Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!nuug!ifi!is.uu.no!ra
From: ra@is.uu.no (Robert Andersson)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: C news canonsys.awk can exceed static awk limits
Message-ID: <1990Feb18.132237.6360@is.uu.no>
Date: 18 Feb 90 13:22:37 GMT
Distribution: news
Organization: International Systems A/S, Oslo, Norway.
Lines: 42

This is C news patchlevel 18-Jan-1990 running on an NCR Tower 32, 
OS release 2.01.01.  A fairly standard SYSV release 2 OS.

If you have a big ~news/sys file entry awk fails when running the
canonsys.awk script.  It complains that the string is 'too long to print'.
The symptom is that checkgroups control messages don't work.

Shame on awk for imposing static limits as low as this.

Perhaps C news had better rewrite this in C instead?

Example that fails:
ME:bit.listserv.asm370,bit.listserv.ibm-main,bit.listserv.ibm-nets,\
   bit.listserv.cics-l,bit.listserv.cics-l,\
   comp.bugs.sys5,\
   comp.compilers,\
   comp.databases,\
   comp.lang.c,\
   comp.lang.misc,\
   comp.newprod,\
   comp.software-eng,\
   comp.sources,\
   comp.std,\
   comp.sys.m68k,\
   !comp.sys.m68k.pc,\
   comp.sys.ncr,\
   comp.unix,\
   !comp.unix.aux,!comp.unix.cray,!comp.unix.ultrix,!comp.unix.microport,\
   eunet,\
   !eunet.micro.acorn,!eunet.test,!eunet.politics,\
   gnu,\
   !gnu.emacs.gnews,!gnu.emacs.gnus,\
   news.announce,\
   news.software.b,\
   news.software.nn,\
   nuug,\
   rec.arts.movies.reviews,\
   to.isncr/all::
-- 
Robert Andersson, International Systems A/S, Oslo, Norway.
Internet:         ra@is.uu.no
UUCP:             ...!{uunet,mcsun,ifi}!is.uu.no!ra