Re: [freenet-devl] integrating zlib compression into freenet

[Scott G. Miller]

On Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 10:08:24PM +0200, Stefan Reich wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mr.Bad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > This seems like a problem in search of a solution. The stuff that
> > needs compressing is already compressed. The stuff that isn't already
> > compressed, like HTML files and text files, is small enough that
> > compressing it is going to take longer than sending over the wire raw.
> 
> Compressing takes longer than sending uncompressed data? You can't be not
> serious!
This is true though.  For small files, you can very easily spend more
time in the compression overhead than in the gains from network
transmission.  I dont think it happens often though.  Another thing you
must consider is that Freenet nodes are supposed to remain as close to
invisible to the user as possible.  Adding more CPU cycles is not the way
to do that.

> Freenet as a whole has processor ressources in vast excess. If anything, it
> has a dearth of bandwidth. So compressing can only improve overall network
> performance. (There are _huge_ text files on Freenet - transcripts of whole
> books and whatnot.)
Yes, but they are fairly rare.  

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