On 28 Aug 2001 15:55:38 +1000, Peter B. West wrote:
>
> How about a Fop-0.20.1-bin.zip.txt, explaining how to unzip
> a tar.gz? It might reduce the F of this AQ.
Q: Why isn't there a Windows .zip version of Fop on the download site?
A: To save diskspace on the Fop download site. This is practical for
two reasons:
1. For a Java project, the zip archive and the tar.gz archive would
contain exactly the same content. So one of the two is superfluous if
each format can be unarchived on every platform that mattered.
2. It is indeed the case that each format can be unarchived on every
platform that mattered. One can easily unzip an zip archive on Linux,
thanks to the GNU zip/unzip programs. One can also gunzip and untar a
tar.gz archive on Windows, thanks to the GNU tar program and Cygwin (or
WinZip, or even PKZIP, if one is so inclined).
Since tar.gz archives is always smaller than zip archives, (at least for
archives the size of the Fop project), it is natural to choose tar.gz as
the only archive format on the Fop download site.
This format causes little to no problems for the various UNIX platforms.
Some UNIX flavor's tar command is incompatible with the GNU tar command
for pathnames longer than 100 characters. The problem is easily
remedied by downloading GNU tar from http://www.gnu.org/software/tar .
For Windows NT/2000/etc. platforms, just drag the tar.gz archive and
drop it into the WinZip (http://www.winzip.com, $29) or PKZIP for
Windows (http://www.pkware.com, $29) window.
A better solution would be to download the free software Cygwin
(http://cygwin.com) and get the GNU tar program as part of the suite.
Cygwin is free software in the genuine FSF sense. The suite you
download will include not only GNU tar, but also many of the other GNU
utilities (bash, gcc, etc.). The command line syntax of GNU tar is very
similar the the JDK's jar command. To unarchive Fop-0.20.1-bin.tar.gz,
for example, one runs:
tar zxvf Fop-0.20.1-bin.tar.gz
[I don't use MacOS, but surely there must be a port of GNU tar for it,
right?]
(Until this is either added to the web site, or the FAQ, we can always
point to the mail archive for new zip archive queries.)
--
Weiqi Gao
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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