Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven!adm!cmcl2!panix!alexis
From: alexis@panix.uucp (Alexis Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: Obnoxious load-dependant bug in UUCP
Message-ID: <1991Mar5.102756.3379@panix.uucp>
Date: 5 Mar 91 10:27:56 GMT
References: <NR6-AQ?@rpi.edu> <49862@apple.Apple.COM> <1991Mar5.101216.3153@panix.uucp>
Organization: PANIX - Public Access Unix Systems of NY
Lines: 42

I've been using UUCP very heavily on this A/UX Mac IIx now for several months.
(In fact, this may be the most heavily uucp-loaded Mac around...) As the load
on the machine continues to grow, I've been noticing some fairly obnoxious
behavior. When the system is fairly busy (several active users), I frequently
see log entries like this:
cmcl2!notes (3/4-19:24:45) (C,15402,21) IN SEND/SLAVE MODE (INPUT FAILURE)
cmcl2!notes (3/4-19:24:45) (C,15402,21) FAILED (conversation complete)

I'm so used to this crap that I wrote a script months ago to handle all of our
polling needs, so this isn't disastrous. But it's annoying as hell and it ties
up our telebit a lot more than it should (for some reason, this failure takes
from 5 to 30 minutes for UUCP to notice). It also doubles or triples our phone
bill, since we often need to call our feed two, three, or four times just to
do one full batch of files.

I don't think I've ever seen this behavior during the night, when few users
are on.

A rarer, but far more obnoxious bug, which I get once or twice a month, looks
like this in the log file:
cmcl2!jsb (3/4-19:28:07) (C,15598,0) REQUEST (S D.cmcl2BC3330 D.cmcl2BC3330 jsb)
cmcl2!jsb (3/4-19:31:32) (C,15598,1) BAD READ (expected 'C' got FAIL)
cmcl2!jsb (3/4-19:31:32) (C,15598,1) FAILED (conversation complete)

The bitch of it is, unlike the other bug, this is NON-RECOVERABLE. The file
(in this case D.cmcl2BC3330) is permanently lost, and the mail (or whatever
it may be) is vanished, without even an error message to the sender.

I'd like to know how many of you are being bitten by this same bug? Any ideas
on workarounds? I'm not optimistic but it can't hurt to ask. Our Mac is a IIx
with 8MB ram, 500MB of assorted Wren drives, and a bunch of modems and serial
ports. The uucp problems always occur with our telebit, running off of a
Taniwha CommCard. (I doubt the card or the telebit are responsible here though.)

BTW, if anyone wants the polling script, drop me a line. It's custom-written
for my system but it's pretty easily adaptible.

Thanks,
---
Alexis Rosen
Owner/Sysadmin, PANIX Public Access Unix, NY
{cmcl2,apple}!panix!alexis