cdrtools alternatives (was Re: cdrtools)

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@fastmail.fm>]

Eduard Bloch wrote:
> Then let's see what a user of your software would do, in a
> not-so-uncommon use case:
> 
> User A wants to burn a CD-ROM. She gets cdrtools,

In reality, as "user A", I switched to using cdrdao for making serious audio
CDs and CD-RWs, and for burning disks from .iso files: this uses
Schilling's scsilib, but not the rest of cdrecord.  (Actually, it can be
configured not to use scsilib.  So if there are concerns about the
licensing of scsilib, it looks like this can be done any time. 
cdrdao-1.2.1/dao/ScsiIf-linux.cc could use some updating and improvement of
course, since the sg driver has changed since version 2.2.6....)

For DVD burning, of course, I use dvd+rw-tools.  This is completely
independent of cdrtools.  And data CD-RWs are handled out of the box with
packet writing as block devices by the kernel as of kernel 2.6.10 (the
so-called "pktcdvd" module), also independent of cdrtools.

So what does that mean?  That means that cdrtools is needed only for TAO
writing of CD-R and CD-RW media.  The only usage cases for this which are
not better served by a different tool are:
* incremental additions for data CD-Rs
* incremental additions to audio CD-Rs
* incremental changes for audio CD-RWs

While it would be nice to have a tool in Debian to do those three things for
those who want to, it is really not essential.  I have stopped using it
entirely: for incremental work, I use DVD+RW or DVD+R media, and for
archival work I make CDs in DAO mode with cdrdao.
  
-- 
Nathanael Nerode  <neroden@fastmail.fm>

Bush admitted to violating FISA and said he was proud of it.
So why isn't he in prison yet?...