From:	jazz AT softway DOT com (Jason Zions)
Subject:	Re: .tar.gz
31 Jul 1997 08:46:48 -0700 :
Approved:	cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com
Distribution:	cygnus
Message-ID:	<33DFC10A.4FC1.cygnus.gnu-win32@softway.com>
References:	<009B7FFD DOT 653E8040 DOT 20198 AT ifk20 DOT mach DOT uni-karlsruhe DOT de>
Reply-To:	jazz AT softway DOT com
Mime-Version:	1.0
X-Mailer:	Mozilla 3.01Gold (WinNT; I)
Original-To:	dahms AT ifk20 DOT mach DOT uni-karlsruhe DOT de
Original-CC:	gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com
Original-Sender:	owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com

> But g*zip is not portable, either, only *compress is "standard" on unix.
> You can just as well install gtar, under that name, too (or link on Linux).

gzip/gunzip are a helluva lot more portable than compress/uncompress;
the code is universally available, and unencumbered by the Unisys patent
on LZW compression. The requirement for a patent license to ship
compress has driven us away from providing it; we use gzip/gunzip.

(It's worth noting that the FSF holds that the Unisys patent applies to
LZW compression, not decompression; thus, gzip won't use LZW
compression, but gunzip can uncompress files compressed with LZW.)

Jason Zions
Softway Systems Inc
http://www.OpenNT.com


-
For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to
"gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".

- Raw text -