Re: flexfax: Hylafax future

[Leslie Mikesell <les@Mcs.Net>]

> I was thinking of a proper windows driver which would have an automatic
> setup and only ran when the client printed or wanted to view the queue.
> 
> I've basically decided there are two ways to do this:
> 
> Method A - SMB, Samba method - You need to setup the server to run Samba to
> do SMB networking, setup a SMB shared directory ie \\HylaServer\fax which
> contains some special files through which server and client communicate ie
> FIFOs sort of like /proc under linux(MS-Fax and response use this method)
> Advantages - seems to be the standard way for windows network printers to
> operate
> Disadvantage - you have to get Samba working on your server as well

This may or may not be a disavantage, depending on whether you want to
use samba for anything else.  It gives you the advantage of being able
to store cover pages and lists on the server, usable by both unix and
windows connections, although you need to work out a way to pass the
commands to use them.  

> Method B - hfaxd method - directly contact the hylafax daemon, a sort-of
> ftp code to communicate between client and server.(whfc uses this method)
> Advantages - only need hylafax working(better security)

I haven't seen any security problems with samba, although I've always blocked
access from the internet.

> Disadvantages - slightly more complicated client

You also have to pass your cover page from the client and use the undocumented
protocol to handle multiple destinations.

> At the moment i'm favoring method B but am open to suggestions.

I usually prefer a toolbox of general purpose utilities over one that
only has a single function as long as it isn't too painful to assemble
what you want.  So, I'd like to see a program like respond made even
more general so that you could pass it something like an HTML form
from the unix side and get back the response.  This could be used in
many other situations as well where you want to initiate the connection
from the remote side but don't want all the overhead of xwindows. 

The missing piece with either technique is a database-like phonebook
so you can easily send to selected groups.  This should have some
way of combining private and system-wide lists.  LDAP would work but
it is much more complicated than samba to install and maintain.

> PS Other people have tried to reverse engineer the MS-Fax protocol ie no
> need for a special client but as yet noone as far as i know has succeeded.

I think the data is encrypted in some undocumented format.

Les Mikesell
  les@mcs.com