🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <mbs.436v@adastra.cvl.va.us> mbs@adastra.cvl.va.us (Michael B. Smith) writes:
> > I run wCNews [grudgingly, it's a dog, but it's the best available], on a
> > 2.04 system and have never noticed any problems caused by hardlinks.
> 
> Because wCNews expire, and the AmigaUUCP trimnews are coded to deal with
> the problem.

Ah... thanks for the notes below incidentally. As I understand it
though, Carlos *is* having problems with wCNews expire, and is having
to use an original "Crash" Edwards version. I use it on my 2.04 and it
doesn't cause problems... hmmm... and neither did expire have problems
when I was running the original Fish Disk CNews.

> > I keep hearing about "bugs" in hardlinks but never any specifics. If I
> > remember rightly, the problems concern directories rather than files,
> > and as all wCNews (and AmigaUUCP news) use are file hardlinks, there
> > shouldn't be a problem.
> 
> The major problem with file hardlinks, on 2.04, is that if you delete
> a link while a scan of the directory is in process, the directory block
> for the directory can be munged. That's what I remember anyway.

Would this cause a crash or a corrupted disk? Would a simple disk
validation be enough to fix any problems?

I use hardlinks in my setup very regularly, and I also often instead
of using expire, delete USENET trees manually using the delete command
(bloody crossposts!). Presumably this is dangerous, or has the delete
command also been coded to read the directory first and then delete any
files?

Thinking about it, I doubt that expire is affected by this bug (unless
someone does a dir themselves while expire is running) because it uses
the history file to decide what files to delete, not the directory. But
I may be wrong. I'm pretty sure this is how it works though...

> I don't remember when this was fixed, but I think it was fs 40.4. And
> I don't think that was ever publically released, before C= went belly
> up.

:-( Ah well...

> --
>   //   Michael B. Smith
> \X/    mbs@adastra.cvl.va.us


-- 
Paul Harrison                                    paul@phszx81.gn.apc.org
I blame the government               PGP public key available on request

      Public, free, non-profitmaking UK UUCP network: email & news
            Help us build it! To join the mailing list, email
                   ukuulist-request@phszx81.gn.apc.org