[net.sources] Shell archiver

jim (10/19/82)

Dave Ihnat's response to my shell archiver script was bogus.  He didn't
understand the purpose of the script.  The script has nothing to do with
"ar", except that it bundles up a bunch of files into one big file.  It does
not use "ar" to do so, but rather produces a shell script containing the
text of the "archived" files.  "shar" should work fine as long as "cat" and
the Bourne shell are around.

Sorry for the confusion, Dave.

mark (10/19/82)

In fact, the latest, portable version of ar (from dmr) generates ASCII
images which can be mailed from system to system easily.  I have used
ar to transport files when my only link was cu and ~%put (this is
useful when porting UNIX to a brand new system, for instance) to get
uucp going.  However, this isn't a wonderful method for distributing
source files on USENET, because this version of ar isn't universally
available.  It's on all 4.1BSD systems, but it's not on V7, not in
system III, and not on any USG machine.  USG is rumored to have gone
instead to a different format, which is not ASCII and does not create
archives which are portable to different machines.

ignatz (10/28/82)

You're quite right. I'm so ashamed. It was a long day, and the Buffalo were
grazing in my head. Your script is just fine; it does a good job. Arrrggggh.

				Abashedly yours,
				Dave Ihnat
				ihuxx!ignatz