RFC 514

NETWORK MAKE-WORK ✨

Network Working Group 🎀 RFC 514 (NIC 16445), by W. Kantrowitz of LL TX-2, dated 5 June 1973. It updates RFC 459. The header doesn't list a category or status, and it doesn't say what (if anything) it obsoletes, so I'm not making those up 💀

okay so the ARPA Network has apparently developed this whole thing where it drags compulsive collectors and organizers out of the woodwork and puts them front and center to annoy literally everybody 🙄 Here's the latest drama 🍓

1. A set of charts on characteristics of the hosts. The vibe seems to be: if you can come up with names for the horizontal and vertical nodes, and it has to do with the hosts, make a chart out of it 📊 This collection of charts goes under the euphemism "ARPA Network handbook". Information on a host is scattered over all the pages, which is a questionable organizing scheme. Also, since the charts contain much of what is already in the Resource Notebook, we now get the delightful task of maintaining two documents whenever something changes 😭
2. A telephone call asking for hourly loads on the TX-2 computer for every hour of April and May. Imagine all that info getting keypunched into some computer (on the network, of course) and then lovely bar graphs, curves, plots, etc. getting generated. Probably in triplicate 📈🙈
3. A mailbox message about a "central software repository" and a personnel file. (Copy of the message is attached.) This was just too much, and it's the immediate precursor of this RFC 💅

My first reaction to the "central software repository" was that this had to be some kind of prank 💀 But when the second message (identical to the first) arrived an hour later, and I learned that others had also received it, I reluctantly accepted its legitimacy. Honestly, sending the message in duplicate fits right in with the general bureaucratic syndrome evidenced by the contents of the message 🫠

This RFC is only about the idea of listings of every program. That doesn't mean I think the rest of the request is better, just that I don't have the time to write a treatise on the general subject 📝 It should be noted (if not obvious) that what follows is being written with almost unbearable restraint 🫶

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 to anyone? Is there going to be an answering service which will answer questions like 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 like TX-2, the questions get even more intriguing 🧐 Many of our programs are written in assembly language. Should we 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, and 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-1960s 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 👑

It says someplace that one should end on a positive note, so OK, here goes 🌈 May I respectfully suggest that the next potential perpetrator of network (make) work for someone else think very hard about the justification for it. Also, think about how much time it will take, remembering that not everybody is as fast or brilliant as you are. If you would like positive responses from others, you should consider why someone else should feel motivated to do the work you request. Then put all this down on paper as the introduction to the "work order." Then think some more. Try it on some colleagues. If it has still survived, then maybe you have something. Just maybe. 🧚💖

Reference

T. Marill and L. Roberts, "Toward a Cooperative Network of Time-Shared Computers" in AFIPS Conference Proceedings, November 1966.

WK:sja

attachment

                                COPY

NET MAIL FROM SITE USC-ISI RCVD AT  30-MAY-73  10:59:44
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DATE   30-MAY-73   0740-PDT
FROM   RML AT USC-ISI
RE:    RML CENTRAL SOFTWARE REPOSITORY
- - - -

RML CENTRAL SOFTWARE REPOSITORY

RML IN THE CAPACITY OF ARPANET MANAGER IS INTERESTED IN ESTABLISHING
AT RML A CENTRAL REPOSITORY OF PROGRAMS ADVERTISED IN THE NETWORK
RESOURCES NOTEBOOK BY THE HOST SERVER SITES AS AVAILABLE FOR USE BY
NETWORK MEMBERS.  IT IS ALSO DESIRED THAT PROGRAMS GENERALLY
AVAILABLE FOR USE BY NETWORK MEMBERS BUT NOT LISTED IN THE RESOURCE
NOTEBOOK ALSO BE INCLUDED.  AVAILABLE DOCUMENTATION ON THE PROGRAMS
IS ALSO REQUIRED.  THE TYPE OF PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION DESIRED INCLUDES
BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO -
1.  PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
2.  LISTINGS
3.  RUNNING INSTRUCTIONS
   A.  OPERATION INSTRUCTIONS
   B.  INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE DATA TO BE PROCESSED
4.  PROGRAM LIMITATIONS
5.  ANY OTHER AVAILABLE DOCUMENTATION IN THE ABSENCE OF THE ABOVE.
YOUR COOPERATION IS THEREFORE SOLICITED IN PROVIDING COPIES OF THOSE
PROGRAMS WITH THE ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION ADVERTISED BY YOUR SITE AS
AVAILABLE FOR USE BY NETWORK.  IF THERE IS A CHARGE FOR THE MATERIAL
PLEASE PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION BEFORE INITIATING ANY ACTION.  IN
THOSE CASES WHERE THE PROGRAM RESIDES AT A GIVEN HOST SITE AND THE
DOCUMENTATION IS LOCATED ELSEWHERE SIMPLY PROVIDE THE LOCATION
INFORMATION.
RML IS ALSO ESTABLISHING A FILE OF HOST SITE PERSONNEL OR STAFF
INTERESTED IN OR POSSESSING PARTICULAR TECHNICAL TALENTS OR
CAPABILITIES IN ANY SCIENTIFIC FIELDS.  THE PERSONS NAME, CREDENTIALS
AND A SHORT SUMMARY OF PARTICULARS IS DESIRED AND WILL BE
APPRECIATED.  PLEASE MAIL COPIES OF THE PROGRAMS, DOCUMENTATION AND
PERSONNEL
INFORMATION TO -
LT.  COL.  E.P. SCHELONKA
RANGE MEASUREMENTS LABORATORY
ENLD
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA  32925
PLEASE SEND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THIS MESSAGE INDICATING IF YOUR
SITE WILL PROVIDE THE REQUESTED MATERIAL AND INFORMATION.  SEND
REPLY TO RML->ISI ATTENTION G. CLARKE
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[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry into the online RFC archives by Bill Vance 12/97 ] 🌸