mark lewis wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:

 TL> I don't have a rule file to play with....however:

 ml> if you don't then you aren't following along, aren't on the same
 ml> page, and surely aren't testing the problem that i've been trying
 ml> (my damnest!) to explain to you :(

Ah yes...while you were specifically mentioning the RULES, I was testing
the premis that the echolist sees a line with more than two - as the end of
the submission.  I apologize, but, see below.


 ml> [*sigh*] none of my DESC's have three or more dashes in them...
 ml> never have, actually... it is =only= the RULes files that do ;)

I found one of your rule submissions and it contains this:


 Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
 Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------   

The series of ------ has a leading space.

I will use the line containing the space and multiple ---- and create a
rule update for the marktest echo.  

Notice that while you're saying rule file attached, what I see is a rule
text file in the body of the message/

 ml> also, that test isn't an accurate representation of the dashed
 ml> lines that i have used... =all= of the ones that i've used have had
 ml> a =leading space= (!!!) which immediately takes them out of the
 ml> realm of being a tearline... especially since tearlines start in
 ml> column 1 and not column 2...

I'll run the test and tell you how the robot handles it.

 ml>  1. netmail attaches of the RULes files were never 
 ml>     truncated at a line with three or more dashes...

See above ref netmail attaches versus rule text in the body.

Well....here's the test

I created and submitted a MOD RUL message for the MARKTEST echo...and I
used your convention of a leading space and then a series of --- that were
longer than 2 items



Area : Elist In

Date : Tue Feb 13, 06:49                                           pvt rcv loc
From : Thom LaCosta                                           1:261/1352
To   : Echolist                            
Subj : MOD RUL                                                               
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

TAG marktest
PASS areyoukidding
RULEText
This is the first line of the rules
The next line is Mark's line
 Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
 Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------   
This is the line after the suspect line
End of rules
--- 

And the resulting rule file that was written by the robot is:


This is the first line of the rules
The next line is Mark's line
Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.

As you will notice, and what I have been telling you numerous times, the
robot sees a line that contains(The operative word) more than two - and
treats that at the end of the message, and this the last two lines in the
update are ignored.

To further prove the point, I submitted a MOD RUL for Marktest with a
subtile change....I used a series of + instead of -



Area : Elist In

Date : Tue Feb 13, 07:39                                           pvt rcv loc 
From : Thom LaCosta                                           1:261/1352
To   : Echolist                            
Subj : MOD RUL                                                               
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

TAG marktest
PASS areyoukidding
RULEText
This is the first line of the rules
The next line is Mark's line

 Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
 Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   
This is the line after the suspect line
End of rules
--- 

And the robot wrote the rules file MARKETST.RUL as


This is the first line of the rules
The next line is Mark's line
Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++   
This is the line after the suspect line
End of rules

 ml>  2. netmail attaches of the RULes files never had
 ml>     their filenames pulled from the ether and stored
 ml>     as longfilenames...

Your sarcasim aside, I just looked in the rules directory and see NO files
that are not in the 8.3 format.  Are you saying that you submit a rules
file called gorp.rul for the echo housendrek and the robot creates a rules
file
called housend.rul ?  If that's the complaint, it's simply the robot taking
a long name(The echotag name) and manipulating it to creat an 8.3 file
name, since the Robot is a DOS program and knows nothing of long file name
formats. 

But, it looks more like you submit your rules files in the body of a MOD
RUL message, and with a tag like OS2DOSBBS, the Echolist Robot creates a
file called OS2DOSBB.RUL (Which complies with the 8.3 convention),  If you
look at the latest elrul.zip file, you will find that rule.


Conference rules for the OS2DOSBBS echo:                 rev. 10 Jan 01
Posting Frequency: 1st and 15th of the month.

And, you'll notice that the Echolist Robot truncated the file based on
seeing a line that contained(The Operative Word) more than two -


 TL> Ad now I have another problem....the MARKTEST echo is in the
 TL> database.  Should I leavve it there for six months so that it will
 TL> automatically expire, or should I manually delete it and thus
 TL> compromise the database because it has been touched by human hands?

 ml> ROTFL! just submit a MOD DEL ;)  but the first question is why are
 ml> you testing on a live database?? ;) O:)

Why not?  It allows ALL of us to see what happens.  If I'm wrong, everyone
sees it, if 'm right, everyone sees it....either way it;s instructive. 

 ml> and that brings up another (and actually the very first) "problem"
 ml> i attempted to describe to you years back... i/you can't send a MOD
 ml> DEL to remove an entry and then follow up with a MOD ADD to
 ml> "replace" the old (and bad) entry... what happens is that the new
 ml> info goes into the old entry and that's not right... i was trying
 ml> this, way back then, in an attempt to remove and purge the invalid
 ml> longfilenames that were mistakenly put in for my RULes file's
 ml> names... 

The reason you can't do a MOD DEL and then a MOD UPD(add) is because until
the database is purged, the entry is still there...which I believe I
explained to you years back.

So, from my perspective, I've run tests, proven that the Echolist operates
in ways that I have explained to you in the past and does what it says it
does.

I have in the past offered to modify your rules submissions so that they
will not be truncated, and as I recall you instructed me not to do so.

I have requested that you modify your rules submissions so that the
Echolist Robot can process them correctly, and you have not done so.

So here we are....I've walked the walk and talked the talk, and
demonstrated how you can and should make submissions.

 am finished explaining.  If you have a specific problem that I have not
tested and reported, please feel free to submit it.  

I hope that you can now make rules submissions that will result in the
files not being truncated.


cya,
thom
http://www.tlchost.net/echolist/ 
--- GEcho 1.20/Pro