Article View: comp.sources.bugs
Article #645Re: Problem with compress
From: Mark Adler
Date: Tue, 14 May 1991 18:54
Date: Tue, 14 May 1991 18:54
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In article <26085:May1416:52:3491@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
>I think compressors should ignore problems like this. They shouldn't
>open files, they shouldn't close files, they shouldn't do anything but
>read data and write compressed data. This also makes them more portable.
>A separate, system-dependent program can do the dirty work.
I agree completely. That's what tar is for. If you do something like:
tar covf - foo | compress -c > foo.tar.Z
any symbolic links in the directory foo will be stored as such, and
hard links will only be stored once.
Despite my agreement though, I'm involved in writing a Zip program for
Unix, which tries to cover the functions of tar and compress, and do
them better. Hypocrisy makes life easier. :-)
Mark Adler
madler@pooh.caltech.edu
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!madler From: madler@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) Newsgroups: comp.sources.bugs,comp.compression Subject: Re: Problem with compress Message-ID: <1991May14.185447.2498@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Date: 14 May 91 18:54:47 GMT References: <1991May14.044431.23932@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM> <26085:May1416:52:3491@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Lines: 19