RE: Multicast based voting system
- Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 09:48:25 MET-DST
>Subject: Multicast based voting system
>...
>I'd like to hear some feedback from the RIPE community
>that participates in this mailing-list about a project
>proposal for TERENA.
>
>Any feedback is welcome.
Hi Kurt!
Are you aware of the following :?
Wilfried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 97 11:13:20 EST
From: andrew@localhost (Andrew Patrick)
To: rem-conf@localhost, mbone@localhost, multicast@localhost
Subject: "mpoll" - a new multicast polling tool
As part of the MERCI project, I have been working on a new multicast
application for real-time polling of opinions and ratings. "MPOLL"
was developed with the following uses in mind:
- collecting quality ratings during multicast sessions
- collecting opinions and votes during multicast collaborative
work sessions
- collecting opinions on general topics or current events
MPOLL may be useful during multicast sessions to get opinions from
all the participants quickly and efficiently. It may also be useful
for collecting quality and reception ratings during MBONE events. I
am releasing MPOLL now to get some initial feedback, and will also be
announcing an MPOLL test session via SDR (you will need a plugin).
You can pick-up the current (very early Alpha) version of MPOLL at
ftp://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/pub/mbone/mpoll/
source code and binaries for SunOS 4.1.4 and Solaris 2.5 are
available.
Please try the program and tell me what you think. Any and all
feedback is welcome.
Below are some more details about this program. You can also find
more information at:
http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/mbone/mpoll/mpoll.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MPOLL
Version Alpha 2.*
Andrew Patrick, Communications Research Centre
andrew@localhost
Introduction
------------
"MPOLL" is a real-time opinion polling and rating collection tool
that uses multicasting to distribute questions and responses to all
multicast session participants.
"MPOLL" was developed by Andrew Patrick at the Communications
Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa, Canada, as part of the MERCI project
on Collaborative Work Tools.
MPOLL was developed with the following uses in mind:
- collecting quality ratings during multicast sessions
- collecting opinions and votes during multicast collaborative
work sessions
- collecting opinions on general topics or current events
Using MPOLL
-----------
Usage: mpoll [-t ttl] [-C "title"] address/port
OPTIONS:
-C "title" : the theme title for the questions
-t ttl : the multicast TTL (default = 15)
MPOLL requires specifying a multicast address and port. MPOLL can
be used by itself, or with other multicast tools such as VAT and VIC
in an MBONE session. MPOLL can be started from SDR once an
appropriate "plugin" is installed (see below), or from the command
line. Command options that MPOLL accepts include the multicast TTL
(-t), which defaults to 15, and a session title (-C), which defaults
to "Unknown Theme". These are the same command options used by other
multicast tools.
Once MPOLL is started, there is built-in help for each of the windows
that explains the features and functions.
How MPOLL Works
---------------
MPOLL works by sending question and response packets to the multicast
address, and listening for packets from other hosts. The users can
create a new question, and this will become available to all the
users who have joined that multicast session. As users answer the
question, the responses are distributed to all the participants,
where they are tallied and displayed in a graphical histogram. MPOLL
packets are redistributed periodically as long as the program is
running, so that all current users will see all the results.
Normally, MPOLL will be left running continuously during a polling
period or multicast session.
MPOLL uses a simple plain-text protocol for constructing multicast
packets that is similar to the Session Description Protocol (SDP)
used in SDR. There are currently 3 types of packets generated by
MPOLL: questions, remove question instructions, and user responses.
MPOLL creates a cache file in your home directory ("~/.mpoll_cache")
for storing the questions from your last MPOLL session. This allows
you to quit and restart MPOLL and have the questions for a session,
yours and other users, reloaded.
Installing MPOLL
----------------
Binary Distribution
-------------------
The MPOLL binary file is a stand-alone C program that does not
require any extra libraries in order to run. Simply copy the
MPOLL program to a directory that is in your path.
Currently, binary distributions of MPOLL are available for:
- Solaris 2.5
- SunOS 4.1.4
A WIN32 port is planned. Anyone who can help to compile MPOLL for
other platforms is asked to contact the author.
Source Distribution
-------------------
MPOLL is written in C and Tcl/Tk. The development environment is:
- SPARC Solaris 2.5
- gcc version 2.7.2
- Tcl 7.6 / Tk 4.2
In addition, MPOLL uses the Embedded Tk (ET) toolkit by Richard
Hipp (http://users.vnet.net/drh/ET.html) for integrating C and
Tcl/Tk programming. Version 1.7.1 of ET is included in the MPOLL
source distribution, and it must be installed before MPOLL is
compiled.
No configuration procedure is available yet for MPOLL. MPOLL has
been developed under Solaris 2.5, so that is the default platform
for make. Possible make commands are currently:
For Solaris 2.5: "make"
For SunOS 4.1.x: "make sunos"
I would love to hear about any problems in building and running
the program. Also, if you port MPOLL to another platform, please
contact me with any information about changes necessary, and if
you can supply a binary for my archive site.
The SDR Plugin
--------------
Since MPOLL is a new program, and polling is a new MBONE
application, an appropriate media has not been defined in SDR.
So, in order to use MPOLL from SDR you must install a "plugin".
The plugin provided in the distribution is
sdr2.plugin.S53.poll.udp.mpoll.mpoll
and you should copy this to a "~/.sdr.plugins" dirctory on your
system. See the SDR documentation for more information about
plugins.
Limitations
-----------
- MPOLL currently has no unicast support
- MPOLL currently only supports multiple-choice questions with 1 to 5
possible responses. Questions can be created that allow one or
many responses from the users.
- MPOLL is currently limited to 100 questions per session, and up to
5 possible answers per question. The question limit should be
configurable be editing the MAX_TOPICS parameter in "mpoll.h", but
changes to the MAX_RESPONSES parameter will probably not work.
- MPOLL should someday read the ~/.RTPdefaults file, and perhaps some
other X resources
- a function to visibily remind users to update their responses
should be added
- we may need a function to edit an existing question
Known Problems
--------------
- this program is in an early Alpha stage of development. There are
probably lots of features missing, and many bugs.
- MPOLL has only been tested on Sun systems. No work on
portability has been done yet.
- no attempt is made to do robust font selection, so MPOLL will
probably fail if the fonts I use are not on your system. See
"mpoll.h" for the font definitions.
- the command line args "-h or -help" dump core, use "--help" instead
Acknowledgements
----------------
The protocol used in MPOLL is fashioned after the SDP protocol used
in SDR, and I thank Mark Handley, Van Jacobson, and other
contributors for their work on SDP and SDR.
I also used the SDR source code as an example while working on MPOLL,
and that code was useful for techniques like multicast socket
management and periodic redistribution of packets. I learned a lot
from viewing other people's code, and I am sure that I made lots of
mistakes, for which I am wholely responsible.
Licence Terms
-------------
Copyright (c) Communications Research Centre, Government of Canada
1997. All rights reserved.
License is granted to copy and use this software, for research and
evaluation purposes, provided that the Communications Research
Centre is acknowledged in all documentation pertaining to any such
copy or use. The Communications Research Centre grants no other
licenses expressed or implied. Title, ownership rights, and
intellectual property rights in the software shall remain with the
Communications Research Centre. The Centre's name and the
Government of Canada should not be used in any advertising without
written permission.
THE COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH CENTRE MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS
CONCERNING EITHER THE MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR THE
SUITABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The
software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty
of any kind.
These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this
software.
Author
------
Dr. Andrew Patrick
Network Services & Interface Design Laboratory
Communications Research Centre
Industry Canada
3701 Carling Ave.
P.O. Box 11490, Station 'H'
Ottawa, ON CANADA
K2H 8S2
Phone: (613) 990-4675
FAX: (613) 998-9648
E-Mail: andrew@localhost
WWW: http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca
--
Andrew Patrick, Ph.D. andrew@localhost
http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca
--> 1996 Psychic Report Card: http://www.csicop.org/articles/psychic-1996.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 97 11:03:59 EDT
From: andrew@localhost (Andrew Patrick)
To: rem-conf@localhost, mbone@localhost, multicast@localhost,
merci@localhost
Subject: "MPoll" - Beta 1.1 release
As part of the MERCI project, I have been working on a new multicast
application for real-time polling of opinions and ratings. "MPoll"
was developed with the following uses in mind:
- collecting quality ratings during multicast sessions
- collecting opinions and votes during multicast collaborative
work sessions
- collecting opinions on general topics or current events
MPoll may be useful during multicast sessions to get opinions from
all the participants quickly and efficiently. It may also be useful
for collecting quality and reception ratings during MBONE events.
You can pick-up the current (Beta) version of MPoll at
ftp://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/pub/mbone/MPoll/
source code and binaries for SunOS, Solaris, and WIN32 are
available. Assistance in compiling MPoll for other platforms will be
appreciated.
Below are some more details about this program. You can also find
more information at:
http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/mbone/MPoll/MPoll.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Using MPoll
-----------
Usage: mpoll [-D] [-V] [-l] [-t ttl] [-C "title"] address/port
OPTIONS:
-D : use default address and port (224.2.2.200/6666; for
debugging)
-V : print version number and exit
-l : print logging information (for debugging)
-C "title" : the theme title for the questions
-t ttl : the multicast TTL (default = 15)
MPoll normally requires specifying a multicast address and port.
MPoll can be used by itself, or with other multicast tools such as
VAT and VIC in an MBONE session. MPoll can be started from SDR once
an appropriate "plugin" is installed (see below), or from the command
line. Command options that MPoll accepts include the multicast TTL
(-t), which defaults to 15, and a session title (-C), which defaults
to "Unknown Theme". These are the same command options used by other
multicast tools.
Once MPoll is started, there is built-in help for each of the windows
that explains the features and functions.
How MPoll Works
---------------
MPoll works by sending question and response packets to the multicast
address, and listening for packets from other hosts. The users can
create a new question, and this will become available to all the
users who have joined that multicast session. As users answer the
question, the responses are distributed to all the participants,
where they are tallied and displayed. MPoll packets are
redistributed periodically as long as the program is running, so that
all current users will see all the results.
Normally, MPoll will be left running continuously during a polling
period or multicast session.
MPoll uses a simple plain-text protocol for constructing multicast
packets that is similar to the Session Description Protocol (SDP)
used in SDR. There are currently 4 types of packets generated by
MPoll: questions, remove question instructions, user responses, and
membership information.
MPoll creates a cache file in your home directory ("~/.mpoll_cache")
for storing the questions and your responses from your last MPoll
session. This allows you to quit and restart MPoll and have the
questions and your responses for the last session reloaded.
Installing MPoll
----------------
Binary Distribution
-------------------
The MPoll binary file is a stand-alone C program that does not
require any extra libraries in order to run. Simply copy the
MPoll program to a directory that is in your path.
Currently, binary distributions of MPoll are available for:
- Solaris 2.5
- SunOS 4.1.4
- Win32 (Windows 95 & NT)
Anyone who can help to compile MPoll for other platforms is asked
to contact the author.
Source Distribution
-------------------
MPoll is written in C and Tcl/Tk. The development environment is:
UNIX:
- SPARC Solaris 2.5
- gcc version 2.7.2
- Tcl 7.6 / Tk 4.2
WIN32:
- Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 on Windows95
- Tcl/Tk 8.0 on Windows95
In addition, MPoll uses the Embedded Tk (ET) toolkit by Richard
Hipp (http://users.vnet.net/drh/ET.html) for integrating C and
Tcl/Tk programming. Version 1.7.1 of ET is included as part of the
MPoll sources and will be built during the make process.
No configuration procedure is available yet for MPoll. There are
some configuration options at the beginning of the makefiles that
you will probably have to set. MPoll has been developed under
Solaris 2.5, so that is the default platform for make. Possible
make commands are currently:
For Solaris 2.5: "make"
For SunOS 4.1.x: "make sunos"
For Windows95: "nmake -f Makefile.vc"
I would love to hear about any problems in building and running
the program. Also, if you port MPoll to another platform, please
contact me with any information about changes necessary, and if
you can supply a binary for my archive site.
The SDR Plugin
--------------
Since MPoll is a new program, and polling is a new MBONE
application, an appropriate media has not been defined in SDR.
So, in order to use MPoll from SDR you must install a "plugin".
The plugin provided in the distribution is
sdr2.plugin.S53.control.udp.mpoll.mpoll
and you should copy this to a "~/.sdr/plugins" directory on your
system. See the SDR documentation for more information about
plugins.
Limitations
-----------
- MPoll currently has no unicast support
- MPoll is currently limited to 100 questions per session, and up to
10 possible answers per multiple-choice question. The question
limit
should be configurable be editing the MAX_TOPICS parameter in
"mpoll.h", but changes to the MAX_RESPONSES parameter will probably
not work.
- MPoll should someday read the ~/.RTPdefaults file, and perhaps some
other X resources
- a function to remind users to update their responses should be
added
- we may need a function to edit an existing question
Known Problems
--------------
- this program is in a Beta stage of development. There are
probably some features missing, and maybe some bugs.
- MPoll was developed on Sun systems and has been tested on a few
other platforms. More work on portability is required.
- no attempt is made to do robust font selection, so MPoll will
probably fail if the fonts I use are not on your system. See
"mpoll.h" for the font definitions.
- the command line args "-h or -help" dump core, use "--help" instead
Acknowledgements
----------------
The protocol used in MPoll is fashioned after the SDP protocol used
in SDR, and I thank Mark Handley, Van Jacobson, and other
contributors for their work on SDP and SDR.
I also used the SDR source code as an example while working on MPoll,
and that code was useful for techniques like multicast socket
management and periodic redistribution of packets. I learned a lot
from viewing other people's code, and I am sure that I made lots of
mistakes, for which I am wholely responsible. Although I don't
believe that I have used any of their code directly, to be safe I
include their acknowledgement:
This product includes software developed by the Computer Science
Department at University College London
Portions of the code used to support the WIN32 platform were copied
from the SDR program, and they were borrowed by Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory. In accordance with the copyright notice, I
hereby state:
This product includes software developed by the Network Research
Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Licence Terms
-------------
Copyright (c) Communications Research Centre, Government of Canada
1997. All rights reserved.
License is granted to copy and use this software, for research and
evaluation purposes, provided that the Communications Research
Centre is acknowledged in all documentation pertaining to any such
copy or use. The Communications Research Centre grants no other
licenses expressed or implied. Title, ownership rights, and
intellectual property rights in the software shall remain with the
Communications Research Centre. The Centre's name and the
Government of Canada should not be used in any advertising without
written permission.
THE COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH CENTRE MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS
CONCERNING EITHER THE MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR THE
SUITABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The
software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty
of any kind.
These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this
software.
Author
------
Dr. Andrew Patrick
Network Services & Interface Design Laboratory
Communications Research Centre
Industry Canada
3701 Carling Ave.
P.O. Box 11490, Station 'H'
Ottawa, ON CANADA
K2H 8S2
Phone: (613) 990-4675
FAX: (613) 998-9648
E-Mail: andrew@localhost
WWW: http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/~andrew
--
Andrew Patrick, Ph.D. andrew@localhost
http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/~andrew/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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