Your favorite compression format?

[jpenguin]

For windoze, I just use 7zip
On linux and other *nix's I like tar.xz

What are your thoughts?

[Snowhog]

I just use Ark.

[james147]

I just use Ark.

Thats not a compression format... its a archive manager

I tend to use .tar.gz. or .tar.xz, leaning towards .xz more and more (generally use gz out of habbit)

[Snowhog]

True, but it utilizes tar, gzip, bzip2, zip rar when the appropriate libraries or command-line programs are installed.

[james147]

True, but it utilizes tar, gzip, bzip2, zip rar when the appropriate libraries or command-line programs are installed.

Yes, but which format do you tell it to use is the question

[Snowhog]

I guess that would be tar.gz.

[SteveRiley]

For this question I'd offer the traditional consultant's answer: it depends.

If I'm compressing data for archival purposes, I'm probably most interested in compression speed, since it's likely that I'll be writing data much more frequently than I'll be reading it back. There are two costs I'll have to weigh to obtain that: a slower decompression speed and a lower compression ratio. If I'm backing up to a storage location that charges by the GiB, then I'll have to find the right balance between speed and cost.

If I'm compressing small bits of data that I expect to re-read frequently, then I'm more interested in compression algorithms that exhibit an opposite asymmetry. I'm less concerned about compression speed and more concerned about decompression speed.

And then there might be times where all I care about is maximizing the compression ratio regardless of speed. So, it's difficult to say that I have a single "favorite" algorithm or format. The needs of the situation dictate which to choose.

[nadrach]

I just use Ark.

Ark can't handle 7-zip archives with a password ... been looking for that for over 5 years, so far!

On that note, p7zip (command-line) from Ubuntu/Kubuntu is stuck at version 9.04 which dates from May 2009 (wine, in the form of winetricks, is even further back at 4.65), whilst the current version, available from Debian Sid, is 9.20 (November 2010). Any ideas as to when the Kubuntu repositories are going to catch up with updates that are already 2 years old?

[vinnywright]

Ark can't handle 7-zip archives with a password ... been looking for that for over 5 years, so far!

On that note, p7zip (command-line) from Ubuntu/Kubuntu is stuck at version 9.04 which dates from May 2009 (wine, in the form of winetricks, is even further back at 4.65), whilst the current version, available from Debian Sid, is 9.20 (November 2010). Any ideas as to when the Kubuntu repositories are going to catch up with updates that are already 2 years old?

?? on my Kubuntu-12.04 box I'm seeing p7zip-9.20.1 ??

VINNY

EDDIT: also .....though Ark will not handle the adding of a password to a new 7z archive it will handle opening one with a password already on it

[nadrach]

?? on my Kubuntu-12.04 box I'm seeing p7zip-9.20.1 ??

VINNY

EDDIT: also .....though Ark will not handle the adding of a password to a new 7z archive it will handle opening one with a password already on it

Still running 10.04 Lucid, with every update I can find plus some unstable/testing/ppa enabled (clam/wine/libreoffice/getdeb) ... I have something of an unidentified hardware limitation in running the first edition of 12.04 (see http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...dvent-QC430%29) and am waiting for the first bugfix to trigger an LTS update to see what I can get.

Ark 2.14 seems to be the latest available on Lucid per apt-cache policy ... it does not open 7-zip archive with existing password ... sticks with trying to open the archive, doesn't offer a password entry box, then times out.

Likewise, the Lucid policy on p7zip only shows 9.04, with no unstable or testing possibilities for the later versions, which I must therefore presume from your reply are only available with a version upgrade to somewhere in the Maverick-Precise chain. I'm sticking to LTS upgrades at the moment after hardware misbehaviour with the intermediate versions (sound cards and webcams), on several laptops and notebooks.

If you can tell me how to get p7zip version 9.20 with 10.04, I would appreciate it.

BTW, have just come across the independent GUI for 7-zip on Linux, Q7Z (I think), on a linux hacks site. It is definitely the one thing missing from 7-zip on Linux that I would find useful (I use a homebrew shellscript at the moment, but it only handles one archive at a time). However, if you have any comments/warnings on Q7Z, they would be appreciated.

[james147]

Still running 10.04 Lucid ... I'm sticking to LTS upgrades at the moment after hardware misbehaviour with the intermediate versions (sound cards and webcams), on several laptops and notebooks..

12.04 is the latest LTS version. If you haven't already you might want to try it on a live cd and see if it has any of the issues you where having.

[nadrach]

12.04 is the latest LTS version. If you haven't already you might want to try it on a live cd and see if it has any of the issues you where having.

Done that ... http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...dvent-QC430%29
No go.