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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: Distributing Software
Message-ID: <7993@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-May-87 22:53:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.7993
Posted: Sat May  2 22:53:01 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 2-May-87 22:53:01 EDT
References: <6396@ukma.ms.uky.csnet>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 34

> ... "How to do software distributions"?
> 
> ... Producing software and distributing it (even through
> mod.sources) does bring some sort of visibility to our little department
> and our university as a whole.  We should be able to reap some benefits
> from causing this visibility.

Mark Weiser's reply to this one strikes me as a good starting point.  Some
other thoughts:

1. Do not, repeat not, assume that making and sending distribution tapes is
a trivial chore that somebody can do in their spare moments.  One practice
I particularly disrecommend is adding it to the responsibilities of your
most junior programmer.  (Speaking as someone who was once such a M.J.P.,
it's a time-consuming clerical chore that the M.J.P. will resent and perform
poorly, especially if he's already got a full workload.)  Mark's scheme of
making it a *paid* piece-work (paid by the tape, not by the hour) job is
rather better.  The investment of time and effort is not trivial.

2. In the same vein, plan to charge a fee to recover that time and effort.
Doing it free gets tiresome very quickly.

3. Even if you license the stuff on a per-site basis, look *very* hard at
doing all distribution electronically.  The AT&T Software Toolchest people
consider this a major win, and refuse to supply magtapes even though they
are a bit cheaper in some situations.

4. If you must use magtapes, invest money and effort in getting good tapes
and keeping your tape drive tuned up.  Unreadable distributions are painful.
Supplying the tapes yourself is an order of magnitude less hassle than
trying to use tapes that customers send you.
-- 
"If you want PL/I, you know       Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
where to find it." -- DMR         {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry