To all sysops:

  If you support C programming on your BBS, I encourage you to join the many
other sysops worldwide in making SNIPPETS and SNIPDIFF available for download
by your users/subscribers.

  One additional point for FidoNet sysops... Typically (1993 was the
exception), I release more than one SNIPPETS version per year. SNIP9404 is,
in my mind, mostly just a maintenance release. This is why I recommend that
when you set up your "magic" names for freq'ing, you use simply SNIPPETS and
SNIPDIFF. Since this is how I always refer to them, it does make freq'ing
easier on your callers.

  I *strongly* recommend to all sysops that older versions either be deleted
or moved to offline storage since each new release is intended to fully
supersede all previous releases.  The reasons for this are:

1.  The latest version has more bug fixes.

2.  The latest version has been modified to work with current compiler
    releases, as well as older releases previously supported.

3.  Sometimes older code is superseded by new code which works better, has
    more features, or includes the functionality of several older SNIPPETS
    entries.

4.  Some of the stuff that was taken out simply didn't work right, occasion-
    ally with unpredictable, possibly even catastrophic, results. Note that
    this can happen even with code that previously worked due to changes in
    operating systems or library functions.

5.  Some of the stuff which has been removed was legally questionable and
    using it in a commercial application could cause untold grief for both
    the person using it as well as yours truly.

  The bottom line is that if stuff is useful and any good, it stays in and
gets updated with each new release. If it fails any of those criteria, it
gets deleted. Since the only conceivable reason for retaining older versions
of SNIPPETS is to access things that have been removed, you can see why I
urge sysops to only keep the latest versions of SNIPPETS and SNIPDIFF (OK,
maybe you might want to keep the two most recent versions of SNIPDIFF, but
downloading two versions of SNIPDIFF to update a 2-revision old version of
SNIPPETS would save little, if any, download time!) 

  Thanks for your support of SNIPPETS and free source code!


Bob Stout
FidoNet:    1:106/2000.6
            C_Echo moderator (1990-1991, 1996-1997)
Internet:   rbs@snippets.org
            rbs@brokersys.com
SnailMail:  MicroFirm
            P.O. Box 428
            Alief, TX 77411
