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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rochester!cornell!uw-beaver!tikal!hplsla!davidr
From: davidr@hplsla.HP.COM (   David M. Reed)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Incompatibilities Re: pkarc v3.5 and arc v5.20
Message-ID: <5280008@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: Fri, 26-Jun-87 16:23:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: hplsla.5280008
Posted: Fri Jun 26 16:23:31 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Jun-87 14:08:22 EDT
References: <2129@whuts.UUCP>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 26


In my opinion, it was wrong for PKX to create a file (by default)  with a .ARC
extension  that cannot be read by the  standard ARC program.  They should have
the  extension  .PKX unless the archive is created  compatible  with SEA's ARC
program (in which case a .ARC extension is acceptable).  (Likewise, ZOO should
put on a .ZOO  extension  to  their  archives.)  This is, as  pointed  out, an
important consideration (and the value of extensions), becuase one can usually
determine what a file is for, or how to use it, by that extension (.COM, .BAT,
.EXE, .BAS, .DOC, .C, .PAS, .ASC, .DRW, etc.).

And while the new  environment  variable can be considered  nice by many, I do
not care for becuase I find my environment getting full (and I already have it
defined,  under 3.1, as /E60).  With the growing length of PATH, and space for
a prompt that is  meaningful,  plus variables for my editor, for LESS, for LAN
software,  for the  compiler,  etc., I am close to a point  of  choice  making
(which ones can be sacrificed) that I do not want to have to deal with.

And I personally do not like the idea of self  unpacking  archives  (but it is
acceptable  for the archive  program to  self-extracting).  First, because the
extension  does not truly  convey  what the file is about,  and  secondly  the
access to that  file.  Whenever I send files to someone  (by their  request) I
have always put the files into an archive,  which is then  UUENCODED.  If they
do  not  have  ARC  to  extract  the  file,  then I  send  along  a  UUENCODED
self-extracting  ARC program.  I feel it is most valuable for EVERYONE to have
a copy of ARC for their  benefit (I consider it  invaluable,  and do all of my
backups to archive files for space considerations and group organization, etc.)