dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks) (08/14/90)
We've been having some strange problems with logfiles created by scripts, recently, and i've narrowed it down to this pattern: echo `some basic command` "some other text string" >> logfile the command can come before *or* after the text, and it doesn't matter if the logfile is created via >, appended to, or if the output goes into a pipe, etc. the behavior is this: interspersed between each character in the "text string" is a rubout, aka /377 character. this happens only on the Vax running Ultrix 3.1. It works fine on our DECStation 3100's running 3.1D. the work around is to do something like this: set date=`date` echo $date "some other relevant text" >> $LOGFILE commands other than date, such as whoami, exhibit the same results. has anyone else run into this? DEC, any suggestions? on a final note: the signature following my address was added by lawyers (i'm pretty sure not interactively, but can't guarantee that), otherwise we can't post. every time i post, i always get at least one humorous comment. i'm really in a mood for a few good humorous comments right now, so let those creative juices flow... dlb -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ David L. Brooks Idaho National Engineering Lab. INTERNET: dob@INEL.GOV POB 1625 M.S. 1206 Phone: (208) 526-0826 Idaho Falls, Id. 83415 FAX: (208) 526-1419 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neither the United States Government nor the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government nor the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
cliffb@isavax.isa.com (cliff bedore*) (08/14/90)
In article <DOB.90Aug13152348@tws1.inel.gov> dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks) writes: >We've been having some strange problems with logfiles created by scripts, >recently, and i've narrowed it down to this pattern: > >echo `some basic command` "some other text string" >> logfile > >the command can come before *or* after the text, and it doesn't matter if >the logfile is created via >, appended to, or if the output goes into a >pipe, etc. > >the behavior is this: interspersed between each character in the "text >string" is a rubout, aka /377 character. this happens only on the Vax >running Ultrix 3.1. It works fine on our DECStation 3100's running 3.1D. > >the work around is to do something like this: > >set date=`date` >echo $date "some other relevant text" >> $LOGFILE > >commands other than date, such as whoami, exhibit the same results. has >anyone else run into this? DEC, any suggestions? > >on a final note: the signature following my address was added by lawyers >(i'm pretty sure not interactively, but can't guarantee that), otherwise we >can't post. every time i post, i always get at least one humorous comment. >i'm really in a mood for a few good humorous comments right now, so let >those creative juices flow... > >dlb >-- >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >David L. Brooks >Idaho National Engineering Lab. INTERNET: dob@INEL.GOV >POB 1625 M.S. 1206 Phone: (208) 526-0826 >Idaho Falls, Id. 83415 FAX: (208) 526-1419 >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I replied to David via mail that I had seen this and then experimented. I can replicate his problems consistently and I found that using /bin/echo vice echo also fixes the problem. I seem to remember that when DEC (somebody) converted Ultrix to full 8-bit capabilities some things broke. This may be one of them. Cliff Disclaimer "I stole Dave's. I liked it so much"
diamond@tkou02.enet.dec.com (diamond@tkovoa) (08/14/90)
In article <DOB.90Aug13152348@tws1.inel.gov> dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks) writes: >on a final note: the signature following my address was added by lawyers >... otherwise we can't post. > >Neither the United States Government nor the Idaho National >Engineering Laboratory nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, >expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility >for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, >product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not >infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific >commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark >manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply >its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States >Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The views and >opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect >those of the United States Government nor the Idaho National Engineering >Laboratory, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement >purposes. I move that your organization not post. This is not a joke. Alternatively, have other sites bill your lawyers the thousands of dollars of network expenses that are wasted from copying that signature EVERY TIME, and disable yourself from posting until they pay it. Obligatory joke: The rubout characters in the output of your echo command were inserted by Digital in a feeble attempt to correct your signature. (Oh sorry, I thought this was rec.humor.) -- Norman Diamond, Nihon DEC diamond@tkou02.enet.dec.com This is me speaking. If you want to hear the company speak, you need DECtalk.
hoyt@laura.alf.dec.com (Kurt Hoyt) (08/14/90)
In article <DOB.90Aug13152348@tws1.inel.gov>, dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks) writes: > We've been having some strange problems with logfiles created by scripts, > recently, and i've narrowed it down to this pattern: > > echo `some basic command` "some other text string" >> logfile > > the behavior is this: interspersed between each character in the "text > string" is a rubout, aka /377 character. this happens only on the Vax > running Ultrix 3.1. It works fine on our DECStation 3100's running 3.1D. > > the work around is to do something like this: > > set date=`date` > echo $date "some other relevant text" >> $LOGFILE > > commands other than date, such as whoami, exhibit the same results. has > anyone else run into this? DEC, any suggestions? > > David L. Brooks There is a patch at the Support Center in Atlanta for this problem. It is essentially a new version of /bin/csh. Of course, the problem should also be fixed in ULTRIX 4.0 (now shipping). If you need the patch, call and ask for the patched /bin/csh for 3.1. If you can wait for 4.0, please do so. ..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:.. Kurt in Atlanta "More than 4 billion chickens in America hoyt@decatl.alf.dec.com each year do not have a single happy moment hoyt@laura.alf.dec.com in their lives." -- PETA News
hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens) (08/16/90)
In article <1990Aug14.110452.11898@isavax.isa.com> cliffb@isavax.isa.com (cliff bedore*) writes: >In article <DOB.90Aug13152348@tws1.inel.gov> dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks) writes: >>We've been having some strange problems with logfiles created by scripts, >>recently, and i've narrowed it down to this pattern: >> >>echo `some basic command` "some other text string" >> logfile >> >I seem to remember that when DEC >(somebody) converted Ultrix to full 8-bit capabilities some things broke. >This may be one of them. > I think this is fixed in 4.0. Here's one I noticed in 4.0, probably related to the above: Script started on Wed Aug 15 13:41:39 1990 csh> echo "foo" & [1] 1103 csh> foo [1] Done echo \377f\377o\377o csh> script done on Wed Aug 15 13:41:47 1990 Very minor bug, admittedly. (The \377's above were changed into 4 character sequence manually. It emits them as single bytes.) -- Disclaimer: I didn't do it. Read my MIPS, no new VAXES --G. Bush Jim Hudgens Supercomputer Computations Research Institute hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu