The Unix error that called users 'not a typewriter'
"Traditional, but Puzzling"
In the 1990s, Unix users sending email to a capitalized username sometimes got the baffling error '550 mwichary... User unknown: Not a typewriter.' The cause was a collision of four quirks: sendmail lowercasing usernames, a system error code (ENOTTY) meaning 'not a terminal,' a colon that made the user seem like the typewriter, and decades-old terminology. The message was later renamed 'Inappropriate ioctl for device,' but the code remains ENOTTY.
It’s entirely possible it will still be named that decades from now, even after we all forget what typewriters were.
- degamad
As an element of backwards rationalisation, my brain interprets "ENOTTY" as "E-NO-TTY" (Error: NO TeleTYpe available) which is the rough current meaning, rather than "E-NOT-TY" (Error: NOT a TYpewriter) which is the original meaning.
- anArbitraryOne
I read the title as "traditional butt puzzling" and expected something slightly different
- ehnto
Reminds me of a more recent parking lot error. I have a parking card with attached account, and credit card for automatic payments. I also had a specific car and it's plate attached so I didn't have to tap the card.
I had to cancel the credit card so automatic payments decline, and I don't always drive the same car in which case I have to tap the parking card.
The result of all this:
When I leave the parking lot in a different car after paying manually at the gate, the message displayed is "Payment Declined: Exit permitted"