Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mtune!codas!cpsc6a!rtech!bobm
From: bobm@rtech.UUCP (Bob McQueer)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.bugs
Subject: Re: Notes on the latest `vn' distribution
Message-ID: <1519@rtech.UUCP>
Date: 31 Dec 87 19:03:07 GMT
References: <5119@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Sender: news@rtech.UUCP
Lines: 44


Problem list at this point:

	1) the digest handling stuff Greg mentioned.  There are a couple
	   things to be fixed here, the more serious being one of those
	   address problems that VAXen blithely ignore.  I hope it's the
	   only such.

	2) for SYSV, there is no mkdir() call and MAXPATHLEN is undefined
	   in svart.c.  Needs to be ifdef'ed to call mknod(), which will
	   mean that the feature will only work for superuser on SYSV, if
	   the manual pages are to be believed (the feature in question is
	   the placement of saved articles in separate directories if there
	   is a "%s" in your VNSAVE variable).

	3) somebody whom I never got confirmation from had a problem with
	   a "range error" message getting generated, which I believe would
	   happen if there happened to be multiple records for a given
	   newsgroup in the active file.  Can be changed to generate a
	   non-fatal and more informative message, although obviously
	   your active file is screwed up and should be fixed.

	4) if a badly mangled article gets into the directories, you'll
	   get a crash if you try to read it.  By badly mangled, I mean
	   a "From", "Path" and "Reply-to" line are all not present.  Until
	   I give out a fix, don't read an article from author "?".  The
	   specific problem is in winding up calling mail_trim() in std.c
	   with a NULL pointer.  The fix is a one-liner - simply check &
	   don't call it.  I found this myself shortly after posting - the
	   offending article was the first time I'd seen a screwed up article
	   in ages.

        5) if you try to set your NEWSRC variable to a file which is on a 
	   different filesystem than your HOME, it won't work.  The reason
	   is that vn plays super-cautious when writing your .newsrc by
	   making a link of your old .newsrc to a temporary name in case
	   the write fails, and it's making the temp name in your HOME.
	   It's a minor mod to make sure the temp name is in the same
	   directory as your .newsrc.

I intend to post a single set of patches for all of the above.  None of them
are very extensive changes.  I'll wait about a week to see if there is any
further fallout.  I'll either post Greg's optimization with it, or as a
separate patch.