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Grex > Info > #128: Looking for the format for the "fortune" database | |
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| Author |
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popcorn
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Looking for the format for the "fortune" database
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Mar 24 15:44 UTC 1994 |
This item has been erased.
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| 25 responses total. |
kami
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response 1 of 25:
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Mar 24 19:03 UTC 1994 |
I didn't know about he "fortune" program. How does it work?
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remmers
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response 2 of 25:
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Mar 24 19:09 UTC 1994 |
If it uses the same format as the fortune program on my linux system,
the fortune data file has a header structure that's a table of offsets
for the various fortune strings. This is to enable random access to
the strings.
There is a program called "strfile" that creates such a data file from
a plain ascii file containing the strings. The program doesn't seem to
be on grex, and I don't have source, but I imagine it can be ftp'd from
somewhere.
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remmers
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response 3 of 25:
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Mar 24 19:09 UTC 1994 |
(kami slipped in. Type !fortune at the next prompt.)
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popcorn
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response 4 of 25:
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Mar 25 12:20 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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popcorn
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response 5 of 25:
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Mar 25 12:21 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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popcorn
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response 6 of 25:
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Mar 25 12:28 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 7 of 25:
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Mar 25 14:40 UTC 1994 |
I've always tried to live by that prescription.
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popcorn
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response 8 of 25:
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May 7 22:53 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 9 of 25:
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May 9 00:26 UTC 1994 |
Re-read my response #2.
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popcorn
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response 10 of 25:
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May 9 11:05 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 11 of 25:
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May 9 15:01 UTC 1994 |
An archie search turned up gatekeeper.dec.com:
/contrib/src/dco/fortune/src/strfile.
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popcorn
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response 12 of 25:
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May 10 02:09 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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orinoco
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response 13 of 25:
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Apr 12 23:54 UTC 1995 |
if you're still looking, popcorn, i *finally* got it compiled (thanx to remmers
for help) .... try !/u/orinoco/strfile to run it....
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orinoco
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response 14 of 25:
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Apr 12 23:59 UTC 1995 |
...just a few questions......one, what do you use as a delimiter between
strings, and two, how do you *run* the durn thing after you've changed your
file into 1's and 0's?
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orinoco
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response 15 of 25:
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Apr 13 00:28 UTC 1995 |
Ok, i'm back again, answering my own questions.
According to a comment in the uncompiled program, you use two consecutive
linesconsisting of just a % as a delimiter. But i tried that, and it diedn't
work. Rather, when I tried to run !fortune using my file, it just gave me the
whole file in one chunck, %'s and all.
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scg
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response 16 of 25:
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Apr 13 00:58 UTC 1995 |
What does strfile do?
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davel
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response 17 of 25:
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Apr 13 01:43 UTC 1995 |
(Valerie's conscientious about FWing, & I'm pretty sure she reads *everything*
here.)
I took a glance at that comment, & I think you've got it wrong. The
delimiter is any line beginning with two %s, if I understand it.
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anemone
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response 18 of 25:
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Apr 13 17:29 UTC 1995 |
yeah, what *does* strfile do?
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popcorn
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response 19 of 25:
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Apr 14 05:02 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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orinoco
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response 20 of 25:
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Apr 15 19:41 UTC 1995 |
no, a line beginning w/two %'s doesn't work either.
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davel
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response 21 of 25:
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Apr 16 21:38 UTC 1995 |
Daniel, I tried compiling, setting up a test file, & running. The
message from strfile appears to indicate that it did in fact use
lines beginning %% as delimiters (the string count & that "shortest string"
message fits this). I tried running fortune on my file, & got the
results you report, though. I suspect that fortune expects some kind
of format for the strings it uses, since its options include things like
"offensive fortunes only" etc., but I don't have any inside info.
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popcorn
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response 22 of 25:
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Apr 17 13:40 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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davel
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response 23 of 25:
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Apr 18 01:36 UTC 1995 |
There seems to be just one, according to the man & according to what
seems to be in the games/lib dir - but the others could be hidden.
However, I really do think that this is likely given what happens. I
could well be wrong.
Somewhere we must have the source for fortune, surely? Not that *I*
want to go digging through it!
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orinoco
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response 24 of 25:
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Apr 20 01:40 UTC 1995 |
yeah..source file is /usr/local/grexsrc/strfile/strfile.c....compiled version
is /home/orinoco/strfile
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