From:	CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::CRVAX.SRI.COM::RELAY-INFO-VAX" 12-JUN-1989 16:02
To:	MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART"
Subj:	Re: ZOO

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Date: 9 Jun 89 14:36:41 GMT
From: phri!marob!samperi@nyu.edu  (Dominick Samperi)
Organization: ESCC  New York City
Subject: Re: ZOO
Message-Id: <725@marob.masa.com>
References: <2282@uwovax.uwo.ca>, <7640@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>, <2286@uwovax.uwo.ca>
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In article <2286@uwovax.uwo.ca> 16012_3045@uwovax.uwo.ca (Paul Gomme) writes:
|>> The problem lies in VAX/VMS Kermit, which tries to be intelligent about
|>> when to perform newline conversions.  It incorrectly assumes that all
|>> stream-LF files are text files.  And it won't allow you to use the
|>> command "set file type binary" to override this assumption.  The result
|>> is a corrupted download.
|>This begs the question of why ZOO creates stream-LF files under VMS, and why
|>ARC doesn't seem to have to do so.  The point is that I can manipulate .ARC
|>files under either VMS or MS-DOS without any "translation" programs; I cannot
|>do this with ZOO.
|>> Other file transfer programs, such as zmodem, should not have this
|>> problem.
|>First, I don't have a (working) version of zmodem for VMS (if anyone can tell
|>me where to ftp one, I'd be quite happy).  Second, I still don't think that you
|>can pin all the ZOO problems under VMS on Kermit.  To the contrary, I think
|>it's VMS C which is the culprit.
|>> -- 
|>> Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
|>> UUCP:    ...!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi
|>> Career change search is on -- ask me for my resume
|>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|>Paul Gomme        Bitnet:  gomme@uwovax.bitnet      ARPA:    gomme@uwo.ca

I think the solution is to use STREAM record format, along with the "b"
fopen parameter, instead of STREAM_LF format, for binary files, like ZOO
files. Even VMS does not know how to deal with its own STREAM_LF format!
For example, by definition there is no limit to the size of the records
in a STREAM_LF file, yet VMS utilities (like the print spooler) allocate
fixed size buffers, and then try to do I/O one record at a time. If a record
is larger then the allocated I/O buffer, the utility crashes due to a
buffer overflow! Note that it is quite common for the records in a
STREAM_LF file containing binary data to be very large (there may be no LF's
in the file at all!).

-- 
Dominick Samperi -- ESCC
samperi@marob.masa.com
uunet!hombre!samperi

