RFC 514 (rfc514) - Page 2 of 4
Network make-work
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 514 NETWORK MAKE-WORK 5 June 1973 Listings of every program available to network users? Has anybody calculated how much paper would be generated? How many trees would have to be cut down for this paper? How many filing cabinets are going to be needed? How is this massive amount of information in its totality going to be of use anyone? Is there going to be an answering service which will answer such questions as to what is on the third line of page 5 of the listings of the editor at a given host? Will one be "required" to send a new listing in order to change a program? This material has not been reviewed for public release and is intended only for use with the ARPA network. It should not be quoted or cited in any publication not related to the ARPA network. plf-2256 From the point of view of a site such as TX-2, the questions become even more intriguing. Many of our programs are written in assembly language. Should we, therefore, also send along a copy of our (incomplete) assembly language manual? Or should we drop everything else and complete the manual? What about listings of our operating system since the programs make calls upon the system for input- output, file management, etc.? (I could go on and on, but the readers should get the idea by now.) Much of this applies to any host, but for a host which has a one-and-only computer,the problems are more acute. Once again, may I repeat my plea from RFC 459. There are small research sites on the network. TX-2 is one of them. Please, network community, don't drown us in a sea of make-work. We might get nothing done just keeping up with it. Or is that no longer important? In particular, the network community ought to be glad that in the mid 1960's we at TX-2 weren't bombarded with tons of make-work and were able to get something done. What I have in mind is the initial experimentation with a small-scale network prototype with SDC which demonstrated the feasibility of networks and led to the ARPA Network. (Please see reference.) Who knows what we, or some other site, will come up with if given the chance? Some people have suggested that I not write this RFC reasoning that if I just ignore it, the problem will go away. But the problem is not going away. If anything, it seems to be getting worse. Silence becomes in effect tacit consent. I do not intend to sit by and sacrifice useful work to satisfy bureaucratic compulsiveness. Kantrowitz
