On 18/12/2007, Mario Vukelic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A while ago I read about changing apt/dpkg to allow for the handling of > security updates through binary patches. Does anyone know what came out > of this?
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/apt-sync On the main issue, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Dpkg7Zip gives (in a spec that is from 2005) a bit more background. Note that the application is 7zip and the algorithm that most talk about is LZMA. As stated on that page, some useful links on this issue are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7z (archive format) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZMA http://tukaani.org/lzma/ It seems sensible to me to use a format for the packages that trades off compression time for archives that are as small and quick to decompress as possible. The compression is only done once, but the benefits in downloading time/cost and decompression speed are enjoyed by thousands. As far as I can see, the only people whose downloading + decompression time is likely to be longer using LZMA are those who have an old processor *and* an incredibly slick (network?) connection to the archive. These people may suffer an extra minute or so of decompression time for a 100MB file (on the figures that I have seen). This has to be weighed against the time and cost savings for everybody else, plus the reduction in pressure on mirrors and the CD. I hope this background helps the discussion, Aaron -- FSF Associate Member: 5632 http://www.fsf.org Sign up today and help the FSF meet its target of 500 new members by Christmas! -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
