Subj : DOSEMU, PKZIP and DPMI
To   : Dan Clough
From : mark lewis
Date : Wed Jul 03 2019 11:55 am


 On 2019 Jul 03 12:50:00, you wrote to me:

 ml>> but it isn't the door causing the problem... it is pkzip and pkunzip
 ml>> that are... the door is likely not even running at that point... oh,
 ml>> wait... unless it is shelling out to (un)archive interbbs game
 ml>> packets... hummm...

 DC> Yes, that is what I meant to say.  The issue did involve Interbbs
 DC> stuff and using pkzip/pkunzip from within DOSemu.

yeah, some of them do it in the script file that executes the door... others 
have a tool that shells out to extract the data packets and import them... it 
is possible that shelling out is causing problems...

when i was running my RA system on OS2, my OLMS mail door started mucking up 
and ""crashing"" the node when it went to shell out to pack up the new 
messages... i write ""crashing"" but what it was on the screen was a supposed 
memory error and the node was in a tight loop... the only way out was to close 
the task and reset it... the problem happened for a while and then would go 
away for a while... then it would come back again...

i suspect it was something to do with the DRM protections but don't have any 
proof... since the author released a generic registration key when they got out 
of BBSing and supporting OLMS, that's what i used because they were already 
gone by the time i decided to use the door... it is possible that it was simply 
a bug, too... maybe in OLMS or possibly in 4DOS... i dunno... it happened 
exactly the same in 4 different versions of 4DOS and i know that i've 
implemented DRM protections in some of my programs that did similar antics as 
what i was seeing...

if i could have contacted the author, i would have... possibly even offered to 
take over the project but all contact information was scrubbed and he wasn't 
showing up in any searches so... oh well :shrug:

)\/(ark

And to this end they built themselves a stupendous super-computer which was
so amazingly intelligent that even before its data banks had been connected
up it had started from "I think therefore I am" and got as far as deducing
the existence of rice pudding and income tax before anyone managed to turn
it off.
.... Never lick a gift horse in the mouth.
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 * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)

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