[net.micro.mac] Source only is not feasable

gus@Shasta.ARPA (11/21/85)

While I agree that more source code in net.sources.mac is a good thing,
Simply replacing binhext with source code is not the solution.

Anyone who has maintained software before knows that even the simplest
compilations can run into snags when there are many different compilers/
include files/link files/ etc. There is simply TOO MUCH THAT CAN GO WRONG!!

Even if I had all of the available C compilers at my disposal (I Don't)
There would still be a LOT of work involved in simply making sure that 
the compile goes through correctly.

If I DON'T have the same compiler that was used to create the program,
my work is an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE harder to do. There are simply too many
programs being placed on the net to individually tweak all of them. 

What's more, once I have made the necessarry tweaks to get program A
which was originally compiled with compoiler X to work with compiler Y,
I will be tempted to provide this new version on the net. This
could increase the volume 4 or 5-fold (assuming that there are that many
compilers out on the market.)

Not allowing binhex thus simply increases the probelm instead of
aleviating it.

							Gus Fernandez