rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk (09/11/90)
I hate to be a real bug-bear, cos I think Elm is really nice (honest), but
there's a couple of things (only two ?) that aren't quite right:
1. The 'lock' file created by Elm (usually /tmp/mbox.username) is a slight
loophole. What if someone switches off their workstation (diskless I
might add) whilst in the middle of Elm ? When they Elm again when they
next login, it complains about the lock file and won't run. The user has
to manually delete the lock file themselves and re-run.
So what ? Well, /tmp is a+rw of course, so what's to stop someone else
being a nuisance and creating a /tmp/mbox.username to annoy people ?
And what if that /tmp/mbox.username is a directory ?
2. More importantly, I would really, really, really like the folder handling
in Elm to use curses. Surely opendir/readdir/closeddir can be used to
get a list of folders and then display them - then it's just a question
of using the cursor keys to select the one you want to read. At the moment,
a simple system("ls"); command to list folders (and then the user himself
has to type the folder name) feels a little bit on the tacky side.
Oh, yes, I use Elm 2.3 PL6 on HP-UX 9000 Series 300 and 800 - the Configure
script gives me a 'd_flockon not found' warning during the 1001 Q&A session.
Further investigation reveals that the config.sh file created contains a
faulty line as follows (it's skipped anyway, so I wasn't too worried):
d_cuserid='undef'
d_flock='undef'
d_flockon -> Truncated ? Should it be "d_flockonly='undef'" ?
tempnamc=''
Has anyone else with HP-UX machines had this problem ?
Richard K. Lloyd, *** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.3-1 ***
Computer Science Dept., * JANET : RKL@UK.AC.LIV.CS.AND or *
Liverpool University, * RKL@000010500211.FTP.MAIL *
Merseyside, England, * Internet : RKL%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu *
Great Britain. *** Please note: New e-mail address ! ***edwin@praxis.cs.ruu.nl (Edwin Kremer) (09/12/90)
In <1990Sep11.094714.17198@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk writes: | Oh, yes, I use Elm 2.3 PL6 on HP-UX 9000 Series 300 and 800 - the Configure | script gives me a 'd_flockon not found' warning during the 1001 Q&A session. | Further investigation reveals that the config.sh file created contains a | faulty line as follows (it's skipped anyway, so I wasn't too worried): | | d_cuserid='undef' | d_flock='undef' | d_flockon -> Truncated ? Should it be "d_flockonly='undef'" ? | tempnamc='' | | Has anyone else with HP-UX machines had this problem ? Yes, I had problems of the same kind. Doesn't seem to be a problem with the Configure file, it's more likely '/bin/sh' that screws up. Using "ksh Configure" works great for me... --[ Edwin ]-- -- Edwin Kremer (SysAdm), Dept. of Computer Science, Utrecht University Padualaan 14, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands Telephone: +31-30-534104 | UUCP: ...!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!edwin Telefax : +31-30-513791 | Email: edwin@cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.5]
woof@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (Steve Wolf) (09/13/90)
>> Has anyone else with HP-UX machines had this problem ? > Yes, I had problems of the same kind. Doesn't seem to be a problem with > the Configure file, it's more likely '/bin/sh' that screws up. Using > "ksh Configure" works great for me... /bin/sh has a bug where it gets confused if it is dealing with a large number of environment variables. It will be fixed in a future release. The "ksh Configure" method is the preferred workaround. -- Steve Wolf Hewlett-Packard UUCP: {ihnp4|hplabs}!hpfcla!woof Fort Collins, CO ARPA: woof@fc.hp.com This is not an official response of the Hewlett-Packard Company.
hbergh@oracle.nl (Herbert van den Bergh) (09/20/90)
In article <1990Sep11.094714.17198@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk writes: >2. More importantly, I would really, really, really like the folder handling > in Elm to use curses. Surely opendir/readdir/closeddir can be used to > get a list of folders and then display them - then it's just a question > of using the cursor keys to select the one you want to read. At the moment, > a simple system("ls"); command to list folders (and then the user himself > has to type the folder name) feels a little bit on the tacky side. Yeah! I was going to suggest it myself when I came across this message. It would solve the "hierarchical mailbox" problem someone else was talking about in a nice way too. And then add news reading capabilities and wander through the subdirs of /usr/spool/news in search of great suggestions to improve life. -- Herbert van den Bergh, ORACLE Europe hbergh@oracle.nl, hbergh@oracle.com Rijnzathe 6, NL-3454 PV De Meern uunet!mcsun!orcenl!hbergh Phone: +31-3406-94211