mdavis@CHEM.UCSD.EDU (Morgan Davis) (07/31/87)
Joe Walters wonders why The Executioner uses a period character (or why some
of the newer renditions are using a plus) at the start of the encrypted lines.
According to the first comment in the source code, a non-alpha character must
be used so that a possible DOS command would not start the beginning of the
line. Example:
Axnn??//~~~~/as@/d/ ....
A\2rrxOsai*rsvaOpq] ....
APpEndx|w^sdiwTq{{_ ....
A...
The third line starts with the DOS command "APPEND" which would cause an error
while the file was EXEC'ing into the Apple. As Executioner doesn't care which
character starts the begining of the line, any non-alpha could be used. A
numeric value might be a better candidate because it shouldn't screw up any
mailers, and it wouldn't ever be a valid DOS command. Whether that would
annoy the monitor or not is unknown at this time.
UUCP: [ ihnp4 cbosgd hplabs!hp-sdd sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis
ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis@nosc.mil
INET: mdavis@pro-sol.CTS.COM
BITNET: mdavis%pro-sol.cts.com@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (I hope this works)