Beyond shar (Re: shars and security concerns.)

[Warren Tucker]

In article <18275 at rpp386.cactus.org> jfh at rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:
>In article <H9631XCxds13 at ficc.uu.net> peter at ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>>I also agree that shars are getting out of hand. "shar" was a good idea for
>>
>The reason shar's were such a hot idea was that you could unwrap
>shar's with tools you knew you had on the receiving side already.
>The tools pre-dated the sharchive format ...

Like sh?  I still have that tool.  Shar 3.21, cshar, shar2 and _ALL_ the
other shars work well with the bourne shell.  Stuff useful to systems
other than UNIX should not be packed with shar3.  I would be very sorry
if auth had been packed with VMS DCL wrappers, since I _don't_ think it
works there.  Pack VMS source with DCL, insurance records with IBM tape
labels, guns with gelatin and UNIX sources with shell archives.

Really guys, to drive the point one more bloody inch into the ground,
if you are worried about the color and shape of the envelope, the
letter inside is really gonna keep you busy analyzing for aeons.
Maybe you will answer the halting question and prove correctness
in the process.

If your machine can't handle the shar format, nothing I put in them will
do more than make your compiler will vomit or your command line interpreter
say "NO SUCH COMMAND: MAKE".

Anyone who thought the _alt.sources_ shar thingie was an attempt to
supplant all known shars or to shake the hypchondriac compulsive fringe
is being deluded by their own pathetic sense of self-importance.

If Haugh wants to call me a busybody, I call him a brown shirt.  Now we
are equally equal to sewage, square in flame vs.  flame.  If he flames
me again, he shall remain one or more up forever.  If a few want to make
a religious issue of a collection of bits, count me out.  I've had my
full say here.  I promise not to post on this subject again unless
someone brings up a new, cogent idea.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Warren Tucker, TuckerWare gatech!n4hgf!wht or wht%n4hgf at gatech.edu
McCarthyism did to cinema what ANSI did to C,  cast a great number
of characters into the void.