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Re: [BackupPC-users] XferLog.z : How do I read this thing?
2012-02-10 11:28:56
"Jeffrey J. Kosowsky" <backuppc AT kosowsky DOT org>
wrote on 02/10/2012 10:33:38 AM:
> > > Because it uses zLib compression and I believe .Z
is a common
> > > extension for that. This is not the DOS/Windows world
where you just
> > > willy-nilly make up new 3 letter extensions for every
program under
> > > the sun.
> >
> > No. .Z is *not* simply an extension for "I used
zLib on this". .Z is the
> > extension used for files created by the "compress"
command. Try using the
> > "compress" command on a BackupPC log file...
>
> The point is that both 'compress' and BackupPC use 'zlib' compression,
> hence rather than creating some non-standard new suffix, Craig chose
> to use an existing standard to signal that it similarly uses
> zlib. Again, you may have different tastes, but what Craig did makes
> perfect sense to me by reminding me that the files are indeed compressed.
Hey, JAR files and ODT files use LZW compression,
just like ZIP! Why don't we use ZIP as an extension for them? It
would be so... elegant!
The point of an extension is to tell the poor, lowly
human what type of data is contained in that file in a glance. If
someone creates a random new file format (kind of like BackupPC's compressed
log format!), they should *NOT* recycle a very well understood extension
so that the poor, lowly human won't be able to figure out why the canonical
tool for working with that format doesn't work (which it does *not*) without
some sort of magic knowledge. The fact that zLib was (ab)used to
create this new format does not mean you should use .Z, any more than OpenOffice
(or Java or any of the dozens of new formats that ZIP their multi-file
contents) should call their files .ZIP.
And at least in the case of OpenOffice, et. al, the
canonical ZIP management tool *WILL* *ACTUALLY* do something productive,
unlike BackupPC's .Z log files and the canonical tool for managing .Z files.
> > Oh, excuse me, was that neither helpful
nor intelligent?
>
> You are the one who called this "the dumbest idea". It's
not "dumb" at
> all, it just doesn't do what you want or expect it to do. If you don't
> like it and would like an alternative option to have non-compressed
> log files, then stop griping and either write your own code to add
the
> new functionality or pay someone else to write it. I'm really sick
of
> people who spend their time complaining rather than constructively
> contributing back.
Because I *never* contribute to the BackupPC community...
Tim Massey
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning
Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing
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