On Thu, 1 Jul 1999 10:01:13 -0400, Alex Miller wrote:
>Besides, the problem was not with the Windows Telnet client.
>The default behavior with my telnet server had been that
>if you dialed in with a Windows Telnet client it was
>unnecessary to set the term to be vt100. That is a telnet
>server default behavior. After installing the Memphis RPM
>that step became necessary.
>
>This raises an obvious question?
>
>Is the installation of the Memphis RPM and the change
>in the behavior conincidental or correlative?
It is coincidental (and correlated to other changes you made at the
same time).
>I would like to test to find out the answer. But I'm
>not that interested in seriously affecting my small
>user base.
A good way to preserve the user base is to have an experimental machine
to test out major changes such as installing firewalls and/or a new
MTA, etc. Another advantage is that you have a tested-and-ready backup
machine should disaster strike.
>So the big question is: If I RPM -e the Memphis RPM at 2:00 am or something,
>test the default behavior of my telnet server (i.e. conduct an experiment to
>confirm a field observation), then reinstall the Memphis RPM (and perform
>Stuart's K to S tweak in the rc3.d directory) will mail sent to my system
>during the
>experiment bounce?
If you don't run an SMTP daemon your mail will be deferred at the
sending or relaying MTA for (3)5-7 days depending on the queue setup at
those hosts. Of course, there must be a live DNS server for
"bannerclub.com" or the hosts will decide that that machine doesn't
exist.
>This is also relevant in that when I finally get everything working with the
>Memphis RPM I'd like to reconstruct everything necessary to get QMail
>running without an RPM using a tarball which I was unsuccessful at
>originally. It would be nice if the mail didn't bounce during the down
>times.
It doesn't. See above.
>P.S. I could care less about how good the windows client is.
>If I grant shell access to a 15 year old I trust who wants
>to learn html, I want to give her a clear set of instructions
>and not direct her to some commercial software. How do you
>think I found out that the default behavior of my telnet
>server had changed? What had I done between the time she logged
>in successfully and ran pico and when she did not log in
>successfully and run pico? I installed the Memphis RPM. It's not grasping at
>straws to notice that. For all I know, the Memphis RPM could have a
>bizillion unwanted side effects that have nothing to
>do with it's intended functionality. That's what a side effect
>is. I KNOW that telnet has nothing to do with email, nor does
>solitaire, but if I left my machine alone, then installed solitaire and
>found out that something bad happened right then
>I'd reasonably wonder if installing solitaire caused the side effect. I
>would then want to know if others had made the same field observation and
>possibly run an experiment to confirm or deny it.
Keep a log of what you do. You'd be surprised at how many things you
can do at 2am and not remember the next day. At least that is true for
me ;-)
-Sincerely, Fred (Frederik Lindberg, Inf. Dis, WashU, St. Louis, MO, USA)
