Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!mcdchg!heiby
From: heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us (Ron Heiby)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Use of 'all' distribution in sys
Message-ID: <18934@mcdchg.chi.il.us>
Date: 23 Mar 89 21:16:46 GMT
References: <304@flatline.UUCP> <2004@wa4mei.UUCP> <1247@acer.stl.stc.co.uk>
Reply-To: heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us (Ron Heiby)
Organization: Motorola Microcomputer, Schaumburg, IL
Lines: 29

dww@stl.stc.co.uk writes:
> What is wrong with 'all', *if* you specifically exclude local groups?
> ...
> stl:all,to.stl::
> #
> stc:all,!stl,!local,!test,!general,!followup:F:
> #
> ukc:all,!stc,!stl,!local,!test,!general,!followup:FL6:
> #other sites fed not shown in this extract

Well, here are a couple of things wrong with it.  For one, you are
propagating "junk".  For another, you are propagating all of the
"to." newsgroups.  So, if ukc sends a control message to you, it
will also get sent to stc.  This probably isn't intended.  At least
one of the sites I feed does something very similar to this.  It
really pisses me off when my control messages propagate where I
don't intend and when control messages not intended for my site
end up here.

> If I'm not, then careful use of 'all' can make sys files much more readable
> and thus easier to maintain.

To sum up, I guess using "all" isn't all that bad, except that the
people who use it don't know how.  I don't mean this message as a blast
against David.  As I said, at least one of the sites I feed has made
the same mistakes (as has at least one of the sites that *they* feed).
-- 
Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us	Moderator: comp.newprod
"Life is indeed an inexplicable sequence of imponderable surprises."