ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (02/22/87)
For quite a while now, people have been complaining about messages targeted at a specific area getting sent to the whole world. They have asked why the "Distribution:" option isn't being used. Well, I've tried using it, but the messages still go to the whole world. I think I finally see why. I have several times now seen articles that originated in New Jersey but have come to my site (also in New Jersey) via Colorado. This is undoubtedly due to the practice of routing Usenet traffic via the cheapest route available. In our (AT&T's) case, we have "free" (non-uucp) routes to other AT&T sites and so often route there. If I make a posting in New Jersey that has a distribution of "nj", one of two things can happen: 1) The site in Colorado that gets the article on the way to another New Jersey site can reject it because of the distribution. But then the other NJ site doesn't get it and complains. 2) The site ignores distributions and passes everything. Since traffic is free, these sites have no incentive to throw out "incorrect" distributions. Eventually the article leaves AT&T--possibly not in NJ--and then people get upset. So you tell me: how does one manage the sys files so that all the NJ sites get "nj" postings and no one else does? Consider that the internal routing may be something like NJ->CO->CO->IL->NJ. I suspect this is not entirely an AT&T phenomenon either--other companies surely have leased lines that are used for interstate transmission. Evelyn C. Leeper (201) 957-2070 UUCP: ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl ARPA: mtgzy!ecl@rutgers.rutgers.edu
msb@sq.UUCP (02/28/87)
> So you tell me: how does one manage the sys files so that all the NJ sites > get "nj" postings and no one else does? Consider that the internal routing > may be something like NJ->CO->CO->IL->NJ. Obviously with the present news software you don't*! The easiest workaround would seem to be for the non-New-Jersey sites that may reasonably relay nj messages to be treated as part of New Jersey, and for readers on those sites to realize that they may see some irrelevant articles. Dropping the articles' Distribution lines is definitely wrong, as it may cause them to propagate far beyond the few relaying sites. The only remaining alternatives are to augment the software to allow articles to be relayed but not retained locally*, or to not use such routes even if they are cheap. *Actually, this may BE possible with at least some news versions -- if the feed isn't batched. I've waited a couple of days for a more expert response to appear before I posted, and not seen any. Maybe our feed is held up. Mark Brader "Wise wives welcome spring by moving the UNIX" utzoo!sq!msb
spaf@gatech.UUCP (03/01/87)
I've waited for someone to post the obvious answer to this, but haven't
seen it.
For regional distributions to work, the sites in the region have to
exchange articles posted with that distribution. Furthermore, they
should *not* pass articles with that distribution outside the region
unless someone at the receiving site explicitly wants them (that is,
"sys" file lines consisting of "all" are frowned upon for non-local
sites).
Thus, to ensure propagation of regional newsgroups, you establish
limited feeds with other sites in your region to pass only the regional
articles. The cost should be negligible, and it will help prevent
passing your regional articles to inappropriate places.
Let me give an example sys file for one site in NJ to pass news
articles with NJ distributions to a NJ site but not regular net
articles. Meanwhile, it will pass net-wide articles (but not NJ!) to
ihnp4. This works for 2.11.
ME:all:B:
njsite:nj,news,comp,sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,!world,!usa,!na:B:
ihnp4:world,news,comp.sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,mod,usa,na,!nj:B:
--
Gene Spafford
Software Engineering Research Center (SERC), Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf@gatech.EDU
uucp: ...!{akgua,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf