Newsgroups: comp.compression
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!bat!eirik
From: eirik@wonton.TN.Cornell.EDU (Eirik Fuller)
Subject: Re: Silliness in compress(1)
In-Reply-To: ch@dce.ie's message of 12 Apr 91 10:11:21 GMT
Message-ID: <EIRIK.91Apr18204209@wonton.TN.Cornell.EDU>
Sender: news@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu
Nntp-Posting-Host: wonton.tn.cornell.edu
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
References: <1991Apr10.193729.28574@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Apr12.101121.9897@dce.ie>
Date: 18 Apr 91 20:42:09


A related question: why does compress refuse to compress links?

I think a warning message about a link would be entirely appropriate,
since it would inform a user about the likelihood of the failure of
compress to free up the space taken up by the original file.  What if
I don't want to free up that space?  What if I want the file in both
forms (compressed and uncompressed) without copying the uncompressed
version?

Utter refusal to leave a compressed copy of the file, particularly
after it went to the trouble of compressing it first, seems to fit
this Subject line pretty well.

I understand that I could just "compress < file > file.Z ; rm file",
but that doesn't preserve permissions and modtime.
