Sun, 27 Sep 1992 20:37:50 +0100
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One of the "building blocks" added to the next version of LISTSERV is an
internal command called X-B64 which a future version could use to pass
binary DISTRIBUTE jobs over mail gateways. Before you ask, I haven't got
any serious plan, schedule or time frame for supporting LISTSERV on
non-BITNET systems; I am adding this now because it happened to fit with
what I have been coding recently and I know it would take me twice the
time to add it in 6 months. Furthermore it will make testing easier to
have this feature already available on a number of servers when writing
the code for non-BITNET hosts.
I then realized that there is no reason to restrict this function to
server-to-server interactions, since users without BITNET connectivity
could greatly benefit from a simple but robust encoding system for their
list and file management requests. So I made the command public and wrote
a sample C program for unix users. Currently only LISTSERV@SEARN has
support for this format, but the comments in the program explain how to
reach any server through one that supports X-B64. The program is
available from LISTSERV@SEARN via 'GET LB64.C'. The LISTSERV code to
support this format adds up to 815kb and a bunch of files once all the
pre-reqs are included so I don't want to package it as a FIX file, there
have been a number of massive "global changes" which have never been
tested outside SEARN. If you really want it I can supply CARD decks
similar to those used for beta-testing, and with the same disclaimers as
for beta-testing.
Eric
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