Best Compression Choice

[Jake]

I am thinking about changing my compression method for GL Golf. Here are my options

sit - 3.8 MB, causes a problem where sometimes the application just won't launch.
sitx - 4.1 MB, works pretty good, but I have heard of the decompression not working properly in certain instances.
tbz - 3.9 MB
tgz - 3.9 MB
zip - 4 MB

I used to use sit, then I found that sometimes the application executable bit was wrong and the app wouldn't launch. I then switched to sitx where I have heard of some people having problems decompressing some files (just the course pack) (like my dads G5).

Any recommendations? I am not using DMGs because they just confuse people (and don't tell me anything else because its true that some people have a harder time with DMGs than a simple folder)

[Najdorf]

Good move, I still havent got how DMGs work.

[OneSadCookie]

Stuffit Expander isn't installed with Tiger, so if you use one of the Stuffit formats an increasingly large portion of your audience won't be able to decompress your files.

You might try an internet-enabled disk image. That way once it's downloaded, they'll just be left with the application on their desktop and the disk image in the trash.

[Jake]

Thanks OSC, Im glad I posted this thread! I didn't know apple stopped including stuffit with their OS... Why? Is it another example of apple using their power to push technologies that benefit apple's proprietary formats like .dmg instead of the general public?

The dmg is 5.5 megabytes compressed... pretty lousy. .dmg.bz2 and .dmg.gzip are each 5 megs. How do I use the terminal to bzip2,gzip , or zip a folder, I can't find a -x flag for that.

[OneSadCookie]

It's a case of Apple stopping including crappy software with their OS, just like they stopped including IE.

Also, the stuffit format is proprietary and not under Apple's control. DMG is less worrisome since at least Apple controls the format and provides tools to work with it. zip, tar, gzip and bzip2 are of course even less proprietary.

You can't bzip2 or gzip a folder without first tarring it; they're file compression schemes not full archive schemes. tar -czf creates a .tar.gz file; tar -cjf creates a .tar.bz2 file, zip creates zip files.

[Jake]

I guess your right about that - I was just kind of irked that my software was suddenly useless for most new macs and their average users. Stuffit is crappy... it seams very unsupported and had(s) some bad bugs in it.

When I try tar -cjf (drag file here) it gives me this error - tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive , do I need to somehow specify the output file, I am not that good with the terminal yet.

Thanks!

[OneSadCookie]

tar -cjf <name of file to create> <input files and/or directories>

read the man page for tar (man tar) to find out more.

[Jake]

Thanks, I even tried that but I switched around the output and input files.

Bzip2 is 4 MB and Gzip is 4.3

Also, Zip from DropZip is 4.0MB and Zip from Mac OS X is 4.3 MB

What recommendation do you have with the data in the thread? It seams every form of alladin compression is the smallest, except bzip2. Should I go with bzip2 because it is from apple?

Thanks again for all the help

[LongJumper]

Good move, I still havent got how DMGs work.

To put it one way, they are simply a file that holds a virtual disk. When you double click on the .dmg file, you are given access to the virtual disk it contains. Simply drag anything you want into the disk, and it's ready to go.

[Jake]

After a while I realized that you have to move the file you want bzipped2 to hard drive or else you will get lots of folders burrying the file once decompressed (decompresses to Useres/Jake/Desktop/...). But now when I open the glgolf.bz2 file I am left with both an uncompressed tar file (GL Golf) and the final product. How do I get that tar file (I am assuming thats what it is) to delete when opening a bz2 file?

Also, does anyone have any reason why I SHOULDN'T go with bz2? Also, can most users in mac os 9 open .bz2 files?

Thanks again

[geezusfreeek]

Change the file extension from .tar.bz2 to .tbz and it should fix that.

[Najdorf]

why dont you just go with zip...

[Jake]

why dont you just go with zip...

Mac OS Xs zip compresses to 4.3 megs, but dropzip goes to 4MB. Is it safe to say that tiger users can unzip files made with dropzip? I want to be 100% sure, not just the 95% sure I am right now.

Change the file extension from .tar.bz2 to .tbz and it should fix that.

Thanks!

Now I am stuck between .tbz and .zip. What one is more compatible with OS 9? Any suggestions between the two?

[Steven]

In general people on OS9 won't be able to get at either unless they have Stuffit Expander or the like. I believe recent versions support both.

[OneSadCookie]

If you're building an OS 9 app, you've probably got some resources. In that case, your only choice is a .dmg-based solution.

[PowerMacX]

If you're building an OS 9 app, you've probably got some resources. In that case, your only choice is a .dmg-based solution.

Does OS 9 support .dmg? I thought the Disk Copy in OS 9 could only open .img
Execution bits/permissions are not an issue in OS 9, so you could provide an OS X version in .zip/.tbz and a smaller .sit for OS 9.

Also, if you want to compress a dmg, do not make a compressed disk image and then zip it: Make a read only image and then make a zip out of the dmg, it will be a lot smaller.

[OneSadCookie]

true, 9 doesn't support .dmg...

time to stop supporting those 2 OS 9 users :p

[Skorche]

Finder .zip's are also resource friendly btw.

I'd seriously just go with an internet enabled .dmg. That's definitely the simplest for your users if you think that normal disk images are too complicated.

Unless size is really really an issue, c'mon it's 500k we're talking about right?

[Jake]

Finder .zip's are also resource friendly btw.

Really? Thats awesome, I am going to try that for Escape and Hydrothermal, it will be easier to keep one file than two different ones.

If that doesn't work I will go with internet .dmgs.

[OneSadCookie]

Finder's .zip files are resource-friendly if unzipped with the Finder on 10.3+. They're not resource-friendly in general terms.

[Jake]

Thanks, I'm glad I found that out before uploading.

Back to the DMGs