I have tested a lot how we can solve this problem:
WE cannot avoid it: some day you need to send several files to a
Windows user: you use a packing tool either because there are
many files or because the file had been too fat and can be
compressed.
What format to use: most western people I think will choose zip,
for me I got a problem: the Chinese file names, after
un-packaged on Windows, is junk text because on Linux we all use
UTF-8 and Windows Chinese version using different charset
(GB18030)
And I have tested a lot different formats:
Format Created by Opened by Filename readable after unpackaged?
zip 7-zip_win32 FileRoller no
zip FileRoller 7-zip_win32 no
rar WinRAR 3.6 FileRoller yes!
rar FileRoller WinRAR 3.6 no
iso mkisofs -J WinRAR 3.6 yes!
jar FileRoller 7-zip no
tar GnuTar WinRAR 3.6 no
tar 7-zip GnuTar no
cab IExpress cabextract no
Note:
* WinRAR 3.6 is actually WinRAR 3.60-Beta
* 7-zip_win32 is a Windows software, the open-source alternative
to WinRAR, can unpackage zip/tar/rar/7z formats and can create
zip/tar/7z archives
* IExpress is a Microsoft utility pre-installed on most Windows
computers. This utility can create CAB format archive
* FileRoller is SuSE 10.2's default gnome archive manager
* in all above archive formats, TAR and ISO are non-compressing
format, e.g. they only archive (collect files into one file). To
compress them you can use gzip.
So the conclusion is:
1. To send an archive file to other windows user, the only known
way that can ensure file names are NOT corrupted due to locale
difference is to make the archive with "mkisofs -J",
unfortunately no very easy graphical user interface for this
purpose. If compression is needed, compress with gzip and
Windows user who have WinRAR installed can open it.
2. To send an archive file from Windows to SuSE Linux user, the
only known way that can ensure filenames are not corrupted due
to locale difference is to make RAR archive with WinRAR (only
tested v3.60-beta).
3. Non of known Linux archive formats can handle character-set
conversion. "mkisofs -J" is actually using a Microsoft format,
and WinRAR is proprietary;
4. 7z format is not tested because most Windows & Linux users
cannot directly create/open 7z format archive without install
special software so it cannot be used as a general solution.
This information might be very useful for asian people on this list.
P.S. I have already spent a lot of time getting this partial conclusion,
would be very appreciated if someone provide more insightful suggestions
or correction!
P.S. "mkisofs -J" do not allow file names with more then 64 characters.
If you do have such long named files, unfortunately there is no known
way you can archive them and deliver to Windows user while ensure the
file name not corrupted.
--
Zhang Weiwu
Real Softservice
http://www.realss.com
+86 592 2091112
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