# The Distribution Nodelist.

     | Document: FTS-0005
     | Version:  003
     | Date:     February 7, 1996
     | Maintainer: David Nugent, 3:632/348@fidonet

                           The Distribution Nodelist

                            Originally by Ben Baker
           Amended by Rick Moore, 1:115/333@FidoNet, February 5, 1989
         Amended by David Nugent, 3:632/348@FidoNet, February 27, 1996

    |   Copyright 1986-1996 by the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee.
        All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
        for non-commercial purposes only.

        This document supersedes and replaces the document known under
    |   the names of FSC002, FSC-0002, and FTS-0002. Significant changes,
    |   which excludes mere formatting changes, to the previous version
    |   of this document have been "redlined" (marked with a vertical
    |   bar in the leftmost column).

        This document defines the format and content of the nodelist for
        the Public FidoNet Network (PFN) as published on Friday of each
    |   week. This format is historically known as the "St. Louis nodelist
    |   format".

        The PFN is an international network of independently owned
        electronic mail systems, most with interlocking electronic
        bulletin board systems. The distribution nodelist, or simply
        "nodelist", is the glue which holds the network together. It is
        the PFN's "phone book" and it defines the top-level network
    |   structure and is the means by which FidoNet retains its integrity
    |   as a point-to-point mail network.

    | THE NODELIST

        The nodelist is published as an ASCII text file named
        NODELIST.nnn, where nnn is a three digit number representing the
    |   day-of-year of the Friday publication date, with zeros filling
    |   positions to the left if necessary. This file is packed into a
    |   archive file named NODELIST.?nn, where 'nn' are the last two
    |   digits of day-of-year, and the character at the position of the
    |   '?' indicating the type of compression used. Conventions as to
    |   which compression method is used for the distributed nodelist is
    |   a matter of local policy and is usually determined by each zone's
    |   Zone Coordinator.

        As stated above, NODELIST.nnn is an ASCII text file. It contains
        two kinds of lines; comment lines and data lines. Each line is
        terminated with an ASCII carriage return and line feed character
        sequence, and contains no trailing white-space (spaces, tabs,
    |   etc.). The file is terminated with a DOS end-of-file character
    |   (character value 26 decimal, or "control-Z").

        Comment lines contain a semicolon (;) in the first character
        position followed by zero or more alphabetic characters called
        "interest flags". A program which processes the nodelist may use
        comment interest flags to determine the disposition of a comment
        line. The remainder of a comment line (with one exception,
    |   treated below) is free-form ASCII text. There are five types of
    |   comments flags:

    |       ;S This is of particular interest to Sysops
    |       ;U This is of particular interest to BBS users
    |       ;F This should appear in any formatted "Fido List"
    |       ;A This is of general interest (shorthand for ;SUF)
    |       ;E This is an error message inserted by the nodelist generator
    |       ; This comment may be ignored by a nodelist processor

        The first line of a nodelist is a special comment line containing
        identification data for the particular edition of the nodelist.
        The following is an example of the first line of a nodelist:

        ;A FidoNet Nodelist for Friday, July 3, 1987 -- Day number 184 : 15943

        This line contains the general interest flag, the day, date, and
    |   three-digit (zero-filled) day-of-year number of publication, and
        ends with a 5 digit decimal number with leading zeros, if
        necessary. This number is the decimal representation of a check
        value derived as follows:

            Beginning with the first character of the second line, a
            16 bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is calculated for the
            entire file, including carriage return and line feed
            characters, but not including the terminating EOF
            character. The check polynomial used is the same one used
            for many file transfer protocols:

                        2**16 + 2**12 + 2**5 + 2**0

        The CRC may be used to verify that the file has not been edited.
        The importance of this will become evident in the discussion of
        NODEDIFF, below. CRC calculation techniques are well documented
    |   in various technical references, and will not be treated further
        here.

        The content of the remaining comments in the nodelist are
        intended to be informative. Beyond the use of interest flags for
        distribution, a processing program need not have any interest in
        them.

        A nodelist data line contains eight variable length "fields"
        separated by commas (,). No space characters are allowed in a
        data line, and underscore characters are used in lieu of spaces.
        The term "alphanumeric character" is defined as the portion of
        the ASCII character set from 20 hex through 7E hex, inclusive.
        The following discussion defines the contents of each field in a
        data line.

      Field 1: Keyword

        The keyword field may be empty, or may contain one of the
        following:

        Zone

            Begins the definition of a geographic zone and define its
            coordinator. All the data lines following a line with the
            "Zone" keyword down to, but not including, the next
            occurrence of a "Zone" keyword, are regions, networks, and
    |       nodes within the defined zone.  Node entries defined
    |       immediately after the "Zone" keyword and before the next
    |       region or host entry are known as zone adminstrative nodes.
    |       These are allocated by the Zone Coordinator for use by nodes
    |       in the entire zone; for example, mail gateways between
    |       FidoNet zones.

        Region

            Begins the definition of a geographic region and defines
            its coordinator. All the data lines following a line with
            the "Region" keyword down to,  but not including,  the
            next occurrence of a "Zone",  "Region",  or "Host"
            keyword, are independent nodes within the defined region.

        Host

            Begins the definition of a local network and defines its
    |       network coordinator. All the data lines following a line
            with the Host keyword down to, but not including, the
            next occurrence of a "Zone", "Region",  or "Host" keyword,
            are local nodes, members of the defined local network.

        Hub

            Begins the definition of a routing sub-unit within a
            multi-level local network. The hub is the routing focal
            point for nodes listed below it until the next occurrence
            of a "Zone", "Region", "Host", or "Hub" keyword. The hub
            entry MUST be a redundant entry, with a unique number, for
            one of the nodes listed below it, within its hub segment.
            This is necessary because some nodelist processors
            eliminate these entries in all but the local network.

        Pvt

            Defines a private node with unlisted number. Private nodes
            are only allowed as members of local networks.

        Hold

            Defines a node which is temporarily down. Mail may be sent
            to it and is held by its host or coordinator.

        Down

            Defines a node which is not operational. Mail may NOT be
            sent to it. This keyword may not be used for longer than
            two weeks on any single node, at which point the "down"
            node is to be removed from the nodelist.

        <empty>

    |       The field contains no text (not the sequence "<empty>"),
    |       and defines a normal node entry.

    |   Only one of these may be used in any individual data line.

      Field 2: Zone/Region/Net/Node number

        This field contains only numeric digits and is a number in the
        range of 0 to 32767. If the line had the "Zone", "Region", or
        "Host" keyword, the number is the zone, net, or region number,
        and the node has an implied node number of 0. Otherwise, the
        number is the node number. The zone number, region or net number,
        and the node number, taken together, constitute a node's FidoNet
        address.

        Zone numbers must be unique. Region or net numbers must be unique
        within their zone, hub numbers unique be within their net, node
    |   numbers unique within their net (and region, for regional
    |   independent nodes, zone for zone administrative entries). Duplicate
        node numbers under different hubs within the same net are not
        allowed.

      Field 3: Node name

        This field may contain any alphanumeric characters other than
        commas and spaces. Underscores are used to represent spaces, and
        a comma delimits the end of the field. This is the name by which
        the node is known, usually as determined by the node or the
        coordinator responsible for compiling the segment.

      Field 4: Location

        This field may contain any alphanumeric characters other than
        commas and spaces. Underscores are used to represent spaces. This
        field contains the location of the node. It is usually expressed
        as the primary local location (town, suburb, city, etc.) plus the
        identifier of the regional geopolitical administrative district
        (state, province, department, county, etc.). Wherever possible,
        standard postal abbreviations for the major regional district
        should be used (IL, BC, NSW, etc.).

      Field 5: Sysop name

        This field may contain any alphanumeric characters other than
        commas and spaces. Underscores are used to represent spaces. This
        is the name of the system operator.

      Field 6: Phone number

        This field contains at least three and usually four numeric
        sub-fields separated by dashes (-). The fields are country code,
        city or area code, exchange code, and number. The various parts
        of the phone number are frequently used to derive cost and
        routing information, as well as what number is to be dialed. A
        typical example of the data in a phone number field is
        1-800-555-1212, corresponding to country 1 (USA), area 800
        (inbound WATS), exchange 555, and number 1212.

        Alternatively, this field may contain the notation
        "-Unpublished-" in the case of a private node. In this case, the
    |   keyword "Pvt" must appear at the start of the line.

      Field 7: Baud rate

        This field contains one of the values: 300, 1200, 2400, 9600,
    |   19200, or 38400.

    |   This baud rate is indicative only of the maximum baud rate that
    |   may be expected when connecting to a node and is generally of use
    |   only where a calling node needs to adjust the baud rate used to
    |   dial to the caller's modem speed in order to achieve a
    |   connection, a requirement that with modem technology available in
    |   1996 is rarely if ever needed. This information is largely
    |   superseded by modem protocol flags (see next section) where any
    |   two nodes using a common protocol may have other expectations
    |   with regards to actual transfer rates. Use of the baud rate field
    |   alone is therefore depreciated.

      Field 8 - Flags

        This optional field contains data about the specific operation of
        the node, such as file requests, modem protocol supported, etc.
        Any text following the seventh comma on a data line is taken
        collectively to be the flags field. The required format is zero
        or more sub-fields, separated by commas. Each sub-field consists
        of a flag, possibly followed by a value.

        The following flags define special operating conditions:

           Flag    Meaning

           CM      Node accepts mail 24 hours a day
           MO      Node does not accept human callers
    |      LO      Node accepts calls only from valid listed node
    |              numbers in the current FidoNet nodelist

        The following flags define modem protocols supported:

           Flag    Meaning

    |      V21     ITU-T V21      300 bps full duplex
    |      V22     ITU-T V22     1200 bps full duplex
    |      V29     ITU-T V29     9600 bps half duplex
    |      V32     ITU-T V32     9600 bps full duplex
    |      V32b    ITU-T V32bis 14400 bps full duplex
    |      V33     ITU-T V33
    |      V34     ITU-T V34    28800 bps full duplex

           H96     Hayes V9600
           HST     USR Courier HST up to 9600
    |      H14     USR Courier HST up to 14400
    |      H16     USR Courier HST up to 16800
           MAX     Microcom AX/96xx series
           PEP     Packet Ensemble Protocol
    |      CSP     Compucom Speedmodem
    |      ZYX     Zyxel series
    |      VFC     V.Fast Class
    |      V32T    V.32 Terbo

           NOTE:   Many V22 modems also support Bell 212A.

        If no modem flag is given, Bell 212A is assumed for 1200 bps
        systems, ITU-T V22bis is assumed for 2400 bps systems.

        The following flags define type of error correction available. A
        separate error correction flag should not be used when the error
        correction type can be determined by the modem flag. For
    |   instance, a modem flag of HST implies MNP, V32b implies V32 and
    |   V42b implies V42. Therefore MNP+HST, H14+MNP, H16+MNP, V32+V32b
    |   and V42+V42b flag pairs are redundant and should not be used.

            Flag    Meaning

            MNP     Microcom Networking Protocol error correction
    |       V42     ITU-T LAP-M error correction w/fallback to MNP 1-4
    |       V42b    ITU-T LAP-M error correction w/fallback to MNP 1-5

        The following flags define the type(s) of compression of mail
        packets supported.

            Flag    Meaning

            MN      No compression supported

    |       NOTE:   While FidoNet nodes usually exchange mail
    |               using a variety of different file compression
    |               formats negotiated between individual systems, the
    |               presence of this flag indicates the INABILITY TO
    |               RECEIVE MAIL compressed using the SEA ARC version 5
    |               compression format and/or named according to the
    |               ARCmail 0.6 mail bundle naming method. This is, by
    |               convention, the most common mail compression format
    |               in use within FidoNet. The presence of this flag
    |               would normally indicate that all mail should be sent
    |               uncompressed unless there is some overriding
    |               arrangement with the receiving system.

        The following flags indicate the types of file and file update
        requests supported.

            Flag    Meaning

            XA      Bark and WaZOO file/update requests
            XB      Bark file/update requests, WaZOO file requests
    |       XC      Bark file requests, WaZOO file file/update
            XP      Bark file/update requests
            XR      Bark and WaZOO file requests
            XW      WaZOO file requests
    |       XX      WaZOO file/update requests

        The following flag defines gateways to other domains (mail
        networks).

            Flag    Meaning

            Gx..x   Gateway to domain 'x..x', where 'x..x` is a string
                    of alphanumeric characters.

            NOTE:   Valid values for 'x..x' are assigned by the FidoNet
    |               International Coordinator or the person appointed as
    |               Internetworking Coordinator by the FidoNet
    |               International Coordinator. Current valid values of
                    'x..x' may usually be found in the notes at the end
    |               of the current FidoNet nodelist. The most common
    |               gateway flag is "GUUCP", to denote a gateway to the
    |               Internet mail system that gates on behalf of the
    |               fidonet.org internet domain.

        The following flags define the dedicated mail periods supported.
        They have the form "#nn" or "!nn" where nn is the UTC hour the mail
        period begins, '#' indicates Bell 212A compatibility, and '!'
        indicates incompatibility with Bell 212A.

            Flag    Meaning

    |       #01     Zone 5 mail hour (01:00 - 02:00 UTC)
            #02     Zone 2 mail hour (02:30 - 03:30 UTC)
    |       #03     Zone 4 mail hour (08:00 - 09:00 UTC)
            #09     Zone 1 mail hour (09:00 - 10:00 UTC)
            #18     Zone 3 mail hour (18:00 - 19:00 UTC)
    |       #20     Zone 6 mail hour (20:00 - 21:00 UTC)

            NOTE:   When applicable, the mail period flags may be strung
                    together with no intervening commas, e.g.. "#02#09"
    |               or "!02!09". Only mail hours other than that
                    standard within a node's zone should be given. Since
                    observance of mail hour within one's zone is
                    mandatory, it should not be indicated.

        The following flag defines user-specific values. If present,
        this flag MUST be the last flag present in a nodelist entry.

            Flag    Meaning

            Ux..x   A user-specified string, which may contain any
                    alphanumeric character except blanks. This string
                    may contain one to thirty-two characters of
                    information that may be used to add user-defined
                    data to a specific nodelist entry.

    |       NOTE:   Ux..x flags are the mechanism by which new flags may
    |               be experimentally introduced into the nodelist for a
    |               trial period to assess their worth. They are
    |               therefore of a temporary nature, and after their
    |               introduction they are eventually either promoted
    |               to a non-U flag or dropped from use altogether.

        The FTSC recognizes that the FidoNet International Coordinator is
        the ultimate authority over what appears in the FidoNet nodelist.
        Also, FTSC is by definition a deliberative body, and adding or
        changing a flag may take a considerable amount of time.
        Therefore, the FidoNet International Coordinator may temporarily
        make changes or additions to the flags as defined in this
        document. The FidoNet International Coordinator will then consult
        with FTSC over the changes needed to this document to reflect
        these temporary changes.

        The following are examples of nodelist data lines:

        Host,102,SOCALNET,Los_Angeles_CA,Richard_Martz,1-213-874-9484,2400,XP
        ,101,Rainbow_Data,Culver_City_CA,Don_Brauns,1-213-204-2996,2400,

    | THE NODEDIFF

    |   With more than thirty-five thousand nodes as of this date (1996),
    |   the nodelist, even in archive form, is a document of substantial
    |   size. Since distribution of the nodelist occurs via electronic
        file transfer, this file is NOT routinely distributed. Instead,
    |   when a new nodelist is prepared weekly, it is compared with the
        previous week's nodelist, and a file containing only the
        differences is created and distributed.

    |   The distribution difference file, called NODEDIFF.nnn, where nnn
        is the day-of-year of publication, is actually an editing script
        which will transform the previous week's nodelist into the
        current nodelist. A definition of its format follows:

        The first line of NODEDIFF.nnn is an exact copy of the first line
    |   of LAST WEEK'S nodelist (i.e. the first line of the nodelist to
    |   which the current difference file applies). This is used as a
        first-level confidence check to insure that the correct file is
        being edited. The second and subsequent lines are editing
        commands and data.

        There are three editing commands and all have the same format:

      <command><number>

        <command> is a 1 letter command, one of A, C, or D.

        <number> is a decimal number greater than zero, and defines the
        number of lines to be operated on by the command. Each command
        appears on a line by itself. The commands have the following
        meanings:

            Ann     Add the following nn lines to the output file.
            Cnn     Copy nn unchanged lines from the input to the output
                    file.
            Dnn     Delete (or skip) nn lines from the input file.

        The following illustrate how the first few lines of a
    |   hypothetical NODEDIFF.213 might look:

            ;A Friday, July 25, 1986 -- Day number 206 : 27712
            D2
            A2
            ;A Friday, August 1, 1986 -- Day number 213 : 05060
            ;A
            C5

        This fragment illustrates all three editing commands. The first
        line is the first line from the previous nodelist, NODELIST.206.
        The next line says "delete the first two lines" from
        NODELIST.206. These are the identification line and the line
        following it. The next command says "add the next two lines" to
        NODELIST.213 at the "current" location. The two data lines are
        followed by a command which says "copy five unchanged lines" from
        NODELIST.206 to NODELIST.213. Notice that the first line added
    |   will ALWAYS contain the new nodelist CRC, so that the software
    |   applying the changes to the old nodelist may check the result of
    |   its editing.

        Since only the differences will be distributed, it is important
        to insure the accuracy of the newly created nodelist. This is the
        function of the CRC mentioned above. It is sufficient for a
        program designed to perform the above edits to pick the CRC value
        from the first line added to the output file, then compute the
        CRC of the rest of the output file. If the two CRCs do not agree,
        one of the input files has been corrupted. If they do agree, the
        probability is very high (but not 100%) that the output file is
        accurate.

        For actual distribution, NODEDIFF.nnn is packed into an archive
    |   file named NODEDIFF.?nn, where 'nn' are the last two digits of
    |   day-of-year, and '?' indicates the compression format used.

    | NODELIST COMPILATION

    |   This section is included for tutorial reasons and is not intended
    |   as a definition of any specific method by which FidoNet MUST
    |   compile its weekly nodelist. It merely represents an attempt to
    |   document the method by which it currently does so. It is intended
    |   to be explanatory, and seeks to answer commonly asked questions,
    |   such as how the nodelist is compiled and where the information
    |   comes from, why the nodelists used in different FidoNet zones are
    |   not the same document, and why the difference file generated for
    |   use in one FidoNet zone cannot be applied to the nodelist
    |   generated for use in a different zone, even though the week
    |   numbers match.

    |   Nodelists are compiled via a distributed method, which follows
    |   the same structure as the FidoNet coordinator hierarchy. At the
    |   lowest level, network coordinators maintain a list of the nodes
    |   in their network and are responsible for the addition, removal
    |   and correction of individual node's listings in their "segment"
    |   (as portions of the full nodelist are called). In some larger
    |   networks, it is common for this job to be shared with hub
    |   coordinators appointed by the net coordinator, though the
    |   responsibility for those hub segments still remains with the
    |   network coordinator.

    |   At a nominated day during the week, before the regional level
    |   segment is submitted to the zone coordinator, individual net
    |   coordinators submit their segments to the regional coordinator
    |   who subsequently compiles these segments and transmits the merged
    |   copy to the zone coordinator. These are combined by the zone
    |   coordinator with the separate segments of other zones and
    |   compiled into that zone's version of the world nodelist. This
    |   world nodelist is then compared with the previous week's version,
    |   a difference file is generated and subsequently distributed
    |   throughout the zone.

    |   In some cases, in the interest of saving in transmission times
    |   and therefore costs, the compilation process itself may be better
    |   served by the submission of DIFFERENCE FILES rather than full
    |   net- or region-level segments. Each coordinator therefore retains
    |   a copy of the previously submitted segments and applies
    |   difference files to those to derive the new one. This process is
    |   exactly identical to the NODEDIFF/NODELIST scenario described
    |   earlier in this document, with the same first line and CRC
    |   validation method used to guard the integrity of the nodelist
    |   segments.

    |   For a number of reasons, it is important that publication of the
    |   nodelist be as timely as possible. These reasons include: the
    |   nodelist is a definitive list of valid FidoNet addresses that may
    |   receive mail, and must therefore be as correct and up-to-date as
    |   possible to save nodes the unnecessary expense of mail routed to
    |   possibly non-existing addresses; the nodelist contains the list
    |   of telephone numbers that may be called by any user of the
    |   FidoNet nodelist and should therefore be accurate so as not to
    |   unduly annoy owners of those phone numbers should a listed node
    |   go down and an unsuspecting telephone subscriber inherit the same
    |   telephone number.

    |   Given this constraint, the expense of international calls and the
    |   fact that FidoNet is a worldwide network that exists in many time
    |   zones, it may be unreasonable to expect the compilation of the
    |   nodelist to be delayed until each zone coordinator can transmit
    |   their most up-to-date zone segment to a central authority for
    |   compilation and subsequent redistribution in any week. For the
    |   sake of expedience, each zone instead maintains its own separate
    |   world nodelist which contains a compilation of the current zone's
    |   latest segments and including the most current copy to hand of
    |   all other FidoNet zone's segments. The zone level nodelist
    |   generated each week by each zone coordinator is then transmitted
    |   to all other zone coordinators for inclusion into their separate
    |   world nodelist as timing permits.

    |   In theory, then, the only difference between nodelists
    |   distributed in each zone in any week are accounted for by timing
    |   differences in the exchange of each zone's separate segment. In
    |   practice, other constraints may interfere with timeliness, such
    |   as the difficulty and expense of international telephonic
    |   communications. Also, another point of variance is introduced by
    |   the fact that each zone usually includes its own zone segment
    |   first into its world nodelist to assist - amongst other things -
    |   software that uses the nodelist for index generation. Some
    |   software in common use in FidoNet indexes the nodelist according
    |   to its sequential order (e.g. version 5 and 6 compiled nodelist
    |   formats), and including the current zone first before others will
    |   have a beneficial effect on software performance.

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