🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1jn10rINN87b@golem.wcc.govt.nz> wells_s@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz (Steve Wells) writes:

>> On a related topic, please do not upload .ZIP files to atari.archive,
>> as we do not have the facilities on the archive machine to check them
>> for errors and so on.  If your favorite new program came in a ZIP
>> archive, please re-pack it into ARC, ZOO, or LZH format before
>> uploading it to atari.archive.
>
>What a nuisance!

Sorry...supporting umpteen different archivers is a nuisance as well.

>What percentage of files are ever corrupt any-way!?  I've had problems
>with about 2 files I've gotten from a.a  and that's just because
>I had the wrong version of the de-archiver!

See what a good job we're doing? :-)

I'd say about one in 10 files I've examined in the New directory since
becoming an archiver has been corrupted.

There are many things that can cause corruption--uploading from your
home box to the machine you ftp from in text mode, ftp'ing the file
into the archive in text mode, using KERMIT-32 on a VAX/VMS box to
upload your software in BINARY instead of FIXED file format,
transmission errors in a correctly configured upload that may for some
reason not get noticed by the comm software you use...

These things happen.  That's one of the reasons we check software
before moving it into the archive dirs.  The other (and possibly more
important) reason is that some people (accidentally?) have uploaded
commercial software to the archive, and it would be a real pain if the
archive shut down because of legal hassles.

As for ZIP files, I've gotten lots of questions in email about the
archive's policy of not accepting ZIP's.  Some people have sent
helpful pointers to UNIX ZIPpers.  I've referred all of them to the
head honcho of the Atari archivists (weiner) since it was his decision
(though I certainly back him up 100%) to not accept ZIP's.

Some reasons (speaking for myself, and not weiner) why ZIP's shouldn't
be accepted on the archive:

1.  There's already too many damn archive formats.  The main reason
for using archives is so that you can transmit files more quickly
between two machines.  If you've got to spend all this time
downloading the newest Super-Mega-Ultra-Deluxe-Zappo-Archiver every
week or so just to keep up with things, the purpose is defeated.

2.  Until STZIP 2.1, there simply wasn't a reliable ZIPper for the ST.
I haven't messed with STZIP 2.1 too much so I can't really even say if
this newest one is reliable.

3.  ZOO 2.1 with high-compression mode (zoo ah foo.zoo files....)
gives better compression results on most files.

Cheers,
entropy

--
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