sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (03/26/89)
In article <14947@bellcore.bellcore.com> perry@bellcore.com (Perry E Metzger) writes: >DONT POST UUENCODED COMPRESSED STUFF. PLEASE POST ANY STUFF YOU WANT, IN ANY FORMAT YOU CAN. WE APPRECIATE YOUR SOFTWARE. >Compress gets run on most stuff crossing the net, and uuencode just >ends up expanding junk anyway, so you save no money and create a >godamn mess to read. Post shar archives; they are neat and clean. Let >the system administrators worry about how to get things from point a >to point b cheaply, you just worry about your contents. I strongly disagree. Tar archives are much easier to deal with than "shar" archives, which aren't a standard at all. A tar archive is one neat file which you can quickly get a directory listing, dearchive one or more files, or easily add files to the archive. And it's hundreds of times faster than using the $&%^$! shell. Shar archives are a godamn mess to read. And don't worry about using uuencode and compress. Uuencode expands junk, but compress will just compress it back. Also, the news compressor will go "hey, compressing this isn't doing anything, so I won't compress it". No problem. >DONT POST UUENCODED TAR FILES. PLEASE POST UUENCODED TAR FILES OR ANY OTHER FORMAT YOU CAN >Tar files were NOT designed for the purpose; they take up extra room, >are more fragile with respect to damage, and tar isn't available on >every system. Post shar archives; anyone can break them up, even by >hand, they are neat and clean, and they don't alter the size of the >sources much. If you must post binaries, uuencode them seperately; >don't tar them. If you must post multiple binaries, you can always use >a shar file with the uuencoded files in it, and shar will even >uudecode things for you on arrival. Tar files takes up extra room, which compress neatly shrinks right back down. News software shouldn't damage files to begin with. Besides, most of the time, a damaged shar archive is as useless as a damaged tar archive. >Repeating for those of you out there with silly ideas... >DONT GET CLEVER. USE SHAR ARCHIVES. POST THINGS HOWEVER YOU WANT. IT IS ALL A MATTER OF OPINION ANYWAY, SOMETHING PERRY NEGLECTED TO MENTION IN UPPERCASE. Sean -- *** Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, sean@ukma.bitnet *** Who sometimes never learns. {backbone site|rutgers|uunet}!ukma!sean *** U of K, Lexington Kentucky, USA ..where Christian movies are banned. *** ``I've got no time for the old in-out; I've come to read the meter.''