mark@ntsc-74.UUCP.UUCP (01/15/87)
Is there any way for a suitably provileged user to access a DECALC grid that has been protected with a password if the creator forgets the password? The documentation says no, but I still need to get this grid. There's a manager here breathing fire down my neck daily about this. We have DECALC V2.2 on VMS 4.3 Thanx for any help. Mark Layton ARPA: mark@ntsc-74 ------
LEICHTER-JERRY@YALE.ARPA.UUCP (01/17/87)
Is there any way for a suitably provileged user to access a DECALC
grid that has been protected with a password if the creator forgets the
password? The documentation says no, but I still need to get this grid.
There's a manager here breathing fire down my neck daily about this. We
have DECALC V2.2 on VMS 4.3
If I remember right, DECALC uses the password to encrypt the data. As a
result, privilege has nothing to do with it - no password, no data. Period.
Welcome the manager to the world of true data security.
And now a solution to a problem you didn't even ask about: The "From" line
on your message appeared here as:
"
Mark Layton" <mark@ntsc-74.ARPA>
There's a vertical tab (CTRL/K, ASCII 11 character) before the first character
of your name.
Let me guess: You are running Wollongong's TCP/IP software. After all this
time, they STILL have not fixed a bug that's been there since VMS V4.0 hit
the streets: When they get your name from the system UAF file, they include
the count field (it's a counted ASCII string, so there's a leading byte that
indicates how many characters follow). Since "Mark Layton" has 11 characters,
you receive a vertical tab. ("Jerry Leichter" is 14 characters long, I used
to get a CTRL/N, which on VT100's is a lockng shift to G1, normally the
graphics character set - so any messages from me came out in hieroglyphics on
a VT100-compatible terminal. The real losers are those with 10-character
names - they get a linefeed, which totally confuses mailers. Generally, these
people can't send any mail at all.)
Fortunately, there's a workaround: If the Wollongong mailer can't find the
username it is looking for in the UAF, it leaves the personal name field
empty. Also, you can fool the mailer into looking at a UAF file other than
the SYSUAF. (I don't think it will run if it can't open the UAF at all.)
So, SET DEFAULT to some directory other than SYS$SYSTEM - I use MAIL$NET -
and run AUTHORIZE. It will complain that there is no SYSUAF.DAT file, and
ask if you want to create one. Say yes. The created file will contain
entries - which cannot be deleted - for two accounts: DEFAULT and SYSTEM.
DEFAULT is irrelevent. Mail CAN come from the SYSTEM account, and unfortu-
nately the "owner" - which Wollongong uses for the personal name - is
"SYSTEM MANAGER" - 14 characters, same as my name. Change that to "SYSTEM MG"
(or something similar); that's 9 characters, so the bug will insert a harmless
leading TAB for mail from SYSTEM. Exit from AUTHORIZE. For future sanity,
rename SYSUAF.DAT to SYSUAF.DUMMY.
Now find the command file - probably called MAILER.COM, but I've re-organized
our mailer stuff here so much that I can't be sure - in which the program
MAIL$NET:MAILER.EXE is run. (All I see in my command file is "$ run mailer".)
Just before that command, insert:
$ assign/user MAIL$NET:SYSUAF.DUMMY SYSUAF
and you should be off and running.
Be sure to yell at Wollongong for not fixing this bug (among others) - they
charge enough for their software!
-- Jerry
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