VM appears to be infected

[Andreas Gustafsson]

When I load VM 8.0.14 in an emacs running in text mode, particularly when running over a low-bandwidth connection, I can see the text "VM is now infected" flash by in the emacs mode line.

I realize that this message probably is just an expression of some kind of sick humor, but a user could easily mistake it for a warning message indicating some kind of virus or malware infection and be needlessly startled or alarmed. A closer inspection of the complete message might alleviate such concerns, but is hard to do because the mesage flashes by very quickly and there is no easy way to get it back once it's gone. I would like to see the message either removed or changed to something like "vm-rfaddons loaded", which would not have this issue and would give a more professional impression.

To reproduce, run "emacs -nw -f vm" under script(1), exit emacs, exit the shell started by script(1), and then look for the message
 in the typescript file, for example using

  grep infected typescript | cat -v

[Tim Cross (tcross)]

Thanks for the report.

The 'infected' message is one created by various add-ons that infect VM i.e.
change VM's behavior in some way. Enabling vm-rfaddons is one example where
this occurs. For example, my *Messages* buffer has

Loading vm-vars...done
Adding vm-rfaddons-option `check-recipients'.
Adding vm-rfaddons-option `check-for-empty-subject'.
Adding vm-rfaddons-option `encode-headers'.
VM-RFADDONS: VM is now infected.
Reading /home/tcross/Mail-VM/INBOX... done

Note that you can always retrieve such messages by looking in the *Messages*
buffer. There is no need to use typescript.

Your point regarding creating concerns for the end user has some validity,
especially for those using VM under MS Windows. On the other hand, the concept
of an add-on infecting a program has some history and established meaning. For
example, there are two functions, vm-ps-print-message-infect-vm and
vm-rfaddons-infect-vm which use this terminology.

I think the suggestion is worth considering, but as it involves modifications
to add-on packages that are not part of core VM and as there are existing
functions that use the terminology, I think it should be a low priority
wishlist item.

Tim

--
Tim Cross
<email address hidden>

There are two types of people in IT - those who do not manage what
they understand and those who do not understand what they manage.
--
Tim Cross
<email address hidden>

There are two types of people in IT - those who do not manage what they
understand and those who do not understand what they manage.

[Andreas Gustafsson (gson)]

> Note that you can always retrieve such messages by looking in the *Messages* buffer

Thanks for the hint - I had forgotten about the *Messages* buffer.

> the concept of an add-on infecting a program has some history and established meaning.

VM 8 is the only place I have seen it used in that sense in my 25 years as an emacs user. Also, I grepped the VM 7.19 and emacs23 sources for the string "infect"; it did not occur at all in VM 7.19, and the only occurrences in emacs23 were in dictionary files and a comment about cleaning up "html infected" email.

> add-on packages that are not part of core VM

Does this mean they are optional such that VM can be installed without them?

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

Tim Cross writes:

> Your point regarding creating concerns for the end user has some validity,
> especially for those using VM under MS Windows. On the other hand, the concept
> of an add-on infecting a program has some history and established meaning. For
> example, there are two functions, vm-ps-print-message-infect-vm and
> vm-rfaddons-infect-vm which use this terminology.

Well, I am not really sure it is an established meaning of "infect".
In normal English, infection doesn't have a neutral meaning and
neither does it have one in programming. I think it was probably more
a case of non-native English speakers not understanding the subtleties
of English words. Either that or it was stemming from an irreverent
subculture. Or both.

I will get rid of the message.

[Andreas Gustafsson (gson)]

> status: New → Fix Committed

Thank you for your quick response!

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

Sure, no problem.

By the way, I didn't change the function names. So, if you have
xxx-infect-vm in your .vm files etc., they can continue to stay.

Cheers,
Uday