:line eater, the: [USENET] n. 1. A bug in some now-obsolete
versions of the netnews software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ
bytes of the article text. The bug was triggered by having the
text of the article start with a space or tab. This bug was
quickly personified as a mythical creature called the `line
eater', and postings often included a dummy line of `line eater
food'. Ironically, line eater `food' not beginning with a space or
tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if there
*was* a space or tab before it, then the line eater would eat
the food *and* the beginning of the text it was supposed to be
protecting. The practice of `sacrificing to the line eater'
continued for some time after the bug had been {nailed to the
wall}, and is still humorously referred to. The bug itself is
still (in mid-1991) occasionally reported to be lurking in some
mail-to-netnews gateways. 2. See {NSA line eater}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
versions of the netnews software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ
bytes of the article text. The bug was triggered by having the
text of the article start with a space or tab. This bug was
quickly personified as a mythical creature called the `line
eater', and postings often included a dummy line of `line eater
food'. Ironically, line eater `food' not beginning with a space or
tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if there
*was* a space or tab before it, then the line eater would eat
the food *and* the beginning of the text it was supposed to be
protecting. The practice of `sacrificing to the line eater'
continued for some time after the bug had been {nailed to the
wall}, and is still humorously referred to. The bug itself is
still (in mid-1991) occasionally reported to be lurking in some
mail-to-netnews gateways. 2. See {NSA line eater}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- line eater, the n. obs.
[Usenet] 1. A bug in some
now-obsolete versions of the netnews software that used to eat up
to BUFSIZ bytes of the article text.
The bug was triggered by having the text of the... - NSA line eater n.
The National Security Agency trawling
program sometimes assumed to be reading the net for the
U.S.
Government's spooks. Most hackers used to think it... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - TECO /tee'koh/ n.,v. obs.
1. [originally an acronym for
`[paper] Tape Editor and COrrector';
later, `Text Editor and COrrector'] n. A text editor... - phase of the moon n.
Used humorously as a random parameter
on which something is said to depend.
Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent... - ARMM n.
[acronym, `Automated Retroactive Minimal
Moderation'] A Usenet cancelbot created by Dick Depew of Munroe Falls,
Ohio. ARMM was intended to automatically cancel posts... - frogging: [University of Waterloo] v. 1. Partial corruption of a
text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch,
as opposed to random events like line noise or media... - What a quiche-eater
you are... - splat: n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for
the asterisk (`*') character (ASCII 0101010).
This may derive from the `squashed-bug' appearance...
