Problems with INN-2.2.3 and SuSE6.4

[Dr. Christian Renner]

Hello,

sorry for being a nuisance, really.
Out of need: there is no one who could patch an INN-2.3.0 or 2.2.3 for me
accordingly, is there?

Kind regards

Christian

On Tue, Dec 12, 2000 at 02:18:13PM -0500, Michael Stassen wrote:
> 
> Note that the descriptions in the comments do not match the actions taken
> in the code.  That is, the check for 4-digits in the if is actually a
> check for 3 digits, and the ugly function in the else does not add
> 1900.  This should be our first clue...
> 
> I believe this is a Y2K bug introduced to fix a Y2K bug...
> 
> As I understand it, there are two separate problems to account for:
> 
>  1) NNTP specifies two digits for the year (clearly a problem), but many
>     servers and clients ignore this and use 4 digits (sensible).  INN
>     should correctly handle either case.
> 
>  2) A common programming mistake is (was?) to assume that tm->tm_year is
>     the two digit year, rather than the years since 1900.  Hence, some
>     programs get 100 for 2000, 101 for 2001, etc.  Arguably, INN should
>     handle this as well.
> 
> I believe the ugly function in the else is an attempt to apply the
> "window" solution to the two-digit year problem.  That is, if $4 is in the
> range 50 to 99, we assume 19xx, but if $4 is in the range 00 to 49, we
> assume 20xx.  The formula given, however, doesn't get this right unless
> yyYear = 1999.  For example, if yyYear = 2000, values of $4 in the range
> 01 to 50 become 19xx and values of $4 in the range 51 to 99 become 18xx.  
> Only $4 = 00 correctly translates to 2000 when yyYear is 2000!
> 
> I suspect it would be preferable to have the code explicitly match the
> intent.  Also, as a practical matter, I assume there is no reason for INN
> to believe $4 is less than 1970, so 70 might be a better window cutoff
> than 50.  Assuming I've correctly diagnosed the intent, here's my
> suggested replacement:
> 
> if ($4 > 999) /* in practice, $4 >1969 would be just as good */
> {
>   /* $4 is YYYY, use as is */
>   yyYear = $4;
> }
> else if ($4 < 70)
> {
>   /* $4 is YY in the range 00 to 69, assume 20xx */
>   yyYear = 2000 + $4;
> }
> else
> {
>   /* $4 is either YY in the range 70 to 99, or YYY (we assume 1YY), 
>      so add 1900 */
>   yyYear = 1900 + $4;
> }
> 
> Of course, this doesn't handle pathological cases ($4 < 0 or $4 = 765,
> say), but then neither does the code to be replaced.  I assume that's
> handled elsewhere?  Also, when 2070 rolls around, this code will treat 70
> as 1970 instead of 2070, but the assumption of the window solution is that
> by then we will either no longer be receiving 2 digit years, or we will
> move the window forward (or we won't be using this code).
> 
> Michael Stassen
> Support Center
> University Information Technology Services
> Indiana University Bloomington
> stassenm at indiana.edu
>   
> 
> On 10 Dec 2000, Russ Allbery wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Christian Renner <stooge at josua.ithnet.com> writes:
> > 
> > > Any idea: is there any chance of making INN 2.2.3 or above accept news
> > > that come with a date header of "8 Dec 100 21:39:00 +0100" ???
> > 
> > Hm.  Looking at parsedate.y in 2.3, there are actually a whole bunch of
> > places that should be handling this:
> > 
> >             if ($4 > 100) {
> >                 /* assume year is YYYY format, so need not to add 1900 */
> >                 yyYear = $4;
> >             } else {
> >                 /* assume year is YY format, so need to add 1900 */
> >                 yyYear = $4 + (yyYear / 100 + (yyYear % 100 - $4) / 50) * 100;
> >             }
> > 
> > I'm not sure why it's not doing what you want.  Hurm.  Although I also
> > have no idea what that formula is really doing, since it's not obviously
> > just adding 1900.
> > 
> > -- 
> > Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 
---end quoted text---

-- 
 Dr. med. Christian J. Renner  aka cjrenner at well.com
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