zip vs. tar.gz 2752
wrote in comp.os.linux.misc: So presumably you will only use Windoze compatible programs otherwise how will you access the data when the friend does not have those programs on his-her...
Michael Goerz ... snip ...
Both are well supported in both milieu. For zip and unzip, see the info-zip.org pages. For tgz see the DJGPP pages (delorie.com). Neither is supported out-of-the-box on Windows.
tgz (the usual appellation for gzipped tar) files are vulnerable to damage. Once damage occurs everything from that point on is lost. With zip, the damage is limited to files in which the damage occurs. You also get the ability to extract individual files in zip. This used to make a huge difference in the days when storage was limited to floppies, or overstuffed hds. On the other hand, net compression is usually slightly better with tgz.
For files that must be tranmitted over networks, I recommend bzip2 over gzip. The extra compression over gzip can significantly reduce transmission time. This is also available under all systems.
For backup purposes, look into ARJ. (arjsoftware.com). This has useful abilities with respect to error recovery, incremental backups, etc. The learning curve can be steep.
In general, remember that compression usually takes significantly more time and resources than does decompression. This especially applies to bzip2.
-- Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net) Available for consulting-temporary embedded and systems.
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