Hello All,

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or version of pkt you are viewing?

I know of a few but am not able to get what I need. What I'm hoping for is something that will open any pkt and report the version and any anomolies it might find.

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A14 (Linux)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

22 May 16 01:09, you wrote to All:

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or
version of pkt you are viewing?

can you be more specific? what, exactly, are you looking for?

I know of a few

which ones?

but am not able to get what I need. What I'm hoping for is something
that will open any pkt and report the version and any anomolies it
might find.

version determination is generally very simple... you look for certain relatively sane data in certain positions... if it doesn't fit the definition of sane then you try with another PKT format and look for relatively sane data again... as for anomalies, i guess that depends on what one calls an anomaly...

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... Monday is a hard way to spend one-seventh of your life.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

On 05/22/16, mark lewis said the following...

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or version of pkt you are viewing?

can you be more specific? what, exactly, are you looking for?

A pkt viewer that can tell me the version of a particular pkt and tell me if
it is valid pkt or not.

James Coyle is looking for this because we have been having trouble with some pkts and looking for a solution. I think he is trying to identify the type of pkt he has and then it can be tossed without error. It's all a little over my head but I am searching for such a thing if I can find one I think it would make his job easier.

I know of a few

which ones?

I use pktview from husky. It's all I have but it doesn't tell me the pkt version. James also has pktdump but it crashes and deletes the file. He also has inspecta but that doesn't seem to read the pkt at all.

version determination is generally very simple... you look for certain relatively sane data in certain positions... if it doesn't fit the definition of sane then you try with another PKT format and look for relatively sane data again...

I'm going to pass this on to him and let him know where I got it. He may have further questions for you.. I'm lost already.. :)

as for anomalies, i guess that depends on what one calls an anomaly...

Something that causes the tosser to do unwanted or unexpected things
especially if it disrupts the smooth flow of mail.

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A14 (Linux)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

22 May 16 03:48, you wrote to me:

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or
version of pkt you are viewing?

can you be more specific? what, exactly, are you looking for?

A pkt viewer that can tell me the version of a particular pkt and tell me if it is valid pkt or not.

i have a little something that can determine the PKT version but it won't tell you if the PKT is valid or not... that's up to the human reading the values from the screen output...

James Coyle is looking for this because we have been having trouble
with some pkts and looking for a solution. I think he is trying to identify the type of pkt he has and then it can be tossed without
error. It's all a little over my head but I am searching for such a
thing if I can find one I think it would make his job easier.

i have code i might be able to share with him for this but it is very simplistic... basically, it reads the PKT header into a plain blank buffer... then there are three PKT format headers that are ""overlaid"" on that buffer, one at a time, and that's when we look for sane data in specific fields... it is very simple TP code...

I know of a few

which ones?

I use pktview from husky. It's all I have but it doesn't tell me the
pkt version. James also has pktdump but it crashes and deletes the
file. He also has inspecta but that doesn't seem to read the pkt at
all.

can you send me one of those PKTs that inspecta won't read? that's really weird
for it to not read them... make sure you archive it so that my system won't try
to process it as mail...

version determination is generally very simple... you look for
certain relatively sane data in certain positions... if it doesn't
fit the definition of sane then you try with another PKT format and
look for relatively sane data again...

I'm going to pass this on to him and let him know where I got it. He
may have further questions for you.. I'm lost already.. :)

that'll be fine... he should be able to contact me via netmail or email...

as for anomalies, i guess that depends on what one calls an
anomaly...

Something that causes the tosser to do unwanted or unexpected things especially if it disrupts the smooth flow of mail.

hahaha!

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... Childhood isn't an age, it's a state of mind
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

On 05/22/16, mark lewis said the following...

can you send me one of those PKTs that inspecta won't read? that's
really weird for it to not read them... make sure you archive it so that my system won't try to process it as mail...

It's in your inbound. I sent it as bbbs_pkt.zip. That's a pkt created by
BBBS. It's just a test netmail sent to James from 1:153/757.1 just so he
could look at that pkt.

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A14 (Linux)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

22 May 16 06:32, you wrote to me:

can you send me one of those PKTs that inspecta won't read? that's
really weird for it to not read them... make sure you archive it so
that my system won't try to process it as mail...

It's in your inbound. I sent it as bbbs_pkt.zip. That's a pkt created
by BBBS. It's just a test netmail sent to James from 1:153/757.1 just
so he could look at that pkt.

my tool says that it is a type 2+ PKT...

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... Any system that depends upon human reliability is unreliable.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

On 05/23/16, mark lewis said the following...

It's in your inbound. I sent it as bbbs_pkt.zip. That's a pkt created by BBBS. It's just a test netmail sent to James from 1:153/757.1 just so he could look at that pkt.

my tool says that it is a type 2+ PKT...

That's good to know.. we were uncertain but James had thought so. That pkt
does toss OK but mystic logs that it comes from 1:65535/757 but it's really 1:153/757.1. If I add a password to that pkt Mystic says invalid password and doesn't toss it. Do you have any idea why that would happen? Something seems just a bit off but I don't know what.

There have also been problems with pkt files from/to daydream, they seem more problematic but I have not seen any of those.

Can I pick your brain for a minute? O:-)

What pkt type are there in use today? I have heard of Type-2, 2+ and 2.2. Is that it or are there more?

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A14 (Linux)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Hello Alan,

22 May 16 01:09, you wrote to All:

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or
version of pkt you are viewing?

Try InspectA. DOS and OS/2 versions only IIRC.

Later,
Sean

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20150715
* Origin: Outpost BBS * Limestone, TN, USA (1:18/200)

On 05/23/16, Sean Dennis said the following...

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or version of pkt you are viewing?

Try InspectA. DOS and OS/2 versions only IIRC.

Yep, I have that one here although I haven't used it in many years. I used to think it was one of the best but I have to get dosemu built here before I can revisit it.

Apparently it is not opening some pkt files. Maybe they are invalid I'm not sure.

Ttyl :-),
Al

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A15 (Linux)
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

23 May 16 15:52, you wrote to me:

my tool says that it is a type 2+ PKT...

That's good to know.. we were uncertain but James had thought so. That pkt does toss OK but mystic logs that it comes from 1:65535/757 but it's

really

1:153/757.1.

that's because he's not looking at the proper field for the net address... there are two originating network fields in the type 2+ format... one must look
in the second field based on certain data aspects of other fields used... i forget the details but Stephen Hurd (aka Deuce) of Synchronet BBS fame has written a proposal (FSP-1040 IIRC) and posted it to the FTSC_PUBLIC area... his
proposal covers the PKTs and explains a lot of details... his document is based
on Type 2 (FTSC-0001) and how the others are different from it... my tool, for instance, works slightly backwards from his proposal in that it assumes a PKT is a Type 2+ format... if certain specific values are 0 (zero) and the ""baud""
is 2 then we have a Type 2.2 (FSC-0045) PKT... if any of those values are wrong, we look at the capability word... if it is 0 (zero), then we have a Type
2 (FTSC-0001) PKT... otherwise if the capability word is 1 (one) and the baud is not 2 we have a Type 2+ (FSC-0039) PKT...

If I add a password to that pkt Mystic says invalid password and
doesn't toss it. Do you have any idea why that would happen? Something seems just a bit off but I don't know what.

because the net address is 65535 instead of 153... if the originating system is
a point system. the orignet field is set to 65535 and the actual originating net is found in the auxnet field... i think this was done because of the pointnet stuff that uses a fake net number to create 3D pointnets instead of having an actual 4D point number in the address... this was all back when there
wasn't any 4D capable stuff to hold the point address so they slid things left a tad... i'm kinda leaning to the idea that pointnets started back when FTN addresses were only 2D so there wasn't anywhere to store a point number anyway...

eg:
1:153/715.0 == 1:10295/0
1:153/715.5 == 1:10295/5
1:153/715.12 == 1:10295/12
1:153/715.20 == 1:10295/20
1:153/715.42 == 1:10295/42

like net numbers, pointnet numbers were assigned following some formula... i'm not real sure but i think that any net address 10000 or higher was a pointnet and the point number became the node number as seen above... note that i used 1:153/715 because i know that Dallas still does pointnet stuffs and it was easy
enough to find one of his entries in my logs for a valid pointnet address... so
in 2D format, 153/715 became 10295 in the pointnet format...

There have also been problems with pkt files from/to daydream, they
seem more problematic but I have not seen any of those.

Can I pick your brain for a minute? O:-)

it might be messy...

What pkt type are there in use today? I have heard of Type-2, 2+ and
2.2. Is that it or are there more?

the type 2 family is all there is in use... Type 2 aka Type 2.0 (FTS-0001), Type 2+ (FSC-0039 and FSC-0048) and Type 2.2 (FSC-0045)... Type 2+ may be problematic as there's the plain FSC-0039 form and then there's the modified one that adds FSC-0048 for additional validation checking that it is a Type 2+ PKT... this was done because of various incompatible Type 3 proposals that never went anywhere... there is/was also a Type 10 packet proposal but it also never went anywhere...

here's the notes portion of section 3 of stephen's section proposal... this is just the one part that covers the origNet and auxNet fields...

===== snip =====
Notes:
auxNet
If origNet is 65535 (0xffff), indicates that the originator is a
point, and the originating network can be found in this field.
Some old software may not follow this convention, so the network
number may be found in either of the two fields. When parsing a
Type 2+ packet, if origNet is 65535, the software MUST use the
value from the auxNet field. When creating a packet, if the
originating system is a point, it SHOULD set origNet to 65535 and
put the net number in this field. In the case where the originating
net is 65535 (As recommended by Policy 4), it SHOULD be placed in
both origNet and auxNet.
===== snip =====

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... It's no secret a man's conscience can sometimes be a pest.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

On 21 May 116 21:30:00┬, Alan Ianson wrote to All <=-

Does anyone know of a pkt viewer that will indicate the type or
version of pkt you are viewing?

I have one called pktview.exe that shows everything pkt version,
password, everything. I will be happy to crash it over to you if you
still need it.

Allen


... Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (S)lap nearest innocent bystander.
--- Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]
* Origin: LiveWire BBS - Telnet://livewirebbs.com (1:2320/100)