Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:20793 comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d:1265 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ncar!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!nelson From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Re: DESCRIBE.TXT Message-ID: Date: 3 Nov 88 04:30:24 GMT References: <7377@dasys1.UUCP> Sender: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu Organization: Clarkson University Lines: 27 In-reply-to: tneff@dasys1.UUCP's message of 2 Nov 88 15:15:47 GMT Any sysop dumb enough to cumulatively de-ARC one package after another into the same directory rather than checking them out one at a time, deserves whatever he gets. How about "pkxarc *.arc *.dsc", which gives a real quick look at all of the archive files in the subdirectory? ... README is an excellent convention, used by pd programmers and commercial vendors alike. Wrong, at least for my purposes. There is usually no attempt in a README file to be succint, nor is there any easy way for a sysop to distill a README file into a 40 column description. With a .dsc file, the sysop can merely do a 'head -1' on it to get the 40 column description. README is insufficient to convince lusers why they would want to bother with a package. I want something where my lusers can do a quick scan of the 40 column descriptions and decide if they want to read the ten line description. Heck, I'll probably even create a local group called, say, comp.pc.dsc, and post description files there: tail +2 $1 | inews -t `head -1 $1` -n comp.pc.dsc -d local Wasn't I being clear enough? -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) To surrender is to remain in the hands of barbarians for the rest of my life. To fight is to leave my bones exposed in the desert waste.