compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Hubert Garavel]

Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.

This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/

My experience is that the code of ncompress-4.2.4.4 compiled perfectly
using a GCC 3 cross-compiler targeted to Mingw:
     $CC_WIN32-gcc -DDOS -D_IBMR2 compress42.c -o compress.exe

It is likely that compiling with Cygwin would be even easier.

-- 
',',',',',',',',',',' Hubert GARAVEL           | Inria - LIG / CONVECS
',',',',',',',',',',' hubert.garavel@inria.fr  | 655, avenue de l'Europe
',',',',',',',',',',' tel: +(33) 4 76 61 52 24 | 38330 Montbonnot St Martin
',',',',',',',',',',' fax: +(33) 4 76 61 52 52 | France
',',',',',',',',',',' http://convecs.inria.fr


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Tim Prince]

On 08/23/2013 10:11 AM, Hubert Garavel wrote:
>
> Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
> the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
> to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
> on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.
>
> This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
> project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
>
> My experience is that the code of ncompress-4.2.4.4 compiled perfectly
> using a GCC 3 cross-compiler targeted to Mingw:
>     $CC_WIN32-gcc -DDOS -D_IBMR2 compress42.c -o compress.exe
>
> It is likely that compiling with Cygwin would be even easier.
>
Interesting reading about how compress returned to public domain 9 years 
ago after being restricted in in various ways for 20 years (and there 
remain some hidden restrictions).  I think it's an exaggeration to say 
most unix-like systems ignored those restrictions.

-- 
Tim Prince


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Hubert Garavel]

> and there remain some hidden restrictions.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compress#History) does not say so:

"The US LZW patent expired in 2003, so it is now in the public domain
in the United States. All patents on the LZW worldwide have also expired
(see Graphics Interchange Format#Unisys and LZW patent enforcement)."

Also, http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/ states that
"The ncompress code is released into the public domain."

> I think it's an exaggeration to say most unix-like systems ignored those restrictions.

Compress is present on recent Solaris, Mac OS X, and available on Linux
(e.g., ncompress package on Debian).

Quoting again Wikipedia,
"gzip and bzip2 increased in popularity on Linux-based operating systems due to their
alternative algorithms, along with better file compression. compress has, however,
maintained a presence on Unix and BSD systems."

For porting legacy software to Cygwin, the absence of compress is just annoying.

-- 
',',',',',',',',',',' Hubert GARAVEL           | Inria - LIG / CONVECS
',',',',',',',',',',' hubert.garavel@inria.fr  | 655, avenue de l'Europe
',',',',',',',',',',' tel: +(33) 4 76 61 52 24 | 38330 Montbonnot St Martin
',',',',',',',',',',' fax: +(33) 4 76 61 52 52 | France
',',',',',',',',',',' http://convecs.inria.fr


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Corinna Vinschen]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1012 bytes --]

On Aug 23 16:11, Hubert Garavel wrote:
> 
> Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
> the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
> to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
> on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.
> 
> This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
> project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
> 
> My experience is that the code of ncompress-4.2.4.4 compiled perfectly
> using a GCC 3 cross-compiler targeted to Mingw:
>     $CC_WIN32-gcc -DDOS -D_IBMR2 compress42.c -o compress.exe
> 
> It is likely that compiling with Cygwin would be even easier.

Why not, but "somebody" (you?) will have to create and maintain the
32 and 64 bit packages as the official Cygwin package maintainer.


Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Maintainer                 cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Red Hat

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 836 bytes --]

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Yaakov (Cygwin/X)]

On Fri, 2013-08-23 at 17:09 +0200, Corinna Vinschen wrote:

> On Aug 23 16:11, Hubert Garavel wrote:
> > 
> > Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
> > the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
> > to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
> > on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.
> > 
> > This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
> > project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
> 
> Why not, but "somebody" (you?) will have to create and maintain the
> 32 and 64 bit packages as the official Cygwin package maintainer.

http://cygwin-ports.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=cygwin-ports/ncompress

Note that on Fedora, uncompress is provided by ncompress, not gzip,
although that is not mandatory.


Yaakov



--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Corinna Vinschen]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1334 bytes --]

On Aug 23 12:23, Yaakov (Cygwin/X) wrote:
> On Fri, 2013-08-23 at 17:09 +0200, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> 
> > On Aug 23 16:11, Hubert Garavel wrote:
> > > 
> > > Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
> > > the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
> > > to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
> > > on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.
> > > 
> > > This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
> > > project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
> > 
> > Why not, but "somebody" (you?) will have to create and maintain the
> > 32 and 64 bit packages as the official Cygwin package maintainer.
> 
> http://cygwin-ports.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=cygwin-ports/ncompress

Assuming that you're willing to provide this package in the main distro...

> Note that on Fedora, uncompress is provided by ncompress, not gzip,
> although that is not mandatory.

...it would probably make a lot of sense to move uncompress from
gzip to ncompress.

Chris, as gzip maintainer, do you have any problem with that?


Corinna


-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Maintainer                 cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Red Hat

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 836 bytes --]

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Christopher Faylor]

On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 08:13:40PM +0200, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>On Aug 23 12:23, Yaakov (Cygwin/X) wrote:
>> On Fri, 2013-08-23 at 17:09 +0200, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>> 
>> > On Aug 23 16:11, Hubert Garavel wrote:
>> > > 
>> > > Contrary to most Unix-like operating systems, Cygwin does not have
>> > > the /bin/compress command installed by default and has no package
>> > > to install it on demand. Cygwin has an uncompress command (that relies
>> > > on gunzip), but no compress command to make genuine .Z files.
>> > > 
>> > > This would be certainly easy to solve, using the work of the Ncompress
>> > > project at http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
>> > 
>> > Why not, but "somebody" (you?) will have to create and maintain the
>> > 32 and 64 bit packages as the official Cygwin package maintainer.
>> 
>> http://cygwin-ports.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=cygwin-ports/ncompress
>
>Assuming that you're willing to provide this package in the main distro...
>
>> Note that on Fedora, uncompress is provided by ncompress, not gzip,
>> although that is not mandatory.
>
>...it would probably make a lot of sense to move uncompress from
>gzip to ncompress.
>
>Chris, as gzip maintainer, do you have any problem with that?

Nope.

cgf

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: compress / ncompress package for Cygwin

[Linda Walsh]

Hubert Garavel wrote:
> For porting legacy software to Cygwin, the absence of compress is just 
> annoying.
====
Why?

If gzip can uncompress it, you should switch to gzip or xz anyway, because
computers that you release software to are less likely to have compress
because
1) it was encumbered
2) it's a POS  --

	not as good compression in time or space as even gzip if I remember,
I know that even bzip2 beat it in compression (space)... xz/7z which are even
better for space/uncompress speed weren't even out when I tried it.

I found old sources for compress and ported it to work on my system -- and after
comparing it to the other compress algorithms, I was sadly unimpressed and
later deleted the binaries off my system so I wouldn't forget how bad it
was and accidently use them.

The patent was the nail in a bad coffin.




--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple