Re: looking for reference, etc pseudo-image kit idea
Hello,
On Tue, May 22, 2001 at 02:05:44PM -0400, Brooks, Rupert wrote:
> I am looking for some reference or technical or academic discussion
> of the idea behind the Debian CD image pseudoimage kit. This idea -
> that a data product is built on the fly from various distributed
> sources - is a good one and has a wide application. Right now, I
> would like to apply it to the construction of Geospatial datasets.
>
> Although I have seen it in various forms, particularly in the open
> software movement, I have not seen a formal title or reference for
> it. Undoubtedly due to my ignorance - could someone point me in the
> right direction?
I don't know about any formal title or similar for this type of thing,
either... but IMHO it's pretty straightforward usage of standard
internet protocols. In the Free Software world, people prefer to get
things done instead of inventing cool new names for them. ;-)
However, one aspect of the pseudo image kit, the use of rsync, is
quite interesting. The underlying algorithm was originally described
in a paper that should be available somewhere on
<http://rsync.samba.org/rsync/>.
If your application is very similar to our construction of CD ROM
images, i.e. data from various sources needs to be accumulated in one
file and then "patched" to make the final image, you might also want
to take a look at the "xdelta" tool, which is related to rsync in some
aspects. Also, keep an eye on this list because I'm working on a new
program which deals with some of the problems with the current pseudo
image kit, and which I'll announce on this list. (All: I'm still
working on it, sorry to take so long!)
Cheers,
Richard
--
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|_) /| Richard Atterer | CS student at the Technische | GnuPG key:
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