Sun-Spots Digest, v7n12

William LeFebvre Sun-Spots-Request at Rice.edu
Mon Nov 14 23:50:18 AEST 1988


SUN-SPOTS DIGEST         Sunday, 13 November 1988      Volume 7 : Issue 12

Today's Topics:
                  Question about virus fix for SunOS 4.0
                   Sun specific Internet Virus question
                        Sun 4 system integration?
                   386i as fileserver and workstation?
           Looking for a UNIX-hosted Ada to 386 cross compiler
                    Diskless SUN2 workstation problem
                  Question about SunView Input handling
                      How to discover screen depth?
                          Sun background screens
                    Problem with <exitting> processes
                     Problem with Make and soft links
             Problem: keyboard buffer flushed when overflowed
                         mail delivery and lockd
                           Sun UNIFY SQL query
                        MMDF Remote Mail Software?
                             vt100 emulator?
                    Termcap for Sun for Unix System V?
                      CDC WREN-V's : any experience?
                     eagle and super eagle on xy451?
                     Color PostScript Printer on SUN?

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    5 Nov 88 19:45:18 GMT
From:    peirce at gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Leonard J. Peirce)
Subject: Question about virus fix for SunOS 4.0

I tried the little test line

   /bin/echo 'abcd' | /usr/ucb/strings -o

to see if my strings(1) prints out in decimal or octal but it didn't
produce any output.  I made sure that the 'abcd' had the eight inbedded
^G's but still nothing.  Am I missing something here?

[[ Sun's strings doesn't seem to work the same way as vanilla BSD.  I have
received the "official" Sun patch to fix the sendmail debug problem and I
will be passing it along very soon.  --wnl ]]

Leonard J. Peirce               Internet:  peirce at gumby.cc.wmich.edu
Western Michigan University                peirce at gw.wmich.edu
Academic Computer Center        Voice:     (616) 387-5469
Kalamazoo, MI  49008

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 7 Nov 1988 10:44:44 EST
From:    Ken van Wyk <luken at spot.cc.lehigh.edu>
Subject: Sun specific Internet Virus question

I've seen a lot (!) of reports on the Internet Virus now; most of which
point to a compile-time debug option in sendmail that was exploited to
obtain root privs on Suns.  My question is this - which version(s) of
sendmail were affected, and did Sun's sendmail (as distributed in binary
form) contain this debug option?  Specifically, I know that there's a
Berkeley, a Rutgers version (?), as well as Sun's own version - were they
all infectable?  The sendmail on our Suns is the binary version as
distributed by Sun, and our machines seem to have gone uninfected by the
whole mess (knock on wood...), yet we do a lot of internet mailing, etc.
(my VIRUS-L listserv group originates from an IBM here and I do a lot of
mailing via the nets).

Sorry if this is a duplication of what's already been stated ad nausium.

Regards,

Ken



Kenneth R. van Wyk                   Calvin: (hammer hammer hammer ...)
User Services Senior Consultant      Mom: Calvin, what are you DOING to the
Lehigh University Computing Center        coffee table?!
Internet: <luken at Spot.CC.Lehigh.EDU> Calvin: Is this some sort of trick
BITNET:   <LUKEN at LEHIIBM1>                question?

------------------------------

Date:    3 Nov 88 05:31:32 GMT
From:    vsi1!tim at ames.arc.nasa.gov (Tim Richardson )
Subject: Sun 4 system integration?

I'd like to know if anyone out there has attempted to integrate a SUN4 CPU
into their own product or any non-Sun chassis/backplane.

A brief synopsis of the experience would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Tim Richardson         VP Engineering
VICOM Systems Inc.     sun!pyramid----\
2520 Junction Ave.     uunet!ubvax-----!vsi1!tim
San Jose, CA  95134    ucbvax!tolerant/
+1-408-432-8660

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 03 Nov 88 13:15:20 -0500
From:    Steve Elias <eli at spdcc.com>
Subject: 386i as fileserver and workstation?

our configuration is starting with a 3/60 with big disk and a 3/50.

we will be adding 2 more 3/50s and another fileserver/workstation.

i'm considering a 386i instead of a 3/60 for this second diskful
workstation...  is anyone out there using such a configuration?

i'd like to get a 386i with 4M -- but Sun won't sell them that way until
they get a version of SunOS that runs nicely on the 386i (doesn't require
8M)... 

also -- any advice about the aftermarket memory and disk makers for Suns
would be appreciated...

------------------------------

Date:    6 Nov 88 19:23:28 GMT
From:    Russ Byrne <byrne at eneevax.umd.edu>
Subject: Looking for a UNIX-hosted Ada to 386 cross compiler

We at Fairchild Space Company are intersted in doing some Ada programming
for embedded real time systems employing the 80X86 line of processors.

I have been unsuccessful in finding a UNIX-hosted cross development
environment.  I've found such systems for MS-DOS, and VMS hosts, but
nothing for UNIX systems.

I had assumed that getting a 386-based UNIX workstation would be a good
idea for this, and I like the Sun 386i, but I can only find native Ada
compilers for this machine.

Is there anything out there, perhaps hosted on an HP workstation running
`real time' UNIX?

Any information regarding a UNIX-hosted Ada to 80X86 cross development
environment would be greatly appreciated...

Russ Byrne
VOICE: (301) 428-6009 [Fairchild Space Co.]
ARPA: byrne at eneevax.umd.edu
UUCP: {seismo,allegra}!mimsy!eneevax!byrne

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 04 Nov 88 15:19:17 EST
From:    <marco at sunlite.concordia.ca>
Subject: Diskless SUN2 workstation problem

We have a diskless SUN 2 workstation gathering dust in our lab because
nobody around seems to have the resources or time to support it.  The
machine's hardware works fine but all other SUN equipment in our
installation is SUN3/4 and the software incompatibility is our main
problem.

I would like to know what other SUN2 users are doing about interfacing
their machines with newer SUN equipment. In the worse case, if there is
nothing we can do about using the machine, we would like to know if there
is anyone out there interested in trading it for other types of goods.

I have been told the following so far:

a)	In order for me to use the machine as a client I have to have a copy
of the full SUNOS binaries for SUN2 loaded on to the server. Having just one
such animal ( a SUN2 ), we can't justify the resource usage for its support. 

Can this problem be fixed in any way ?

b)	Get an upgrade from Sun to make it a SUN3.

Is this still possible and how much would it cost ?

c)	To trade it in with Sun Microsystems for a newer model.

I do not even know if Sun would take this monster back. Has anyone done
this type of transaction with Sun Microsystems recently ?

d) 	That it may be easier just to get a disk for it and make it a stand
alone computer. 

This seems a good alternative, but will it be able to talk over NFS with
other SUN machines ? Does Sun have any support for it what so ever ?

I am writting this out of concern and on behalf of a poor little old
forgotten SUN2 that wants to be useful again.

The machine is question was the very first SUN system our university ever
had, and there is some sentimental value on it, but life goes on and we
can't see this good and expensive piece of equipment go to waste.

Please reply to me personaly.

Mailing Address:		 E-mail Address:

Marco Zelada			 marco at concour.cs.concordia.ca
VLSI Research Group
Computer Science Department
Concordia University
1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8
Canada

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Nov 88 10:29 EST
From:    Jason Wu <WUJ at QUCDN.BITNET>
Subject: Question about SunView Input handling

Has anyone ever had trouble with Sunview's
           window_set(win, WIN_GRAB_ALL_INPUT, 0);
Everytime I use it, all the inputs are going nowhere, not even the
designated window "win'. Just in case, the event_handler works o.k.
without the aforementioned attribute setting.

I had also tried to use window_loop(frame). Though the panel defined in
the frame still has its button selectable, any input in the canvas defined
in the frame is lost.

Bacally, what I intended to do is to temperarily have all input directed
to a specific window, preferably the window can be invisible (but this is
not critical).

One other question, is it possible to run SunView applications without
having to run suntools first?

Jason Wu

------------------------------

Date:    5 Nov 88 20:43:30 GMT
From:    mit-amt!turk at mit-amt.media.mit.edu (Matthew Turk)
Subject: How to discover screen depth?

I have 1-bit and 8-bit monitors hooked up to a Sun.  Is there an easy way
to find out the screen depth (under Suntools) without creating a new
window?

	Matthew

------------------------------

Date:    5 Nov 88 23:39:06 GMT
From:    Kiron Bondale <se433 at db5.cs.concordia.ca>
Subject: Sun background screens

Hmmm little while ago, I saw a message about their being five background
Suntools screens...perhaps someone could point the general way?

Thanks

Kiron

------------------------------

Date:    Sat, 5 Nov 88 01:04:07 EST
From:    Loki Jorgenson rm 421 <loki at physicsa.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Problem with <exitting> processes

I am running a 3/180 as fileserver to four clients with an ALM-2
multiplexor for 16 terminals and pc's.  On occasion, the ports which host
connections to the local VAX, modems or terminals become 'hung up' by
processes which ps describes as <exitting>.  This happens typically when
the tip or kermit is crashed out of by the user.  The process cannot be
killed nor can the /dev/tty be reset by kill -1 1.  The only recourse
(since the dev is unusable) is to reboot the fileserver.

Anyone who has a more pleasant fix, permanent or bandaid, please send mail
to root at physicsa.mcgill.cs or me.

LOKI

------------------------------

Date:    Thu,  3-Nov-88 09:17:00 PST
From:    portal!cup.portal.com!David_Scott_Masterson at sun.com
Subject: Problem with Make and soft links

I seem to have run into a bug with MAKE that I thought I'd pass on:

Due to the haphazard way our Suns have come in and been set up (my fault,
not anyone elses), people's accounts haven't been set up the same way on
all systems.  Therefore, when they were brought into a single network, I
tried soft linking user's home directories to where YP thought they should
be, so that the passwd file would be correct.  CSH and SH seemed to have
no problem with this, but MAKE may.  When it tries to find a command
in ~/bin, it comes up with 'No such file'.  My theory is that MAKE does
some preprocessing on the command line and can't find the command through
the soft link.  My makefile looks like: PRINT = lpr print: $(PRINT) $(FILES)

"make print" works fine, but "make print PRINT=prfile" has problems (where
'prfile' is a command in ~/bin).  Is this problem old territory (SunOS
3.5)?

David Masterson
DMasterson at cup.portal.com

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Nov 88 23:12:19 EST
From:    Loki Jorgenson rm 421 <loki at physicsa.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Problem: keyboard buffer flushed when overflowed

I have a SUN 3/180 acting as fileserver to four client 3/50's.  It has a
full 16 port multiplexor connected to terminals and pc's.  Recently (last
few weeks), possibly coincident with a power failure, it has begun 'hangin
up' between 0 to 5 times per day, in such a way that none of the terminals
(including console) is responsive.  Rlogins from the clients has no
response.  However, it continues to faithfully act as fileserver for the
clients.  No particluar operating conditions seem to be coincident with a
hang-up.  The system message buffer consistently shows one or several
messages deposited before the system is forcefully crashed: kbd: keyboard
buffer flushed when overflowed.

Debugging the vmcore from the crash, traceback shows the last calls (3 to
4) are all to _v_handler().

If anyone has any information on this problem, please send mail to me or
root at physicsa.mcgill.ca.

loki

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 3 Nov 88 17:41:58 EST
From:    Philip Prindeville  <philipp at opus.cs.mcgill.ca>
Subject: mail delivery and lockd

We haven't gotten source to 4.0 yet, though it is rumored to have support
for mailboxes mounted on NFS partitions.  I imagine this means that
someone went through /bin/mail and /usr/ucb/Mail and fixed all the
lock()/unlock() calls to use the RPC locking provided by fcntl(2).
Anyway, some one our sites are quite committed to staying with 3.X (it
seems), because of the performance/bugs horror stories that 4.0 carries.
Not being one to wait, can someone send me the diffs to patch /bin/mail
and /usr/ucb/Mail to work with the lockd(8) stuff (F_WRLCK, etc)?

Much obliged (and somewhat disclaimed)...

-Philip

------------------------------

Date:    3 Nov 88 18:31:07 GMT
From:    fedsys!scotty!dna at kodak.com (Dave Albertson)
Subject: Sun UNIFY SQL query

Greetings. I am having a slight problem using the ERIC procedure calls
with Sun UNIFY, and I am hoping someone out there can help.  I am working
on a Sun 3/260, running SunOS 3.5 and Sun UNIFY 2.0.

The problem occurs with the call 'query_open'. When I invoke this command,
my program hangs for a few minutes, and then the program exists with exit
code 99. (What is exit code 99?). Checking the error log file, the
following transaction has been recorded:

	Program: unknown
	Calling function: error
	Offending function: see Notes
	  Status: 0
	Errno: 4
	Notes: RPC error: timeout
	(prognum 1073741852, request sql_select()) 
					/* what does sql_select do? */

Both parameters to query_open are valid (query, scan) and no other
database activity is going on during this time. Any suggestions/answers to
this problem are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Dave Albertson
-- 
UUCP:..!rutgers!rochester!kodak!fedsys!alvar!dna

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Nov 88 14:15:47 MST
From:    wrl at ford-cos2.arpa (Bill Lewandowski)
Subject: MMDF Remote Mail Software?

I would like to know if anyone can point me to a person or company that
can give me information on the Remote Mail program called "MMDF". As I
understand it, a host can receive mail for the following address
"Harry%Sun-Cos at Ford-Cos2.arpa".  In this example Ford-COS2 would hold the
mail. Sun-Cos would then call Ford-Cos2 and then retrieve the mail via an
async line dial-up.

I would like information on MMDF or if anyone out there knows of a program
thats about like this, I would appreciate hearing about it.

Bill Lewandowski
Ford Aerospace Corp
(719)594-1899
wrl at ford-cos2.arpa

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 3 Nov 88 14:45:36 GMT
From:    Richard Tobin <richard%uk.ac.ed at nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: vt100 emulator?

Sorry to bring up this subject yet again, but I've been asked if there is
a *complete* vt100 emulator available for sunview.  It must have extended
character set (the stuff for drawing boxes and so on).  Please reply by
mail and I'll summarise.

-- Richard

Richard Tobin,                         JANET: R.Tobin at uk.ac.ed             
AI Applications Institute,             ARPA:  R.Tobin%uk.ac.ed at nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Edinburgh University.                  UUCP:  ...!ukc!ed.ac.uk!R.Tobin

(Please use the address in the signature, not the one in the headers)

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 3 Nov  11:05:52 1988
From:    druco!cac at ihnp4.att.com
Subject: Termcap for Sun for Unix System V?

Is there a SUN termcap for UNIX System V that works with "vi".  I
currently have a SUN termcap that works weel with everything but vi.
Could somebody post a good termcap?

Thanks
Curtis Conkey
ihnp4!druco!cac
303-538-4544

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 04 Nov 88 09:33:02 +0930
From:    Kevin J. Maciunas <munnari!cs.flinders.oz.au!kevin at uunet.uu.net>
Subject: CDC WREN-V's : any experience?

Is there anyone out there with a CDC WREN-V (574MB formatted) SCSI drive
on a Sun? [3/60 especially..].  We have experience with WREN-[III/IV] but
someone said there were problems with the V.  Any pointers appreciated!

/Kevin

Kevin J. Maciunas                ACSnet:   kevin at cs.flinders.oz
Discipline of Computer Science,  Internet: kevin at cs.flinders.oz.au
Flinders University,             UUCP:	   ..uunet!munnari!flinders!kevin
South Australia, 5042.           'phone:   +61 08 275 2129

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Nov 88 12:14:13 est
From:    rich%idacrd at princeton.edu (Rich Schultz)
Subject: eagle and super eagle on xy451?

I would like to put a Fujitsu eagle and super eagle on the same Xylogics
451 controller.  Does anyone know whether this will work?  I know I can
put two eagles or two super eagles on the same controller, but what about
one of each?  This will be on a 3/160 running 3.5.

Rich Schultz
uunet!idacrd!rich
rich%idacrd at princeton.edu

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Nov 88 03:57 EDT
From:    "Chris Simatos Software Engineering (331)45372478" <SIMATOS at eps.sdr.slb.com>
Subject: Color PostScript Printer on SUN?

Has anybody connected a Color PostScript printer on a SUN?  (like the QMS
ColorScript 100 for example)

C. Simatos	simatos at eps.sdr.slb.com
E.P. Schlumberger, 26 Rue de la Cavee, 92140 Clamart, France

------------------------------

End of SUN-Spots Digest
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