Dec 252017
 
Fido Standards Commitee (Fidonet Compatibility Info).
File FSC-0014.ZIP from The Programmer’s Corner in
Category BBS Files
Fido Standards Commitee (Fidonet Compatibility Info).
File Name File Size Zip Size Zip Type
FSC-0014.TXT 16996 5403 deflated

Download File FSC-0014.ZIP Here

Contents of the FSC-0014.TXT file


FSC-0014
A Bundle Proposal

Wynn Wagner III
January, 1988


UPFRONT
-------

What follows is a proposal for a new structure of message bundles that
are transmitted between Fidonet systems.

Currently we deal with "packet version 2." This is a proposed format
for packet version three.

The version number should be recognizable by TYPE-2 programs, but the
older programs will not be able to do anything more than report an
error. In other words, there is no direct upwards compatibility except
for the offset in the _BundleHeader (see below) of the TYPE-3 signal.

Because of this, any conversion should be slow... possibly a year or more.
Interim systems would have to be able to pack and unpack both kinds
of bundles. It would be required for the packer to know whether its
target system knows about TYPE-3 bundles or not... either by some node
list flag or by using a control file.

I think it is important that a new structure be seriously considered,
but it is also vital that we approach such a change with a mind to
keeping it an evolutionary process rather than an overnight revolution.
It is important that TYPE-2 systems be retired using attrition instead
of compulsion.

This proposal is described in detail... possibly too much detail.
The design looks scarier than it really is. Code to process this
kind of a bundle is almost trivial.

One design feature is that putting a message bundle together is
somewhat more involved than taking one apart. The theory is that we
will be getting more and more tiny installations operating as points.
Collecting and unpacking such things as echomail will be easier even
on small/slow computers. Heavy volume traffic with lots of packing
and unpacking is usually carried on by computers more capable of
heavy work. Please note that the added work on the shoulders of
the packer is almost microscopic, but it exists. This uneven distribution
of the work is intentional.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRELIMARIES: METHODS
--------------------

Messages are transmitted in "bundles."

A bundle is a sequence of "packets." Every bundle has at
least two packets: a header and a footer.

This document describes the layout and use of those
packets as well as the general format of a bundle.




------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRELIMINARIES: DATA
-------------------


#define BUNDLEVER 3
#define EIDSIZ (sizeof(struct _Address)+sizeof(unsigned long))

struct _Address {
unsigned int Zone;
unsigned int Net;
unsigned int Node;
unsigned int Point;
};

DATA NOTES:

"WORD" is a two byte unsigned integer with the most significant
byte first. This storage arrangement is backwards from
the way INTEL chips store numbers, but it is more in-line
with the way the rest of the universe does it. The
conversion for MsDOS and other INTEL programmers is quite
trivial.

A routine called SWAP can be used, where...

unsigned int pascal SWAP(unsigned int VALUE);

Here's the code...

SWAP Proc Near
mov bx, sp
mov ax, [bx+2]
xchg ah, al
ret 2
SWAP EndP

"UNSIGNED LONG" is a four byte unsigned integer with the most
significant word first. Again, this storage arrangement
conflicts with the method used by INTEL, but the trans-
formation to "MSW first" is quite simple and it really
makes the non-MsDOS programmers feel more comfortable.

"UNSIGNED CHAR" is an 8-bit datum that can have any value
between 0 and 0xff.

CHARACTER ARRAYS are null-padded unless otherwise noted. There
is a difference between "null-terminated" (common to
C-language programming) and "null-padded" found here.
Unless there is a conflicting note, insignificant bytes
of a character array must be set to zero.

UNUSED DATA are always set to zero.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUNDLE HEADER
-------------

struct _BundleHeader {
struct _Address B_Destination; /* Address of target system */
struct _Address B_Origination; /* Address where bndl started */
unsigned int B_Local1; /* Used by bundler, etc */
unsigned int B_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned long B_CreationTime; /* Unix-type stamp (1970-base) */
unsigned int B_BundlerMajor; /* Major version of bundler */
unsigned int B_BundlerMinor; /* Minor version of bundler */
unsigned char B_Password[9]; /* NULL-padded array */
unsigned char B_Local2; /* Local use only */
unsigned char B_Product[4]; /* Meaningful to same product */
unsigned char B_FTSC[4]; /* Reserved by FTSC */
};

BUNDLE HEADER NOTES:

The offset of B_Version coincides with the location of the
`ver' field in type two bundle headers.

The B_Local1 and B_Local2 fields have no meaning during the
actual transfer. It is to hold such information as COST
and/or BAUD rate of use to the sending system.

B_Password is a NULL-padded field that can contain uppercase
alpha bytes or ASCII digits. It should not contain lowercase
characters, punctuation, control characters, etc. This is a
NULL-padded field... not just NULL-terminated. A maximum of
8 bytes are significant.

Note that the BUNDLER is identified by product code. This
does NOT necessarily have anything to do with the software
that actually transmits the bundle. This structure deals
with message bundles, and the product identification shows
which computer program was responsible for that layer of
a netmail session. The software providing transportation
is more properly identified during a session-level negotiation
(eg WaZOO's YooHoo) or in a dynamically generated structure
(eg TeLink's block zero). TYPE-3 tries to keep the various
layers of the system separate and easily identifiable. This
document describes data, not the method by which they are
passed from one system to another.


BUNDLE BODY NOTES:

The bundle header packet is followed by one or more of the
following packet types. Each of these packets begin with
two bytes that identify the packet version and the packet
type. In all cases, the version is three (0x03).

Packet types include

END_SIGNAL 0
AREA_HEADER 1
MESSAGE_HEADER 2
TEXT 3
ECHOMAIL_INFO 4
MISCINFO 128-256

One message is built using at least two packets (MESSAGE_HEADER
and TEXT). Optionally, a message might also have ECHOMAIL_INFO
and MISCINFO packets. Packets associated with a message must
be bundled in numerical order (by packet type)... the header
comes first, followed by the text, possibly followed by echomail
information, and possibly ending with some miscellaneous packets.

This arrangement of bundles allows the development of
state machine type programs which effect efficient message
processing even on slow or small computers. Here's a
quick coding example:

for(;;)
switch(fgetc(BUNDLE)) {
default: printf("Not Type-3 message"); return -1;
case 3: switch(fgetc(BUNDLE)) {
case -1: printf("EOF?"); return -1;
case 0: printf("Done\n"); return 0;
case 1: GetMsgArea(); break;
case 2: GetMessage(); break;
default: printf("Pkt?"); break;
};
};

NOTE: For those re-reading and spotting what looks
like a mistake... the `GetMessage()' routine
would also take care of TEXT and any ECHOMAIL
or MISCINFO packets.

Also, for a little added robustness, the
default item that prints "Pkt?" should look
for a value of 0x03 (or and end of the file)
before returning to the processing loop.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUNDLE FOOTER
-------------

struct _BundleEnd {
unsigned char M_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char M_PacketType; /* Always 0 */
};


BUNDLE END NOTES:

All bundles end with this packet. It is not optional.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSAGE AREA
------------

struct _AreaHeader {
unsigned char E_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char E_PacketType; /* Always 1 */
unsigned byte E_NameLength; /* Actual bytes in E_Name */
unsigned byte E_Name[1]; /* VARIABLE-length field */
};

AREA HEADER NOTES:

The area header packet marks the start of a sequence of
messages destined for the same message area.

Often E_Name will contain the name of an echomail area.
If the legnth and first byte of E_Name are zero, it means
that the following messages are inter-system traffic
(ie regular netmail).

The maximum value for E_NameLength is 63.

E_Name can contain uppercase characters, digits, and the
following punctuation: $ . - _ & # @ !

Note that E_NameLength combined with E_Name make up what
is often considered a "Pascal style string." E_Name is
NOT a null-terminated array (aka "ASCIIZ").





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSAGE HEADER
--------------

struct _MessageHeader {
unsigned char M_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char M_PacketType; /* Always 2 */
struct _Address M_Destination; /* FINAL Destination */
struct _Address M_Origination; /* Where message was entered */
unsigned long M_CreationTime; /* Unix-type stamp (1970-base) */
unsigned int M_Attributes; /* Standard Fidonet bitweights */
unsigned char M_FromLength; /* Number of bytes in FROM */
unsigned char M_ToLength; /* Number of bytes in TO */
unsigned char M_SubjectLength; /* Number of bytes in SUBJECT */
};


MESSAGE HEADER NOTES:

Every message begins with a message header packet. This
structure is created by the system where the message
originated. If there are any intermediate stops before
it reaches its destination, it is the responsibility of
intermediate systems to maintain all of this information
without any modification.

Following this header come three char-type data: FROM, TO,
and SUBJECT. Using the final three fields of the header,
a program can quickly read and process/store the the message.

None of the character items is null-terminated. Their
lengths are determined by values in the message header.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSAGE TEXT/BODY
-----------------

struct _Text {
unsigned char T_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char T_PacketType; /* Always 3 */
unsigned int T_ByteCount; /* Number of bytes ( <0x1000) */
unsigned int T_Data[1]; /* VARIABLE-length field */
};

TEXT NOTES:

The body of a message is contained in one or more _Text packets.

No _Text packet is ever more than 1000H bytes long. That's
4096 bytes to the terminally base-10 folks. Of course there
can be an infinite number of text packets, but you are
absolutely positively guaranteed that with the TYPE-3 method,
you will never need a buffer larger than 1000H.

In addition to ASCII values 20h through 7Eh (inclusive),
the following control codes are legal for TEXT data.
Note that and are NOT in this list.

02H ... material from here to next is
a quote from the parent message
0Ah ... forced
10h ... replicate

Other control characters and values 7fH and above are
symptoms of a damaged message.

REPLICATE is a three byte sequence: .
For example, if a message contains the bytes 10h, 20h, 09h ...
it would mean that message display programs should replicate
the character nine times.

There is no minimum or maximum line length. If there is no
before the display program needs one, it is the display
program's responsibility to provide the needed "line wrap."

One "line" can cross from one _Text packet to another.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ECHOMAIL
--------

struct _EchomailInfo {
unsigned char EI_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char EI_PacketType /* Always 4 */
unsigned char EI_Parent[EIDSIZ];/* "up" message thread */
unsigned char EI_Child[EIDSIZ]; /* "down" message thread */
unsigned int EI_SeenbyCount; /* Number of SEENBY items */
struct _Address EI_Seenby[1]; /* VARIABLE-length field */
};


ECHOMAIL INFO NOTES:

The EI_Parent and EI_Child fields contain some kind of
identification of the parent and child messages. The size
of the fields corresponds to the size of an _Address
structure plus the size of a Unix-type time stamp.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A KLUDGE, BY ANY OTHER NAME...
------------------------------

struct _MiscInfo {
unsigned char MI_Version; /* Always 3 */
unsigned char MI_PacketType; /* 0x80-0xff, assigned by FTSC */
unsigned char MI_ByteCount; /* Size of miscinfo data */
unsigned char MI_WhoKnows; /* Miscellaneous stuff */
};


MISCELLANEOUS INFO NOTES:

This is the catch-all packet type that replaces "The Dreaded
IFNA Kludge."

If present, they are the last packets associated with a
message. _MiscInfo items are bound to a message, and it
is the responsibility of any packer to maintain any
_MiscInfo packets exactly as they arrived on any message
that will be retransmitted (ie netmail and echomail).

Values above 0xf0 have a special meaning. They are
reserved for the severe case that FTSC needs to make some
kind of change that isn't backwards compatible. In most
cases, unrecognized _MiscInfo packets should be preserved
but otherwise ignored. If the packet type is 0xf0 through
0xff, it should be considered an error condition not to
understand the packet.


###



 December 25, 2017  Add comments

 Leave a Reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)