[clug] Downloading binaries from Newsgroups?
Felix Karpfen
felix at spodzone.org.uk
Tue Jan 5 13:46:32 MST 2010
I have always regard this option as a recipe for disaster and made no
effort to explore what newsgroups, that specialise on binaries, have
to offer.
Have I missed something?
This query is inspired by a recent posting that describes a failed
binaries download (see below). And I understand *nothing* of what it
says!
I would welcome being pointed to documentation that would enable me at
least to understand what the poster is talking about.
Comments on the benefits/hazards of downloading binaries from NGs would
be a bonus.
Felix Karpfen
Downloaded Posting
==================
I grabbed what was probably the same .nzb you did, from a binsearch.info
on the subject string in your original post. Said return was oddly
lacking any detail about the multiparts.
I fed the .nzb to Pan 1.33 (from 09SEP09 git checkout [checkout probably
the wrong term for git but I'm new to it]), and it downloaded 1.3 GB in
6,124 files, almost all of which looked like this:
248 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1000.tp
4 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1000.tp.ERRORS
248 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1001.tp
4 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1001.tp.ERRORS
248 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1002.tp
4 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0_copy_1002.tp.ERRORS
...etc. ad nauseum
The .ERRORS files all look like this:
Warning: Missing everything before part #6745
But hark! Note the size of the single .tp file at the very end of this
mess. Why, a CD-sized file all decoded and everything. What be it?
664388 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0.tp
24 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0.tp.ERRORS
628 Crazy Christmas Lights-2009-12-06-0.tp.nzb
The .ERRORS file for this CD-sized .tp file is full of 379 entries like
this:
ERROR: %Part 2554 missing. Decoded file probably corrupt.
...but Pan decoded what it could find on Easynews.
Next, the google showed me that .tp is a file type for 'MPEG-2 TV
recorded file: File extension is used for MPEG-2 TV recorded file (Use
mpeg-2 compression).'
So I fed the CD-sized .tp to Kaffeine and it plays just fine. It's the
first 14 minutes of an hour-long show about over-the-top xmas
decorations aired on The Learning Channel, featuring setups you've
probably already seen on YouTube and such.
Is this a borked Usenet post? Boy howdy, is it ever! What kind of idjit
would post in that format in the first place? A clueless one, is what
kind ;-)
I've never seen this particular flavor of borkitude before, but it
appears to me that Pan is as uncontaminated by blame for this mess as
the poster is uncontaminated by clues.
--
Felix Karpfen
Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)
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