Re: [SERVER] ALPHA release of LambdaMOO server 1.7.9

• Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 10:36:49 PDT
• From:
  Pavel Curtis <pavel@parc.xerox.com>
• cc: MOO-Cows.PARC@xerox.com
• In-Reply-to: "Gustavo Glusman's message of \"Thu, 28 Sep 1995 11:12:41 PDT\" <v02130500ac908869686e@[132.76.55.130]><
  Ä"

> >     The old bug concerns patterns of the form `%( ... %)*', that is, a
> >   starred parenthesized sub-pattern; for example, consider the MOO
> >   expression match("foo", "%(o%)*")
> 
> I'm not sure what 'of the form' includes, but it also seems to include
> patterns 'of the form': "%( ... %)+".

That's right.

> Could we get a list of *all* 'forms' that used to be 'wrong', to simplify
> the 'fixing' task?

Sorry, but this is the only one I know of.

> Oh great. I just tried ;match("foo", "%(o%)*") in both 1.7.8p4 and 1.7.9a1.
> 1.7.8p4 returns => {1, 0, {{0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0,
> -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}}, "foo"}
> 1.7.9a1 returns => {1, 0, {{0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0,
> -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0,
> -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0,
> -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}, {0, -1}}, "foo"}

Gee, that doesn't seem right... :-)  I'll try to track this down for alpha2.

> Wouldn't it be nice if regexps could include some kind of parentheses that
> don't make the server keep the value matched? I mean, %( %) has currently
> two functions. Many times I'd like to enclose a subpattern and not keep it
> in the match output, especially if the pattern is complex and there are
> many subpatterns to remember...

Yup, I agree completely.

> This is a great suggestion. Grepping code and fixing it is the best way to
> discover hidden security holes.
>  '@egrep [^:]match('  gave 'only' 122 verbs in BioMOO. Isn't backwards
> incompatibility great?

You are cordially invited to offer constructive suggestions and/or provide a
working, efficient implementation of regexps.

> It would be great if people posted what changes are needed in LambdaCore.
> Personally, I think this is a huge waste of time. Sometimes, broken seems
> to be better.

How nice.  The single individual who complained most and loudest about bugs in
the old match() implementation thinks doing something about it was a bad idea.
Boy, it's enough to make one feel really appreciated.

Look, Gustavo.  I'm doing the best I can to try to find a good solution to this
problem.  If you'd like to offer up something constructive in return for this
free service, please do so.

	Pavel

• Re: [SERVER] ALPHA release of LambdaMOO server 1.7.9
• From: bmgustav@bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il (Gustavo Glusman)

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