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This is kinda naive to wish for - tar has applications that reach beyond stuffing a BLOB containing other BLOBs and some metadata into a seekable file somewhere

by c0l0 4y ago

This is kinda naive to wish for - tar has applications that reach beyond stuffing a BLOB containing other BLOBs and some metadata into a seekable file somewhere, such as archiving data to magnetic tape/LTO. And even if you develop the perfect archive format that happens to nail every possible use-case 100% (which you won't, because there just are too many), you will STILL have to deal with compressed and archived artifacts which accumulated over the last six or so decades in various places.

qwerty456127 4y ago
> tar has applications... magnetic tape/LTO. That's a parallel universe far far away, ~99% of people having to use tar (just because it's the standard and the only format supporting links/access metadata) every day will never have to use a tape drive. I don't see a reason why we can't use 2 separate formats - one for everyday packaging, a different one for tape drives. > And even if you develop the perfect archive format There is a perfect format already - it's 7z. Just add file access rights and links support to it. No need to invent anything really new.
- kelnos 4y ago
  > There is a perfect format already - it's 7z. Just add file access rights and links support to it. These two sentences seem to contradict each other.
  - qwerty456127 4y ago
    Not really. Adding support for a particular kind of metadata is a change so minuscule it doesn't qualify as a change in the format. Apple just stores their filesystem metadata as in a special sub-directory in ZIP files. And the only problem with the Apple's solution is nobody else respects it. 7zip is a format developed and maintained by a specific author who is alive and active so he can just build the same in the standard 7zip implementations and chances are everybody will accept. By the way I have just found an actual imperfection in 7zip: it can't let you choose the order in which archived files are stored in it nor chose different compression parameters for specific files. This limits its applicability. E.g. the EPUB standard says the first file in an archive must be "mimetype" and it must be not compressed. But I believe this can be fixed with reasonable ease (and probably without breaking changes) as well.

by c0l0 4y ago

qwerty456127 4y ago

> tar has applications... magnetic tape/LTO. That's a parallel universe far far away, ~99% of people having to use tar (just because it's the standard and the only format supporting links/access metadata) every day will never have to use a tape drive. I don't see a reason why we can't use 2 separate formats - one for everyday packaging, a different one for tape drives. > And even if you develop the perfect archive format There is a perfect format already - it's 7z. Just add file access rights and links support to it. No need to invent anything really new.

kelnos 4y ago
> There is a perfect format already - it's 7z. Just add file access rights and links support to it. These two sentences seem to contradict each other.
- qwerty456127 4y ago
  Not really. Adding support for a particular kind of metadata is a change so minuscule it doesn't qualify as a change in the format. Apple just stores their filesystem metadata as in a special sub-directory in ZIP files. And the only problem with the Apple's solution is nobody else respects it. 7zip is a format developed and maintained by a specific author who is alive and active so he can just build the same in the standard 7zip implementations and chances are everybody will accept. By the way I have just found an actual imperfection in 7zip: it can't let you choose the order in which archived files are stored in it nor chose different compression parameters for specific files. This limits its applicability. E.g. the EPUB standard says the first file in an archive must be "mimetype" and it must be not compressed. But I believe this can be fixed with reasonable ease (and probably without breaking changes) as well.