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Re: cvs commit to boot-floppies by aph



In message <[🔎] E165aV4-0005dK-00@klecker.debian.org>, Debian Boot CVS Master write
s:
>rework the way dinstall.zip is created on arm, using mini[un]zip
>rather than the zipinfo stuff, which is illegal for us to use since
>it's in non-US/main; i hope the resulting .zip actually works on
>RiscPC otherwise, uh, I think we're in a world of pain

No, it won't. :-(

The problem is that RISC OS, the RiscPC native operating system, has extra 
metadata associated with each file that determines its type.  This isn't 
particularly important for the kernel and ramdisk images, but it's vital for 
the bootloader itself.  Repacking the whole archive under Linux means this 
extra information will be lost and the program won't run any more.

Why's it illegal to use programs from non-US for this kind of thing?  I don't 
really understand why zip is in non-US in the first place, is that some kind 
of patent issue?

If there's no acceptable way to build a single archive then I guess we have to 
ship the kernel and root image loose, and have the bootloader in a static zip 
file that doesn't get touched during build.  That wouldn't be a problem to do; 
it will make things a little more complicated for the user, but not unbearably 
so.

p.



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