Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!convex!rosenkra From: rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosencranz) Newsgroups: comp.compression Subject: Re: Self Extracting Files Message-ID: <1991Jun20.034508.17792@convex.com> Date: 20 Jun 91 03:45:08 GMT References: <1991Jun17.205910.17669@apex.com> <1991Jun19.140345.18650@bellcore.bellcore.com> Sender: usenet@convex.com (news access account) Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA Lines: 20 Nntp-Posting-Host: convex1.convex.com i am suprised nobody brought another issue up, so i will. i think it is relevant, too... i am extremely reluctant to advocate self extracting archives for 2 reasons: 1) in order to get at the stuff, u have to execute something (meaning more chance of viral infection), and 2) you can only extract on a particular system. the latter may make sense if what u archived will only work on that particular system tho it still makes it impossible to read an included text file like docs without the target system. however, the former is impossible to overlook. self extracting files are probably most useful for third party software distribution where these issues are probably moot (tho i know of at least one commercial package which was distributed with a virus, non-intentionally). -bill rosenkra@convex.com -- Bill Rosenkranz |UUCP: {uunet,texsun}!convex!c1yankee!rosenkra Convex Computer Corp. |ARPA: rosenkra%c1yankee@convex.com