[Dxspider-support] File forwarding and other questions

[Dirk Koopman]

On Sun, 2001-11-18 at 14:51, charlie carroll wrote:
> Is file forwarding working, or even supposed to work?  We are not seeing
> the files associated with W1AW BULLETIN mail being forwarded.  The files
> come into my W1HR Spider node from my K1XX AK1A node.  However, the
> files are not being forwarded to downstream Spider nodes.

There is no file forwarding available within Spider nodes. The truth is
that this isn't much used here in EU so no priority has been been given
to it.

I must also admit to a prejudice against it as a concept. I much prefer
bulletins being sent to files.

> 
> The forward.pl file contains the following line.
> 
> #
> # Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code.
> #
> 
> It's unclear whether the files are supposed to even be forwarding now? 
> If they are supposed to be, what would prevent them from automatically
> forwarding.  And, is there a way to check how/when a file has forwarded?
> 
> Second question...
> It seems that personal mail is not forwarding unless the recipient is
> logged into the cluster.  Often times we have users who log in for very
> short periods of time.  Their mail will sit on a node until it's queued
> and sent.  Wouldn't it be better to forward personal mail to their home
> node regardless of whether the user is logged in or not?  That way the
> mail is waiting for them when they log in, regardless of the duration of
> the log in.

You'de have thought so and up until my 20th or so personal mail loop I
would have agreed. The problem is that people do not reliably update
their HOMENODE information. Nor do they make sure it is propagated. Nor
does all cluster software have the wherewithall to propagate it either.

With internet connected nodes this can mean that a personal message can
wonder around the system re-appearing every couple of minutes or so,
clocking up message numbers as it goes. It can happen so fast that it is
very difficult to sync the deletes so that you can stop it.

As a result I no longer believe HOMENODE information and wait until the
person appears and then send stuff.
 
> 
> Third question...
> Are the callsigns W1HR and W1HR-1 treated as identical?
>

For nearly all purposes, no.

Dirk