[ih] Memories of Flag Day?

[Brian E Carpenter]

Andy,

So, it was your fault that we decided that "no flag day" was a vital
requirement for IPng :-). Seriously, I think that enough people
remembered the 1983 flag day and definitely said "never again!"

Regards
    Brian Carpenter

On 07-Aug-23 04:17, Andrew G. Malis via Internet-history wrote:
> Miles,
> 
> I wrote the IMP code to enforce the flag day and ran the transition from
> the NOC.
> 
> To prepare for the flag day, we added a new bit to each port's
> configuration in the IMPs. The bit said whether or not a port was allowed
> to use the NCP host-host protocol (port 0). If the bit was off, then NCP
> host-host packets were discarded by the IMPs.
> 
> There was a defined procedure in place well prior to the cutover for
> approving exceptions to the no-NCP policy.
> 
> On January 1, I pulled the switch to flip the bits from "on" to "off"
> except for the pre-approved list of exceptions.
> 
> A good number of hosts made the deadline, but additional exceptions were
> approved as the phone calls started coming in. The exception list continued
> to grow in the first few days of 1983, but as hosts gradually got their
> TCP/IP stacks working, their NCP permission was turned off.
> 
> As I recall, the exception list quickly shrank, and by the end of the year
> there were very few NCP-only hosts left. There was certainly some amount
> of pain involved, but NCP would have hung around for much longer if the
> switchover hadn't been enforced.
> 
> Cheers,
> Andy
> 
> 
> On Sun, Aug 6, 2023 at 7:35 AM Miles Fidelman via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> Does anybody have some memories of the TCP/IP Flag Day they can share?
>>
>> I'm doing some writing about "how network ecosystems develop" looking at
>> how the Internet evolved from the days the net was a gleam in a few
>> people's eyes, Licklider distributed his famous memo, the NWG & IETF
>> evolved, Flag Day, etc.  Also looking at the Environmental Movement
>> (Earth Day, Whole Earth Catalog, ...), FOSS, Crisis Mapping,
>> Entrepreneurship Support, Makers - all of which I've been up close and
>> personal with, and now trying to document some common threads & techniques.
>>
>> A particular focus is on organizing for significant
>> changes/transformations - like the transition to IP that pretty much
>> marks the birth of the Internet as we know it.  Hence a particular
>> interest in what led up to the Flag Day, and how folks responded.
>>
>> In particular, I'm wondering how folks organized at various network
>> sites (universities, military bases, etc.) to respond to the mandate.
>> Working groups, plans & programs, that sort of thing. How did folks get
>> their act together?
>>
>> Anybody have any stories they can share?
>>
>> Thanks Very Much,
>>
>> Miles Fidelman
>>
>> --
>> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
>> In practice, there is.  .... Yogi Berra
>>
>> Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
>> Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
>> In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
>> nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown
>>
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