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Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

Followups directed to: news.admin.peering

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On 2021-08-31, Chris Baird <cjb+usenet@brushtail.apana.org.au> wrote:
>> So basically it's UUCP for the modern world.
>
> UUCP for people with personality disorders.
>
> There's been hundreds of projects trying to implement
> Cypherpunk-approved sub-Internets.. but in the

That is not what NNCP is trying to do.

NNCP is low-level tooling.  It is not about building some large community any
more than ssh is.  It's not Hyperboria or Tor or I2P.  The NNCP front page says
it's "intended to help build up small size (dozens of nodes) ad-hoc
friend-to-friend..."

It is a Unixy tool.  It's not a website, not a community, not some TCP
replacement.  A command-line tool, that requires an exchange of public keys
before conversation can even begin.

I don't really want to veer too far off-topic in this group, and would welcome
an email conversation.

Fundamentally, we have been in a place for awhile now where there's no good
Unixy way to do async.  UUCP's security model is, at best, clumsy for this
moment in time.  When your only tool is ssh, every problem looks like a
synchronous one.  Those that don't need synchronous communication often resort
to it anyhow because the alternative is difficult and clumsy.  Those that MUST
have async (eg, network backups to tape, certain large-scale logging
aggregations, etc) have to implement it custom each time.

So, I figure, what better way to explore secure async on Unix than with some
things it's ideally suited for?  I have been using NNCP for my own backups.  I
use it for syncing my org-mode git repo.  It is close enough to UUCP to be a
fairly easy drop-in replacement for the things that still support UUCP: Postfix,
Exim, INN, and the like.

> $CURRENT_CENTURY they only attract trash and not the
> people who create communities.
> And needs moar Blockchain.
> And less Go. Are you deliberately trying to be anti-interoperative?

I'm not sure where that comes from - please do enlighten me if I'm making some
mistake here.  I am open to feedback from the community and want to make sure I
am not causing a problem.  I had visited about this plan with one of the
long-time server operators here before beginning.  On every page I've written
about, I've emphasized that I welcome NNTP peers.  I have several (thank you!)
and I want to give back in that way - and this one.

The post you were replying to was transmitted over NNCP.  That didn't seem to
cause any trouble with propagation any more than UUCP would.  It's just a
different layer underneath INN.

If there are specific suggestions you have for how to make sure I'm doing this
well, I'm all ears.  But if what you're saying is "crypto transport leads to bad
things", I guess ssh (and UUCP over ssh, which some people still offer for
Usenet) would like a word with you.  This is USENET we're talking about.  It's
not a separate anything.  It's still going to propagate via encrypted NNTP to
the globe, like anything else.

You will notice also, I hope, that I tried to be very clear for people getting a
NNCP feed from me what the expectations would be.

- John

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Thread

Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2021-08-31 03:01 +0000
  Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available Chris Baird <cjb+usenet@brushtail.apana.org.au> - 2021-08-31 23:51 +1000
    Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2021-08-31 15:57 +0000
  Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available opal hart <usenet@wowana.me> - 2021-09-13 19:43 +0000
    Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2021-09-16 04:21 +0000
  Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available Crypto God <CryptoGod@china.com> - 2021-10-09 04:54 +0000
    Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> - 2021-11-08 14:48 +0000
  im cuonfused Meow <elliottg@duck.com> - 2023-06-17 20:07 +0000
  Re: Usenet feeds via NNCP (UUCP successor) available immibis <news@immibis.com> - 2023-12-16 15:35 +0100

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