-=> Quoting Bob Lawrence to John Tserkezis <=-

Hello Bob,

 BL> Yes... that's what I'll do eventually. I'm just surprised that the
 BL> Internet is 13 years old and no one has done it already. It tells you
 BL> something abouy uni-wankers, doesn't it? There are professors,
 BL> uniwankers and engineers.
 
 I think they used the "don't fix it if it 'aint broke"
philosophy.  I believe
if it aint broke, it aint working well enough.

 JT> You run the decompressor over the file every time. If it
 JT> detects cunbatch, use compress method, if gunbatch,
 JT> gnucompress, if zunbatch or whatever, use zip, and if nothing
 JT> else, assume it's already decompressed and leave it.

 BL> The way to do it is to remove the unbatch line (what does it do
 BL> anyway?) and design a compressor that does all three formats and
 BL> identifies all three, and use that compressor to open the files one at
 BL> a time. That way, you only load one compressor and you only open each
 BL> file once.

 That's what I've been saying.  If you HAVE a method of detecting what type of
compression is used, (the cuntbatch line) then USE it.  Put that in the gzip
program.

 BL> My old version (1993 before the Lempel-Zev furore) of gzip
 BL> does that, but does not strip the unbathc line. Unfortunately, I don't
 BL> have the source for it, and gnu is not public domain anyway.

 I've just read the GNU general public license, and it says you can modify a
program, but you must have clear notes that your program is based on another
whatever program, include the source or make available the source, have the
proper copyright notices, and your work inherits the same GNU licence as the
original program you based your work on.

 If Gzip is GNU, modify it, and then post it on a bbs or wherever.  You have
then complied with the "make publically available" bit of the GNU license.

 Public domain means you have the above rights, plus the next person who picks
it up can do WHATEVER they like with the program and/or source.

John Tserkezis, Sydney, Oz. Fidonet: 3:712/610  Internet: jt{at}suburbia.com.au

... Hardware buffs DO IT in nanoseconds
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