Subj : First-time scan pointer value
To : Nightfox
From : Digital Man
Date : Sat Aug 06 2016 12:19 pm
Re: First-time scan pointer value
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Sat Aug 06 2016 09:27 am
> Hi DM,
>
> I've noticed a possible issue with the scan pointer for a new user with
> Synchronet 3.17. The first time a new user starts reading one of the
> sub-boards, msg_area.sub[subBoardCode].scan_ptr has a very high value,
> 4294967295. I'm not sure if that's valid or not.
It's not a valid message number, but it is a valid pointer value (0xffffffff)
which indicates that user's message scan pointer should point to the *latest*
message number when the msg pointers are save for the first time (e.g. when a
new user logs off). This should only occur:
1. If you have SCFG->System->New User Values->Days of New Messages set to 0.
2. And a new user logs on for the first time
I think the default for "Days of New Messages" is not 0. Did you change it? 0
is valid, but it means that a new user would see *no* new messages when they
first scan for new messages upon logging as as "new". I just want to make sure
you knew how that worked.
>I have a message reader
> mod I wrote in JavaScript, and it has had trouble accessing messages for new
> users, seemingly due to that value of scan_ptr. I found that I can check
> for that value and work around it, but I still wanted to let you know in
> case that value is not by design.
Yes, it's by design. It was added in Nov-2015 with this commit:
http://cvs.synchro.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/src/sbbs3/userdat.c?r1=1.160&r2=1.16
1
~0 (of a 32-bit integer) is short-hand for 0xffffffff.
> I'm running Synchronet for Windows. I noticed the issue a couple weeks ago.
> I was running the Synchronet build from January 3, 2016, then I updated to
> the latest build at the time (July 23) and noticed the issue was still
> there.
I think it's going stay that way too. :-)
digital man
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