Sorcerer's apprentice mode

by Jargon

Thu Jul 19 2001 at 20:10:38

sorcerer's apprentice mode n.

[from Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling" via Paul Dukas's "L'apprenti sorcier" in the film "Fantasia".] A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by bounce message loops in email software. Compare broadcast storm, network meltdown, software laser, ARMM.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

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chaos

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software laser	ARMM	SOS	some random X
network meltdown	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	broadcast storm	How to DDoS your University's Engineering School
Fantasia	bounce message	L'Apprenti Sorcier	Aziz Combat Fighter
Chernobyl	Der Zauberlehrling	The Jargon File	Morning Musume
O Jerusalem	Fort Sumter	Mythicon	Gilbert and Sullivan
The Hacker Crackdown: part 1, section 1	The Hacker Crackdown: part 1, section 7

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Sorcerer's apprentice mode

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