Hi, Rod.

RS>PE> Why did you send me this message about 5 times, in various stages
RS>PE> of construction?

RS>FM> I don't bloody well know, Paul! I noticed it after the packet
RS>FM> had gone ('cos I copy everything sent back into my incoming), but
RS>FM> I'm damned if I know how it happened. Certainly I did revisit that
RS>FM> message several times, but I don't know why what happened, happened.

RS>RS> You will get the effect if you re-edit a message a few times,
RS>RS> then dont shut down OLX properly.

RS>FM> That's probably what happened. I think I was playing
RS>FM> with something with OLX open and I crashed Windows.

RS>You want to watch that sort of thing, look what its done to Bob.

What was Bob playing with?

RS>RS> Each of the versions of a message end up in the OUTBOX on the
RS>RS> disk as you do each edit, but OLX keeps the message status on
RS>RS> which ones were edited and replaced in memory.

RS>FM> Surprising!

RS>Not really.

I've never seen it in another olr, so I was surprised.

RS>FM> I would have thought it would replace an edited message over the
RS>FM> top of the old one.

RS>Its heaps simpler to put the new one on the end of that simple linear
RS>file. Gets more messy when the new version can be bigger than the old
RS>one otherwise. Particularly when it can be quite a large file, it can
RS>take a while too the other way.

RS>Personally I would have a separate status file which is ALSO updated
RS>as the new version is written, say just a simple list of deleted
RS>message numbers or something.

Exactly what I'd do. As you're saying to Paul in another context, stuff
should be fail-safe. Simply writing out whatever memory structure you've
got internally to disk whenever you update the outbox would do.

RS>FM> Obviously not. Certainly I didn't see these multiple versions when
RS>FM> I was going back to change it ('cos in that case, OLX knows not to
RS>FM> show them to me 'cos it's got it's stuff in memory, as you say).

RS>Yep.

RS>FM> And I had no reason to look when I went back sometime after
RS>FM> the crash to export replies before I sent the packet.

RS>Yeah, tho I find its no big deal to be aware you have had a crash say
RS>due to a power flick and you have to delete those old deleted messages
RS>manually. Rather quicker in the OUTBOX than in the exported REP too,
RS>tho it can be done either way.

No, it's no big deal. Once you're aware that you have to be aware.

Regards, FIM.

 * * Gold medalist, freestyle jumping-to-conclusions event.
@EOT:

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