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[REBOL] Re: zip file support wanted - help needed

From: chris:starforge at: 14-Mar-2001 20:26

#14-Mar-01# Message from *Gisle Dankel*: Hi Gisle,
> I really like the fact that there's no shell access in Rebol/core. > It means I can take just about any script and use it on any computer, > which I do, all the time.
In an ideal world, or if REBOL supported all the facilities you would ever need for real life deployment, this would be great. But this is not an ideal world and REBOL does not support all the things that are needed. In my case, my hoster has disabled the SMTP deamon for security purposes, they can safely assume that people who want to write cgi scripts that generate emails can simply invoke sendmail /because every other language used for cgi can/. And, from asking around, this is a fairly common security precaution, not just a paranoid sys admin. And there are other situations where running external programs is helpful, even necessary. The feature may be abused to add "eye candy", but in my experience a lot of serious cgi coders can not take a language seriously unless it can at least launch other programs. Many of the coders I know stated the opinion that they thought REBOL overly restrictive , one even called it useless, after I discussed this problem with them. The fact that it is possible to do workarounds like I have is a point in REBOL's favour, but the fact that it is needed at all is a severe impediment to getting coders who use perl, python, c and the rest to convert. And unless RT want REBOL to end up as a niche company networking lanugange they are going to have to face this problem sooner or later IMO. A system or exec function may not be the easiest or nicest thing to include, but it is vital to any serious cgi scripting language.. Chris -- New sig in the works Explorer 2260, Designer and Coder http://www.starforge.co.uk -- Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier.