The fortune(6) / random problem (again)

From: Alexander Leidinger <Alexander_at_Leidinger.net>
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:07:40 +0200
Hi,

this was discussed a while ago (and I don't remember the ...
status-quo), but with a recent current I see non-random output of
fortune when using non standard files:

---snip---
while true; do
bin/fortune.sh
done
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
 Leela: Hey, you know what might be a hoot?
 Professor: No. Why would I know that?
^C% 
---snip---

bin/fortune.sh contains:
---snip---
#!/bin/sh

/usr/games/fortune -se $(/bin/ls
-1 /usr/share/games/fortune/* /usr/local/share/games/fortune/*
| /usr/bin/grep -vE '(limerick|-o|.dat)$') 2>&1
---snip---

The files which are listed on the command line are:
---snip---
% /bin/ls
-1 /usr/share/games/fortune/* /usr/local/share/games/fortune/*
| /usr/bin/grep -vE
'(limerick|-o|.dat)$' /usr/local/share/games/fortune/futurama /usr/share/games/fortune/bofh-excuses /usr/share/games/fortune/calvin
/usr/share/games/fortune/chalkboard
/usr/share/games/fortune/discworld
/usr/share/games/fortune/excuses
/usr/share/games/fortune/fgump
/usr/share/games/fortune/fortunes
/usr/share/games/fortune/freebsd-tips
/usr/share/games/fortune/futurama
/usr/share/games/fortune/hitchhiker
/usr/share/games/fortune/homer
/usr/share/games/fortune/informatik
/usr/share/games/fortune/jargon
/usr/share/games/fortune/matrix
/usr/share/games/fortune/murphy
/usr/share/games/fortune/startrek
/usr/share/games/fortune/starwars
/usr/share/games/fortune/xfiles
/usr/share/games/fortune/zippy
---snip---

When not specifying a list of files ("fortune -se all"), I get a little
more random output. It's not very random in that it will very very
often print the "0" output:
---snip---
0

 Numeric zero, as opposed to the letter `O' (the 15th
   letter of the English alphabet).  In their unmodified forms they
   look a lot alike, and various kluges invented to make them visually
[...]
---snip---

And since this output is actually very long, it also does not fit the
"-s" specified on the command line.

When I do "while true; do; fortune -se /usr/share/games/fortune
/usr/local/share/games/fortune; done" I see more random output, but it
still contains long output and the "0"-quote still appears too often.

The "0"-quote comes from the "jargon" file, it's one of the large
files:
---snip---
% ll /usr/share/games/fortune/ | grep -v dat
total 5044
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    28K  5 Nov  2000 bofh-excuses
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    15K 17 Dez  2000 calvin
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    33K  4 Mai  2000 chalkboard
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    56K 16 Sep  2001 discworld
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    20K 21 Feb  2000 excuses
-r--r--r--  1 root  games   2.7K 20 Jul  2000 fgump
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   2.1M 21 Jun 21:31 fortunes
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    79K 21 Jun 21:31 fortunes-o
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   612K 21 Jun 21:31 fortunes2-o
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    17K 21 Jun 21:31 freebsd-tips
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    40K 16 Sep  2001 futurama
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    25K 21 Jun 21:31 gerrold.limerick
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    23K 16 Sep  2001 hitchhiker
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    51K 21 Apr  2000 homer
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    28K 29 Nov  2000 informatik
-r--r--r--  1 root  games   1.2M  8 Mai  2000 jargon
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   128K 21 Jun 21:31 limerick
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    35K 21 Apr  2000 matrix
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    62K 21 Jun 21:31 murphy
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   872B 21 Jun 21:31 murphy-o
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    27K 21 Jun 21:31 startrek
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    10K 20 Jul  2000 starwars
-r--r--r--  1 root  games    32K 20 Jul  2000 xfiles
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel    38K 21 Jun 21:31 zippy
---snip---

Anyone up for fixing this?

Bye,
Alexander.

-- 
      ...and that is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped.
http://www.Leidinger.net  Alexander _at_ Leidinger.net: PGP ID = B0063FE7
http://www.FreeBSD.org     netchild _at_ FreeBSD.org  : PGP ID = 72077137
Received on Fri Jun 23 2006 - 17:07:01 UTC

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