[<<]Message[>>]    [<<]Author[>>]        Subject            Thread    

Number   :  7221
Date     :  2004-02-08
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Alert, the Alpha version "leaked"
Size(KB) :  2



Hi, all,

This message overlaps what I wrote in my last message.

It was not until I took time and reviewed what
Kjack_98 wrote and what Garry responded that
the damage was more than the handful of test
drivers.

Let me go over this once more.

We have been aware of a bug in timestamp selection
a few days after the alpha version (v.2.86.4a) was
released. The default timestamp selection was
inadvertently set to /FC rather than /FW.

The end result was most noticeable in operations
that rely timestamp-comparison such as /BU, /BI, etc.)
(If you explicitly enter /FW to override the
faulty default setting), you could still get
the desired result using the alpha version version).

----------------

The bug is nothing new in alpha testing and not
even urgent. We've been trying to fix a lot of
other things at the same time.

Then, a much bigger accident took place last week.
Due to the very heavy Email traffic (due to the
MyDoom and Novarg virus attach), we diverted some
of our web page traffic to an auxiliary server.
By accident, on last Tuesday and Wednesday, for
about a 30 hour period (more precisely from
2004-02-03 18:00 through 2004-02-04 23:00 -- CST),
the XXCOPY web page was featuring Version 2.86.4a
(the alpha test version with the bug) as if it
were the official release version. We did not
realize this problem for more than a day.

On the day after, we notified 16 visitors who
signed up for the test drive and alerted them
for our mistake.

Now, after reviewing the exchange between
Kjack_98 and Garry (in my last message), it became
clear to me that it was not just the test drivers
but also everyone else who downloaded other
versions (XXCOPY-Pro update and freeware users)
of XXCOPY during the (Tue-Wed) period last week.

I just realized there were six more people
who sign up for XXCOPY-Pro update and we notifed
them just now.

But, we cannot reach any of those who downloaded
the freeware version because it does not require
any sign up (we just don't have record of who
download files).

If you recently downloaded XXCOPY, please check
the version number and if it is v.2.86.4, please
discard the version and download the stable
release version (v.2.85.2).

It's not that the alpha test version is any secret
or anything. Due to some problems, the alpha
version should not be used for anything very
serious.

That particular bug appeared on v.2.86.3 and
v.2.86.4. But, when such a version leaks out to
the unsuspecting general public, we have a problem...

But, to come to think of it, the bug typically
prevents the /BI (and similar) switches from
skipping identical files in backup operation.
In that scenario, the bug will cause more unnecessary
file copies which are not very dangerous. On the
other hand, if the user use timestamp-based
file deletion, the problem could be a lot worse :-(

Kan Yabumoto



This message if part of XXCOPY's message Archive.
The archive contains all the messages posted at Yahoo!Groups: XXCOPY.