Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: More on falsely-zero-length postings Message-ID: <5332@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Tue, 16-Oct-84 15:25:25 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.5332 Posted: Tue Oct 16 15:25:25 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Oct-84 00:43:41 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 25 It looks like this system just had the new version installed. Various things have broken (like I cannot get to net.cooks, even though there is new news there), but there is one that is probably a serious bug. Recall my earlier posting about items shown with "Lines: 0" even though there are some lines of text? Instead of just screwing up the hand-off to "more", the new version displays the prompt string of "[nqfr]" instead of the usual "[ynq]" you see on ordinary items, and goes on to the next item when you give it a Carriage-Return! At least the old version let you see the posting! The new one assumes that the "Lines:" field is correct. As we have seen over the net recently, the "Lines:" field is often NOT correct at all. Many, if not most postings with "Lines: 0" really have some number of lines of text in them. This new software only lets you see the contents if you "s" save the item in a file and then look at it outside of readnews! BAD NEWS! (Hmm, that's a pun, son!) (Just like "bad dog!" as an alternate meaning, too...) Let's get this bug fixed soonest! With more and more "false-zero-length" items scattered across the newsgroups, this will seriously impact our ability to read the news! Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA