RouteD module in HardDisc4 !Internet script
Jon Abbott (1421) 2652 posts |
This module doesn’t exist in either 5.22 or the latest daily HardDisk image, should this line be removed from !Internet.!Run? Or is the Module MIA? |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8187 posts |
IF “<Inet$RouteDOptions>” <> "" So if something not defined does not equal an empty string a module that doesn’t exist in the local filesystem will be asked for to load? |
Richard Walker (2090) 432 posts |
I vaguely recall that if you tick ‘act as router’ is ticked in InetSetup, then it will set Inet$RouteDOptions and may attempt to load the module. Didn’t realise it wasn’t included by default, so won’t work! |
Jon Abbott (1421) 2652 posts |
I’m guessing the Module should be in the HardDisc image, but is missing for whatever reason. I’ve never ticked act as router, although there was a line in SetupNet that Set Inet$RouteDOptions=“DEFAULT” which was enough to trigger the RMLoad which failed. After discovering that, I replaced my whole !Boot with the latest just in case there’s been any changes to the Network Configure app (which fixed the error), but did note the Module is still missing from the latest image. |
Jeffrey Lee (213) 6048 posts |
There’s no entry for the module in ModuleDB, so I’m not sure where it would come from. |
David Pitt (102) 743 posts |
As far as I can see this Module has been ‘missing’ for ages, the line calling it is there but not the module itself, including ROL’s UniBoot. I found a Gerph reference which says much the same. Quote Originally the Internet stack was, I believe, supplied with a RouteD which provided routing through the Routing Information Protocol. Vestiges of this exist within the network configuration tool – they existed in the pre-Select version of the tool, and when I created the separate applications I retained the configuration options in the Routing settings, despite not knowing anything more about the module. |
Jon Abbott (1421) 2652 posts |
Based on that, I’d guess it just needs commenting out, or removing from !Boot.Resources.!Internet.!Run |
Andrew Rawnsley (492) 1445 posts |
I always felt (back to OS 3.70) that this was one of those “urban legend” type things where there’s somebody who had/used the routed module and the UI was there to support that person. It’s a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend type thing. My guess is that something may have existed when the TCP/IP suite was sold as a commercial product (RISC OS 2/3 era?) for hundreds of pounds. I think Acorn also had some form of X server that they sold alongside it (also hundreds of pounds). The van Somerens (ANT, also Aleph 1 etc) may have been involved, since there’s ANT fingerprints on much of Acorn’s networking. Acorn gradually merged in more and more of the TCP/IP stuff from RO 3.1 onwards, culminating in 3.71 having the full stack that we’re familiar with today (3.70 was missing the Resolver module, for some peculiar reason). I assume RouteD fell through the cracks along the way, deemed “too valuable” to include for free, but “not useful enough” to ever include. It’s worth noting that ANT continued to sell a fairly expensive “Server suite” version of their “ANT Internet Suite”, and I wonder if Acorn’s decision not to include RouteD has something to do with this? I imagine it allowed a modem connection to be shared round a network, presumably by acting as a router, although it may have just been a proxy-type thing. |
Sprow (202) 1158 posts |
RouteD is described from page 90 of the TCP/IP protocol suite guide, it implements RIP meaning those machines subscribed to it will chat amongst themselves to maintain the network topology in a way that might be faster than having to keep asking.
Sounds like you’re thinking of “Act as an IP router” which is not the same thing.
I think the networking group were kept in a dark cupboard within Acorn – some of the CVS messages and docs suggest that code was thrown over the fence periodically, rather than being all together as it is with ROOL. The ModuleDB largely reflects CVS, but it sounds like RouteD predates that (~1996?) and is probably on a backup disc somewhere in the caverns under ROOL HQ.
Well there’s three things going on here (having read the section in the manual)
FreeBSD still has a RouteD and given the IP stack is derived from there it probably wouldn’t be too hard to make a new one either. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8187 posts |
If it’s from that time period it is probably RIP rather than RIPv2, in which case the dark cupboard is probably a good place for it as RIPv1 had a rather simplistic view of subnets.
Treat it as one of a set of elements to port and create a new stack?
Wikipedia tends to reflect polarised opinions. RIPv1 was naff. RIPv2 “just works” to communicate routing tables between devices (provided you can wait 30 seconds for the exchange) The FreeBSD implementation probably also does RIPng which may well be useful in future. |
Chris Evans (457) 1614 posts |
Andrew it seems you are correct about inclusion in the ANT Server Suite. In a docs folder is a file called RouteD with: ROUTED FreeBSD System Manager’s Manual ROUTED NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION FILES SEE ALSO BUGS HISTORY |