Re: [Pan-users] article-cache v 0.139

[Duncan]

Heinrich Müller posted on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:20:34 +0200 as excerpted:

> Am 30.09.2012 23:54, schrieb Duncan:
>> Heinrich Müller posted on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:38:30 +0200 as excerpted:
>>
>>> Am 30.09.2012 20:01, schrieb address@hidden:
>>>> So what can I deduce ? Some usenet providers are faulty (2) or
>>>> problems with permissions (1) or both ?
>>> Case 2.
>>> Usenetbucket fucked up big time and doesn't respect the rfc that
>>> defines the XOVER command.
>>> See my commit for details.

>> Meanwhile, I'm curious and will be checking the commit myself.

> After my hack I was able to download properly. Seems like the
> implementation on their servers is faulty. I already wrote an e-mail to
> their support.

Just updated and /did/ check the commit (by which I meant read the log 
and diff, not actually verify it against usenetbucket).

Heh, "null"-as-in-0x00-byte vs. "null"-as-in-empty.  Based on your 
comment in the commit, the RFC takes pains to make clear it's the second, 
specifically mentioning that if there's no info available for that 
overview field, it should be null, with two delimiting tab-chars 
appearing next to each other, thus specifying null-as-in-empty.

But usenetbucket's devs apparently didn't read past "null", and took it 
to be "null-as-in-byte-0x00".

I've often wondered just how often that ambiguity causes issues.  Here we 
have a case in point!


Meanwhile, rather amusing side observation...  I'm soon to turn 46, and 
as many people in their 40s, I've lost some of my ability to fine-focus 
my eyes on near objects (presbyopia, aka "old eyes").  FWIW, since I've 
always been highly myopic and wear RGP contact lenses, I can and often do 
simply slide the contact over and hold the reading material real close to 
read the fine print, so I don't carry the reading glasses with me that 
many do by my age, altho I'd otherwise need them.  But the point is, my 
reading vision isn't what it was...

Resulting in that shoved-together "usenetbucket" getting blurred a bit.  
Shoved together and blurred... with the "t" and "b" blending into each 
other, I keep seeing that "b" as an "f"... "usenetfu..."! =:^)

... Which seems to have been the attitude of their devs toward the RFCs...

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman