zip (was: Re: Disk archival techniques)

[Antonio Carlini]

Jim Leonard wrote:

> Which means they can run on any machine with a C compiler.  So
> what's with all the paranoia?  Just use whatever works as long
> as more than one major platform can extract it.

What's C? Will that be less dead in 100 years than Algol is today?

I know Algol's not completely dead - but it's certainly declining ...
How long before C is no longer available everywhere? How long before
your source no longer compiles without significant effort?

I have no problems with including a ready made unarchiver, but you
also must include a textual specification of the archive format.

After another fifty years have passed and the state of the art has
advanced sufficiently, you can upgrade the archive to include a 
povably correct specification :-)

Antonio


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Antonio Carlini arcarlini at iee.org