Subject: pre-created addressbook ?

From: [email-masked] (John Andrea)
Date: 1 Nov 95 21:35:43 GMT

I pre-create addressbook lists for faculty so that they may have a class
list ready to go.
The format I use is
classname tab classname tab ("lastname, firstname" <username> comma
space space space "lastname, firstname" <username> comma
...
space space space "lastname, firstname" <username>)

My instructions are just, download the file (the pile of them are in the
gopher) then
cat classname.pine >> .addressbook

But sometimes it doesn't work. Returned messages are:
Unbalanced '"'
or
Unbalanced '<'
but the files are generated by a script so there are no unbalanced
delimiters, and i've checked the files by hand too and they appear fine.
(Yes i know, i've made sure that the tabs come down ok)

So
1) is there a limit on the size of addressbook entries ?
   i don't think that this is my problem because one large class works
   fine, and a smaller one appears to be a problem
2) is it ok to use those dquote realname dquote entried
   what is the exact wanted addressbook format ? i don't wanna have to
   read the source code
   and what is the relationship with .addressbook.lu ?
3) is there some other obscure bug related to addressbooks
4) anyone else doing this

I've considered removing the realname sections, but then its hard for a
prof to try to matchup the usernames with their students when some leave
the class or new ones enter. Yes i know that finger info will be added,
but students like to put in funky names there so you don't actually get
their real names.

More info. Using pine 3.91 on AIX 3.2.5
--
__________________________________________________________________
John Andrea                         St. Francis Xavier Univ.
University Computer Services        Antigonish, NS, CANADA B2G 2W5
http://www.stfx.ca/people/jandrea/

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From: Steve Hubert <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 09:24:57 -0800 (PST)

John,
   I'm interested in looking at some examples of address books that
exhibit the parsing problems if you don't mind.  I could figure out
whether there is a bug that we should fix or whether something about the
entries doesn't match the required syntax.  I think that would be easier
than trying to explain without an example.  Thanks.

Steve Hubert <[email-masked]>
Networks and Distributed Computing, Univ. of Washington, Seattle