RFC 514 (rfc514) - Page 2 of 4
Network make-work
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 514 NETWORK MAKE-WORK 5 June 1973
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 anyone? Is there going to be an
answering service which will answer such questions as to 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 such as TX-2, the questions become
even more intriguing. Many of our programs are written in assembly
language. Should we, therefore, 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. 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
1960's 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.
Kantrowitz