From owner-freebsd-hackers Sun Apr 5 19:50:54 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id TAA04353 for freebsd-hackers-outgoing; Sun, 5 Apr 1998 19:50:54 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from gatekeeper.alcatel.com.au (gatekeeper.alcatel.com.au [203.17.66.1]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id TAA04301 for ; Sun, 5 Apr 1998 19:50:26 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from Peter.Jeremy@alcatel.com.au) Received: from mfg1.cim.alcatel.com.au ([139.188.23.1]) by gatekeeper.alcatel.com.au (PMDF V5.1-7 #U2695) with ESMTP id <01IVJRM2ITG00001BH@gatekeeper.alcatel.com.au> for freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG; Mon, 6 Apr 1998 12:18:16 +1000 Received: from cbd.alcatel.com.au by cim.alcatel.com.au (PMDF V5.1-10 #23324) with ESMTP id <01IVJRLYLGA8C2IR0D@cim.alcatel.com.au> for freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG; Mon, 06 Apr 1998 12:18:12 +1000 Received: from gsms01.alcatel.com.au by cbd.alcatel.com.au (PMDF V5.1-7 #U2695) with ESMTP id <01IVJRLVK9DSAZTRFA@cbd.alcatel.com.au> for freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG; Mon, 06 Apr 1998 12:18:07 +1100 Received: (from jeremyp@localhost) by gsms01.alcatel.com.au (8.8.8/8.7.3) id MAA13400 for freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG; Mon, 06 Apr 1998 12:18:03 +1000 (EST) Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 12:18:03 +1000 (EST) From: Peter Jeremy Subject: Re: bzip2 - is it worth to take a look at? To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Message-id: <199804060218.MAA13400@gsms01.alcatel.com.au> Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sun, 5 Apr 1998 11:32:07 +0200 (MEST), Christoph Kukulies wrote: >A new compression tool - bzip2 - is gaining popularity I've only seen a single other reference to it, although that reference suggested it was also being used for distributing Linux add-ons. >bzip2 compresses about 20 % better than gzip. I did a few tests of my own with bzip2 on FreeBSD executables and found a 5-10% saving over gzip (YMMV). The big killer was the speed - I found that bzip2 was somewhat slower than gzip -9 to compress, and around an order of magnitude slower to decompress (this was running on a superSPARC-II processor - I don't know how processor-sensitive the code is and can't quickly check on a FreeBSD machine). In the specific case of the installation floppy itself, where size is the critical factor and speed is relatively unimportant (unless you have a 386, like one of my machines), bzip2 may be useful. I would not like to see bzip2 used in place of gzip for the CD-ROM installation archives. Peter -- Peter Jeremy (VK2PJ) peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au Alcatel Australia Limited 41 Mandible St Phone: +61 2 9690 5019 ALEXANDRIA NSW 2015 Fax: +61 2 9690 5247 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message