-={ 2021-04-11 03:20:24.695191775+00:00 }=-

Hey August!

 AA> For msgid purposes why not just generate a 6 to 9 character hash
 AA> based on the content of the message?  That would ALWAYS be
 AA> unique and never repeat for a l-o-n-g time.

The method I am thinking should never repeat and should be good up to -={ 2147485547-12-31 23:59:59.999999999+00:00 }=-.  That is over 2 billion years from now.

Currently I am just using the hex representation of an unsigned 32-bit unixtime but there is just me and I can't produce more then one MSG within minutes, nevermind seconds and the serial number generated is unique up to -={ 2106-02-07 06:28:15+00:00 }=-.  Thus the largest unique serial number possible is ffffffff.  For signed 32-bit integers -={ 2038-01-19 03:14:07+00:00 }=- is the end of the line and will produce a MSGID serial number of 7fffffff which is the largest hex value for signed 32-bit integers.

If I am not mistaken -={ 2106-02-07 06:28:15+00:00 }=- is the upper limit for Synchronet systems or at least that is what I was told.  When I pay attention to it I have noticed the serial numbers look very familiar to me.

Your serial number for the MSG I am replying to yields -={ 2097-03-19 18:09:50+00:00 }=- which is obviously not a time based generated serial number and definetly not a 32-bit signed integer.

 AA> I hear that you use text-based on pretty much everything these
 AA> days.

Since the beginning, which for me was back in the late 1980's on VAX/VMS.  Solaris was the first GUI I ever ran across sometime around 1989-ish if I am remembering correctly.  For VAX/VMS Fortran (F77) was the compiler of choice while for Solaris it was C all the way which has taken me up to and including today as I upgrade to gcc-10.3.0 as we speak.  :-)

 AA> That window was the worst. There is a 15 ft drop to the ground
 AA> outside that particular window. The only way to clean it is to
 AA> disassemble the window from the inside. That's a lot of work.  I
 AA> haven't cleaned that one for years.

I hear you.  I am getting too old for that sort of thing.  Mind you I have no windows that high up.  All mine I can reach without a ladder.

Life is good,
Maurice

... ’ghwilc ¨ing ¨e on ¨ys andweardan life lica¨ l‘nu sindon.
    Everything which is pleasing in this present life is on loan.
--- GNU bash, version 5.1.4(1)-release (x86_64-motorshed-linux-gnu)