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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: New Computer Utility: STRIP
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1993 20:41:20 -0500
There is a wonderful program for UNIX called 'strip' that removes
redundant symbol tables from executables, thus reducing their sizes.

For Shadowrun:

UTILITY: STRIP
Cost: (something to be determined when I have VR in front of me)
Effect: Reduces sizes of programs, no impact on speed or function.

In order to use STRIP, it must be a self written program. STRIP will not
work on pre-designed programs.

HOW IT WORKS:

Inside every MCP series, is what is known as the 'global symbol table'.
Every program that is compiled also has its own personal symbol table. By
removing the personal symbol table from a program, you are able to reduce
its size and the program will use the MCPs table.

Unfortunately, the drawback is that programs are no longer portable once
stripped. They are unique to the MCP they were stripped on and will
simply not function on another machine.

Pre-designed programs cannot be stripped unless they are decompiled and
recompiled specifically for the local MCP.

Running strip on a program will reduce its size by (MCP Rating x 5)
percent, as the rating partially indicated the size of the symbol table.
[ie, a 100mp program will become 70mp if stripped on a MCP:6 deck).

-----
AUTHOR COMMENTS:

This is a realistic utility based on present day UNIX programs. It has
benefits (reduced size) and drawbacks (non-portability, unable to be used
on pre-designed programs). Has some potential for munchkanism, but
realism balances that out.

{[> Robert A. Hayden ____ hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu <]}
{[> \ /__ hayden@****.cs.mankato.msus.edu <]}
{[> \/ / aq650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu <]}
{[> #include <std_disclaimer.h> \/ <]}
-=-=-
GEEK CODE v1.0.1: GSS d- -p+(---) c++(++++) l++ u++ e+/* m++(*)@ s-/++
n-(---) h+(*) f+ g+ w++ t++ r++ y+(*)

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Random Thought:

"Life is full of surprises when you're up th' stream of consciousness
without a paddle..."
-- Zippy the Pinhead
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Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.