Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!uunet!cbmvax!snark!eric
From: e...@snark.uu.net (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: TMN-netnews progress report
Message-ID: <f7LPo#1ySUZm=eric@snark.uu.net>
Date: 3 Apr 89 04:19:24 GMT
Organization: Somewhere in Hyperspace
Lines: 71
7.5 will be released Tuesday, Goddess willing and the creek don't rise.
Rapid progress continues to be made. Problems recently solved include:
* Various glitches in ConfigureSys on Sun4 and XENIX boxen.
* A bug in the DOXREFS code that caused core dumps.
* Bugs in the Configure logic for mail back-end determination.
* Compilation errors in the nntp-support library.
* Obscure bugs in the feeds-file handling and batch-dispatching code.
Also, we've come a long step towards full nntp support. Patches for modifying
the nntp server to use the TMNN history library are already in the master misc
directory and I am expecting to get similar patches for the nntp xfer code
within the next day or so. Though problems remain, I believe we are over the
major hump.
Remaining trouble areas are:
* BSD screen support for vnews. I *think* this one may be knocked now;
the person mainly pounding on this (Bill Wisner) reported that he was
down to one link error under 7.4 involving a function some BSD systems
declare as a macro.
* A core dump some sites report during the rdactive() call of expire.
* Two sites report that their history file gets entirely rewritten on each
rnews run (!).
These are under intense investigation, and it is hoped that fixes for the
latter two will be in place in 7.5. Unfortunately, we are now at the stage
where the remaining bugs are not reproducible on snark and probably hinge
on obscure portation problems or stuff like brain-damaged mallocs. I'm
having to rely more on the initiative of the testers.
On the bright side, three System V sites are reporting all clear and on
green. I expect 7.5 to put the rest of the non-XENIX SV systems over the
top.
Also: this week's new feature (!) may be optional support for news-filter
processes communicating with the newsreader service libraries via a
standard protocol (which will be documented). This brilliant idea (due to
none other than Brad Templeton) should help people write their own kill
languages and (eventually) natural-language-recognition-based AI filtering
agents -- all without getting involved with reader internals.
The TMNN distribution will soon include reader- and filter-end protocol
support libraries and test drivers (this is what I've been working on
between bug reports). I will also supply at least one rn-emulating model
kill language. If all this isn't in 7.5 it will be in 7.6.
Kits and patches will be available on uunet as well as snark and (via FTP),
under ~/tmnn/beta7.5. Beta sites connected to snark that have uunet service
are urged to let me know that fact, so I can take them off the UUCP-upload
list and ease the load on my suffering modem.
I'm getting better and more active cooperation from more sites this time
around than I did on Level 6. My thanks to all who have responded, especially
to stalwart yeomen and/or yeowomen ambar@oracle, dlr@daver, bill@nanovx
nel...@sun.soe.clarkson, wisner@killer, and jtc@tessera; all of whom have
engaged in successful debuggery under difficult conditions and will get the
baisse d'honneur and dinner at the nearest good Szechuan joint if I ever meet
them in person.
Once more into the breach, dear friends!
--
Eric S. Raymond (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
Email: e...@snark.uu.net CompuServe: [72037,2306]
Post: 22 S. Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355 Phone: (215)-296-5718
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!cbmvax!snark!eric
From: e...@snark.uu.net (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Son of TMN-netnews progress report
Message-ID: <f7mxC#3WigXd=eric@snark.uu.net>
Date: 4 Apr 89 09:43:21 GMT
References: <f7LPo#1ySUZm=eric@snark.uu.net>
Organization: Justified Ancients of Muammu
Lines: 37
All beta sites with uunet connections (who aren't already registered as
Internet sites on the beta list) are urged to drop me a line telling me
they have uunet. This will speed up 7.5 distribution.
In <f7LPo#1ySUZm=e...@snark.uu.net> I wrote:
> Remaining trouble areas are:
>
> * A core dump some sites report during the rdactive() call of expire.
This has been stomped! It turns out to have been a XENIX-cc specfic problem;
that compiler apparently can fail to zero out uninitialized static internal
int variables. The rest of the code has been checked for such constructions,
and explicit initializations have been added where necessary.
> * Two sites report that their history file gets entirely rewritten on each
> rnews run (!).
This goes away if the code is recompiled with DEBUG off. A permanent fix is
in the works.
Beta 7.5 will also include full Yellow Pages support, thanks to Mark Nagel.
Warning: there is one `flag day' associated with this release -- the article-ID
format is changing (to eliminate a potential problem with packed timestamps or
hash values spelling out obscenities, it's going from radix-62 to radix-52;
no vowels any more). (This change suggested by a recent comp.risks article;
yes, there are legal reasons).
Several other small bug fixes and tweaks will be included. Watch this space
for the 7.5 announcement.
Today's tossed roses go to ambar@oracle (who is sleeping now, I hope) and
Mark Nagel (na...@ics.uci.edu). Keep up the good work, everybody!
--
Eric S. Raymond (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
Email: e...@snark.uu.net CompuServe: [72037,2306]
Post: 22 S. Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355 Phone: (215)-296-5718
|