HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dave@nakiska.ucs.ualberta.ca (David Ross)
Subject: Re: Vendors Considered Evil (Re: Perl use over NFS)
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 15:55:16 GMT

In article <2ttyzz=@rpi.edu> gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn)  
writes:
> kochmar@sei.cmu.edu (John Kochmar) writes:
> > fwp@CC.MsState.Edu (Frank Peters) writes:
> > 
> > You've gotta be kidding, right?  You're not advocating that perl be
> > placed in /usr/bin so that scripts you pick up from who-knows-where
> > will run without modification, right?
> >
> > I got the same response from someone else in private mail.  Since I
> > don't make a habit of picking up a script and running it without
> > checking it over, I don't see changing the #! at the beginning to
> > be that big a deal.
> 
..
> 
> If I write a cool script that runs on my NeXT, I certainly don't want to  
> edit it to run on a Sun, an HP, an RS6000, or (gasp) aix370 just because  
> each platform has it's own favorite place to stuff scripting-languages  
like  
> perl.  I have enough headaches without trying to keep synchronized 6  
copies  
> of every script I feel like writing, with the only difference being  
where  
> the silly interpretter lives.

Okay, I'm putting on my preacher clothing...  *preach on*!

No no no no no.  Don't put ANYTHING in /usr/{bin,etc,lib,man} - put all  
locally installed modifications in /usr/local!  Don't even put symbolic  
links in /usr/bin!  It's more work for you, it's confusing for the users  
when you do an upgrade and you forget to recreate a link, and it's  
completely unnecessary if you are consistent!  

We have something of a Sys Admin guidebook where we have agreed to certain  
conventions.  One is all local additions to the system go in the  
/usr/local hiearchy.  This applies to ALL vendor platforms.

What I did was ensure all users have /usr/local/bin in their path and I  
modified my default .cshrc so that all new users got it as well.  C  
compilers all seem to look in /usr/local/lib by default.  The man pages  
are a bit trickier, but again changing the .cshrc to add /usr/local/man to  
the MANPATH environment variable has fixed that.

No one has mentioned the case where you run out of room in /usr/local and  
have to put a package in say, /u0.  I had to do this.  Now to make the  
command findable, I did have to put a symbolic link somewhere in  
everyone's path.  What did I use?  Not /usr/bin!  /usr/local/bin!  

Now when we do an upgrade, a simple "restore /usr/local" and zowie, we  
have all local mods to the system restored and no extra work to do. No one  
as ever complained since then that they can't find a particular command.

Perl is not a standard UNIX distribution - don't assume it is.  All perl  
scripts should start with #!/usr/local/bin/perl!  
*preach off*
--
David A. Ross, Programmer Analyst  | dave@nakiska.ucs.ualberta.ca
Computing and Network Services     |  (NeXTmail accepted)
352 Gen Serv Bldg, Univ of Alberta | Phone: (403) 492-9339
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada  T6G 2H1 | Fax:   (403) 492-1729
From: matthews@oberon.umd.edu (Mike Matthews)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Question about shutdown.
Date: 1 Sep 92 23:16:21 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <1992Sep1.080920.18289@csus.edu> eps@cs.sfsu.edu writes:
>In article <1992Aug25.150237.209@afs.com>
>	Michael_Pizolato@afs.com (Michael Pizolato) writes:
>>Is there a file that gets executed at shutdown, like rc and rc.local get  
>>executed at startup?

>No.

>					-=EPS=-

But you can, of course, replace 'halt' (or 'shutdown' I suppose) with a shell
script that does what you want then calls the original with whatever
arguments you desire.

I have /etc/halt play a C3P0 sound "If you won't be needing me, I think I'll
shut down for a while" and then halts.

The power key does an /etc/halt -e -p so this works for that as well.
------
Mike Matthews, matthews@oberon.umd.edu (NeXTmail accepted)
------
The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the
stupidity of your action.



Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: tspencer@balin.eecs.wsu.edu (Tim Spencer - EECS System Staff Slave)
Subject: quotas?
Keywords: quotas sadness flying mousepads from the moon
Organization: Washington State University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 04:01:30 GMT

Hello there!  Due to intense user space pressures, we are interested in enabling
quotas on the NeXT's...  however, the quota system does not appear to be
'compiled into the kernel'.  All the support programs are there, but none of
the kernel stuff.  Is there a kernel relocatable that we could install to
supply what is needed?  Would it be feasable to create one?  Are there quota
libraries around that I could adapt?  etc etc...  Any help at all would be
appreciated!  Please email me at tspencer@eecs.wsu.edu  Have fun!!

		(sigh!  How I wish quotas weren't needed!)

-- 
Tim Spencer: junior somebody at WSU.            With EECS Systems Support
              I want Ethernet!!           I like NeXT's!!
tspencer@eecs.wsu.edu tspencer@snake.cs.uidaho.edu tspencer@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: faught@redfox.ssc.gov (Ed Faught)
Subject: Re: NeXT Remote Power Up/Down?
Reply-To: faught@redfox.ssc.gov
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:57:39 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.144408.18538@udcf.glasgow.ac.uk> chris@uk.ac.gla.music  
(Chris Scudds) writes:
>Subject says it all...is it possible to remotely power the machines
>on and off? Is there perhaps some .app already around that will
>do this?
>
>Also, is there a utility to broadcast messages to the workspace,
>eg. "LOG OFF NOW!"? I can do this thru UNIX, but output only goes
>to the console, which most users don't even know about. Broadcast.app
>anyone?

shutdown -p should work. You'll need to be root over the network, of course.
--
Ed Faught  WA9WDM  faught@psychosis.ssc.gov
 Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin,comp.unix.admin
From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.COM>
Subject: Re: Vendors Considered Evil (Re: Perl use over NFS)
Originator: tchrist@pixel.convex.com
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:13:53 GMT
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

From the keyboard of jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz):
:>I'm not sure, though, that I would characterize this as "*much*
:>easer".  It isn't that hard to edit a file or sed a collection of
:>files.
:
:Especially since the Camel book (the standard Perl reference) contains
:a nice little Perl program to fix all the #! lines of scripts for your
:system.

Imagine a /common/scripts/ directory that's mounted on a bunch
of different machines of varying architectures.  You'd want the
#! line to match everywhere.

--tom
-- 
    Tom Christiansen      tchrist@convex.com      convex!tchrist
It's rural America.  It's where I came from.  We always refer to ourselves
as real America.  Rural America, real America, real, real, America.
		--Vice President Dan Quayle
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: lux@sol.UVic.CA (Michael O'Henly)
Subject: How come "network is unreachable"?
Organization: University of Victoria
Date: 28 Aug 92 20:55:59 GMT

	I've connected my NeXT to the university's Ethernet and I'm
able to telnet to other hosts within the campus domain. When I try to
reach hosts outside the domain, I get a "network is unreachable"
message.

	The NeXT is not configured as part of a NetInfo net and I
believe I've done the local configuration in NetMgr correctly. (I'm
assuming here that if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to reach other UVic
hosts). I'm able to connect to the other campus machines with either a
domain name or an IP address, so I figure my machine is addressing the
campus domain name server correctly.

	I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

	Thanks.

	Michael.
--
Michael O'Henly                 
McPherson Library                Internet:  lux@sol.uvic.ca
University of Victoria                      lux@uvvm.uvic.ca
Victoria, B.C., Canada             BITNET:  lux@uvvm




Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: irving@Happy-Man.com (Irving_Wolfe)
Subject: Re: Printserver Compatibility
Bcc: irving
Reply-To: Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com
Organization: Happy Man Corp., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 14:58:44 GMT

Being a print-server is only incompatible with the other functions
in the sense that response may seem excessively sluggish.  We have
run a machine that was print-server, mailhost, clone NetInfo
server, secondary NFS server, and home directory server for just a
few users, as well as news server, all at the same time.  The only
thing that didn't work well was the user whose machine it was, who
had excessively delayed response time at the console.

You are much better off not doing this, if you have enough machines
to distribute the load properly.
-- 
 Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com      Happy Man Corp.  206/463-9399 x101
 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA  98070-7399   fax x108
 We publish SOLID VALUE for the intelligent investor.   NextMail OK
Info free; sample $20.  Send POSTAL addrs: Solid-Value@Happy-Man.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: rrbk50@email.sps.mot.com (Rick Cottle)
Subject: Help!  No Login Screen
Organization: SPS
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:12:16 GMT

My Next Station Turbo Color will reboot and do everything
ok except give me a login screen.  I can get to it over
the network and it appears to be funcitoning alright, except
for ths rather serious problem.

Please help!

--
_____________________________________________________________________
R i c k   C o t t l e                  M O T O R O L A, I N C.
Project Leader,Factory Info. Systems   Final Manufacturing Operations
Mail Drop EL606                        Logic & Analog Tech.Group
Email:RRBK50@email.sps.mot.com         2100 East Elliot Road
(602) 897-3867 Fax:(602) 897-3608      Tempe, Arizona  85284
From: louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
Subject: Re: How to add more pty entries for terminal
Date: 27 Aug 92 04:07:43 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland College Park

In article <BtLtnL.L6x@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (J.B. Nicholson-Owens) writes:
>How do I add more pty/tty entries so that Terminal and Stuart (and any  
>other terminal applications) can open more windows.  I've tried using the  
>MAKEDEVS script to actually make the devices, but when I reboot the  
>machine the terminal applications still stop making terminal windows after  
>ttyqf.

You cannot.  The pty kernel device driver is configured for 32
devices, and it does not dynamically allocate its data structures.  To
see the gory details, look at the BSD pty driver, available on UUNET,
etc.  The NeXT's pty driver seems to be essentially unchanged in
architecture.

I would tell you that I think the number of ptys has been increased in
3.0, but that would probably violate some beta test agreement.

louie
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: kurrer@lisboa.ks.uiuc.edu (Christian Kurrer)
Subject: Printserver Compatibility
Reply-To: kurrer@lisboa.ks.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 19:23:44 GMT

Page 13 of the "Network and System Administration" manual shows a table  
that lists the compatibilities for combining servers. According to this  
table, it is impossible for a NeXt to be a PrintServer and one of the  
following: "NetBoot" server, "home directory" server, "Mail" server, or  
"other file" server. What does this mean? What kind of machine, then, can  
be set up as a print server? Only a dedicated machine with no other  
responsabilities?

We have intermittently experienced intractable problems with printing,  
especially printer daemons that constantly crash. I wonder whether this  
might be due to the fact that our print server is our Mailserver, a home  
directory server, the Netboot server, and a server for "other files" at  
the same time.

Does anybody have any experience about what a PrintServer is really  
compatible with or what certainly won't work?

Any hint highly appreciated.

Christian Kurrer
kurrer@lisboa.ks.uiuc.edu
From: chris@uk.ac.gla.music (Chris Scudds)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
Subject: NeXT Remote Power Up/Down?
Date: 25 Aug 92 14:44:08 GMT
Reply-To: chris@music.gla.ac.uk
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Service

Subject says it all...is it possible to remotely power the machines
on and off? Is there perhaps some .app already around that will
do this?

Also, is there a utility to broadcast messages to the workspace,
eg. "LOG OFF NOW!"? I can do this thru UNIX, but output only goes
to the console, which most users don't even know about. Broadcast.app
anyone?

Thanks in advance.

--
*****  Who am I ? - Chris Scudds, BSc, MSc, ( PhD? Wait and see )  *****
*    Where am I ? - Dept. Of Music, University Of Glasgow, Scotland    *
*                      Why do I feel this way ?                        *
*            >>  chris@uk.ac.gla.music   NeXTmail accepted  <<         *
*****         >>  " I'd rather Jack, than Famous Grouse "  <<      *****
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin,comp.unix.admin
From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.COM>
Subject: Vendors Considered Evil (Re: Perl use over NFS)
Originator: tchrist@pixel.convex.com
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 14:52:34 GMT
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

From the keyboard of sherwood@fenris.space.ualberta.ca (Sherwood Botsford):
:Larry Wall writes
:> Make the world a saner place and push for /usr/bin/perl.
:
:Boo! Hiss!
:
:And when you upgrade /usr/bin gets clobbered by the new  
:operating system.  I reserve /usr/bin for what comes from  
:the vendor.  Helps me keep track of who to Froth at when  
:things break... <wry grin>

Any vendor who actually clears your partition on an 
upgrade should be considered Evil.  You really shouldn't
let them get away with this.  If you wanted a new disk,
you'd ask for it.

Sane upgrade technology is an area that many vendors
desperately need to work on.  I'm sure we could all
recount stories on the oxymoronic nature (emphasis
on the moronic) nature of painless upgrades.

:However /usr/local/bin is great for this purpose.  For me  
:this is almost always a link pointing to a directory on an  
:NFS mounted disk.  Keeping all the stuff I've accumulated  
:on one disk helps.  (This same disk has the /LocalApps  
:/LocalLibrary /Demos etc)  This means I can back up all the  
:local stuff I've got working by backing up a single disk.

In the particular case of perl, it really does make things *much*
easier if there is an agreed-upon, standard location.  The 
preferred strategy is to put a link in /usr/bin pointing to 
where it actually lives, which varies from machine to machine.

Of course, those lucky folks whose vendors already ship perl 
on the system in /usr/bin have no such concern. (Hm, I've been
thinking of putting it in /bin so it's mounted with root. :-)

--tom

-- 
    Tom Christiansen      tchrist@convex.com      convex!tchrist

In English, every word can be verbed.  Would that it were so in our
programming languages.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: waltrip@capd.jhuapl.edu
Subject: Re: NeXTcube 9mm Reprieve
Organization: CAPVAX, JHU/APL
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:42:33 GMT

In article <BtnL4y.MH5@suite.com>, Mark-Tarbell@suite.com writes:
	[...material deleted...]
> To recap: After having my v2.1 cube off for a week, I find that 
> sending anything to the printer results in the following PostScript 
> errors reported from npd:
	Does selecting Preview work ok?
	[...material deleted...]
> Please repost to this newsgroup - my email is out as well!
	Did you lose your email capability at the same time as your
	print capability?
	[...]

c.f.waltrip

Internet:	<waltrip@capsrv.jhuapl.edu>

Opinions expressed are my own.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: Matthias Imhof <gondwana@basalt.mit.edu> 
Subject: w command
Organization: Massachvsetts Institvte of Technology
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 16:52:47 GMT

is the w command working correctly?

whenever i try to use it i just get

basalt> w
No namelist

what does that mean, what do i have to change?

***************************************************************************
*                                *                                        *
* Matthias G.Imhof               * And as in uffish thought he stood      *
* MIT Earth Resource Lab E34/370 * The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame     *
* 42 Carlton St                  * Came whiffling through the tulgey wood *
* Cambridge MA 02142             * And burbled as it came!                *
* (617) 253 7835                 *                                        *
* gondwana@basalt.mit.edu        * LEWIS CARROLL 1832-1898                *
*                                *                                        *
***************************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin,comp.sys.next.programming
From: Mark-Tarbell@suite.com
Subject: NeXTcube 9mm Reprieve
Reply-To: Mark-Tarbell@suite.com
Organization: Suite Software, Anaheim CA.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:41:21 GMT


Thanks to all who responded concerning my PostScript printing
problem, but fsck reported nothing.

To recap: After having my v2.1 cube off for a week, I find that 
sending anything to the printer results in the following PostScript 
errors reported from npd:

%%[ Error: invalidfileaccess; Offending Command: run ]%%
%%[ Error: typecheck; Offending Command: machportdevice ]%%

BEFORE the errors appear, the system appears to be normal.
AFTER the errors appear, however, the system is really munged!

- If I click on "CONSOLE" under workspace tools, I
  get the "spinning disk" busy-indicator forever.
- If I double-click on /usr/lib/NextPrinter/comm, I get:
  "Workspace Error 1000: Continue or Logout?"
  (It logs me out any way I answer).
- In a terminal window, if I issue a command that 
  displays lines of text (like "ls" or "ps"), I get
  only a few characters displayed of each line.

One final bit of info: I can boot from my 2.0 Release Optical
and printing is just fine. I've tried replacing things on disk
to no avail. What components are involved in printing?

Please repost to this newsgroup - my email is out as well!
Thanks.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: puerta@mcs-next-10.stanford.edu (Angel Puerta)
Subject: System Beep Problem
Reply-To: puerta@camis.stanford.edu
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 03:22:27 GMT



I am able to change the SystemBeep to any sound I like using the Preferences  
tool.

However, after I logout and log in again, my choice is ignored and the  
SystemBeep is back to the default.

Nevertheless, dread tells me that my choice is still as I selected, for  
example:

mcs-next-10> dread -n SystemBeep
NeXT1 SystemBeep /LocalLibrary/Sounds/Cow


Any ideas as to what the problem is?.

--
Angel Puerta
puerta@camis.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca (Lance R. Bailey)
Subject: faxes
Reply-To: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca
Organization: University of Western Ontario
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:38:04 GMT

I have a fax modem on my HP system which can store received 
faxes in CCITT T.4 format.

FaxReader refuses to read them, giving error:
Aug 26 16:30:12 Workspace[8881]: Cannot open /home/lrb/faxes/FX1.0826154904.fax

has NeXT made thier fax files something non-standard? and if so, how can
i translate T.4 into the NeXT format?

--
Lance R. Bailey  System/Network Manager         Robarts Research Institute
     NeXT/email: zaphod@ctrg.rri.uwo.ca    box: Clinical Trials Resources Group
            fax: +1 519 663 3789                P.O. Box 5015, 100 Perth Dr.
            vox: +1 519 663 3787 x4108          London, Canada N6A 5K8
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: jypai@ccnext.csie.nctu.edu.tw
Subject: how to restore Guided-tour? (second post)
Reply-To: jypai@ccnext.csie.nctu.edu.tw
Organization: Computer Science & Information Engin., Chiao-Tung U, Taiwan, ROC
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 07:43:20 GMT

I posted this news 20 days ago, but didn't receive any solution that works.
So I post it again, in hope u gurus can solve it.
My problem is:

The Next-Tour's password on my next was changed.
When I try to run /NextDeveloper/demo/Guided Tour,
it tells me that 
"The user "next tour" has been modified and ... cannot be run"

How should I do to make it work again?
(PS: I didn't find a word about this in the reference manuals)

Thank you for ur time answering this.
--

Yuan
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet Address         : jypai@csie.nctu.edu.tw        |
| NeXT mail GLADLY accepted: jypai@ccnext.csie.nctu.edu.tw |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: eps@futon.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)
Subject: Re: Plugging terminal into serial port
Reply-To: eps@cs.sfsu.edu
Organization: San Francisco State University
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 09:02:52 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.174207.24735@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
	szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Shane M Zatezalo)
	writes:
>Is it possible to plug a terminal into either the serial a/b port
>and login to the NeXT?

If you look in the /etc/ttys file you'll see lines that look like:

ttya	"/usr/etc/getty std.9600"	unknown		off secure
ttyb	"/usr/etc/getty std.9600"	unknown		off secure
ttyda	"/usr/etc/getty D9600"		unknown		off
ttydb	"/usr/etc/getty D9600"		unknown		off

If you change an "off" to an "on" you'll enable getty for that
port.  (Don't enable both ttyX and ttydX!)  Then do a  kill -1 1
to force init to reload.

					-=EPS=-
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.sysadmin
From: lux@sol.UVic.CA (Michael O'Henly)
Subject: SUMMARY: How to undo NetMgr change...
Summary: How to undo a NetMgr change that prevents normal rebooting
Keywords: NetMgr Broadcast Address
Organization: University of Victoria
Date:  2 Sep 92 14:37:59 GMT

	Thanks to the many people who responded to my post yesterday
about how to undo a change made with NetMgr that prevented the machine
from booting normally.

The problem: 
	I changed NetMgr...Local...Broadcast Address to the IP address
	of my own machine. When I rebooted, the machine hung when it
	got to the network initialization stage. Since I couldn't boot
	it, I wasn't sure how to undo the change I'd made.

The solution:	
	Boot into single-user mode and enter 'bsd -s' at the 'NeXT>'
	prompt. Edit your /etc/hostconfig file. (In my case, I changed
	IPBROADCAST back to '-AUTOMATIC-'). Logout. Reboot normally.

	This is all probably quite obvious to anyone who knows what
they're doing (but maybe not...!).

	Thanks for the help.

	Michael.
--
Michael O'Henly                 
McPherson Library                Internet:  lux@sol.uvic.ca
University of Victoria                      lux@uvvm.uvic.ca
Victoria, B.C., Canada             BITNET:  lux@uvvm