From: bk AT cheerful DOT com (Bill Klein) Subject: Re: EXE has file junk in it 6 Jun 1997 16:10:33 -0700 Approved: cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Distribution: cygnus Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970605181738.00bae550.cygnus.gnu-win32@pop.total.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Sender: bklein AT pop DOT total DOT net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.2 (32) Original-To: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com In-Reply-To: <199706041232.IAA26043@ns1.co.alachua.fl.us> Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Dean Limbaugh wrote: >A word about MSDOS/WIN95/WINNT. Files sizes are always an integral number >of clusters. This means a 1 byte file occupies a full cluster. Apparently, >when a file is written to disk the unused portion of the buffer is not >cleared, so whatever was there is written to the disk. This has been the >case from DOS 1.0 and even Apple ][ proDOS. So thw behavior you see happens >to ever program that writes a file. No, I don't think this is the problem here. For example, say you create a text file that is, say, 2KB. Now it might be taking up that minimum-cluster-deal on your HD, but if you were to then transfer it to someone else, you would only need to transfer that 2KB file - there is nothing else actually *in* the file... it just needs some extra wasted space when it is on your hard drive. The case with the EXEs that GNU Win32 creates is different. It is actually creating an EXE with a certain size, and inside that size (not outside as in the case of the cluster thing), is some garbage information or whatever... If you then transfer that EXE to someone else, the garbage stays with it, unlike the text file. Bill Klein - http://bk.base.org/ "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." -David Hume - 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".