Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!pilchuck!toad!jgray From: jgray@toad.pilchuck.Data-IO.COM (Jerry Late Nite Gray) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Re: ZOO vs PKARC Summary: Could ZOO be improved? Message-ID: <973@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM> Date: 15 Aug 88 20:32:04 GMT References: <3802@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU> <19807@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Sender: news@Data-IO.COM Lines: 65 In article <19807@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, mdf@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) writes: > In <3802@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU> ir230@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU (john wavrik) writes: > >I've used PKARC because it is fast and because of the support program > >PKFIND (it works like WHEREIS programs -- but will also search for a > >file inside archive files). > > ... > > STUFF is a wonderful tool. The only major thing left to put into ZOO > is the ability to create needed directories. It is a real drag to have > to create all the needed directories manually before I can un-ZOO an > archive. > -- I've noticed the same limitation to the point I refuse to use ZOO. DOS is such a pain there is no way to automate the process of CD'ing and MKDIR'ing to hell and back just to unarchive a complex collection. I tried experimenting with ZOO about a year ago and had hoped that this was just a lack of maturity in the product and I might test it again when it grows up. Sad to here that after a year it has not. There is one possibility though. We both might be misusing the product. How do all you ZOOites out there unpack a ZOO archive into non-existent subdirectories? I wonder if the present survey would show different results if someone would publish a document showing how one does comparative operations in both tools such as: 1) Blind packing of everything in present directory down into one archive file. 2) Same as (1) but onto multiple floppies, network (PC-NFS or NOVELL) drives and/or tape drives. 3) Blind unpacking of archive (we don't know what sub-directories are needed). 4) Archive inquiries. a) a directory of everything on archive. b) intelligent file/directory searches with RE wild cards (i.e. unix like "FIL*[A-Z]*.*Q*" search strings) c) file/directory statistics (size, dates, CRC, etc.). 5) IN general, how well it works with managing source and binaries on the net. 6) Peculiarities in going from DOS and UNIX. I would love to hear if there is a good automatic algorithm for conversions of mixed case, longer than 8 character Unix filenames into DOS filenames. That last one may seem odd, but I have often come across Unix based software with the desire to someday port it to a PC. It is annoying to have to unpack it, change the filename (and makefile) to fit DOS's conventions and repack it. --------------- Jerrold L. Gray UUCP:{ihnp4|caip|tektronix|ucbvax}!uw-beaver!tikal!pilchuck!jgray USNAIL: 10525 Willows Road N.E. /C-46 Redmond, Wa. 98052 (206) 881 - 6444 x470 Telex: 15-2167