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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!bu-cs!bucsb.bu.edu!madd
From: madd@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: minix program postings to the net
Message-ID: <744@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Feb-87 19:21:42 EST
Article-I.D.: bucsb.744
Posted: Mon Feb 16 19:21:42 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Feb-87 06:15:42 EST
References: <962@osiris.UUCP> <7619@utzoo.UUCP> <468@gouldsd.UUCP> <1750@hoptoad.uucp> <3038@gitpyr.gatech.EDU>
Reply-To: madd@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP (Jim "Jack" Frost)
Organization: ODO (Organization for the Disorganization of Organization)
Lines: 32

In article <3038@gitpyr.gatech.EDU> thomps@gitpyr.gatech.EDU (Ken Thompson) writes:
>In article <1750@hoptoad.uucp>, gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes:
>> In article <468@gouldsd.UUCP>, mjranum@gouldsd.UUCP (Marcus J Ranum) writes:
>> > More to the point, suppose I make a version of uuclone...
>> >                        ...but do not want to give out sources ?
>> 
>> Then don't post it to the net.  Send it to some IBM PC user group or
>> package it up and sell it.  The net is for portable software, and
>> binaries are not portable.
>
>Here here ! I no longer grab binaries period because like all programs
>they usually contain bugs. If I have the sources, I can usually fix the bugs
>but without them, its just not worth the frustation. 
>

Often I post binaries without source.  The reason is not that I don't want to
give out the source (I'll usually mail it to whomever asks), but that I'd
appreciate centralized distribution.  It's damned annoying to see that one
version of a program I've written has been hacked to a point where I wouln't
recognize it, and the person who hacked it wants to know why it won't work
anymore.  Besides, there are lots of people who don't happen to have a C
or Pascal compiler, but who might like my silly little program.  This is
generally the case with PC's (UNIX machines usually come with a compiler,
but not many [any?] PC's).  There are both pros and cons to posting
binaries, and the advantages of each depend on the scope of the posting.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                   - Jim Frost * The Madd Hacker -
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