Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!pyramid!comdesign!pst
From: pst@comdesign.uucp (Paul Traina)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: squelch control message -- a more powerful cancel
Summary: sorry, but you're wrong
Keywords: net virus killer -- problems with 'cancel'
Message-ID: <284@comdesign.UUCP>
Date: 24 May 88 21:47:09 GMT
References: <279@comdesign.UUCP> <2124@munnari.oz>
Organization: Network Equipment Technologies, Santa Barbara
Lines: 25

In article <2124@munnari.oz>, kre@munnari.oz (Robert Elz) writes:
< In article <279@comdesign.UUCP>, pst@comdesign.uucp (Paul Traina) writes:
< < If a cancel message arrives before the original message, it goes into the
< < bit-bucket.
< < 	(a) it is not propigated
< < 	(b) no action is taken
< 
< What version of news do you have?  It must be ancient.  In any recenty
< version of news at all (from 2.10, and probably 2.9 and before) cancel
< messages don't behave that way at all.

You were right 1/2, I was right 1/2.  A history log entry is made, but the
message is not canceled.

< < However, if the
< < target message is not yet there, it will:
< < 	(a) place a fake entry into the history log (so when the new
< < 	    message *does* arrive, it will be dumped into the bit-bucket.
< < 	(b) propigate to all usenet neighbors
< 
< This is what cancel does.

Wrong.  With all due respect, please examine your source code.  I am (as of
this week) now running news211 patch level 14, and cancel does not propigate.
Perhaps you are running something newer?