[HECnet] Security hole in CSWS

[Johnny Billquist]

gerry77 at mail.com wrote:
On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:07:03 -0700, you wrote:
  That's legal.   The longer story is that version numbers start with 1, and
";0" is shorthand for the most recent version.   "FOO.TXT;" is just shorthand
for "FOO.TXT;0". 
  It's also legal to say "FOO.TXT;-1" meaning the previous version (i.e.
most recent -1), as is ";-2", ";-3", etc.
It's legal ";-0" too, meaning the oldest version available :)

Actually, in VMS (as well as in RSX), ;-1 means the oldest version available.

Around here is where VMS differs from TOPS-20.
;0 also have different meanings on TOPS-20 compared to VMS.
On VMS, ;0 means the most recent version if you open a file for reading. But if you try to create a file, ;0 means one higher than what exist right now.
In TOPS-20, unless my memory fails me, ;0 will overwrite the most recent version that do exist.

The ;-0, ;-1, ;-2, ;-3 and so on to refer to older versions is how I think TOPS-20 did it. I don't remember that there is a way of specifying something like that in VMS. I think you only have ;-1 and ;0 which are special. But I might be remembering wrong from playing too much with RSX. :-)

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                                   || "I'm on a bus
                                                                  ||   on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se                         ||   Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                                         ||   tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol