Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!botter!star.cs.vu.nl!ast
From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: compression + distribution
Message-ID: <3078@ast.cs.vu.nl>
Date: 26 Aug 89 12:10:46 GMT
References: <20051@louie.udel.EDU>
Reply-To: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Organization: VU Informatica, Amsterdam
Lines: 30

In article <20051@louie.udel.EDU> Leisner.Henr@xerox.com (marty) writes:
>For distribution, I was unhappy with the tons of compressed ar files -- I'd
>rather see source trees in compressed tar format.  
For V2.0, I am going to make a single distribution for PC/XT/AT/386, instead
of separate ones for the PC and AT.  This means that I will have to use 360K
diskettes or the PC guys won't be able to read the disks.  With such a
small medium, tars of whole trees won't work.  If somebody wants to hack
MINIX-tar into POSIX tar (described in section 10.1.1 of the P1003.1 standard),
I'll certainly consider using that instead of MINIX ar, but probably on
individual directories, not whole trees in most cases.  In any event, I'll
include an 'install' shell script next time.

>Perhaps the answer is not ship all the source code.
One of the advantages of USENET over face-to-face communication is that
people can't throw rotten eggs, overripe tomatos, etc. at you.  I have a
hunch that this suggestion will not increase your popularity in this group.
I intend to include all the sources, except maybe for a few very large items
that are widely available via other channels, like elle, kermit and the C
compiler.

>I don't know how workable this is -- it's just a suggstion (I'd hate to see
>all the good user contributed software drive up the price of the product).
I think that having all the software available in one box is a valuable
convenience to many people.  Besides, even with 20 disks, I doubt that
the price would go up that much (maybe $110 at most).  The economics
of publishing are funny.  The MINIX book is 719 pages and lists for $46.
My networks book is 658 pages and lists for $55.  Clearly manufacturing cost
isn't the only factor.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)