Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!targon!andre
From: andre@targon.UUCP (andre)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: which archiver/compresser and encoder/decoder to use?
Keywords: archivers, compression, encoding
Message-ID: <1047@targon.UUCP>
Date: 20 Feb 90 08:16:02 GMT
References: <1513@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <3418@plains.UUCP> <1990Feb14.154555.2435@mks.com>
Reply-To: andre@targon.UUCP (andre)
Organization: Nixdorf Computer BV., DO, P.O. Box 29,Vianen, The Netherlands
Lines: 50

In article <1990Feb14.154555.2435@mks.com> andy@mks.com (Andy Toy) writes:
>What will we use?  We have used or are using arc, zoo and
>uuencode/uudecode.  Should we change to something new or avoid the
>hassle of yet another change?  If we are going to change (or not) then
>let's see what we have to work with.  Please make comments and
>additions about the following lists.  

    >Let me list the archive programmes that might be used:

    >       arc,pkarc,pkpak,...
    >       zoo
    >       pkzip
    >       lharc
    >       tar,cpio,shar/compress

    >Some important factors include portability, compression ratio, speed,
    >and ease of use.

    >Some of the possible encoding/decoding schemes that are available are:

    >       uuencode/uudecode
    >       atob/btoa
    >       abe
    >       xxencode/xxdecode

    >Considerations include portability, expansion ratio, ability to handle
    >multiple parts, keep clear text intact, and effect of network gateways.

My opinion is that we should keep using UU[de][en]code because we
know that it works (tested it for the last few years)
many people have unpack scripts that take news articles that use
uudecode to unpack and it is availlable almost everywhere. My second
vote would go to [ab]to[ba] as it is everywhere where news is
although probably not on many pc systems.

As for the archiver to be used, ZOO is my choice because it works on
many platforms, and I can test and re-pack archives on unix if I want
(I use unix tapes for backup of some pc stuff).
Also, I think a newsgroup should never force it's readers to use
software that is not free.

Finally, not so very long ago we had a poll on what to use,
the outcome was zoo. Why is it that this discussion has to come
up every few months? Do we have some sore losers in our midst ? :-)

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--more--| AAA   AAAvvvDDDDDD    Andre van Dalen, uunet!hp4nl!targon!andre