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Jacob Haller <[log in to unmask]>
Thu, 9 Apr 1998 14:53:50 -0400
text/plain (96 lines)
>I've just received this message from the listserv where my list is hosted. Is
>this something I should be concerned about?
>
>I haven't issued any commands in the last few hours, and neither has my
>co-owner.
>
>thanks for any info,
>
>--
>James Chamier, [log in to unmask]
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: L-Soft list server at Dartmouth College (1.8c)
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: James Chamier <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: 09 April 1998 17:29
>Subject: Output of job "FRIENDS" from [log in to unmask]
>
>
>Reason: a loop has been detected in the DISTRIBUTE path taken by your file.

First of all, the kind of jobs that they're talking about here aren't
(probably) commands issued to your LISTSERV installation in particular;
they're more likely to be global commands (like "SIGNOFF * (NETWIDE") that
get distributed to your LISTSERV server from another.

There are a couple of possibilities for what might be going on.  I have
dealt with both fairly recently and have the fine folks at
[log in to unmask] to thank for my knowledge about it.

First of all, have you moved LISTSERV from one machine to another recently?
I moved LISTSERV from a machine named EARTHWEB.COM to one named
LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM, with mail sent to [log in to unmask] getting
forwarded to LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM.

This resulted in jobs intended for EARTHWEB.COM getting forwarded to
LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM, which then tried to distribute them on to
EARTHWEB.COM.  Fortunately LISTSERV recognized a potential loop here and
flagged it as an error.

The solution to this has two parts:

1) Mail [log in to unmask] a registration for your new machine name.  Here's
a sample registration form for a Windows NT installation:

------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------
:node.XXXXXXXX           # Fully qualified Internet hostname
:userid.LISTSERV         # Username under which LISTSERV runs
:net.Internet            #
:site.XXXXXXXX           # University of XYZ, city, state, country
:country.XX              # Two-letter ISO country code
:system.Windows NT       #
:machine.XXXXXXXX        # Hardware - Intel P90, AXP 3000-600, etc.
:contact.XXXXXXXX        # Contact person, in the following format:
                         #   (Joe Manager) [log in to unmask] (+1 301 871.2727)
:type.NT                 # Do not change this - must be "NT"
:version.1.8c            # Version you are currently running
:backbone.XXXXXXXX       # YES or NO, depending on whether you want to
                         # participate in the LISTSERV backbone; L-Soft
                         # will advise you on this keyword.
------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------

Also ask them to remove the registration for your old machine.

2) Reconfigure LISTSERV so that MYDOMAIN also includes the old LISTSERV
server's name.  That way LISTSERV should stop trying to forward jobs on for
[log in to unmask]

Another possibility is that your nodes files are out-of-date.  This may be
because you've done a new installation and haven't downloaded the latest
versions yet, or it may be because you never registered your LISTSERV
installation and so you haven't been automatically getting the updates.  (I
believe the automatic update feature was added in 1.8c, so if you have an
older version you may just have to download the new tables every once in a
while.)

To register your LISTSERV installation, mail [log in to unmask] the form as
above.

One thing I'm not completely clear on is where all of the network tables
can be gotten.  The bitearn.nodes file is available from
ftp://ftp.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-DATA/

I was under the impression that installing the new bitearn.nodes file and
restarting LISTSERV should cause the rest of the tables to be generated,
but it doesn't seem to have worked that way for me; I may have been doing
something incorrectly.  Mail [log in to unmask] if you have problems with
this.

Well, that was kind of a long message, and probably riddled with
inaccuracies.  Still, I hope that some of this information is useful.

Thanks
Jacob Haller
LISTSERV Admin, EarthWeb Inc.

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