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Aucbvax.4612 fa.unix-wizards utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!unix-wizards Thu Oct 22 18:48:30 1981 Re: 4BSD mpx autodialer code >From decvax!pur-ee!aef@Berkeley Thu Oct 22 18:13:17 1981 We quit using the dialer mpx code in 4BSD. Here's why.

Our vadic dialer has broken halfway and it refuses to return the completion code. This condition causes the dialer daemon to hang waiting for said completion code (bad programming). If you blindly go in to kill the daemon off, remove its mpx file(s), and restart it everything starts again, almost. The almost is because when the system attempts to use the inode that was the mpx file you deleted, WHAM... Trap! Halt! Its time to start your system over with full recovery.

We have too much to loose if things go down so un-cleanly, so to risk any conditions like this, we call our dialer direct through internal changes to uucp and other dialout programs.

Mpx files seem not to be too dependable and understandable by all portions of the system. The trap should not have occurred.

[ We also quit using /dev/mail "just in case" ! ]

Art Feather (pur-ee!aef)

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