Date:	Tue, 7 Feb 1995 11:21:12 +0900
From:	Stephen Turnbull <turnbull AT shako DOT sk DOT tsukuba DOT ac DOT jp>
To:	A DOT APPLEYARD AT fs2 DOT mt DOT umist DOT ac DOT uk
Cc:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu, djgpp-request AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject:	The messages came in two by two

Russ:
    Can this actually happen?

   From: "A.Appleyard" <A DOT APPLEYARD AT fs2 DOT mt DOT umist DOT ac DOT uk>

   > Would you consider adding this to the FAQ, section "DJGPP mailing
   > list"?  It needs a bit of editing, both for inappropriate content
   > Q: Why am I getting 2 and often more copies of the same message?
   > A: First, check the headers to make sure it isn't addressed to
   > you twice: this often happens when people reply to your post.
   > You get the direct message, and a Cc: via djgpp.

   And another cause:-

   A: You tried to subscribe simultaneously to two email groups, by
      sending the server command e.g.
       subscribe Mordor Isengard                         /* 1 */
   instead of
       subscribe Mordor                                  /* 2 */
       subscribe Isengard

   Attempt (1) won't subscribe you to both `Mordor' and `Isengard' at
   once, but it will subscribe group `Isengard' to group `Mordor'
   unless the server's subscription program is programmed to stop that
   sort of attempt. Thus every message sent by Mordor will also reach
   all Isengard's subscribers, and thus if you are in both Mordor and
   Isengard you get two of all Mordor messages. If also someone then
   tries subscribe Isengard Mordor an infinite loop results.

I suppose that this is possible.  Certainly the naive approach of
making each list a user and doing everything via the .forward file
would result in such disasters.

However, the Clarkson server has been around a long time and I've
never seen this behavior.  I've seen people flamed on the list for
trying it (to the "djgpp@" address), and I believe Russ said at that
time that the listserv is programmed not to permit that.  We'll wait
for Russ's confirmation, though.

-- 
Stephen Turnbull  /  Yaseppochi-gumi  /  <turnbull AT shako DOT sk DOT tsukuba DOT ac DOT jp>
http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/      anon FTP: turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
Check out Kansai-WWW, too ------------> http://pclsp2.kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

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