[25942] in Perl-Users-Digest
Perl-Users Digest, Issue: 8161 Volume: 10
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Fri Jun 10 06:05:30 2005
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:05:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: Perl-Users Digest <Perl-Users-Request@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU>
To: Perl-Users@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Perl-Users Digest Fri, 10 Jun 2005 Volume: 10 Number: 8161
Today's topics:
Re: chown recursively <tadmc@augustmail.com>
Re: chown recursively <timodonovan@localhost.com>
Re: chown recursively <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Re: chown recursively <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Re: chown recursively <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Installation of Data::Dumper (Eric)
Re: LWP::Useragent problem with https <bigiain@mightymedia.com.au>
Re: LWP::Useragent problem with https usenet@isbd.co.uk
newbie regexp question: how to extract just the filenam <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au>
Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the fil <1usa@llenroc.ude.invalid>
Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the fil <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au>
Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the fil <timodonovan@localhost.com>
Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision: tadmc@augustmail.com
Re: Switches for configuring email sending axel@white-eagle.invalid.uk
Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 6 Apr 01) (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 20:07:30 -0500
From: Tad McClellan <tadmc@augustmail.com>
Subject: Re: chown recursively
Message-Id: <slrndahpui.7ti.tadmc@magna.augustmail.com>
Christopher Nehren <apeiron+usenet@coitusmentis.info> wrote:
> On 2005-06-09, Tim O'Donovan scribbled these curious markings:
[snip doing it in native Perl]
>> But mostly I'd like to know if there are actually any benefits over using:
>>
>> system("chown -R $uid:$gid $dir");
>
> Who says chown exists on the target system?
ie. portability between different machines.
> Who says it's in your path?
ie. portability between environments, even on *the same* machine.
> It's generally a bad idea to "shell out" to external programs when you
> can do what you need to do with Perl.
I tell students:
Doing it in native Perl will be safer, faster and more portable
than "shelling out".
Followed by some weasel wording about how that isn't an absolute,
but that it applies in the vast majority of cases.
Shelling out to Mathematica would very likely be preferrable to
getting the same thing done in native Perl for instance. :-)
--
Tad McClellan SGML consulting
tadmc@augustmail.com Perl programming
Fort Worth, Texas
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 02:02:05 +0000 (UTC)
From: Tim O'Donovan <timodonovan@localhost.com>
Subject: Re: chown recursively
Message-Id: <d8asat$a59$1@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>
Thanks for all your informative replies, much appreciated. From now on
I'll be replacing 'shell outs' with the appropriate Perl, where applicable.
So I can assume that using:
open(FIND, "find $path -lname '/home/$username/*' |");
@links = <FIND>;
close(FIND);
to find all the symbolic links in the given path to files in a users
home directory is also not the most resourceful method?!
I have some rethinking to do... :)
Thanks again,
Tim
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 05:26:11 GMT
From: "Jürgen Exner" <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: chown recursively
Message-Id: <Tv9qe.26485$U_2.22927@trnddc06>
Tim O'Donovan wrote:
> Quick newbie question! Could someone please point out how to use
> chown() on directories recursively.
Sounds like a job for "use File::Find;".
> But mostly I'd like to know if there are actually any benefits over
> using:
> system("chown -R $uid:$gid $dir");
Of course, there are significant benefits. By using a Perl standard function
you are avoiding to fork an external process and to call an external program
that may or may not exist.
In short you are writing portable code.
jue
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 05:28:09 GMT
From: "Jürgen Exner" <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: chown recursively
Message-Id: <Jx9qe.26486$U_2.25892@trnddc06>
Kjetil Skotheim wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 01:31:54 +0200, Christopher Nehren
>> Who says chown exists on the target system? Who says it's in your
>> path? It's generally a bad idea to "shell out" to external programs
>> when you can do what you need to do with Perl.
>
>
> I agree that GENERALLY this is a bad idea. But since chmod in itself
> is very unix'ish, isn't it?, I think system should be permitted here.
> ...or if not permitted, I'd do a chmod to permit it...(uh)
Where do you find chown on a Windows PC, on a Mac, or a any of the dozen and
dozen OSs that are supported by Perl?
jue
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 05:30:19 GMT
From: "Jürgen Exner" <jurgenex@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: chown recursively
Message-Id: <Lz9qe.26487$U_2.3053@trnddc06>
Tim O'Donovan wrote:
> open(FIND, "find $path -lname '/home/$username/*' |");
> @links = <FIND>;
> close(FIND);
>
> to find all the symbolic links in the given path to files in a users
> home directory is also not the most resourceful method?!
No, not exactly.
See "perldoc -f -l" for a better way.
jue
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 01:41:47 GMT
From: egusenet@verizon.net (Eric)
Subject: Installation of Data::Dumper
Message-Id: <1gxws8y.18zafh41hsj2tcN%egusenet@verizon.net>
I've got a weird problem, regardless of how often I enter:
perl -MCPAN -e 'install "Data::Dumper"'
I never get a message telling me that it is up-to-date. It will always
try to reinstall even though the installation is apparently successful.
Here is the output:
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
Going to read /Users/ericgorr/.cpan/Metadata
Database was generated on Wed, 08 Jun 2005 21:57:39 GMT
Running install for module Data::Dumper
Running make for I/IL/ILYAM/Data-Dumper-2.121.tar.gz
CPAN: Digest::MD5 loaded ok
Checksum for
/Users/ericgorr/.cpan/sources/authors/id/I/IL/ILYAM/Data-Dumper-2.121.ta
r.gz ok
Scanning cache /Users/ericgorr/.cpan/build for sizes
Data-Dumper-2.121/
Data-Dumper-2.121/t/
Data-Dumper-2.121/t/overload.t
Data-Dumper-2.121/t/dumper.t
Data-Dumper-2.121/t/pair.t
Data-Dumper-2.121/Dumper.xs
Data-Dumper-2.121/Makefile.PL
Data-Dumper-2.121/MANIFEST
Data-Dumper-2.121/Dumper.pm
Data-Dumper-2.121/Todo
Data-Dumper-2.121/Changes
Removing previously used /Users/ericgorr/.cpan/build/Data-Dumper-2.121
CPAN.pm: Going to build I/IL/ILYAM/Data-Dumper-2.121.tar.gz
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for Data::Dumper
cp Dumper.pm blib/lib/Data/Dumper.pm
/usr/bin/perl /System/Library/Perl/5.8.1/ExtUtils/xsubpp -typemap
/System/Library/Perl/5.8.1/ExtUtils/typemap Dumper.xs > Dumper.xsc &&
mv Dumper.xsc Dumper.c
cc -c -g -pipe -pipe -fno-common -DPERL_DARWIN -no-cpp-precomp
-fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/local/include -Os -DVERSION=\"2.121\"
-DXS_VERSION=\"2.121\"
"-I/System/Library/Perl/5.8.1/darwin-thread-multi-2level/CORE"
Dumper.c
Running Mkbootstrap for Data::Dumper ()
chmod 644 Dumper.bs
rm -f blib/arch/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.bundle
LD_RUN_PATH="" MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.3 cc -bundle -undefined
dynamic_lookup -L/usr/local/lib Dumper.o -o
blib/arch/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.bundle
chmod 755 blib/arch/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.bundle
cp Dumper.bs blib/arch/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.bs
chmod 644 blib/arch/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.bs
/usr/bin/make -- OK
Running make test
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e"
"test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t
t/dumper......ok
t/overload....ok
t/pair........ok
All tests successful.
Files=3, Tests=373, 2 wallclock secs ( 0.65 cusr + 0.09 csys = 0.74
CPU)
/usr/bin/make test -- OK
Running make install
Files found in blib/arch: installing files in blib/lib into architecture
dependent library tree
Writing
///Library/Perl/5.8.1/darwin-thread-multi-2level/auto/Data/Dumper/.packl
ist
Appending installation info to
///System/Library/Perl/5.8.1/darwin-thread-multi-2level/perllocal.pod
/usr/bin/make install --
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 12:24:01 +1000
From: Iain Chalmers <bigiain@mightymedia.com.au>
Subject: Re: LWP::Useragent problem with https
Message-Id: <bigiain-8F8665.12240110062005@individual.net>
In article <3grj36Fdmb37U1@individual.net>, usenet@isbd.co.uk wrote:
> mothra <mothra@nowhereatall.com> wrote:
> > usenet@isbd.co.uk wrote:
> >
> > > So is there anything else I have to do to get LWP::UserAgent to
> > > support HTTPS or is it something wrong with the perl script I've
> > > downloaded?
> >
> > perldoc LWPcook should give you what you need.
> >
> > Hope this helps
> >
> It would if I had LWPcook anywhere on my system, when I try the above
> I get 'No documentation found for "LWPcook".'
thats because he _meant_ "perldoc lwpcook" (all in lower case)
if that doesn't work, you need to fix your lwp installation (or possibly
your perldoc or perl installation)
lwpcook is also available at:
http://search.cpan.org/~gaas/libwww-perl-5.803/lwpcook.pod
cheers,
big
--
On my tombstone they will carve, "IT NEVER GOT FAST
ENOUGH FOR ME."' - Hunter S Thompson, 1937-2005 RIP
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jun 2005 08:01:59 GMT
From: usenet@isbd.co.uk
Subject: Re: LWP::Useragent problem with https
Message-Id: <3gsvnnFe0q4nU2@individual.net>
mothra <mothra@nowhereatall.com> wrote:
> usenet@isbd.co.uk wrote:
> > Re: my previous Follow-up: LWPcook refers me to the README.SSL file
> > found in the libwww-perl distribution. When I started all this I
> > installed HTTP::Request which seemed to install a load of other stuff
> > including LWP::UserAgent. Is this part of libwww-perl or is that
> > something else that I also need?
>
> You need to install the libwww-perl distribution. If you are on a unix/linux
> system you can use CPAN to install it.
> perl -MCPAN -e shell
>
> cpan> i /libwww/
> Author LWWWP ("The libwww-perl mailing list" <libwww@perl.org>)
> Distribution G/GA/GAAS/libwww-perl-5.10.tar.gz
> Distribution G/GA/GAAS/libwww-perl-5.53.tar.gz
> Distribution G/GA/GAAS/libwww-perl-5.77.tar.gz
> Distribution G/GA/GAAS/libwww-perl-5.803.tar.gz
>
> Then
>
> cpan> install G/GA/GAAS/libwww-perl-5.803.tar.gz
> should work
>
OK, thanks, I seem to have got there now, the perl script no longer
claims that it can't handle HTTPS.
I'm a died in the wool Unix C/C++ programmer by trade and I'm just
dabbling in perl to run (and maybe modify) some mail utilities on my
home Linux system. I knew how to get the modules this particular
script required from CPAN but that didn't give me quite all I needed.
Thanks for the help everyone.
--
Chris Green
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 02:47:05 GMT
From: "James Calivar" <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the filename from a canonical file/pathname
Message-Id: <Ja7qe.1967$VK4.739@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
Hello,
I've been trying to figure out how to use the regular expressions in Perl to
strip the leading path name information from a "canonical" path/filename and
just leave me with the filename. For example, if I have C:/Program
Files/Microsoft Office Tools/excel.exe, I would like to extract just
"excel.exe".
I've tried stuff like /\/(.)+(.){3}/ but that matches the *first* forward
slash, not the last one. Maybe I need to be using "revfind" (or whatever
that "reverse" find string manipulator operation is called)?
TIA
James
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:01:55 GMT
From: "A. Sinan Unur" <1usa@llenroc.ude.invalid>
Subject: Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the filename from a canonical file/pathname
Message-Id: <Xns9670EA474B4BDasu1cornelledu@127.0.0.1>
"James Calivar" <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au> wrote in
news:Ja7qe.1967$VK4.739@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net:
> I've been trying to figure out how to use the regular expressions in
> Perl to strip the leading path name information from a "canonical"
> path/filename and just leave me with the filename. For example, if I
> have C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office Tools/excel.exe, I would like
> to extract just "excel.exe".
You have been using the wrong tool.
For the general problem of extracting a substring after the last
occurence of a character, use substr and rindex:
perldoc -f rindex
perldoc -f substr
On the other hand, in this particular case, you should use a module that
is tailored for the particular problem you are trying to solve:
File::Basename. See:
perldoc File::Basename
Using this module will help you avoid unnecessary portability issues.
D:\Home> cat tt.pl
#! /usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
my $path = q{C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office Tools/excel.exe};
my $filename = substr $path, 1 + rindex $path, '/';
print "Filename = $filename\n";
use File::Basename;
$filename = fileparse $path;
print "Filename = $filename\n";
__END__
D:\Home> tt
Filename = excel.exe
Filename = excel.exe
Sinan
--
A. Sinan Unur <1usa@llenroc.ude.invalid>
(reverse each component and remove .invalid for email address)
comp.lang.perl.misc guidelines on the WWW:
http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.html
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:44:07 GMT
From: "James Calivar" <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the filename from a canonical file/pathname
Message-Id: <b08qe.1787$pa3.1239@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>
"A. Sinan Unur" <1usa@llenroc.ude.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9670EA474B4BDasu1cornelledu@127.0.0.1...
> "James Calivar" <amheiserbush@yahoo.com.au> wrote in
> news:Ja7qe.1967$VK4.739@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net:
>
>> I've been trying to figure out how to use the regular expressions in
>> Perl to strip the leading path name information from a "canonical"
>> path/filename and just leave me with the filename. For example, if I
>> have C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office Tools/excel.exe, I would like
>> to extract just "excel.exe".
>
> You have been using the wrong tool.
>
> For the general problem of extracting a substring after the last
> occurence of a character, use substr and rindex:
>
> perldoc -f rindex
> perldoc -f substr
>
> On the other hand, in this particular case, you should use a module that
> is tailored for the particular problem you are trying to solve:
> File::Basename. See:
>
> perldoc File::Basename
>
Thanks for the quick response, folks! I didn't think to look for a
dedicated module.
James
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:01:49 +0000 (UTC)
From: Tim O'Donovan <timodonovan@localhost.com>
Subject: Re: newbie regexp question: how to extract just the filename from a canonical file/pathname
Message-Id: <d8avqt$m22$1@nwrdmz02.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>
I believe this will do the trick:
use File::Basename;
fileparse - split a pathname into pieces
basename - extract just the filename from a path
dirname - extract just the directory from a path
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Tim
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jun 2005 07:22:29 GMT
From: tadmc@augustmail.com
Subject: Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision: 1.5 $)
Message-Id: <42a93fb4$0$14568$8b463f8a@news.nationwide.net>
Outline
Before posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
Must
- Check the Perl Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Check the other standard Perl docs (*.pod)
Really Really Should
- Lurk for a while before posting
- Search a Usenet archive
If You Like
- Check Other Resources
Posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
Is there a better place to ask your question?
- Question should be about Perl, not about the application area
How to participate (post) in the clpmisc community
- Carefully choose the contents of your Subject header
- Use an effective followup style
- Speak Perl rather than English, when possible
- Ask perl to help you
- Do not re-type Perl code
- Provide enough information
- Do not provide too much information
- Do not post binaries, HTML, or MIME
Social faux pas to avoid
- Asking a Frequently Asked Question
- Asking a question easily answered by a cursory doc search
- Asking for emailed answers
- Beware of saying "doesn't work"
- Sending a "stealth" Cc copy
Be extra cautious when you get upset
- Count to ten before composing a followup when you are upset
- Count to ten after composing and before posting when you are upset
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision: 1.5 $)
This newsgroup, commonly called clpmisc, is a technical newsgroup
intended to be used for discussion of Perl related issues (except job
postings), whether it be comments or questions.
As you would expect, clpmisc discussions are usually very technical in
nature and there are conventions for conduct in technical newsgroups
going somewhat beyond those in non-technical newsgroups.
The article at:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
describes how to get answers from technical people in general.
This article describes things that you should, and should not, do to
increase your chances of getting an answer to your Perl question. It is
available in POD, HTML and plain text formats at:
http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc.shtml
For more information about netiquette in general, see the "Netiquette
Guidelines" at:
http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/rfc/rfc1855.html
A note to newsgroup "regulars":
Do not use these guidelines as a "license to flame" or other
meanness. It is possible that a poster is unaware of things
discussed here. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and just
help them learn how to post, rather than assume
A note about technical terms used here:
In this document, we use words like "must" and "should" as
they're used in technical conversation (such as you will
encounter in this newsgroup). When we say that you *must* do
something, we mean that if you don't do that something, then
it's unlikely that you will benefit much from this group.
We're not bossing you around; we're making the point without
lots of words.
Do *NOT* send email to the maintainer of these guidelines. It will be
discarded unread. The guidelines belong to the newsgroup so all
discussion should appear in the newsgroup. I am just the secretary that
writes down the consensus of the group.
Before posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
Must
This section describes things that you *must* do before posting to
clpmisc, in order to maximize your chances of getting meaningful replies
to your inquiry and to avoid getting flamed for being lazy and trying to
have others do your work.
The perl distribution includes documentation that is copied to your hard
drive when you install perl. Also installed is a program for looking
things up in that (and other) documentation named 'perldoc'.
You should either find out where the docs got installed on your system,
or use perldoc to find them for you. Type "perldoc perldoc" to learn how
to use perldoc itself. Type "perldoc perl" to start reading Perl's
standard documentation.
Check the Perl Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Checking the FAQ before posting is required in Big 8 newsgroups in
general, there is nothing clpmisc-specific about this requirement.
You are expected to do this in nearly all newsgroups.
You can use the "-q" switch with perldoc to do a word search of the
questions in the Perl FAQs.
Check the other standard Perl docs (*.pod)
The perl distribution comes with much more documentation than is
available for most other newsgroups, so in clpmisc you should also
see if you can find an answer in the other (non-FAQ) standard docs
before posting.
It is *not* required, or even expected, that you actually *read* all of
Perl's standard docs, only that you spend a few minutes searching them
before posting.
Try doing a word-search in the standard docs for some words/phrases
taken from your problem statement or from your very carefully worded
"Subject:" header.
Really Really Should
This section describes things that you *really should* do before posting
to clpmisc.
Lurk for a while before posting
This is very important and expected in all newsgroups. Lurking means
to monitor a newsgroup for a period to become familiar with local
customs. Each newsgroup has specific customs and rituals. Knowing
these before you participate will help avoid embarrassing social
situations. Consider yourself to be a foreigner at first!
Search a Usenet archive
There are tens of thousands of Perl programmers. It is very likely
that your question has already been asked (and answered). See if you
can find where it has already been answered.
One such searchable archive is:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
If You Like
This section describes things that you *can* do before posting to
clpmisc.
Check Other Resources
You may want to check in books or on web sites to see if you can
find the answer to your question.
But you need to consider the source of such information: there are a
lot of very poor Perl books and web sites, and several good ones
too, of course.
Posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
There can be 200 messages in clpmisc in a single day. Nobody is going to
read every article. They must decide somehow which articles they are
going to read, and which they will skip.
Your post is in competition with 199 other posts. You need to "win"
before a person who can help you will even read your question.
These sections describe how you can help keep your article from being
one of the "skipped" ones.
Is there a better place to ask your question?
Question should be about Perl, not about the application area
It can be difficult to separate out where your problem really is,
but you should make a conscious effort to post to the most
applicable newsgroup. That is, after all, where you are the most
likely to find the people who know how to answer your question.
Being able to "partition" a problem is an essential skill for
effectively troubleshooting programming problems. If you don't get
that right, you end up looking for answers in the wrong places.
It should be understood that you may not know that the root of your
problem is not Perl-related (the two most frequent ones are CGI and
Operating System related), so off-topic postings will happen from
time to time. Be gracious when someone helps you find a better place
to ask your question by pointing you to a more applicable newsgroup.
How to participate (post) in the clpmisc community
Carefully choose the contents of your Subject header
You have 40 precious characters of Subject to win out and be one of
the posts that gets read. Don't waste them. Take care while
composing them, they are the key that opens the door to getting an
answer.
Spend them indicating what aspect of Perl others will find if they
should decide to read your article.
Do not spend them indicating "experience level" (guru, newbie...).
Do not spend them pleading (please read, urgent, help!...).
Do not spend them on non-Subjects (Perl question, one-word
Subject...)
For more information on choosing a Subject see "Choosing Good
Subject Lines":
http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/D/DM/DMR/subjects.post
Part of the beauty of newsgroup dynamics, is that you can contribute
to the community with your very first post! If your choice of
Subject leads a fellow Perler to find the thread you are starting,
then even asking a question helps us all.
Use an effective followup style
When composing a followup, quote only enough text to establish the
context for the comments that you will add. Always indicate who
wrote the quoted material. Never quote an entire article. Never
quote a .signature (unless that is what you are commenting on).
Intersperse your comments *following* each section of quoted text to
which they relate. Unappreciated followup styles are referred to as
"top-posting", "Jeopardy" (because the answer comes before the
question), or "TOFU" (Text Over, Fullquote Under).
Reversing the chronology of the dialog makes it much harder to
understand (some folks won't even read it if written in that style).
For more information on quoting style, see:
http://web.presby.edu/~nnqadmin/nnq/nquote.html
Speak Perl rather than English, when possible
Perl is much more precise than natural language. Saying it in Perl
instead will avoid misunderstanding your question or problem.
Do not say: I have variable with "foo\tbar" in it.
Instead say: I have $var = "foo\tbar", or I have $var = 'foo\tbar',
or I have $var = <DATA> (and show the data line).
Ask perl to help you
You can ask perl itself to help you find common programming mistakes
by doing two things: enable warnings (perldoc warnings) and enable
"strict"ures (perldoc strict).
You should not bother the hundreds/thousands of readers of the
newsgroup without first seeing if a machine can help you find your
problem. It is demeaning to be asked to do the work of a machine. It
will annoy the readers of your article.
You can look up any of the messages that perl might issue to find
out what the message means and how to resolve the potential mistake
(perldoc perldiag). If you would like perl to look them up for you,
you can put "use diagnostics;" near the top of your program.
Do not re-type Perl code
Use copy/paste or your editor's "import" function rather than
attempting to type in your code. If you make a typo you will get
followups about your typos instead of about the question you are
trying to get answered.
Provide enough information
If you do the things in this item, you will have an Extremely Good
chance of getting people to try and help you with your problem!
These features are a really big bonus toward your question winning
out over all of the other posts that you are competing with.
First make a short (less than 20-30 lines) and *complete* program
that illustrates the problem you are having. People should be able
to run your program by copy/pasting the code from your article. (You
will find that doing this step very often reveals your problem
directly. Leading to an answer much more quickly and reliably than
posting to Usenet.)
Describe *precisely* the input to your program. Also provide example
input data for your program. If you need to show file input, use the
__DATA__ token (perldata.pod) to provide the file contents inside of
your Perl program.
Show the output (including the verbatim text of any messages) of
your program.
Describe how you want the output to be different from what you are
getting.
If you have no idea at all of how to code up your situation, be sure
to at least describe the 2 things that you *do* know: input and
desired output.
Do not provide too much information
Do not just post your entire program for debugging. Most especially
do not post someone *else's* entire program.
Do not post binaries, HTML, or MIME
clpmisc is a text only newsgroup. If you have images or binaries
that explain your question, put them in a publically accessible
place (like a Web server) and provide a pointer to that location. If
you include code, cut and paste it directly in the message body.
Don't attach anything to the message. Don't post vcards or HTML.
Many people (and even some Usenet servers) will automatically filter
out such messages. Many people will not be able to easily read your
post. Plain text is something everyone can read.
Social faux pas to avoid
The first two below are symptoms of lots of FAQ asking here in clpmisc.
It happens so often that folks will assume that it is happening yet
again. If you have looked but not found, or found but didn't understand
the docs, say so in your article.
Asking a Frequently Asked Question
It should be understood that you may have missed the applicable FAQ
when you checked, which is not a big deal. But if the Frequently
Asked Question is worded similar to your question, folks will assume
that you did not look at all. Don't become indignant at pointers to
the FAQ, particularly if it solves your problem.
Asking a question easily answered by a cursory doc search
If folks think you have not even tried the obvious step of reading
the docs applicable to your problem, they are likely to become
annoyed.
If you are flamed for not checking when you *did* check, then just
shrug it off (and take the answer that you got).
Asking for emailed answers
Emailed answers benefit one person. Posted answers benefit the
entire community. If folks can take the time to answer your
question, then you can take the time to go get the answer in the
same place where you asked the question.
It is OK to ask for a *copy* of the answer to be emailed, but many
will ignore such requests anyway. If you munge your address, you
should never expect (or ask) to get email in response to a Usenet
post.
Ask the question here, get the answer here (maybe).
Beware of saying "doesn't work"
This is a "red flag" phrase. If you find yourself writing that,
pause and see if you can't describe what is not working without
saying "doesn't work". That is, describe how it is not what you
want.
Sending a "stealth" Cc copy
A "stealth Cc" is when you both email and post a reply without
indicating *in the body* that you are doing so.
Be extra cautious when you get upset
Count to ten before composing a followup when you are upset
This is recommended in all Usenet newsgroups. Here in clpmisc, most
flaming sub-threads are not about any feature of Perl at all! They
are most often for what was seen as a breach of netiquette. If you
have lurked for a bit, then you will know what is expected and won't
make such posts in the first place.
But if you get upset, wait a while before writing your followup. I
recommend waiting at least 30 minutes.
Count to ten after composing and before posting when you are upset
After you have written your followup, wait *another* 30 minutes
before committing yourself by posting it. You cannot take it back
once it has been said.
AUTHOR
Tad McClellan <tadmc@augustmail.com> and many others on the
comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 09:57:42 GMT
From: axel@white-eagle.invalid.uk
Subject: Re: Switches for configuring email sending
Message-Id: <qudqe.22782$bl3.17282@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk>
Robert <rbutcher.nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:
> While this is only a semi perl question, I hope someone here can help me
> configure my sendmail parameter. (no responses from sendmail newsgroup) I
> have a simple form that gets passes to sendmail for sending. Due to spammers
> hijacking sendmail scripts, I no longer pass the recipient from the form,
> rather I want to hardwire the recipient into the script. But I cannot find
> and documentation out there on sendmail switches ... ie ... -t -i etc etc
> and what each does (and other switches I dont know about). I just want my
> script to send the email to a hardwired recipient within the script.
You will get the basic information on sendmail switches by:
man sendmail
Axel
------------------------------
Date: 6 Apr 2001 21:33:47 GMT (Last modified)
From: Perl-Users-Request@ruby.oce.orst.edu (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
Subject: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 6 Apr 01)
Message-Id: <null>
Administrivia:
#The Perl-Users Digest is a retransmission of the USENET newsgroup
#comp.lang.perl.misc. For subscription or unsubscription requests, send
#the single line:
#
# subscribe perl-users
#or:
# unsubscribe perl-users
#
#to almanac@ruby.oce.orst.edu.
NOTE: due to the current flood of worm email banging on ruby, the smtp
server on ruby has been shut off until further notice.
To submit articles to comp.lang.perl.announce, send your article to
clpa@perl.com.
#To request back copies (available for a week or so), send your request
#to almanac@ruby.oce.orst.edu with the command "send perl-users x.y",
#where x is the volume number and y is the issue number.
#For other requests pertaining to the digest, send mail to
#perl-users-request@ruby.oce.orst.edu. Do not waste your time or mine
#sending perl questions to the -request address, I don't have time to
#answer them even if I did know the answer.
------------------------------
End of Perl-Users Digest V10 Issue 8161
***************************************