Newsgroups: comp.sources.bugs
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Subject: Re: Problem with compress
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Date: Wed, 15 May 91 23:39:54 GMT
Message-ID: <1991May15.233954.27448@looking.on.ca>
References: <1991May14.044431.23932@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM> <26085:May1416:52:3491@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <1991May14.185447.2498@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1991May15.062504.28369@looking.on.ca> <3151@shodha.enet.dec.com>

No, the example I gave is not easy.   The current compress program
loses two letters of the filename on 14 char filesystems, and destroys
information such as the file's original length and access time, plus
it is *not* something you want to do if you're making a backup.

You could save this information in the compressed file, but by then you've
made 90% of an archiver.

The proper solution is an archiver which can call a arbitrary
compressing tool, but we don't have that.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473