Let me answer publicly two questions I've been asked quite often - why do I
insist on having EARN people sign things to get 1.6, and (I promise I won't
give the names of the people who asked this one :-) ), wouldn't it be possible
to get it "secretely", zap the release number in LOCAL SYSVARS, and the world
doesn't need to know that we've installed it.
Well, the answers are quite logical, I believe. Technically, it is very easy
to find out what version you are running, even without the RELEASE command.
There are new commands in 1.6, new options to old commands, there are things
which behave differently and, unless you take away everything I have added (in
which case I don't understand why you'd want to bother to get 1.6 in the first
place :-) ), it will be clear to someone with a minimum of technical skill
that you're not running 1.5o. Even assuming Exec members don't have the
required knowledge, they can easily ask Turgut or Niall. That is, there is
simply no point in "hiding", the Exec can find out who has received 1.6 from
me if they want to, and I personally have no desire to start playing Secret
Agent XYZ, trying to protect the Top Secret Black List of EARN sites which got
1.6 while the Soviet Union send that tall voluptuous blond she-spy to try to
recover it :-)
Given that EARN can find out who has dared to ignore their recommendation, and
that I trust them to use political pressure to fight off 1.6, I want to make
sure that, whenever I send release 1.6 to a site, it's going to stay there,
barring any technical problem. I don't want to get a phone call from the
Executive Director of the Computing Service Department of site X complaining
about the way I have sent unauthorized software to some of his staff without
informing him, when I knew that the use of this software on EARN is not
recommended, etc. I would hate to see a friend fired or "promoted" because I
have accepted to send him 1.6 "under the table". And, I am sure the network
would not appreciate the kind of sudden "fall back" that is usually
experienced in this kind of cases, ie the current LISTSERV minidisks
reformatted and all files restored as of the day before the Evil Software was
installed.
I'll try to come up with a letter that can be signed with little or no
interference from the lawyers department - something that just says "please
send me this, I understand I have nothing to pay but you can stop the service
any day, I certify I haven't signed any paper which would have canceled the
LISTSERV license agreement". But that's the best I can do - I hope I have made
myself clear and you understand why I have to dip 1.6 in red tape.
Eric
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