BL> Isn't that normal? If you zip a file ten times you get ten
 BL> subtly different zipped-sizes, all with the same CRC. It's a
 BL> bloody nuisance,

 FM> Are you sure about that? Ten different times with the same h/w
 FM> & s/w congig?

  I checked it again and Paul is right. But I tested it once before
when I was writing a QWK reader trying to use the zipped size to
identify the QWK packet... and I kept getting a different size. God
knows why.

 FM> See my message to Paul. If the compression algorithm can use
 FM> more memory to keep a larger table, it can compress more
 FM> effectively. Here's an example, loosely based on Richard
 FM> Brent's compression algorithm...

  Ahhh... that's possible. It was in VB and I was calling PKZIP.
Perhaps Windows gave me different memory each time! It's certainly not
doing it now, as a straight zip with lots of cache.

 FM> Hopefully I haven't made any arithmetic errors there, in
 FM> calculating the offsets backwards into the file. If I have, you
 FM> should get the idea anyway.
 FM> Oh, I've just noticed that I could have replaced the
 FM> "he" string near the end with a pair too, can't be
 FM> bothered recalculating.

  I see it all. Thanks for going to the trouble. Compression is on my
list of things to learn about (after I've conquered zmodem).

Regards,
Bob

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