Zipping files

[J. Landman Gay]

Richard Gaskin wrote:
> Jacqueline wrote:
>> I need to compress large-ish files, around 50-100 megs each. I  wonder 
>> if anyone knows whether zip or gz format is easier on RAM.  Is it 
>> correct that both methods require about double the amount of  RAM as 
>> the file size? Is one preferable over the other under low  memory 
>> conditions? Are there any other considerations when choosing  between 
>> the two?
> 
> Many moons ago I had occasion to decompress what turned out to be a 
> 560MB file (started out as about 130MBs) - I used the built-in 
> decompress command, and it worked fine on even an old 500MHz Mac running 
> OS X 10.2 with maybe half a gig of RAM.  It took a while (one might 
> expect that with any tool on that machine with that file), but finished 
> with no problems.
> 
> So suffice to say I've never bothered looking into other options since 
> then. :)
> 

Thanks, this is great to know. I really would prefer to use the built-in 
compress command, since it is a one-liner, it's cross platform, and it's 
easy. I think I'll stick with it since apparently any RAM issues are 
handled by the engine transparently.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com