RouteD module in HardDisc4 !Internet script

!Boot.Resources.!Internet.!Run:61:IF “<Inet$RouteDOptions>” <> "" THEN RMLoad System:Modules.Network.RouteD

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?

should this line be removed from Run?

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?
I’m not sure it matters :)
You might speed things up by the lines absence.

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!

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.

There’s no entry for the module in ModuleDB, so I’m not sure where it would come from.

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
Routing

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.
End quote

Based on that, I’d guess it just needs commenting out, or removing from !Boot.Resources.!Internet.!Run

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.

[RouteD] 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.

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.

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.

Sounds like you’re thinking of “Act as an IP router” which is not the same thing.

There’s no entry for the module in ModuleDB, so I’m not sure where it would come from.

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.

Based on that, I’d guess it just needs commenting out, or removing from !Internet

Well there’s three things going on here (having read the section in the manual)

• InetSetup should never emit “DEFAULT” into Inet$RouteDOptions as that’s not a valid option
• If it’s worth getting the cave lantern out, the sources to RouteD probably do exist somewhere
• If not (Wikipedia is pretty scathing of RIP!) it’d be better to remove the option from the UI, or if we’re undecided about that, at least grey the check box if RouteD isn’t in !System so it can’t accidentally be turned on

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.

but it sounds like RouteD predates that (~1996?) and is probably on a backup disc somewhere in the caverns under ROOL HQ.

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.

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.

Treat it as one of a set of elements to port and create a new stack?

If not (Wikipedia is pretty scathing of RIP!) it’d be better to remove the option from the UI, or if we’re undecided about that, at least grey the check box if RouteD isn’t in !System so it can’t accidentally be turned on

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)
Being idle I used RIPv2 on a set of routers located at remote sites somewhere around 2003-4 part of that is still there (due to go RSN)
Add an extra routing interface and subnet on a remote device and all the others in the set know how to get there in 30 seconds.

The FreeBSD implementation probably also does RIPng which may well be useful in future.

Andrew it seems you are correct about inclusion in the ANT Server Suite.
Though RouteD isn’t present as a standalone relocatable module.

In a docs folder is a file called RouteD with:

ROUTED FreeBSD System Manager’s Manual ROUTED

NAME
routed – network routing daemon

SYNOPSIS
routed [-d] [-g] [-q] [-s] [-t] [logfile]

DESCRIPTION
Routed is invoked at boot time to manage the network routing tables. The
routing daemon uses a variant of the Xerox NS Routing Information Proto-
col in maintaining up to date kernel routing table entries. It used a
generalized protocol capable of use with multiple address types, but is
currently used only for Internet routing within a cluster of networks.

FILES
/etc/gateways for distant gateways

SEE ALSO
udp(4), icmp(4), XNSrouted(8), htable(8)

BUGS
The kernel’s routing tables may not correspond to those of routed when
redirects change or add routes. Routed should note any redirects
received by reading the ICMP packets received via a raw socket.

HISTORY
The routed command appeared in 4.2BSD.