bart@videovax.tv.Tek.com (Bart Massey) (08/30/89)
In article <13950@nuchat.UUCP> steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia) writes: > In article <1989Aug26.213711.16326@twwells.com> bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) writes: > >Much to my great dismay, it seems that many installations are set up > >so that cancellations do not work. Why, I don't know. I do know that > >my standard installation of rn does *not* allow me to cancel articles. > >Maybe I screwed something up or maybe there is something incompatible > >in the various pieces of software I use. > > This seems to be pretty common. Someone posted and explanation of > what combination of configuation options leads to it, but it isn't > obvious to the average news installer. Both times I've found rn's cancel broken, it's been a problem with comparing hostnames, very much like the problem with xrefs I posted a fix to earlier. Essentially, rn examines the headers of the article the user is cancelling and decides the user didn't author it, postnews having tacked on some domain-qualified hostname which doesn't match rn's idea of the current hostname. I have a fix for this, but I don't like it very well, so I'm not going to post it yet. What probably *should* be done is a fairly thorough rework of all the code in rn which compares hostnames. The basic problem is that, when comparing hostnames, videovax == videovax.tv.tek.com (domain stuff) videovax.tv.tek.com == videovax.tv.Tek.com (case insensitive domains) videovax.tv.tek.com == videovax.tv (partial domains) videovax ?== Videovax (case insensitive hosts??) videovax != videovax.mil (can't just strip domain) It's the last case that's the real killer. The reason these problems occur is that hostnames were very different back when rn was written. Anybody offering a cure, or will I have to fix it myself? Mr. Wall, are you listening? Of course, an argument might be made that since anyone smart enough to invoke inews can create a cancel message for any article they please anyhow, the 'security' feature of rn is just a nuisance anyhow and should be removed... Whether this is true or not, I suspect the above-cited bug is not the last symptom of incorrect hostname comparisons in rn. Bart Massey ..tektronix!videovax.tv.tek.com!bart ..tektronix!reed.bitnet!bart
faigin@aerospace.aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) (09/01/89)
In article <5545@videovax.tv.Tek.com>, Bart Massey describes some problems with the Rn cancel facility, discusses possible solutions, and then writes: >Anybody offering a cure, or will I have to fix it myself? Mr. Wall, are you >listening? Well, speaking as Larry's former officemate and a family friend, I can assure you that Larry is listening. However, it is unlikely you will see a response on it. Why? A couple of reasons. First of all, if you have looked at Larry's address of late, you will see that he works at JPL. Specifically, Larry works on a little spacecraft called Voyager. As you may guess, he has had other concerns than the net of late. Secondly, for the past 2 or so years, Rn has been in pieces on the floor. It is undergoing a massive rewrite, and I don't think that Larry has the ability (or the desire) to issue patches for it at the current time. Last time I spoke to him about Rn (which I do periodically), he was mumbling something about transmogrifying Rn into some fancy interface with Perl. My suggestion to you is to see if you can figure out a fix yourself. When you have it figured out, communicate with Larry directly at lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV and see if you can get him to post the patch as an official fix. Daniel Work :The Aerospace Corp M8/055 * POB 92957 * LA, CA 90009-2957 * 213/336-3149 Home :=> 9758 Natick Avenue * Sepulveda CA 91343 <= NEW ADDRESS * 818/892-8555 Email:faigin@aerospace.aero.org (or) Faigin@dockmaster.ncsc.mil Voicemail: 213/336-5454 Box#3149 * "Take what you like, and leave the rest"