusing to register a name that already exists in the
maps, not just in the #N line but anywhere in the connectivity
information as well.  (Perhaps connections to unregistered sites
shouldn't be permitted either).
--
D. J. Blackwood            Room 1139, 400 Cumberland Street
Systems Integration Manager    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K1A 0L8
Office Communications Division    voice: [phone], fax: [phone]
Revenue Canada, Taxation    email: uunet.ca!revcan!dave, [e-mail]