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From: bin@primate.wisc.edu (Brain in Neutral)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Why does buildfname skip past hyphens?
Message-ID: <111@indri.primate.wisc.edu>
Date: 5 Jan 89 15:55:32 GMT
Organization: UW-Madison Primate Center
Lines: 14

The buildfname() function in fullname.c (used (indirectly) by, e.g.,
inews) looks in the gecos field to try to figure out a user's full
name.  The comments in the code say it was lifted from sendmail, but
there is a difference.  If the name part of the gecos field contains a
hyphen, the full name is stripped of everything to the left of the
hyphen.  (sendmail's buildfname() doesn't do this.)  Thus articles by a
user such as "Firstname Lastname-Hyphenated" get posted as being from
just "Hyphenated".

What is the function of this behavior?

Paul DuBois
bin@primate.wisc.edu
dubois@primate.wisc.edu