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Supported

¸attributesupported

All computer files reach a stage of stagnation, where for various reasons, their authors no longer maintain them. Nevertheless, it is helpful to know whether the author of a given file is interested in hearing of problems or comments, and the file header can say so by an entry like this one:

%%%     supported       = "yes",

If it says yes, this does not provide any guarantee that any problems reported will be fixed, but just that the author's intentions are good, and reasonable efforts will be made to do so. Some authors even care so much about their work that they offer monetary rewards for reports of bugs and errors.

If it says no, then you are on your own, because the author never wants to hear from you on the subject of this particular file.

Other attribute values can be readily imagined, like only for money, cash in advance, but a simple yes or no is probably adequate for most people.

telephone, time, supported, Attribute descriptions



Nelson H. F. Beebe
11/29/1997