Re: [boost] [release management] Drop .gz and .zip release packaging?

Subject: Re: [boost] [release management] Drop .gz and .zip release packaging?
From: Andrey Semashev (andrey.semashev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-10-23 13:17:00

Beman Dawes wrote:
> Boost releases are currently packaged four ways.
> 
> With CR/NL line endings:
> 
>     boost_1_37_0_beta1.7z     27,340,204
>     boost_1_37_0_beta1.zip    57,017,457
> 
> With NL line endings:
> 
>     boost_1_37_0_beta1.tar.bz2     29,494,538
>     boost_1_37_0_beta1.tar.gz       36,436,716
> 
> I'd like to drop the .zip and .gz packages, starting with release
> 1.38.0. The primary motivation is a personal one; as release manager I
> do a lot of FTP transfers and would like to spend less time waiting for
> the big .zip and .gz packages to upload/download.
> 
> The problem I see is that CR/NL users still download .zip files twice as
> often as .7z, and NL users still download about as many .gz packages as
> bz2.
> 
> Comments?

I vote to keep zip available, if I may. I know that 7z is available
freely but I feel quite relucant about installing any additional
software, unless absolutely needed. Traditional zip has a far better
support in other software, like file managers, for example, than 7z.

As for gz/bz2 choice, I'm good with either, since they have relatively
the same degree of support on the platforms I work with (Windows and Linux).