status of bzip
On Mon 08 Dec 1997, wnpp@debian.org wrote:
> o Orphaned auctex, bzip (libc5), ghostview, lacheck (libc5), libc5,
If the original bzip is meant here, it should probably be removed. It's
not supported anymore, and the author writes the following on
http://www.muraroa.demon.co.uk/ :
I'm no longer distributing 0.21, because doing so perpetuates
problems with patents, which ensures that the program will never be
widely used. That's a shame, because it's a useful program, and
lots of people seem to like it. If you use 0.21 already, please
upgrade to bzip2. I can't, unfortunately, make bzip2 be able to
decompress 0.21's .bz files, since that would render the
patent-avoidance exercise pointless. I know changing file formats is
painful; from now on, I'll try and make any further changes in a
backwards compatible way.
As bzip resides in base, that should also change, as it it apparently
not free.
Alternatively, there is decompress-only source code available at the
above URL, which could be put into a package and dropped into non-free.
This could be necessary for those that have bzip-compressed data...
What are the thoughts on this? I'd be willing to package this ('bunzip'
perhaps?) bzip2 might then suggest bunzip and conflict with bzip.
Paul Slootman
--
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home: paul@wurtel.demon.nl | work: paul@murphy.nl
http://www.wurtel.demon.nl | Murphy Software, Enschede, the Netherlands
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