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comp / comp.os.linux.advocacy / Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression

SubjectAuthor
* Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR CompressionLawrence D'Oliveiro
+* Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compressionvallor
|`- Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR CompressionLawrence D'Oliveiro
`* Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR CompressionAndrzej Matuch
 `* Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compressioncandycanearter07
  `* Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR CompressionAndrzej Matuch
   `- Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR CompressionLawrence D'Oliveiro

1
Subject: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: Lawrence D'Oliv
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22 UTC
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: ldo@nz.invalid (Lawrence D'Oliveiro)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22:58 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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Every now and then, I come across download archives in this .RAR format.
The formats have different versions: v4 and lower can be extracted with
Free Software tools like unar <https://theunarchiver.com/command-line>,
while v5 needs a non-Free tool.

A few times now, when I come across a v5 RAR archive, I try recompressing
it with 7-zip <https://7-zip.org/>, and so far, the .7z version of archive
has always been smaller. And 7-zip is Free Software!

So there is no point to using the proprietary format: avoid it.

Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: vallor
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 01:29 UTC
References: 1
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: vallor@cultnix.org (vallor)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 01:29:32 -0000 (UTC)
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On Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22:58 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote in <v2jhdi$rilj$1@dont-email.me>:

> Every now and then, I come across download archives in this .RAR format.
> The formats have different versions: v4 and lower can be extracted with
> Free Software tools like unar <https://theunarchiver.com/command-line>,
> while v5 needs a non-Free tool.
>
> A few times now, when I come across a v5 RAR archive, I try
> recompressing it with 7-zip <https://7-zip.org/>, and so far, the .7z
> version of archive has always been smaller. And 7-zip is Free Software!
>
> So there is no point to using the proprietary format: avoid it.

Haven't used those in a long while, but I seem to remember they had
a companion type of file, ".par", which could be used to check archive
integrity, as well as fill in missing .rar parts.

Didn't know newer versions were proprietary. You might have better
luck with unrar(1) if you're trying to get an an archive.

--
-v

Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: Lawrence D'Oliv
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 02:27 UTC
References: 1 2
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: ldo@nz.invalid (Lawrence D'Oliveiro)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 02:27:01 -0000 (UTC)
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On Wed, 22 May 2024 01:29:32 -0000 (UTC), vallor wrote:

> You might have better luck with unrar(1) if you're trying to get an an
> archive.

There is a Free and a non-Free version of unrar
<https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=unrar&searchon=names&suite=stable&section=all>.

Subject: Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: Andrzej Matuch
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 12:01 UTC
References: 1
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From: andrzej@matu.ch (Andrzej Matuch)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don???t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 08:01:20 -0400
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On Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22:58 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

>Every now and then, I come across download archives in this .RAR format.
>The formats have different versions: v4 and lower can be extracted with
>Free Software tools like unar <https://theunarchiver.com/command-line>,
>while v5 needs a non-Free tool.
>
>A few times now, when I come across a v5 RAR archive, I try recompressing
>it with 7-zip <https://7-zip.org/>, and so far, the .7z version of archive
>has always been smaller. And 7-zip is Free Software!
>
>So there is no point to using the proprietary format: avoid it.

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the .RAR format, but only
because I never have a tool on hand to decompress the pirated content
I found compressed in the .RAR format. Every time I want to find ROMs
for a variety of old video game consoles, whoever compiled the
collection always insists on .RAR rather than the more convenient
..ZIP.

I will agree with you though. The fact that more recent .RAR files
can't be uncompressed without a proprietary tool is alarming. I
imagine that something similar will happen to office formats in the
future: files created today won't be readable by the new software or
vice versa. This is partly why I always wanted my documents to be
saved in the OpenDocument standard. It's too bd that my workplace, a
public school which would benefit from using open formats that are
free of charge to use, insists on the Office Open XML stuff.

Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: candycanearter07
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Organization: the-candyden-of-code
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 16:45 UTC
References: 1 2
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid (candycanearter07)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don’t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 16:45:09 -0000 (UTC)
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Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote at 12:01 this Wednesday (GMT):
> On Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22:58 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>
>>Every now and then, I come across download archives in this .RAR format.
>>The formats have different versions: v4 and lower can be extracted with
>>Free Software tools like unar <https://theunarchiver.com/command-line>,
>>while v5 needs a non-Free tool.
>>
>>A few times now, when I come across a v5 RAR archive, I try recompressing
>>it with 7-zip <https://7-zip.org/>, and so far, the .7z version of archive
>>has always been smaller. And 7-zip is Free Software!
>>
>>So there is no point to using the proprietary format: avoid it.
>
> I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the .RAR format, but only
> because I never have a tool on hand to decompress the pirated content
> I found compressed in the .RAR format. Every time I want to find ROMs
> for a variety of old video game consoles, whoever compiled the
> collection always insists on .RAR rather than the more convenient
> .ZIP.
>
> I will agree with you though. The fact that more recent .RAR files
> can't be uncompressed without a proprietary tool is alarming. I
> imagine that something similar will happen to office formats in the
> future: files created today won't be readable by the new software or
> vice versa. This is partly why I always wanted my documents to be
> saved in the OpenDocument standard. It's too bd that my workplace, a
> public school which would benefit from using open formats that are
> free of charge to use, insists on the Office Open XML stuff.

I never understood why .RAR was common..
..zip is good for compatibility
..7z is really really good
..tar(.gz) is good for linux compatibility and to just tie a bunch of
files into one without compression

At least in my opinion.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Subject: Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: Andrzej Matuch
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 19:09 UTC
References: 1 2 3
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From: andrzej@matu.ch (Andrzej Matuch)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 15:09:33 -0400
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On Wed, 22 May 2024 16:45:09 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

>Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote at 12:01 this Wednesday (GMT):
>> On Wed, 22 May 2024 01:22:58 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
>><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>Every now and then, I come across download archives in this .RAR format.
>>>The formats have different versions: v4 and lower can be extracted with
>>>Free Software tools like unar <https://theunarchiver.com/command-line>,
>>>while v5 needs a non-Free tool.
>>>
>>>A few times now, when I come across a v5 RAR archive, I try recompressing
>>>it with 7-zip <https://7-zip.org/>, and so far, the .7z version of archive
>>>has always been smaller. And 7-zip is Free Software!
>>>
>>>So there is no point to using the proprietary format: avoid it.
>>
>> I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the .RAR format, but only
>> because I never have a tool on hand to decompress the pirated content
>> I found compressed in the .RAR format. Every time I want to find ROMs
>> for a variety of old video game consoles, whoever compiled the
>> collection always insists on .RAR rather than the more convenient
>> .ZIP.
>>
>> I will agree with you though. The fact that more recent .RAR files
>> can't be uncompressed without a proprietary tool is alarming. I
>> imagine that something similar will happen to office formats in the
>> future: files created today won't be readable by the new software or
>> vice versa. This is partly why I always wanted my documents to be
>> saved in the OpenDocument standard. It's too bd that my workplace, a
>> public school which would benefit from using open formats that are
>> free of charge to use, insists on the Office Open XML stuff.
>
>
>I never understood why .RAR was common..
>.zip is good for compatibility
>.7z is really really good
>.tar(.gz) is good for linux compatibility and to just tie a bunch of
>files into one without compression
>
>At least in my opinion.

Is there a file size limit with .ZIP? Does it handle large amounts of
files better? Is the compression rate better? I have no idea. I
recall, back in my 286 days, that there were lots of different
compression formats and that their only difference was the compression
ratio. LZH was the best, I think, but ZIP had a much better extension.

Subject: Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
From: Lawrence D'Oliv
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 22:12 UTC
References: 1 2 3 4
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: ldo@nz.invalid (Lawrence D'Oliveiro)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Don?t Bother With Proprietary .RAR Compression
Date: Wed, 22 May 2024 22:12:53 -0000 (UTC)
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On Wed, 22 May 2024 15:09:33 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:

> Is there a file size limit with .ZIP?

Practically, not any more.

> Is the compression rate better?

I don’t any new compression methods have been added to it recently. But I
don’t think the newer ones are hugely better.

The new hawtness seems to be Facebook/Meta’s zstd.

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