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From: klute@tommy.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: What archiving format?
Message-ID: <3564@laura.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jun 91 08:48:33 GMT
References: <1991Jun21.152722.17873@newcastle.ac.uk>
Sender: news@laura.UUCP
Organization: University of Dortmund, Germany
Lines: 34

In article <1991Jun21.152722.17873@newcastle.ac.uk>,
D.B.Barratt@newcastle.ac.uk (Dave Barratt) writes:
|> I'm a bit confused regarding the different formats available for 
|> archiving files e.g. arc, lharc, zoo etc. Is any one of these 
|> formats more efficient or reliable than the others, if so does 
|> this not make the others somewhat redundant? Is there any 
|> compatibility between the different formats? 

ARC:
Fast, reliable and effective. Since version 6.02 arc can archive complete
directories. Unfortunately it cannot store/extract dedicated files from a
directory :-(.

ZOO:
Not as fast as arc but very reliable. The most flexible archiving system.
You can put several versions of a file into an archive, associate comments
with archive elements and much more. Reading the zoo manual is really
worthwhile! Zoo archives need some more space than others. My favorite
archiver for larger distributions with nested directories. I also use it to
backup my program development directories because I can store several
versions of the source files.

LHARC:
Slow and unreliable. It has become popular because it has the best
compression factor. However, archiving and extracting is really slow. There
are several not always compatible LHarc versions by different authors
floating around. So if you don't have the right LHarc you might not be able
to extract an archive at all. Just say NO.

-- 
  Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
  Univ. Dortmund, IRB             klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
  Postfach 500500         |)|/    Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
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