PGP: sequencing messages

[Simon Bowring]

On Wed, 05 Apr 2000 14:18:21 -0300 (ADT), Trevor Smith wrote:

>But if that's what people want -- PMMail/2 to generate its own IDs
>instead of leaving it for the server -- and if it's possible, I'll
>pass it along to the wish list.
>
>(But I still wouldn't call it a bug if an RFC specfically says that
>the uniqueness is guaranteed by the server, not the client.)

Steve is right! You misread the rfc - it's the host where 
the message originates that gereates the id, which is your PC!

The client should generate the id, and it's no harder for the client to
generate a "quasi-unqiue" id, than the server it talks to!
Neither can "know" the id's unique.

All newsreaders have to do this (including as Steve or someone said, 
PMINews from the same authors).

People tend to use algorithms which use things like the ip address, 
or domain, time of day, client program name and a good 
random number generator.

PMINews generates ids like:  
<fobjevatzcpqngnpbhx.fpo99d3.pminews@lion.mpc-data.co.uk>

Which includes the name of the host being posted to and the name
of the program, plus some presumably random stuff!

I'm sure there are some recommended algorithms around for generating
ids.

Simon