From:	"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: Why not to use 'tar' before packing DJGPP?
Date:	Thu, 07 Nov 1996 19:25:34 -0800
Organization:	Three pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
Lines:	34
Message-ID:	<3282A82E.7EE7@cs.com>
References:	<32823D97 DOT 44DD AT sabat DOT tu DOT kielce DOT pl>
Reply-To:	fighteer AT cs DOT com
NNTP-Posting-Host:	ppp105.cs.com
Mime-Version:	1.0
To:	Grzegorz Kolodziej <kolodzie AT sabat DOT tu DOT kielce DOT pl>
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Grzegorz Kolodziej wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> 
>  Why don't you use tar before zipping  DJGPP  or
> contributed packages?
>  It can give some savings of space needed for them
> and reduce time of downloading.
>   Of course it'll be effective when used with
> archives containing a big ammount of files which have
> similar structure (i.e. all the source archives).
>  I'm connected to a network through a not very fast link,
> so it would be great to me to save an hour or two when D/L
> new version of DJGPP.

Because most DOS users don't have an untar utility available.  Everybody
does have PKUNZIP.  DJGPP comes with an untar program, 'djtar', but
obviously you have to install the package before you can use it.

I suppose you could create an alternate distribution that contained
.tar.gz files instead of .zips, but you'd probably have trouble
convincing the Simtel people that there are enough interested users to
justify the extra file space.

BTW, I have a mere 14.4 connection and I don't mind the download times. 
Usually I just use Netscape and read news/mail while the downloads are
going.  :)  I'm going to upgrade to a 33.6 soon....

-- 
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| John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I  |        fighteer AT cs DOT com         |
| Plan:  To find ANYONE willing to |   http://www.cs.com/fighteer   |
| play Descent 2 on DWANGO!        | Tagline: <this space for rent> |
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