[tex-live] Could LZMA compression be combined with SFX format ?

Philip TAYLOR P.Taylor at Rhul.Ac.Uk
Tue Sep 30 15:39:53 CEST 2008


Dear Colleagues -- As my download of the .ISO.LZMA version
of TeX Live 2008 nears completion, I am looking at 7-Zip
as a means of unpacking it (I already have the TLNET
unpacker : I was just investigating other options).  And
on researching 7-Zip, I see that it appears to support
the generation of SFX (self-extracting executable) files
for Windows.  My question is therefore this : given the
general resistance of Windows users (such as myself) to
the use of any "non-standard" compression system (i.e.,
anything other than ZIP), might there be some merit in
packing TeX Live as an SFX version of .ISO.LZMA ?  Is
it safe to assume that the standard *X unpackers will
still be able to see inside the archive, once converted
to SFX form ?  And what might the SFX overheads be (I
should know the answer to this shortly, as I propose to
create an SFX version and compare file sizes).

** Phil.


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