Weird UNIX commands revisited.

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3 total messages Started by cool... Pixel Mon, 18 Dec 1989 22:17

#500

Author: cool... Pixel
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1989 22:17

15 lines
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Playing around with window last week, I discovered that each window opened up
has it's own tty assigned to it.  However, the program isn't smart enough to
make the user the owner of that /dev/tty file.  It still belongs to root.
If you try writing to someone, they get "message from ???@node..." because
you didn't send the write as far as UNIX is concerned.  Another interesting
side effect is that you can't use talk.  Try it and you get "You don't exist.
Go away."

I guess the sense of humor isn't entirely gone.  Either that or the people who
set up *our* UNIX system have it....
-----
Pixel          cooleyra@clutx.  clarkson.edu | bitnet
"Keep the wind in your solar sails..." --Glenn Clapp
"here log (ln) changes to a different log (log)" (no reason given) --A.Fokas
Disclaimer: opinions==mine; me<>cct

Re: Weird UNIX commands revisited.

#501

Author: r.peterson
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 1989 20:06

12 lines
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>From article <1989Dec18....@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, by cool...@clutx.clarkson.edu (Pixel,,,):
> Playing around with window last week [...]
> Another interesting side effect is that you can't use talk.  Try it and
> you get "You don't exist. Go away."

Actually, this has nothing to do with the ownership of the /dev/tty?? device
node.  Window has not made a utmp entry for you - so, as far as write and
talk are concerned, you are *not logged in*.
-- 
One makes strong assumptions delving	       Roe Peterson
into the beginning of the universe...	       {uunet,mcgill-vision}!sobeco!roe
	- Stephen Hawking, Cambridge

Re: Weird UNIX commands revisited.

#502

Author: ta... David C Lawrence
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1989 02:54

19 lines
1547 bytes

In <1989Dec26.200651.12647@sobmips.UUCP> roe@sobmips.UUCP (r.peterson) writes:
> Actually, this has nothing to do with the ownership of the /dev/tty?? device
> node.  Window has not made a utmp entry for you - so, as far as write and
> talk are concerned, you are *not logged in*.

Or anything else that uses getlogin(), as who and ftp (for the default
login name) do.  The latter seems to have been fixed in the ftp I just
tried, at least to where it will use getpwnam() rather than just use
"nobody", but "who am i" just came back with "turing.cs.rpi.edu!     [...]".
(Sun4, SunOS 4.0.3, by the way.)

getlogin() definitely makes my Top 10 Most Hated C Calls list.  A
rather odd little list.  The calls themselves are of course not really
evil.  Maybe I should change the title of the list, to something like
"Top 10 Most Abused [on purpose or accidentally] C Calls" or such.

Dave
-- 
   (setq mail '("ta...@cs.rpi.edu" "ta...@ai.mit.edu" "tale@rpitsmts.bitnet"))

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