OSDev.org

Solar wrote:

Hell, it's so f*cking simple, I can write a tar.gz unpacker for you in ~20 lines...

Yep, you're cool. Actually posting the code, however, was a bit juvenile, don't you think?

Well technically you havent written it in 20 lines, as zlib is many more lines than that and you cant handle the gzip portion without it

I'm with Solar all they way. Just because you like another format better, or it has great support on all *nix systems doesn't change the point. You live in a bubble, one where you do not need to concern yourself about any end users or win systems - even admitted it yourself. Count end users with win vs *nix. ZIP is the most common, no rational way to debate that.

BTW, wasn't ZIP also proprietary in its early days? I thought it was.

Solar wrote:I don't need the utilities 'pkzip' or 'WinZip' to create or extract ZIP files. In fact, I don't think I ever have.

Yes, you do if you want to handle all feature of the format. OpenSource alternatives covers only a fraction of it.

brain wrote:Well technically you havent written it in 20 lines, as zlib is many more lines than that and you cant handle the gzip portion without it

Yes, that's why I wrote I was cheating.

bubach wrote:Just because you like another format better

It's not a question of taste. I have to deal with archives of which 99,9% are tar, and only 0,1% zip. I'm only saying zip is used for win mostly, and avoided by non-m$ world. I would have no objection, if Solar wrote "if you want to play it safe and go for maximum compatibility on desktops, there's nothing better in windows world". Got it?

Hobbes wrote:BTW, wasn't ZIP also proprietary in its early days? I thought it was.

It is proprietary now. Only basic structure of format is public domain, many features (among reasonable encryption and 64 bit extensions) are patent pendig. And a company holds the right to change the format, not a community or a standard. See http://www.pkware.com/documents/casestudies/APPNOTE.TXT
Some interesting quotes from the document:

from APPNOTE wrote: Copyright (c) 1989 - 2007 PKWARE Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Patch support is provided by PKPatchMaker(tm) technology and is covered under U.S. Patents and Patents Pending
The Strong Encryption technology defined in this specification is covered under a pending patent application
Contact PKWARE for licensing terms and conditions
The use or implementation in a product of certain technological aspects set forth in the current APPNOTE, including those with regard to strong encryption, patching or extended tape operations, requires a license from PKWARE.

...and so on.

Ah, forget it.

berkus wrote:

Solar wrote:But last time I looked, you couldn't open a .tar.gz as a folder in Windows Explorer, for example.

win7 supports them natively, XP needed a shell extension afaik.

As for .tar.gz: Selecting "Use the Web Service" just takes you to an MS page with links to third party software.

Windows XP+ support opening .zip files natively in Windows Explorer.

Cheers,
Adam

Solar wrote:Ah, forget it.

Well said. Locked.