Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1.chuqui 4/7/84; site nsc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Usenet and causality (sort of)
Message-ID: <963@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 25-May-84 09:46:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc.963
Posted: Fri May 25 09:46:30 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 05:50:49 EDT
References: <13400001@hp-pcd.UUCP> <4366@utcsrgv.UUCP> <1917@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Organization: The Warlocks Cave
Lines: 21

The reason a set of linked articles seem to always be out of order (as in
the Tim Maroney stuff) is because of the way uucp handles things in its
directories. If all the sites were running under batching software there
would be no problem because the batching stuff forces a FIFO setup on news.
Unfortunately, many sites still pass news on a message at a time. Uucp does
not understand FIFO. I don't know exactly what the execution algorithm is
for uux but it has much more to do with the position of the file in the
directory structure and the state of the moon than it does when uux got it
in relation to when uux saw it. In a busy directory creating and zapping
lock files and temp files and things it is very likely that a second
article can actually have its control file placed higher up in the
directory structure than the first one so that when uux starts scanning the
directory it is sent first.

chuq

-- 
From the closet of anxieties of:			Chuq Von Rospach
{amd70,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4}!nsc!chuqui			(408) 733-2600 x242

I'm really gonna miss her. A tomato ate my sister...