>I wish there was a way to know how many people are using AmigaUUCP. Perhaps
>there is, anyone have any ideas?? (I'm thinking of the message-id stuff that
>allows Geoff and Henry the ability to track C-News vs. B-News -- could something
>similar be done for AmigaUUCP?)

>\X/    mbs@adastra.cvl.va.us  -or-  uunet.uu.net!virginia.edu!adastra!mbs

I have several neighbors running AmigaUUCP for news that never post
anything.  Then there are the ones that don't even use news, just
e-mail.

The only way I can think of finding these sites, is to in the next
version of AmigaUUCP add a feature that sends an "I am here" message
to a specific site.  That site would have to be stable for (say)
the next five years, because who nows how long people will keep
starting to use that old address.  There should be a way to turn
off the message for those sites that cannot reach the outside world,
that pay for their mail, or that really want to maintain their privacy.
The message should be sent when the package is first installed,
whenever the node name (i.e. site or domain) changes, and a random 
time once every (say) year.  The random time could be determined 
by a hash of the node name.  Having it random would avoid swamping
the logging site on a particular day.

Even with this you would miss those people that are still running
Amiga-UUCP 1.08 and still quite happy with it.

Might I suggest a uulib:config variable, "AutoRegister" which defaults
to "ON".  A new file uulib:AutoRegister could contain a record of
AutoRegisterations that have been sent for "AmigaUUCP" and other
packages.  I see the following fields in each record (line):
	* Package Name : e.g. AmigaUUCP or WuthMail
	* Active Flag : whether AutoRegisterations for this package
			should be sent.  For newly installed packages
			this defaults to the uulib:Config AutoRegister
			variable.
	* Last Date : Date and Time last AutoRegisteration was sent
	* Address : E-mail address that last AutoRegistration was sent to.
	* Frequency : How often to send AutoRegisterations, measured
		      in days.  AutoRegisterations would be sent (if
		      enbled):
			* when the package is first installed.
			* when the current node name is different
			  from the "Last Node Name".
			* when 
				(  CurrentDate 
				 - CurrentDate % Frequency 
			         + (  (Hash(NodeName) + Hash(PackageName))
			            % Frequency))
			    >=  LastDate
			  [The PackageName is also hashed to avoid
			   sending out all registrations on the
			   same date.]
			* whenever specifically instructed by the
			  package.
	* Last Node Name : The node name for us that we last sent
	* Package State : private state information maintained by the
			  package.  The package may want to send out
			  a new AutoRegisteration whenever this state
			  differs from its internal record.

I imagine the AutoRegistration would contain the same fields.

I can see the AutoRegistration code being a run-time or link-time
library.  That way when I come out with the imaginary "WuthMail",
all I have to do is link it in with the existing library.  The library
would have a function, 
	AutoRegisterCheck( PackageName, ActiveFlag, Address, Frequency,
			   PackageState )
		which would check to see if an AutoRegistration should
		be sent off.  If the package is not listed in
		uulib:AutoRegister, then a record is created with
		the fields as specified.  The argument ActiveFlag is
		ANDed with uulib:Config's AutoRegister to determine
		the ActiveFlag of the newly created record.  This
		allows the package author to default to OFF, except
		for those user's that specifically turn AutoRegistering
		for that package ON.
		If the record's PackageState is different from the
		PackageState argument, the record is updated.  This
		does not force a new Registration.
	AutoRegisterGet( PackageName, ActiveFlag, LastDate, Address,
			 Frequency, LastNodeName, PackageState )
		Reads the current value of the record.
	AutoRegisterStateSet( PackageName, PackageState )
		Updates the package state.  Does not force an
		AutoRegister.
	AutoRegisterForce( PackageName )
		Forces an AutoRegister (if enabled).


Cheers,
-- 
Brett Wuth  wuth@castrov.cuc.ab.ca BCWuth@uncamult.bitnet wuth@castrov.UUCP
U302, 3510 44St SW, Calgary, Alberta, T3E 3R9, CANADA  Tel: +1 403 242-0848

x-gateway: rodan.UU.NET from amiga-uucp to alt.sys.amiga.uucp; Tue, 8 Sep 1992 01:02:29 EDT
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 18:06:09 EST
Reply-To: charon!anaconda!jph@moose.cs.indiana.edu (Joseph Hillenburg)
From: anaconda!jph@uunet.UU.NET (Joseph Hillenburg)
Subject: BMS site
Newsgroups: alt.sys.amiga.uucp