Beware of Blindly Un-SHARing a File

[tp at wucs.UUCP]

   I've been waiting for someone else to say this...

   naughtiness in shar files is only the tip of the iceberg. The program
contained in the shar may do bad things... the makefile that builds the 
program may do bad things...

    doesn't have to be anything malicious  -- I see a lot of makefiles
that would install things where I wouldn't want them or would write over
something important or were just simply incorrect  (a lot of the same can 
be said for the shar files; a lot of authors don't seem to anticipate system 
configurations different from their own).

    anyway, even if you could somehow arrange for secure transmission
of the source, you're not secure from someone who wants to do "bad things" 
or even from someone ignorant.

    if you want to be safe,
	  READ THE WHOLE THING FIRST.

    (do I follow my own advice? not always, but I try to take enough
precautions to avoid catastrophic disasters)

   ...tp...
      tom patterson   tp at wucs.UUCP   {ihnp4, cbosgd, seismo}!wucs!tp