[Alex Kirk <alex@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mr. Staros,

That is by far the most excellent documentation I've ever seen of a proprietary
protocol, and perhaps of any protocol at all. If only Microsoft were so good at
documenting their protocols. ;-)

That said, I'd like to throw my hat into the ring for this on a conditional
basis. Basically, you should consider me as a candidate for this job only if you
don't get a better offer, because I've got a couple of caveats to doing the job.
Frankly, I wouldn't be contacting you at all, except for the fact that I think
you're unlikely to get a lot of response on this proposal -- folks who develop
for Etheral are likely to be Linux types, and vehemently opposed to working with
MS tools (not to mention dealing with someone who sends HTML e-mail that makes
the border of the page look like a notebook -- there are a lot of people out
there who would flame you to death if you sent that to a mailing list). 

Hopefully I'll be proven wrong by the group, and you'll get a solid offer. If
not, I would be willing to work on this after May 17 (my wife is a law student,
and that's her last final; I simply won't have the peace & quiet I need to
develop this until then). Given the documentation you've sent, I could probably
hammer this out in a week or two beyond then.

My other caveat has to do with .Net. Since I really don't work with Windows
systems at all, actually running this software would be difficult at best. Even
so, I might be able to produce code that's compatible (especially if I could see
a sample of what .Net produces), or at least well-commented enough that it would
do the trick for future maintenance. How set are you on full .Net compatibility,
and if not, what would you require in the way of supporting documentation?

Please let me know if you're not getting any better offers over the next few
days; if I look like the only possible candidate, we can talk. :-)

Alex Kirk

> Request For Quote:
> 
>  
> 
> Ethereal Dissector
> 
>  
> 
> A plug-in dissector is required for a pair of proprietary protocols; VDCP
> and
> VRCP. The plug-in should permit the selection of either protocol for
> parsing.
> Having both protocols active at the same time would be desirable but it is
> not
> essential.  Ethereal captures files will be provided for test and
> development
> purposes.  Candidates should contact tstaros@xxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:tstaros@xxxxxxxxxx>  directly.
> 
>  
> 
> Protocol Ports
> 
>  
> 
> The port that the VDCP server listens on is 6010. It is desirable that the
> dissector read the port value from a text file so that should a change be
> required it may be done without re-compiling the dissector.
> 
>  
> 
> The port that the VRCP server listens on is 4001; again this is configurable
> and
> the dissector should acquire the value from a text file.
> 
>  
> 
> Should either of the above port numbers be missing from the text file, or
> the
> text file itself not be present the dissector should use the given default
> values.
> 
>  
> 
> Development Environment
> 
>  
> 
> So that the dissector plug-in may be maintained for future protocol
> additions
> and changes it is most desirable that it be developed with Microsoft tools.
> Both
> Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio .NET are available for this
> maintenance.
> 
>  
> 
> Deliverables
> 
>  
> 
>          Initially:
> 
>  
> 
> *	Cost estimate for implementation of dissector plug-in
> *	Time estimate (elapsed) for delivery
> *	Timeline for development with measurable goals.
> 
>  
> 
> Upon project execution:
> 
>  
> 
> *	Ethereal plug-in dissector as described (Dynamic Link Library for Win32)
> *	Full annotated source code. (Microsoft VS.Net compatible)
> *	Brief descriptive document outlining the structure and operation of the
> code.
> 
>  
> 
> Compensation
> 
> Compensation structure is negotiable.  May be transacted w/ escrow through
> Guru.com or Rentacoder.com.
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.guru.com
> 
> http://www.rentacoder.com
> 
>  
> 
> Note: All rights to the dissector, including source code, binary code, and
> documentation become the sole property of Harris Corp.
> 
> 
> 
> See attached detailed specifications
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> Ted Staros
> 
> Pacific Design Center
> 
> Broadcast Communications Division
> 
> Harris Corporation
> 
> 760.402.7931 (mobile, preferred)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>