• Teodor Potancok (github)

    I wouldn't be surprised if code 0 was actually an error on Windows.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Teodor Potancok

    It's not an error, but it is an error code. And it means "The operation completed successfully."

    Just like errno == 0 happens on Unix-likes when something succeeded. (Strictly, no, but in the cases where it might "happen", you're supposed to assign zero before trying the operation.)

  • Foo AKA Fooo (unregistered) in reply to Steve_The_Cynic

    It can happen on either system. I've seen it many times, both as a user and as a developer (sometimes my fault, sometimes due to a library function that doesn't handle errno or whatever correctly).

    Indeed, I've put a check in an error reporting function in my code to special-case code 0 and report something like "faulty error handling" instead of "Success", because that's what it actually means.

  • Brian (unregistered)

    Hey, Poe didn't write only horror. There's also detective stories, cryptography, satire, wordplay... come to think of it, that would make a lot of sense in a sysadmin's library.

  • Randal L. Schwartz (google)

    Important safety tip: If you have a list of answers, do not sort them which seems to be the problem here, since they're all in alpha order.

  • Dan Bugglin (google) in reply to Randal L. Schwartz

    The answers are probably provided in random order. I've done the same thing with similar systems and seen people add "All of the above" to it.

  • Yikes (unregistered)

    Aha! I knew the "Backup & Recovery" book was an O'Reilly edition! That explains the connection, as the black & white raven looks a lot like a random animal on an O'Reilly book cover, which means their suggestion algorithm is actually judging books by their covers.

  • Yikes (unregistered) in reply to Dan Bugglin

    Agreed; they're not in alphabetical order...

  • mihi (unregistered) in reply to Foo AKA Fooo

    I agree. Most of the time, between the actual API call that set the error code and the GetLastError call there is another API call that may reset the error code to zero if that one succeeds.

    Happens very easily when using PInvoke in C#: There is an annotation (SetLastError=true) for PInvoke calls which stores the error code after the call in a thread-local variable and automatically formats the error if you throw new Win32Exception() later. You really have to be careful that between detecting the error and throwing the exception you don't call any other PInvoke function annotated with SetLastError=true, or you will get zero (success) in most cases.

  • Bruce (unregistered)

    Actually, Charles Stross has written some pretty good books (the Laundry Files novels) that involve both horror and system administration.

  • Wizofaus (unregistered)

    "Anabelly"?

  • ParityTheUnicorn (unregistered)

    Since we're on the subject of System Administration and Edgar Allen Poe, can't pass up a chance to post this: https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/midnight.dreary.html

  • Neveranull (unregistered)

    True story: What do you do in school with a multiple choice test with a list of possible answers followed with

    One of the above.

    Two of the above.

    None of the above.

    All of the above.

    If it’s one of the above, then it’s two of the above, including “one of the above.” If it’s all of the above, then it’s a contradiction, because all of the above includes “none of the above.”

  • Wizofaus (unregistered) in reply to Wizofaus

    (Still don't really get the pun here, yes I'm aware of "Annabel Lee", though I dare say it's not super familiar to many non-US readers)

  • Yikse (unregistered) in reply to ParityTheUnicorn

    Thank you for the '91 throwback!

  • Arkady (unregistered)

    short stories that combine horror and system administration

    There's a series called "The Laundry Files" by a writer called Charles Stross. It's been summed up to me as "H.P. Lovecraft meets The IT Crowd". The basic conceit is that the underlying physics of the Universe works on mathematical principles, and so by solving certain mathematical functions you can (accidentally, it turns out) mess around with the underlying fundamentals of reality and summon Great Other Ones and other such evils. Of course, we didn't have the capability to solve such functions until computers came about.

    The first one is called The Atrocity Archives, and it's a very enjoyably written series.

  • Whybird (unregistered)

    Maybe the Goodreads algorithm has been watching Altered Carbon?

  • Whybird (unregistered)

    The basic conceit is that the underlying physics of the Universe works on mathematical principles

    See also "Fine Structure" by Qntm, or (less accessibly online) any fiction book by Greg Egan.

  • Slashee the Cow (unregistered) in reply to Foo AKA Fooo

    I'm extremely late to the party here, but the problem was the length of the path (including filename). Not sure if it's a Windows problem or an NTFS problem (the external drive was exFAT, but I could repeat it using only local drives).

    I /think/ it copied correctly, the files were listed at the correct size, but any attempts to access them threw errors, trying to move them in Windows explorer hard crashed explorer.exe

    Had to redownload the files with a shorter path, and limit filename length.

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