Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!sri-spam!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!LLL-ICDC.ARPA!OBERMAN From: OBERMAN@LLL-ICDC.ARPA ("Kevin Oberman, 422-6955, L-156") Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: RE: SYS$ANNOUNCE: possible bug or feature Message-ID: <8707231727.AA27291@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Thu, 23-Jul-87 10:38:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8707231727.AA27291 Posted: Thu Jul 23 10:38:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jul-87 07:38:36 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 28 >I found out today that while you can make the logical name SYS$ANNOUNCE >point to a string as big as 255 characters, once that string exceeds >128 characters, the LOGINOUT system no longer uses it (you end up with >no announcement prior to username: prompt). This is STUPID! I'm generating >a rather long SYS$ANNOUNCE string with embeddeds and s to give >some useful info at login and DEC contradicts itself. Geez. While I agree this is something either poorly documented or a bug, I've never seen it. I use a file to contain long welcome and announcement messages. Just specify a definition of "@filespec" for SYS$ANNOUNCE or SYS$WELCOME. And I also wonder about a long announcment string. Due to some system security concerns I tend to want to keep announcements as short and uninteresting as possible. And because of possible legal rammifications, I don't want to say `Welcome' or anything that might be so construed by some judge. Of course, if you are talking about a stand-alone system with no outside connections, the above does not apply. R. Kevin Oberman Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory arpa: oberman@lll-icdc.arpa (415) 422-6955 Disclaimer: Neither my employer nor myself can take resposibility for the accuracy of this information. I believe it is correct, but if it's not I can only say "Sorry". I'm a rotten typist and a worse speller, so forgive any silly errors.