Re: FWD: dh_compress
> On Mon, Nov 01, 1999 at 09:26:46PM -0800, Joey Hess wrote:
> > I just want to know the definition of "small".
>
> I presonally like the 4k definition. The default blocksize used on a
> partition DOES vary based on the size of the partition, and nothing
> smaller than 4k is going to benefit seriously from being compressed.
>
> I understand the theoretical 4095 byte file, but if you changed it to 2k
> there would be the theoretical 2047 byte file and the 1023 byte file ...
> IMO it ain't broke, soo...
I don't agree.
The default ext2 blocksize is 1k and very few people change it. So most of
the filesystems around use this minimum blocksize.
If the goal of dh_compress is to save space we should try to compress any
file greater than the minimum blocksize. If we store a 4k file compressed
to 1k on a default 1k-block filesystem we can save 3k while if we store
the same compressed file in a 4k-block filesystem we don't save any space
but we also don't lose anything, except maybe a very small delay needed for
decompressing the file, but this should be unnoticeable for a small file.
I propose therefore that the the minimum size candidate for compression is
the minimum filesystem blocksize + 1 byte.
I can agree that the total space saved by compressing all those small files
can't be very much, maybe 50-100k, but is a question of principle. If we
want to save disk space let's save all the possible space.
I would personally like that also the copyright files would be compressed.
I don't think that the compression changes the copyright itself or the
licencing policy of the package, or the ability of the user to read this
information. We must install anyway the package in a debian system to be
able to read the docs and zless is already installed in every base system.
--
Massimo Dal Zotto
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