[hashcash] October 2006 update

since the last release of camram, there have been a few interesting changes. I have improved the 

speed of queue processing,

improved detection time for new entries,

reorganized the code base,
extracted non-camram dependent modules into my "mini modules" set of Python modules, 

Attempted to improve reliability and information gathering
init.d startup/shutdown scripts,

converted install to python distutils,
improved postfix configuration so that only one IP address is needed on a camram enabled server.
Postfix can now use either IP address or SMTPAUTH based authentication with camram
e-mail address verification for inbound mail with routing based on postfix transport file. 

coming up real soon now,

improved installation instructions
e-mail notification if address is not signed up. (I.e. sign up now for your free camram account, CD will be delivered to your home any day now) 

DNS-based propagation of stamp value required.[1]
an interesting side note about the DNS stamp value is that it solves one very important problem which is the cost of getting started. In the beginning, with a camram style system, when you start sending e-mail the friends white list is being built. Unfortunately, this also means that lots of stamps that aren't really needed are generated. By using the DNS method, you can eliminate unneeded stamps until there is someone to listen to it.
The benefit to early adopters is all the other camram filter and false positive elimination techniques. As the population of stamp users increases (DNS advertisements), then the benefit of stamps as an introducer starts to have a significant effect. 

Anyway, that's how I see it.

I can use some help (like always):
Guinea pig. I need someone willing to assist incident early adopter testing. Help me figure out what needs to be fixed in the installation instructions etc. What has broken in the code?
Looking for a Perl guru to modify an rdd based display of e-mail server activity. 

---eric
[1] the DNS-based verification is something I've talked about for a while. I figured out how to make a variable and still be backwards compatible. The basic DNS record would contain a baseline stamp value for the organization. but a simple extension to the DNS record would add a URL which he camram system could use to determine the appropriate stamp sized required for an e-mail address. I think I'm only going to implement the first version which is stamp in DNS record but leave room for the rest. Unfortunately, I don't have time to dive into the rest of it.

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