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From: nuucp@ho7cad.ATT.COM (UUCP)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.bugs
Subject: Re: Compress  error message -n comp.sources.bugs -f wjc@ho5cad.ATT.COM
Message-ID: <209@ho7cad.ATT.COM>
Date: Mon, 24-Aug-87 21:29:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: ho7cad.209
Posted: Mon Aug 24 21:29:19 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Aug-87 06:22:12 EDT
References: <339@cbstr1.att.com>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 34
In-reply-to: Karl.Kleinpaste@cbstr1.att.com's message of 21 Aug 87 16:07:32 GMT

Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.47.1 of Fri Jun 26 1987 on ho5cad (usg-unix-v)


In article <339@cbstr1.att.com> Karl.Kleinpaste@cbstr1.att.com writes:

>>  This month's "Worst Error Message of the Month Award" goes
>>  unconditionally to compress 4.0.
>>
>>	   Not a typewriter
>>
>>  Well, duh!  That's right, it's NOT a typewriter.  It's a binary
>>  executable, suitable for exec'ing.
>>
>>  Lovely, just lovely.

Well, I agree.  This  is pretty funny.   But don't blame compress.   A
lot  of  programs give you  this.   Seems to be  what  you get on some
machines when you  call "perror()" when  there ain't been no error (of
its genre) [or  maybe when the error number  is bigger than the secret
message array].

Better than your message  from compress, we get  it from sendmail when
it can't find somebody or some machine:

	503 cbstr1: not a typewriter
	602 karl: not a typewriter

Usually,  when I see   one of these  about somebody   I know or  their
machine, I  forward it   to them so   that  they know  they're  not  a
typewriter.  Here's one for you.

	Bill Carpenter
	(AT&T gateways)!ho5cad!wjc
	HO 1L-410, (201)949-8392

PS:- If you actually  happen to be a  typewriter, my apologies for the
above cruel remarks. :-}