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Subject:Re: Query: stuffed/zipped generic term From:Mary Anthony <mary -at- PERSISTENCE -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:34:19 -0700
At 01:11 PM 8/6/97 -0500, Elsa Kapitan-White wrote:
>Mac files are stuffed and Windows files are zipped, playing off the names
>of popular software programs for this function. What is the generic name
>regardless of platform -- compressed?
Compress is probably a good term. On UNIX there is a specific command
called compress which compresses regular files (not directories). The tar
command can be thought of as "zip for Unix." The tar command "archives and
extracts files to and from a single file called a tar file." There is also
the UNIX cpio command that is, I believe, similar to tar...There is a
version of zip for Unix too. Go figure.
Compression is a by-product of zip and tar. The difference between these
"archiving" commands and simple file compression (I would guess) is that
the archiving commands preserve directory structure, ownership, and other
file attributes as opposed to just a single file's contents.
Hope this helps.
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Senior Technical Writer T/R @ Home Office:415.992.6289
Persistence Software FAX:415.341.8432
mailto: mary -at- persistence -dot- com http:\\www.persistence.com
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