__ _ __ _ _ __ ______\ \_\\_______________________\///__________________________//_/ /______ \___\ /___/ | .__ __ | | | ___ __________/ |________ | | \ \/ / ____/\ __\_ __ \ | ; > < <_| | | | | | \/ ; : /__/\_ \__ | |__| |__| : . \/ |__| . . . : 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... it's 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 don't 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 don't and thats why the jam format is still in place, after all that years! because modern developers don't adopt a unified path for implementing technologies and so, old and outdated formats and protocols are still in use.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 don't care for the format. and thats what an api is doing. and this is necessary not because you and me, don't 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 can't 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 ;) + --- -- - . - --- --- --- - . - -- --- ´ _____ _ _ ____ _ _ | _ |___ ___| |_| |_ ___ ___ | \ ___ ___|_|_| | 8888 | | | . | _| | -_| _| | | | _| . | | . | 8 888888 8 |__|__|_|_|___|_| |_|_|___|_| |____/|_| |___|_|___| 8888888888 8888888888 DoNt Be aNoTHeR DrOiD fOR tHe SySteM 88 8888 88 8888888888 /: HaM RaDiO /: ANSi ARt! /: MySTiC MoDS /: DooRS '88||||88' /: NeWS /: WeATheR /: FiLEs /: SPooKNet ''8888"' /: GaMeS /: TeXtFiLeS /: PrEPardNeSS /: FsxNet 88 /: TuTors /: bOOkS/PdFs /: SuRVaViLiSM /: ArakNet 8 8 88888888888 888 8888][][][888 TeLNeT : andr01d.zapto.org:9999 [UTC 11:00 - 20:00] 8 888888##88888 SySoP : xqtr eMAiL: xqtr@gmx.com 8 8888.####.888 DoNaTe : https://paypal.me/xqtr 8 8888##88##888