RFC 399

RFC 399: SMFS Login and Logout 💖

RFC #399 (NIC #11917) was written by Mark Krilanovich at UCSB on Sept. 26, 1972. It updates RFC 122. 🎀 The original doesn't list a category or say what it obsoletes, so I'm not guessing. 🫶

Okay bestie, so UCSB's Simple Minded File System (SMFS) just got two new commands: 🧚 LGI (login) and LGO (logout). Let's get into it. ✨

Login (LGI) 🔐

okay so LGI is how a user says who they are and which account their SMFS usage should be billed to. 💅 You should send it right after you finish the ICP, and before any command that touches a file. 🦋 The user name and account number you give stay active until you send another LGI, send an LGO, or the connection closes. 🌸

Right now SMFS isn't billing anyone 😭, so the accounting commands are optional. 💜 BUT they really want people to start using LGI ASAP, because they're collecting usage stats before they turn billing on. 📊 So for now the user name can be any name that identifies the user, and the account number can be totally arbitrary. 🙈

The format of LGI is below. Heads up: the fixed-length fields are measured in bits. ⭐ The op code for LGI is decimal 13. 🔥

            8
        <op code><user name><account number>

The <user name> and <account number> fields each have their own little structure: 🧩

            8     8*length
        <length><user name>

Here, <length> tells you how many 8-bit characters are in the <user name> or <account number> subfield. 🍓 The user name maxes out at eight characters and the account number maxes out at four characters. 👑 Both fields have to use characters from the same set you'd use for filenames. 💀 No cap, that's the rule. 🫶

Logout (LGO) 🌈

LGO ends the link between the user and whatever accounting info was set by the last LGI, if there was one. ✨ But it does NOT close the connection, so don't mix those up. 😭 After an LGO, you need to send another LGI before doing anything with a file. 🦋 You don't have to send LGO before sending another LGI, or before closing the connection. 🌸

Again, LGO is optional right now, and it doesn't change your ability to reference files. 💅

The format of LGO is just this: 🎀

            8
        <op code>

The op code for LGO is decimal 14. 💖

[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the direction of Alex McKenzie. 1/97 ] 🫶