problem with (HDB) uucp

[C. Jeffery Small]

We are running the HDB version of uucp and friends on our 3B1/UNIX-PC.  I
just discovered a serious problem which I was hoping some of you (who also
run this version of the software) could verify.

When specifying the source-file component of a uucp request, uucp complains
with the error message  "illegal  syntax  <path>"  if the source-file
path contains more than one machine_name in the specification.  What is
particularly confusing about this is that the destination-file path does
not exhibit this restriction!  Some examples should make this clearer.

Assume that you are connected to "mach1" which has the file
						"/usr/spool/uucppublic/M1".

Also assume that "mach1" is connected to "mach2" which has the file
						"/usr/spool/uucppublic/M2".

Finally, assume that your machine contains the file
						"/usr/spool/uucppublic/XX"


The following commands all work:

	uucp  ~uucp/XX  mach1!~uucp/XX		# (send local file to mach1)

	uucp  ~uucp/XX  mach1!mach2!~uucp/XX	# (send local file to mach2)

	uucp  mach1!~uucp/M1  ~uucp/M1		# (pickup file from mach1)


But the following command results in the uucp error message:

	uucp  mach1!mach2!~uucp/M2  ~uucp/M2	# (pickup file from mach2)


There appears to be a bug in the uucp command which doesn't allow it to process
source-file specifications properly.  Note that this problem does not occur if
you use the standard supplied uucp - only the HDB version.  Since AT&T has not
elected to support this product, the Hotline doesn't even want to discuss this
problem.

So my question:  Can anyone else running HDB verify this problem, and short of
removing HDB from the system, is there a workaround for retrieving files with
multiple machine hops?

Thanks for any insights.
--
Jeffery Small    (206) 485-5596            uw-beaver!uw-nsr!uw-warp
C. Jeffery Small and Associates                                    !cjsa!jeff
19112 152nd Ave NE - Woodinville, WA  98072           uunet!nwnexus