Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!hsdndev!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd
From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.compression
Subject: Re: Silliness in compress(1)
Message-ID: <26381:Apr1909:32:1491@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 09:32:14 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.193729.28574@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Apr12.101121.9897@dce.ie> <EIRIK.91Apr18204209@wonton.TN.Cornell.EDU>
Organization: IR
Lines: 11

(I am not sure this article is appropriate for comp.compression.)

In article <EIRIK.91Apr18204209@wonton.TN.Cornell.EDU> eirik@wonton.TN.Cornell.EDU (Eirik Fuller) writes:
> A related question: why does compress refuse to compress links?

Because it's easy to write a program that replaces the link with a new
copy. That solves the problem for all compressors. You can't expect
compress to include everyone's favorite filesystem operation; it works
fine for the vast majority of cases.

---Dan