Subj : Re: I'm still waiting for somebody to offer constructive criticism
To   : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp
From : mes
Date : Sun Aug 21 2005 09:26 pm

Ulrich Hobelmann <u.hobelmann@web.de> wrote:

> So what?  Why would you need a binhex file?  Isn't stuffit one of the
> native packaging formats of the old Mac OS?  Just transfer the binary
> file to the Mac.  

Doesn't work -- old style mac binaries put important info in the
resource fork, which gets trashed if the file has to sit on a
non-HFS/HFS+ volume at some point.  Putting a normal .sit binary (of the
versions he can decode on his sys 7.5.5 mac) on a unix volume probably
destroys it.

Binhex was the standard solution for old macs that creates a file which
will survive on unix and windows filesystems (the resource fork also
ends up in the data stream and mac binhex->binary converters know what
to put back in the resource fork.  

I'm almost tempted to get the file myself, convert it binhex and email
to Robert, just to see what the next obstacle he comes up with will be.

Bad Michael, no biscuit!


Michael

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