Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!hi-csc!tim
From: tim@tim.UUCP (Tim Giebelhaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: APR's and patches
Message-ID: <331@tim.UUCP>
Date: 10 Apr 89 20:01:00 GMT
References: <13047@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: tim@tim.UUCP (Tim Giebelhaus)
Organization: mpls
Lines: 36

In article <13047@watdragon.waterloo.edu> dvadura@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Dennis Vadura) writes:
>On the topic of APR's etc.  Does Apollo make patches available via
>anonymous ftp?  If not why not.  Seems this is the quickest way for
>people to obtain patches rather than having to call up, get patch tape,
>or wait for new release.

Currently patches are available to customers with service contracts
who call in to the hot line.  

Because of the discussion on the net about ftp patches, there is a
discussion in Apollo about whether to make patches available for
ftp.  There are some problems with this: 

1) Would this be a valid (not for profit) use of the Internet?

2) This would make patches available to people who do not pay for
   service (perhaps raising the cost to those who do pay).

3) It would make patches difficult to control.  That is, patches
   are dangerous as they are not fully tested.  Installing many
   patches will almost surely make a system unusable.  With the 
   hot line's help, patches can be installed with care.

There are other issues also.  This does not mean Apollo will or
will not make their patches available via ftp.  It is still
being discussed.

There is a system which I have refered to before which will help
find out what is available via patches, though.  This is the
new bulletin board.  The bulletin board will make all sorts of 
information available in a more timely fashion.  As I have said
before, please contact your local office for more information.
-- 
UUCP: uunet!hi-csc!apcimsp!tim
ARPA: tim@apollo.com
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