FS#25908 - [gzip] Do not create symlink /bin/compress

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by I Said Socks (socks) - Tuesday, 06 September 2011, 10:10 GMT
Last edited by Allan McRae (Allan) - Thursday, 08 September 2011, 00:48 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Packages: Core
Status Closed
Assigned To Allan McRae (Allan)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 1
Private No

Details

Description:
/bin/compress is a symlink to gzip, and behaves exactly as gzip -- for example, `compress foo` will create foo.gz while one would expect foo.Z. This is broken behavior, so the symlink should be removed.

Also, the original `compress` program is now free of the patent issue[1], maybe we could make a ncompress package[2]?

[1] http://ncompress.sourceforge.net/
[2] http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/ncompress The debian package renames uncompress to uncompress.real to resolve comflict with the uncompress from gzip.

Additional info:
package: gzip 1.4-2

Steps to reproduce:
touch foo; compress foo # creates foo.gz
This task depends upon

Closed by  Allan McRae (Allan)
Thursday, 08 September 2011, 00:48 GMT
Reason for closing:  Implemented
Additional comments about closing:  gzip-1.4-3 in [testing]
Comment by Thomas Bächler (brain0) - Tuesday, 06 September 2011, 11:12 GMT
gzip provides uncompress functionality, but not compress. The symlink should simply be removed.

I doubt a compress program is even necessary, it should suffice if one is in AUR - this compression standard hasn't been used for as long as I can remember, and it can still be easily uncompressed using gzip.
Comment by Allan McRae (Allan) - Tuesday, 06 September 2011, 11:26 GMT
I'll kill the symlink when I next have time to do the rebuild. I will leaving adding a compress package to someone else if it is ever needed...
Comment by Dan McGee (toofishes) - Tuesday, 06 September 2011, 13:54 GMT
bsdtar can create native compress-ed tars (although this is what tar.gz is to gz, so not quite perfect). Given that this format is so rarely used I don't think we have to worry about creating a compressed file they've never been able to anyway.

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