: H/Q Another Droid BBS - andr01d.zapto.org:9999 :
BBS Internetization?
lately all major bbs software get updated, frequently and for sure this is
nice! users are making requests, developers implement them and the
software gets updated with new and modern stuff, like encryption... cause
the fashion of our days is communication encryption. you can see it in
all platforms not only bbses. specially on smartphone apps for im like
viber and wire. everyone wants his communication to be encyrpted... hmm
weird times...
never the less... its not my point here... if people wants encryption
give it to them. my point is that because we are attracted by the
fashion of our days, we dont look into other stuff, which are important
for bbs software and unfortunately we forget them.
lets make a trip into time, into the past. why door apps/games invented?
what was the need for users/sysops to lead into their development? the
need was that we wanted software mods/games/apps that can run flawlessly
in all platforms/bbs software. specially for sysops and modders is
difficult to write a script for each bbs server platform, in their native
script language. also those script languages had many limitations. so
programmers made doors!!! a door is a piece of software that can run with
all bbs software. its the same binary. you just have to make a simple
setup and voila! so, doors are a unified way to make and run software for
all bbses... no changes in the code, no fuzz... and thats what we need
today in all bbs software... a unification of things.
right now, each developer, writes his own software, in a way he wants to.
others may use 128bit encryption, others 256bit, others none etc. some bbs
software use sqlite, but others dont and thats why the jam format is
still in place, after all that years! because modern developers dont
adopt a unified path for implementing technologies and so, old and
outdated formats and protocols are still in use.
i mean... i want to write some programs for bbses, that need to make posts
to echoareas and because there is not a unified and common way, i have to
leave it to the users of my programs to setup this... which is not an easy
task, cause each bbs soft. has its own weird way to accomplish that. what
if there was a protocol that would dictated developers to implement
text/file posting in a common way, for all bbs software? for example, each
developer/bbs software should provide an utility named ex: msgpost and
took one, two, three specific parameters to post a file in an echoarea...
is that so hard? think not... but its the lack of perspective and
communication between developers and users to developers, that keep us
apart from making stuff easier for us.. even in 2018. and that was a simple
example.
some bbses use a new format to save messages, like sqlite. me and you as
modders, how we could be able to write scripts/software for those bbses?
we will be forced either to use the scripting languages of these systems,
which is not good for me and its the whole point of this article... or
write software that uses the one jam or other sqlite format... or
both! if we support the one or other format, someone gets excluded and its
not right. if we are forced to write software for both formats... its not
going to happen... so simple! the solution to this problem is to convince
the developers of these bbs server software to include a unified way to
access the message bases, in either format. an utility that you will give
it the name of the base file and a number and it will return the message,
the header, the author etc. with out the need to even know in what format
the bbs saves the messages. if i as a programmer have the way to collect
the data i want, i dont care for the format. and thats what an api is
doing. and this is necessary not because you and me, dont know how to
read jam/sqlite files, but because in this way, it also lets the
developers to evolve their systems with out losing compatibility with
older software and with 100 freedom to take the path they want in
developing the bbs soft. if the provide this api their system will be
100 compatible and accessible, even if they choose sqlite, mysql,
postgre, file bases etc.
we have to get down and think what we lack from the bbs software, now and
ask to be implemented in a unified way, for all software. we give too much
attention to modern things and we forget basic stuff and things that made
bbses a need of communication back in the day. imagine this... back in
those days, there were a lot more users and developers.. but even though
some of them got together and gave the protocols we use even now! but
today, that we are a lot less and we also have internet, we cant take
common decisions and form a common path. unfortunately this is a
phenomenon that is appearing in all levels of human interaction in
society, now days... not only in bbses... remember the article in issue
x001, from phrack mag. about groups
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