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From: BECKER%HUMBER.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (Bruce Becker)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: sending source code
Message-ID: <631@louie.udel.EDU>
Date: Sun, 25-Oct-87 20:40:45 EST
Article-I.D.: louie.631
Posted: Sun Oct 25 20:40:45 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Oct-87 05:42:21 EST
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
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1). current versions of uuencode substitute '`' (accent) for " " (space)
    in order to deal with problems of blank-stripping - it should not actually
    matter for "EOL" strippers, but multiple-blank-collapsers would cause
    problems...
2). For every compression method you or I could come up with, there are always
    a dozen "better" ones that we never heard of, or don't have a way to
    implement, etc...
3). The problem decomposes into about 3 levels - a). archiving like "arc" or
    "tar"; b). compression for efficiency; c). transmission media transparency.
    So - use "tar" & "compress" to handle a). & b)., AND port "arc" to satisfy
    the "BBS" world; c). is solved apprpriately to the transmission system -
    x/y-modem, uuencode, etc. The problem with EBCDIC is not serious for
    uuencoded files - a simple "ascii-to-Ebcdic" filter is required if not
    already provided by the transmission services. Any translation
    peculiarities are then resolved in the local version of uuencode/decode...
4). The "gist" of what i'm saying is - please try to build on the existing
    universe of utilities as much as you can - that way the "UNix-ness" is
    most fully accounted for... Some may say that MINIX now provides the chance
    to redo that which Unix tried poorly at - perhaps what you propose falls
    into such a category, but I'd like to see more analysis as to what needs
    improvement/replacement, etc...
5). So this is an invitation for discussion about the "growth" & enhancement
    of MINIX - are my concerns to "bureaucratic", or is such caution useful?
    Ken's in the process of putting out something that's going to be a fair
    amount of work - I hope he can get as much advice as possible up front...

Cheers, BBecker    Humber College   Etobicoke, Ont.