[Info-vax] Unexpected error using ZIP for OpenVMS

[AEF]

On Dec 27, 1:13 am, Steven Schweda <sms.antin... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > [...] Well, you probably were surprised that the needle was
> > getting near E. I assume you expected to have enough gas to
> > make it to your destination. [...]
>
>    Again, you assume too much.  In some cases, I expected
> _not_ to have enough fuel to get to my destination, but I
> expected to find a fuel depot sooner than I did.  I was very
> well aware of the fuel supply as it was dwindling.

What you seem to be saying is that an "unexpected error" is the result
of an assumption (or one assigned a, perhaps very, high probability by
the "user") gone wrong. OK. I guess I never make such assumptions
running software. This way when software actually does work, it's a
joy to behold! OK, I'm exaggerating. A lot of software works pretty
darn well.

>
> > Well, I don't see why that follows. Cannot a easy error be
> > "unexpected"?
>
>    And I don't see how "puzzling" and "easy" are always
> antonyms.

You trimmed too much, the context is lost, and I'm not going back.

>
> > Isn't "unexpected" a subjective term?
>
>    Different people may expect different things.  Many
> reasonable people (among whom you seem not to be) might
> expect Zip to be able to handle Stream and Stream_CR files
> (with long and/or unterminated) records.

zip warning: non-translatable vms error code: 0x181A8
%rms-w-rtb, !ul byte record too large for user's buffer
        zip warning: could not read input file:

It says the record is too large. Why should it be unexpected that
there's a limit to something? VMS has limits: 8 levels of
subdirectories, 32767 versions of a file, and isn't there a limit on
how long a record can be? EDT is limited to lines of lest than 256
records, and limited to something like 65536 records or similar. 39
chars in an ODS-2 file name or file type. All the limits in a user's
authorization record. So why not a record too long for Zip?

>    You seem to have an intense personal interest in trying to
> dispute the obvious.  (Or what should be obvious.)

Hey, it's not my fault if you can't explain it clearly.

AEF