[news.software.anu-news] Bug in V5.9x NEWS processin some NEWS batches

SMITH%MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Ross Smith: (212) 340-5356) (01/08/90)

Hi everybody, here is another problem for your consideration.
     
On upgrade from V5.7 to V5.8/9 our NNTP feed broke and we were forced to
switch to MAIL  as the mechanism for getting news from a neighbouring UNIX
site (PHRI).  The news arrived, one mail message per item.  The 'standard'
NEWSSKIM.COM file was used to get the news batches with:
     
$MAIL
EXTRACT/ALL NEWSMAIL.MAIL
     
and the resulting  file was fed to NEWS.
     
I noticed that  with V5.9A that while 13 mail messages were extracted, only 5
items were recognized adn ADDed.  So I switched back to NEWS V5.8.  With V5.8,
all items were added, except the first, consistently.  I kludged my way round
that by creating a dummy 'dead' item file and appending the real news batches
to it before handing it over to NEWS.  With this fiddle we got NEWS working
again.
     
Then I got V5.9C and tried it.  On the news batch appended below V5.9C ADDed
every other item only (skipped half of them).
     
I think this is a bug.  Clearly V5.8 and the V5.9x versions behave
differently, adn the differences essentially make V5.9x unusable with a news
feed via mail of the type we were getting.
     
I have appended an example below.  The messy 'item' at the begining is the
fragment pre-pended to the batch to allow V5.8 to read it, however, this does
not affect the V5.9C behaviour, as  far as I can tell.  Note that there are 3
headers, one from VMS mail, one from PMDF and the NEWS header: all the NEWS
item stuff has 'N' in column 1.
     
Now where to look is probably clear: I appologize for not trying to fix this
myself, but we are a FORTRAN shop here and there is only one overworked girl
who knows C.  Waiting for her to get round to doing this isn't too realistic.
     
We are running: VMS V5.2, PMDF V3.1, CMU-TCP V6.4 (patched Dec 89).
     
-------------------- Example of News Batch ----------------------------------
<FF>    <--- NB: FormFeed character replaced with  <FF> for mailing.
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System" 26-DEC-1989 12:37:40.73
     
Received: from phri.phri.nyu.edu by MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU; Tue, 26 Dec 89 12:37 EST
     
NPath: phri!ccnysci!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!
   DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL!TMPLee
NFrom: TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL
N   !! --- THIS IS A DUMMY NEWS ITEM ---
     
<FF>
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System"  4-JAN-1990 18:41:10.49
To:
CC:
Subj:
     
Received: from phri.phri.nyu.edu by MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU; Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:41 EST
Received: by phri.phri.nyu.edu (5.59++/IDA-1.2.5) id AA09448; Thu, 4 Jan 90
 18:46:06 EST
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:46:06 EST
From: News System <news@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Message-id: <9001042346.AA09448@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Apparently-To: rnews@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu
X-Envelope-to: rnews
     
NPath: phri!ccnysci!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!think!mintaka!bloom-be
   acon!SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU!Michael.Jones
NFrom: Michael.Jones@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU
NNewsgroups: comp.windows.x
NSubject: Crayola Color Database
NMessage-ID: <631490908.mbj@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU>
NDate: 4 Jan 90 22:08:00 GMT
NSender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
NOrganization: The Internet
NLines: 7
N
(Stuff Deleted)
N
N                               -- Mike
<FF>
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System"  4-JAN-1990 18:41:31.56
To:
CC:
Subj:
     
Received: from phri.phri.nyu.edu by MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU; Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:41 EST
Received: by phri.phri.nyu.edu (5.59++/IDA-1.2.5) id AA09455; Thu, 4 Jan 90
 18:46:24 EST
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:46:24 EST
From: News System <news@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Message-id: <9001042346.AA09455@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Apparently-To: rnews@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu
X-Envelope-to: rnews
     
NPath: phri!ccnysci!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!mintaka!bloom-beacon!mcg
   ill-vision!quiche!opus!clement
NFrom: clement@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Clement Pellerin)
NNewsgroups: comp.sys.next
NSubject: printing mach docs
NSummary: machsys won't print on the next
NMessage-ID: <1831@opus.cs.mcgill.ca>
NDate: 4 Jan 90 22:27:33 GMT
NReply-To: clement@opus.UUCP (Clement Pellerin)
NDistribution: usa
NOrganization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
NLines: 30
N
N
N > CMU MACH documentation can be obtained by anonymous ftp.  This is the
(Stuff Deleted)
N--
Nnews <clement
<FF>
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System"  4-JAN-1990 18:50:39.66
To:
CC:
Subj:
     
Received: from phri.phri.nyu.edu by MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU; Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:50 EST
Received: by phri.phri.nyu.edu (5.59++/IDA-1.2.5) id AA09662; Thu, 4 Jan 90
 18:55:32 EST
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:55:32 EST
From: News System <news@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Message-id: <9001042355.AA09662@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Apparently-To: rnews@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu
X-Envelope-to: rnews
     
NPath: phri!ccnysci!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!
   DREW.BITNET!PCOEN
NFrom: PCOEN@DREW.BITNET (Paul Coen)
NNewsgroups: comp.os.vms
NSubject: Restricted, Captive, Mail & TPU
NMessage-ID: <9001042338.AA10505@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
NDate: 4 Jan 90 20:06:00 GMT
NSender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
NOrganization: The Internet
NLines: 20
N
N
(Stuff Deleted)
NPaul Coen   Student Operator, Drew University Academic Computer Center
N bitnet: pcoen@drew, pcoen@drunivac   usenet: rutgers!njin!drew!pcoen
N    "Plants are green, unless they turn brown, and brown is bad."
<FF>
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System"  4-JAN-1990 18:50:54.66
To:
CC:
Subj:
     
Received: from phri.phri.nyu.edu by MCCLB0.MED.NYU.EDU; Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:50 EST
Received: by phri.phri.nyu.edu (5.59++/IDA-1.2.5) id AA09668; Thu, 4 Jan 90
 18:55:46 EST
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 90 18:55:46 EST
From: News System <news@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Message-id: <9001042355.AA09668@phri.phri.nyu.edu>
Apparently-To: rnews@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu
X-Envelope-to: rnews
     
NXref: phri comp.lang.misc:3809 comp.lang.c:24820
NPath: phri!ccnysci!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!
   ukc!inmos!roger
NFrom: roger@wraxall.inmos.co.uk (Roger Shepherd)
NNewsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.c
NSubject: occam (was Re: The Fundamental Concept of Programming language X)
NKeywords: programming languages, abstractions
NMessage-ID: <3470@ganymede.inmos.co.uk>
NDate: 4 Jan 90 10:06:32 GMT
NReferences: <1470@inmos.co.uk>
NSender: news@inmos.co.uk
NReply-To: roger@inmos.co.uk (Roger Shepherd)
NOrganization: INMOS Limited, Bristol, UK.
NLines: 22
N
NIn article <1470@inmos.co.uk (Bill Smith) writes:
(Stuff Deleted)
N+44 454 616616              ROW:      roger@inmos.com OR roger@inmos.co.uk
<FF>
From:   IN%"news@phri.phri.nyu.edu"  "News System"  4-JAN-1990 18:51:11.49
To:
CC:
Subj:
     
(And so on for 417 blocks)