REPLY: 1:153/7715.0 1e5a24c1
MSGID: 1:3634/12.73 61e5e7a8
PID: GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
CHRS: CP437 2
TZUTC: -0500
TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 17-02-17
 On 2022 Jan 17 12:08:32, you wrote to me:

 ml>> dallas and terry are probably overriding the nodelist in their
 ml>> mailers... that's the only way it can work with the current line for
 ml>> your /1000...

 DH> Binkd doesn't use the nodelist for known nodes; I have to make an
 DH> entry for each specific node - in effect creating my own nodelist.
 DH> It's one of the things I don't like about binkd.

binkd has its own nodelist format, as you know by your entries... the trick,
as it were, is to have your entries listed *after* the entry for the binkd
formated nodelist... that way they override the Node lines from the binkd
format nodelist...

[teaching mode ON]

like this section from the very bottom of my binkd.conf file...

##################################################
#                                                #
# set up the default node options first and      #
# then include binkd.txt and my_connections.conf #
#                                                #
##################################################
# default to nd (No Dupes) mode and IPv4 only
defnode -nd -4 *
include /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/fidonet.binkd.txt
include /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/my_connections.conf
#[EOF]

in the above, fidonet.binkd.txt is the binkd format nodelist file... it is
built locally by binkd_nodelister.pl... there was a file distributed in the
I-BINKD FDN but that person (RJ Clay IIRC) hasn't posted one in a long
while... many of us just use this perl script to build our own and use them...

in the above, the my_connections.conf file is my ""nodelist"" just like
your's... it is where i have the passwords for all my connections... if i use
fileboxes, they are also defined in here for those nodes that use them... i
keep them in a separate file from the actual binkd configuration data because
it makes it easier for me to work with...

so what happens is that binkd loads the fidonet.binkd.txt file first so all
the Node lines in it are in place... those lines look like this...

  Node 1:1/0@fidonet    bbs.darkrealms.ca    -
  [...]
  Node 1:16/0@fidonet   phoenix.bnbbbs.net:24555     -

the domain(s) and ports in the 3rd position are taken from the fidonet
nodelist when binkd_nodelister.pl creates the file... if there is no port, the
default binkd port is the target port on the remote system... the '-' at the
end is a "blank" for the password...

then binkd loads my_connections.conf and sees these lines...

  node 1:1/0@fidonet   -   PASSWORD
  [...]
  node 1:16/0@fidonet  -   PASSWORD


here the '-' is a "blank" in the domain position which tells binkd to keep the
existing domain from entries it loaded from fidonet.binkd.txt for these
nodes... these PASSWORDs are then loaded over top of the blank ones from the
fidonet.binkd.txt file... that gives us entries in binkd's memory like this

  Node 1:1/0@fidonet   bbs.darkrealms.ca       PASSWORD
  [...]
  Node 1:16/0@fidonet  phoenix.bnbbbs.net:24555  PASSWORD

and there we go! domain and port data from the nodelist with passwords and
other settings from my_connections.conf...


in my real setup, i have four or five other nodelists that are also loaded
just like this with my_connections.conf at the very end... it works great!
when new nodelists arrive, binkd_nodelister.pl is run and compiles a new binkd
format nodelist from whichever nodelist was just received... in a perfect and
bug-free world, binkd sees the change, reloads it's configs, and the new
nodelist is in use within minutes of it arriving on system...



some important notes:

1) i modified my binkd_nodelister.pl file so that i can use it with other FTN
domains...
by default it writes all Node lines with "@fidonet"...
this is not a good thing because other FTN domains have their own "@domain"...
if a system is only in fidonet, then the normal binkd_nodelister.pl that is
available out there will work just fine...
if a system is in more than one FTN domain, they'll need a modified
binkd_nodelister.pl file to build their nodelists with or they can use the one
that is distributed in their FTN othernets...

example binkd_nodelister.pl command lines for my modified version (broken for
clarity):

$HOME/FTN/tools/bin/binkd_nodelister.pl /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/fidonet.txt /
  /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/fidonet.binkd.txt /
  /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/fidonet.errors.txt /
  fidonet

$HOME/FTN/tools/bin/binkd_nodelister.pl /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/vkradio.txt /
  /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/vkradio.binkd.txt /
  /sbbs/ftn/nodelist/vkradio.errors.txt /
  vkradio

the last parameter on the command lines is the domain to be used in the Node
lines... we see example @fidonet ones above... this second example command
line gives me proper ones for the vkradio FTN like so...

  Node 432:432/0@vkradio  bridge.vkradio.com:24554        -
  Node 432:1/0@vkradio    bridge.vkradio.com      -
  Node 432:1/1@vkradio    bridge.vkradio.com      -
  Node 432:1/100@vkradio  bridge.vkradio.com      -
  Node 432:1/101@vkradio  freeway.vkradio.com     -
  Node 432:1/102@vkradio  error404bbs.ddns.net    -


2) the binkd_nodelister.pl compiled nodelists must be loaded before your
private nodelist so the above discussed in-memory merging of the data can be
done properly...


3) with binkd using these nodelists like this, my system can poll any system
in the FTNs i'm a member of... i do not have to make a special entry for them
to send mail to them... the defaults from the nodelist are all that are
needed...


4) i also have a binkd-network.conf file that contains entries for all of the
various FTN othernets (almost 100 of them!) that my system has seen addresses
for over the years... binkd can do 4D and 5D networking and i use this file
for full FTN 5D addressing on my system... this allows me to have different
outbounds for each FTN zone and keeps the mail for FTN othernets that are
using the same zone separated... i know of 8 FTN zones that are shared between
18 different othernets... full 5D also requires a mail tosser and tic
processor that is also 5D aware and able to use different BSO outbounds...
there aren't many of them in today's fidonet world, though...


5) there was something else i was going to make note of here but i've been up
for almost 20 hours today and my mind is a little foggy at the moment... read
over the above several times until it all makes sense... print it out and read
it with c0ffee over breakfast... sleep with it... read it a little more... ask
me if something doesn't add up... i may have typoed it in this post... for the
most part this is how binkd was designed to work with the nodelists... it
works and it works quite well... i've been using this format for 20 years, i
guess... wow! has it really been that long? whoa :lol:

[teaching mode OFF]

alright, that's enough... i'm going to go lay down for a few hours... maybe i
can get a little bit of sleep? we'll find out :)

)\/(ark

"The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my
majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a
shiny thing!"
... I'm just a Crow waiting for roadkill on the Information Highway.
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