From:	mert0407 AT sable DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk (George Foot)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: Why not to use 'tar' before packing DJGPP?
Date:	8 Nov 1996 12:58:28 GMT
Organization:	Oxford University, England
Lines:	46
Message-ID:	<55vapk$s4l@news.ox.ac.uk>
References:	<32823D97 DOT 44DD AT sabat DOT tu DOT kielce DOT pl> <3282A82E DOT 7EE7 AT cs DOT com>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	sable.ox.ac.uk
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

John M. Aldrich (fighteer AT cs DOT com) wrote:
:
: Grzegorz Kolodziej wrote:
: >
: >  Why don't you use tar before zipping  DJGPP  or
: > contributed packages?

: 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 have to agree; I was a lowly Dos user, and had to untar some files 
(under Unix) for a BBC Emulator (no, really...) - I didn't know where to 
start. However, what about making the DJGPP-compiled untar utility 
available along with a few quick instructions in a separate .zip? I can't 
remember off the top of my head, but I think I downloaded a few text 
files back in the dark ages before I used DJGPP, to discover which zips 
to download. All it would need would be a line in there saying, "But 
first, get this...".

Not that I really understand tar anyway, but those compression ratios 
look good... maybe you could just tar the source files? People who are 
interested in the source code of the compiler are more likely to know 
what they're doing with tar anyway.

If the proposition is to tar the source, then zip it up, why not tar it, 
then zip it along with untar.exe (or whatever) and instructions?

What happened to the installer, anyway? I remember seeing here long ago a 
thread on this topic... to me, it seems a good idea. DJGPP seems to have 
moved from being a Unix-style compiler with warnings in the readmes 
saying 'don't even consider learning to program on this' to a friendly 
compiler anyone can use. An installation utility would improve this 
appearance still further.

--
George Foot

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