Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/3/84 (WLS Mods); site astrovax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!ihnp4!astrovax!wls From: wls@astrovax.UUCP (William L. Sebok) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: unable to abort replies Message-ID: <484@astrovax.UUCP> Date: Tue, 6-Nov-84 23:08:28 EST Article-I.D.: astrovax.484 Posted: Tue Nov 6 23:08:28 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 07:19:22 EST Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics Lines: 24 There is something not very robust about the method of cancelling replies from vnews (2.10.2). Supposedly if one exits from the editor without editing the file it should cancel the reply. However there seems to be a high probablility that the reply will get sent anyway. I have been embarassed more than once by this (although as a superuser I have often been able to zap it before it got out). This has happened when all I have done is (from vi) immediately type ZZ to get out. It seems to happen most often when one exits right away (like right after you have hit "r" by mistake). I see from the code that the criteria for cancelling the reply is that the modification time of the file be same after invoking the editor as before. I can't really visualize right now why this would fail but maybe it is due to 1 second time quantization (although it would seem to me to be more likely to fail in the sense of erroneously cancelling a reply). Does anybody have any ideas? In case it makes any difference we are running 4.2 BSD. Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to add another test like cancelling the reply if the size of the edited file has not grown after the editing. This would also be robust against a person starting to edit a reply but deciding against it after having started it. -- Bill Sebok Princeton University, Astrophysics {allegra,akgua,burl,cbosgd,decvax,ihnp4,noao,princeton,vax135}!astrovax!wls