1003.2 Command Groups

[std-unix at ut-sally.UUCP]

As far as I am aware, the details of the UUCP protocol are not
considered a trade secret by AT&T, although the UNIX software
that implements that protocol certainly is.  I think it's more
a matter of nobody taking the time to write it down.

I saw a detailed description of the UUCP protocol go by on the
comp.mail.uucp newsgroup the other day.  It appeared to be
deduced from "black box" treatment, except that the "g" protocol
document was written by its author: Greg Chesson.  (I don't know
the release status of that document, only that it seems to be
generally available, since it was posted to Usenet by someone who
is not associated with AT&T.)

In any case, the protocol evidently IS documented, and this documentation
is generally available.  If there is interest in standardizing UUCP,
I doubt AT&T will object, and their representatives on the POSIX
committee will have every opportunity to do so if I'm wrong.

Personally, I feel that UUCP ought to be standardized, but not as
part of the base system, but as an optional extension.  I think that
market demands will be sufficient to require most vendors to support
it, but they will be unable to without an appropriate standard unless
they use AT&T derived code.  We may feel that UUCP will be dead in a
few years, but I seem to recall that Mike Lesk described UUCP as a
quick kludge to get us by until we all had real networks (and he said this
in 1978.)

	Mark

Volume-Number: Volume 9, Number 44