support bulletin	volume 3, issue 1	winter 1993

tips and techniques

Release 3 tips and traps

working with over 250 fonts 
As a support bulletin subscriber, you should have received NeXT Technical Alert 92-4 last December. Here's a quick recap: 

In NeXTSTEP Release 3 fonts can randomly disappear from the Font Panel when you're using more than 250 fonts. There seems to be a discrepancy among .afmcache, .fontdirectory, and .fontlist, with .fontdirectory apparently missing entries.

To work around this 250-font limit, you can do either of the following:

*	Copy the utility /usr/bin/buildafmdir fromNeXTSTEP Release 2 into your Release 3 /usr/bin directory. Then rebuildyour font index by running the command buildafmdir. 

*	Split up your fonts between /LocalLibrary/Fonts and ~/Library/Fonts.

WordPerfect for Release 3
If you use WordPerfect, you'll want the new interim release of WordPerfect (version 1.0.1) for NeXTSTEP, dated September 25, 1992. This release is based on WordPerfect version 5.0 and is compatible with NeXTSTEP Release 3, as well as Release 2. It registers the wp-ascii filter and fixes a few other bugs that surfaced when WordPerfect was used on NeXTSTEP Release3, most notably:

*	You can use Command-b and Command-i as keyboard alternatives to the Bold and Italic commands.

*	You can index WordPerfect documents for use in Digital Librarian(TM).

*	ADB(TM) keyboards generate the correct characters in WordPerfect documents.

If you're working with an ADB keyboard, be sure to select the ADB preference in the WordPerfect Preferences panel. 

To obtain the new release for a nominal fee, call WordPerfect at 1-800-451-5151.

NFSManager allows unknown users
In the Exported Directories panel in NFSManager, never uncheck "Allow unknown users and treat them as:".


If you uncheck this option, the selected directory is exported with the option -anon=-1, which causes mounts from the NFS clients to fail.

Release 3 dupes and loops
You can accidentally create a loop in a NetInfo database bydestroying erroneous duplicate directories. Then if you delete this loop, you destroy the information in the database. 

Commonly known as the "dupes and loops" problem, this was first documented in NeXT Technical Alert 91-3. NeXT Technical Alert 92-1 covered it again, but included a new workaround. 

To implement the workaround, make sure you're logged in as root and edit the file /etc/rc by adding the line shown in bold after line 189:

	if [ -f /usr/etc/nibindd ]; then
		rm -f /private/etc/netinfo/*.nidb/checksum
		/usr/etc/nibindd && (echo -n ' netinfo') >/dev/console 2>&1
	fi

The next time you shut down or reboot the computer, the workaround will take effect.

Despite efforts to fix this problem, it still can occur in Release 3. Because upgrading to Release 3 replaces the /etc/rc script you edited, you need to re-edit /etc/rc after you upgrade. Apply this workaround to every computer that is the master NetInfo server for adomain.

If you find a duplicate entry in your NetInfo database, you can repair it with the nifix utility, which is included on the floppy disk on page 62 of this bulletin.
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