[ih] Really old list archives

[Greg Skinner]

On Jan 23, 2024, at 10:01 AM, Noel Chiappa via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
> {Trying to catch up...}
> 
>> From: Greg Skinner
> 
>> There is a file in the ietf-ftp directory called 1990-all that contains
>> ietf list messages from 1990.
> 
> That is better than nothing (considering that the Web-accessible archive only
> starts in 1992), but it's still leaves a _enormous_ hole: the 1st IETF (21
> attendees; held jointly held with the first InArc meeting, IIRC) was in
> January, 1986 - so there's over 4 years of IETF list emails still not
> available.
> 
> I would guess that there's not one place that they'd all be available? (If
> CNRI had a log file of list traffic, would they still have it accessible -
> and if they had backups, do they still exist?)
> 
> We should get some historian started on trying to track them all down - who
> would be a likely target to take that monumental search on? The CHM?
> 
> 
> And I'd still like to find the name of the list that was used before the ietf
> list existed (the name is a start; finding any of its archives will be an
> even bigger search). Would it have been at DARPA? I'd guess not - but where
> else? ISI, SRI or BBN?
> 
> Pretty amazing that so much of the early history has been lost. At least Jon
> did all the minutes, available as IENs.
> 
> 	Noel
> -- 
> Internet-history mailing list
> Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history

I went back to the tcp-ip list (using the security-digest archive of it on GitHub [1]) looking for information about GADS (the Gateway Algorithms and Data Structures task force) to see if anything about any of the old lists would turn up.  In a discussion about some routing problems during December 1985 [2], there were several messages copied to gateway-tf at USC-ISIB.ARPA <mailto:gateway-tf at USC-ISIB.ARPA>.  Could that be the list you’re thinking of?

Also, sorry to hear about Mike Brescia’s passing.  For some memories of him, see the “Space wars” thread in the file referenced above.

—gregbo

[1] https://github.com/matthewgream/www-securitydigest-org/tree/master/tcp-ip
[2] https://github.com/matthewgream/www-securitydigest-org/blob/master/tcp-ip/archive/1985/12.txt.gz