Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dsuvax!ghelmer From: ghelmer@dsuvax.uucp (Guy Helmer) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Uuencoded sources Message-ID: <1991Mar25.160731.14843@dsuvax.uucp> Date: 25 Mar 91 16:07:31 GMT References: <8177@crash.cts.com> Organization: Dakota State University Lines: 59 In <8177@crash.cts.com> cwr@pnet01.cts.com (Will Rose) writes: >Glen Overby (overby@plains.NoDak.edu) writes: >>In article <48414@nigel.ee.udel.edu> RECHTIEN%DOSUNI1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu >(Jens-Heiner Rechtien) writes: >>>Maarten Huisjes writes: >>>> } -- Everyone should compress and uuencode his diff's -- >When upgrading from 1.3 to 1.5.10 I finally decided, around 1.5.6, that for >reliability I had to have correct crcs; having let things slide, it took me >a month or so and a lot of help from my friends to get a clean set of files. >Once you've added a patch with spaces substituted for tabs, that file and its >descendants to the nth generation will fail crc checking. Ast once posted >an important 2-line kernel patch without uuencoding; I tried for an hour >to install it with the correct (new) crc, and failed. I now scarcely >look at code that is *not* uuencoded; it will mostly run, but it's not >reliable, and it's too difficult to patch. comp.os.minix has at the minimum several hundred readers that must keep exact copies of the MINIX source so that they may upgrade when the time comes. From my past experience (I've upgraded from 1.1 - 1.2 - 1.3, then purchased 1.3 and upgraded to 1.4b and 1.5.{3,6,8,9,10}), the problems that come with unreliable news and mail software cause plenty of aggravation when trying to apply patches or install new files that aren't exact copies of the original. Computers and networks should be the tools, not the source of the problems! Admittedly, now that I have a good usenet news feed, I usually don't have problems with source code. In the good old days, all I had was a subscription to MINIX-L from NDSUVM via BITNET, which is why I purchased MINIX 1.3 - my version of 1.3 that was upgraded from 1.1 was a complete mess. The patches and new sources I had were all obtained as mailed messages over IBM's infamous RSCS, which crunched on TABs, chopped lines, and changed characters in unrepairable fashion. For those who believe we shouldn't make concessions to BITNET and the other file-munging networks, here's a suggestion: Now that FTP is available over BITNET and many mail archive servers exist, maybe we should create a sources and patches group that doesn't uuencode postings, and then someone should create an archive service that automatically puts these postings out on an internet-accessible server. Then, the people who don't get reliable feeds can get sources they need by using either the BITNET FTP server or a mail archive server. The BITNET FTP server can automatically uuencode files, if you request it, and it's been very reliable when I've used it. I personally don't believe this group should drop the policy of uuencoding source and patch postings. If we must drop that policy, please plan an alternative. >UUCP: {nosc ucsd hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!pnet01!cwr >ARPA: crash!pnet01!cwr@nosc.mil >INET: cwr@pnet01.cts.com -- Guy Helmer | helmer@sdnet.bitnet Dakota State University | dsuvax!ghelmer@wunoc.wustl.edu (605) 256-5264, (605) 256-2788 | uunet!dsuvax!ghelmer Ahh, if weddings were as easy to design as software...