KMH> I think the main reason that those apps are non-portable is that the KMH> people who write them have access only to Linux. They simply do not KMH> know how to write them in a portable style, nor do they envision ever KMH> owning a computer that runs any other Unix but Linux. These people have certainly benefitted from other who wrote portable software before them. Look at how many apps port (easily) to the cygwin32 stuff because the code is written for portability. We've all benefitted from the fact that elisp is portable between machines and relatively portable between emacsen. More than once i've pulled some source off a linux cd [1] to install something on my sparcstation, only to find it couldn't compile because it had a lot of linux specific code in it. We all benefit by being able to share as much code as possible with each other. jeff 1. We don't have an internet connection and this is one of the easiest way to get source in.