Subj : perl files for fidonet
To   : Russ Johnson
From : Maurice Kinal
Date : Fri Jun 29 2001 06:29 am

Hey Russ!

Jun 28 17:03 01, Russ Johnson wrote to Maurice Kinal:

 > I just had a discussion with the author of bbbs. According to him, the 
 > reason you can't use tar.gz as an echomail archiver is because it can't 
 > append to an archive. This makes sense, since tar is used for writing 
 > to tape. 

Which *can* be appended to.  In fact I can append the exact same file over and 
over to a tape using tar if I feel like it.  tar will append to files.  As far 
a gzip goes I don't use compression on tapes but for transfers gzip is a good 
thing as well as on text files on disk.  (see zgrep if you need a good cause 
for text file compression)

 > I'll look into this a little more, but if that's the case, then, it 
 > would cause much lost mail.

Nope, it shouldn't lose anything.  It might due to circumstances beyond tar's 
control but tar itself is a faithful, trusty tool for this purpose, as well as 
other archiving duties.  It is a very good tool to have hanging around and 
loves to be exploited.  I say let us not disappoint it.

And that's the way this cookie crumbles,
Maurice

--- Msged/LNX TE 06 (pre)
 * Origin: Pointy Stick Society XII - One shy of a baker's dozen  (1:2320/38.9)

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