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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hp-pcd!hp-lsd!paul
From: paul@hp-lsd.UUCP (paul)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <900001@hp-lsd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 17:43:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hp-lsd.900001
Posted: Mon Jan 14 17:43:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Jan-85 04:34:32 EST
References: <-316600@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Colorado Springs, CO
Lines: 61
Nf-ID: #R:utah-cs:-316600:hp-lsd:900001:37777777600:2325
Nf-From: hp-lsd!paul    Jan 16 14:43:00 1985

One of the current ways of packaging files, par & unpar (alias SYS-V ar)
is neat and clean and fast but too limited (in my opinion) for what is
needed.  I'd like to see something:

No shell used - for security and speed

Ability to package directory trees (a la cpio and tar) (par can't do this)

Starts on a trigger string
	So that news and notes headers wouldn't get in the way - you could
	just pipe the article you're reading through the unpacking program.
	The program would not start unpacking until it received the trigger
	string.

Stops reasonably (by noting file lengths for example)
	So automatic signature lines don't mess it up.

Capability to send binary files in 7-bit ASCII or something
	gnu@sun mentioned mailing fonts and images

Ability to have the un-packer check to see that present files are not
destroyed.  (ie.. so .profile in the package wouldn't trash yours).

Ability to preserve file modes AND user/group names by name rather than number.

	This is less useful in general (accept maybe for news software) but
	real useful locally.

[fancy]
Ability to find out what the package contains (like tar tv)

Ability to restore selective files with wildcard matching (I have
wildcard matching routines available if needed)

Ability to package files by some flexible method
	cpio does this pretty well, tar does this poorly

By now, this should start to sound like a general-purpose archiving
system like cpio or tar.  Maybe, with all the current confusion
with cpio and tar (I hear tar might be disappearing) it's time to
write a good public-domain archiver?

We wouldn't need variable blocking factors - folks could just use 'dd' if
they needed blocking.  Much of the code already exists:

	Format of package could be stolen from SYS-V ar but extended to
	allow real path names and textual user/group names.

	'unpar' could be modified to unpack a package - it has to be
	fixed to wait for the trigger string before starting.

	Methods for packing binary files into 'safe' mailable formats
	abound.  Might even be a good idea to specify some standard
	for file compression too.

	Bourne shell wildcard matching routines are available from me.

		--Paul "Really dreaming now!" Bame
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