IDG

Section-Update: 21 Jan 1995

IDG stands for "Internet Discussion Group," a package written by Don Stone dstone%trmx2@dot.ca.gov to support a discussion list for the California Department of Transportation.

Unusual features

IDG's most outstanding feature is that it requires only a single address, so that it can run from a single, "normal" account. IDG commands are sent in the subject line of a message; if the system decides any given message is not a command, it forwards it to the list. This can be seen as an advantage, in that list subscribers need remember only a single address; it also can be seen as a disadvantage in that many subscribers are going to mis-form or mis-spell their commands, thus causing IDG to send bogus messages to the list. IDG supports two user functions that, to my knowledge, are unique among MLM's. With "filter" (similar to the LISTSERV "set topics" command, but more general purpose), each subscriber can define a list of keywords which IDG will then use to determine which messages should be forwarded to him or her--that is, if one of the subscriber's "filter" keywords is found in a new message's header or body, IDG will send it to that subscriber; if it isn't, IDG won't. (This function, while probably very useful, would be a resource hog on big lists: it requires greping each message once for every subscriber who has a filter set.) IDG also offers a simple, built-in vote management function: once the list administrator initializes a voting session, subscribers use the "vote" command to cast their ballots "yes" or "no." IDG tallies the votes as it receives them, returning to each voter the status of the vote to date.

Features for users

IDG is feature-rich. Besides "subscribe" and "unsubscribe," it supports "get," "put," and "rm" by general users (maintaining knowledge of which subscriber "owns" each file, for purposes of allowing and disallowing its deletion or change--though IDG's subscriber authentication is pretty low security), as well as "grep" for searching the database of files. It offers daily-digest-format delivery.

Features for administrators

Mailing lists and other information resources

To try out IDG, send mail to dot%t3ew@dot.ca.gov with a subject line of "help". If you have specific questions, you may want to write directly to IDG's author.

System requirements

A Unix system with the Korn shell (ksh) and a standard set of utilities.

Cost and licensing

How to get it

Send mail to ftpmail%t3ew@dot.ca.gov with no subject and a message body of:

  connect
  get software/internet/idg
  quit