Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!iscuva!carlp
From: carlp@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Carl Paukstis)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: ZOO/ARC Discussion
Message-ID: <1456@iscuva.ISCS.COM>
Date: 4 May 88 19:39:52 GMT
References: <827@uvm-gen.UUCP> <21371@amdcad.AMD.COM> <25745@clyde.ATT.COM>
Organization: ISC Systems Corporation, Spokane, WA
Lines: 37
Keywords: Zoo Arc

In article <25745@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes:
>In article <21371@amdcad.AMD.COM>, phil@amdcad.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai) writes:
>
>> My understanding is that zoo can handle directories and arc can't.  If
>> that is true, it would seem zoo is preferable. 
>
>Will someone please explain why any archiver's ability to
>handle directories is important for transmitting binaries
>on USENET?

Ahem.  The ORIGINAL note, to which Mr. Ngai's note replied was, if I
remember correctly, asking for advice about which archiver to use for
setting up one's own shareware/PD library.  However, much of the same
reasoning should apply.

The directory capability makes it easy to PACKAGE program environments,
not single binaries.  I'm belaboring the obvious point when I say that many
useful binaries require several support files for configuration, option
setup, etc.  With really useful software getting ever more complex, it is
desirable to organize a PACKAGE into a main directory and one or more
subdirectories, to minimize the number of uninformative file names the
end-user need see when in the PACKAGE directory.

This is not to say that a hierarchy-maintaining archiver is VITAL (one can
always provide INSTALL.BAT files to do the dirty work), only that is
preferable to use one if it is available.

On the issue of Usenet transmission, I am of two minds.  On the one hand, I
have acquired several VERY useful PC-type things this way, and I'd hate to
give it up.  On the other hand, I sympathize with those who pay the
transmission costs (I don't) and would rather not transmit/receive large
chunks of stuff.
-- 
Carl Paukstis    +1 509 927 5600 x5321  |"I met a girl who sang the blues
                                        | and asked her for some happy news
UUCP:     carlp@iscuvc.ISCS.COM         | but she just smiled and turned away"
          ...uunet!iscuva!iscuvc!carlp  |                    - Don MacLean