Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: notesfiles 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 UUCP: {hplabs,ihnp4!hpfcla}!hp-lsd!paul CSNET: hp-lsd!paul@hp-labs.csnet ARPA: hp-lsd!paul&hp-labs@csnet-relay.arpa