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From: cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Automated extraction of programs from c.b.i.p postings.
Message-ID: <qswXm1w162w@cybrspc>
Date: 26 Jul 90 23:37:13 GMT
References: <2077@cirrusl.UUCP>
Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN
Lines: 42

dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:

> Abe was posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc and comp.sources.misc around
> mid-1989 while I was still moderator.  At that time my comments that
> accompanied the binary posting (paraphrased) were that Abe could be
> very useful, but whether it was used for Usenet binary postings would
> depend on user feedback.
> 
> There was absolutely no user feedback;

I recall the posting, and I also recall contributing just a bit of
feedback.

Brad posted ABE in its ABE-encoded form, and included the 'tiny-DABE'
decoder in the header. The stated intent was to demonstrate the
usefulness of the package. As the thread dealt with a packaging scheme
for c.b.i.p, I pulled the posts onto my PC and attempted to compile
tiny-DABE under Turbo C 2.0, without success. The resulting .exe, while
compiled without error, was non-functional. The code, however, compiled
and ran without incident on a Unix box.

Since we _were_ looking for a scheme to be directed at PC's, I felt (and
posted) that ABE might not be the best choice. Clearly, if binaries of
ABE were distributed widely, the situation could change. But I had found
ABE to be less than the panacea it was described as.

> I think some moderator of some binaries newsgroup (Bill?) should give
> abe a try.  In the long run, if users can be easily retrained, abe will
> be an improvement.
> 
> I think it would be a great idea if those who have tried abe were to
> post their opinions about it versus uuencoding.

Now that you've reminded me of it, I'll be hauling the ABE sources out
and trying to build them. (hopefully with more success than my last
attempt)  Once that's done, I'll wring it out a bit and post my
findings.
--
    Roy M. Silvernail   | #include <stdio.h>                 | Does virtual
    now available at:   | main(){                            | reality need
 cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu |  float x=1;                        | swap space?
(cyberspace... be here!)|  printf("Just my $%.2f.\n",x/50);} | -- me