Xref: utzoo comp.sources.d:2160 comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d:301
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mandrill!hal!ncoast!allbery
From: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Rich Garrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Standard for file transmission
Message-ID: <7810@ncoast.UUCP>
Date: 24 May 88 00:12:21 GMT
References: <292@cullsj.UUCP> <696@fig.bbn.com> <2932@cognos.UUCP> <3055@encore.UUCP> <4776@teddy.UUCP>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery)
Followup-To: comp.sources.d
Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh
Lines: 27

As quoted from <4776@teddy.UUCP> by jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson):
+---------------
| >The point is that an article which contains binary thats compressed and then
| >uuencode/btoa/your_favorite'd will lower the compression ration for the batch
| >that contains it.  The overall size of the batch will be smaller if the
| >included binary was just uuencoded, etc.
| 
| If this was TRUE, it would be a good argument.  It is NOT true.
| 
| Most binary files that are compressed, uuencoded, then compressed again
| are SMALLER than binary files that are simply uuencoded, then
| compressed.  I have yet to see anyone post results that refute this.
+---------------

Single files, yes.  But the quoted message above specifically says BATCHES.
Batches include messages of all kinds from multiple newsgroups; to verify
whether batch compression is reduced, we have to modify sendbatch to print
the compression ratio and then run sendbatch with both compressed and
uncompressed uuencodes to see which results in smaller batches.  (We also
need a non-destructive "test" mode for sendbatch to (a) insure that the
batches are otherwise identical and (b) not screw up news transmission.)
This would have to be done with a number of batches and the results averaged
in order to give us a reasonably accurate result.
-- 
	      Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc
	{well!hoptoad,uunet!marque,cbosgd,sun!mandrill}!ncoast!allbery
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