Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!cseaman
From: cseaman@sequent.UUCP (Chris "The Bartman" Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Compressed archive format
Message-ID: <42058@sequent.UUCP>
Date: 8 Sep 90 00:50:28 GMT
References: <1990Aug25.180851.4401@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG| <6570029@hpindda.cup.hp.com> <9231@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Beaverton, OR
Lines: 42

olson@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Todd Olson) writes:
< In article <2909@corpane.UUCP> you write:
< >warren@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Warren Burnett) writes:
< >|/ hpindda:comp.sys.amiga / sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) /  2:52 pm  Aug 27, 1990 /
< >|> Lharc seems speed comparable with Zoo, maybe a bit slower at packing.

< >|HA! That's a laugh.  Even on my 68030 workstation lharc is slow.  Lharc 
< >|takes about five times as long as zoo does on compression and two to 
< >|three times as long as zoo on decompression, at least on the kinds of 

Last night I was running some fairly exhaustive (though non-scientific)
benchmarking of lharc versus zoo versus versus lharca versus lz.  The
most recent version of lharc (1.21) compressed 480K worth of IFF 8SVX
files down to 397K in 3:02, where zoo compressed the same files down to
a whopping 450K in :48.  Lharc took just under 4 times as long as zoo.
This is on a 5MB 2500/20, archiving to/from vd0:.

< John for an even better improvment over lhunarc, try LZ (el zed) by
< Jonathan Forbes, the same guy who wrote lhunarc, it is even faster
< and it also deos compression, all in all a Lharc replacement, the most
< current verion I have is .90.  It is really quick on a 2500/30!

Lz is **VERY** quick.  The archive I mentioned above was built in 2:12,
and de-archived in (are you ready?) 37 SECONDS!  However, there is
still the zero length file bug (which the documentation implies was
fixed).  Any zero length files cause a corrupt archive, which lz cannot
extract, although lharc can (to some extent).  It also has a peculiar
habit of generating a slightly different compressed size for some files
(usually only one or two bytes difference).  I know this is a nit, but,
if it is based on the same algorithm as lharc, it should generate
identical archives (lharca does).

< BTW it is shareware, and it looks as though there will be a check sent to
< Jonathon from Hawaii, unless he likes Mac nuts some some other guy :-)

If he can fix the bugs, I would register.  Until then I can't use it.

-- 
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