Could we use something better than zip for the dmd package?

[Adam Wilson]

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:44:08 -0800, Andrei Alexandrescu  
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:

> On 12/22/11 12:53 AM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> "Walter Bright"<newshound2 at digitalmars.com>  wrote in message
>> news:jcsbja$1pu7$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>> On 12/21/2011 1:31 AM, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:
>>>> I thought the installers were for newbies. 7z is supported by 7zip,
>>>> winrar, and even winzip.
>>>>
>>>> I really don't see how someone can be smart enough to use a systems
>>>> programming language but not have a clue how to download an archiver.
>>>> Even average people hate the default zip functionality of Windows and
>>>> they install 7zip/winrar/etc.
>>>
>>> Because it's annoying.
>>>
>>> The idea should be to have as few steps as possible to install.  
>>> Searching
>>> the intarnets for a 7z decoder, wondering if the one you're  
>>> downloading is
>>> a virus, etc., is annoying.
>>
>> If you're a programmer, or even just a power user, you have absolutely  
>> no
>> excuse not to *already* have a 7z-capable program installed.
>
> I didn't have 7z on my Mac until yesterday when I experimented with it.
>
> Let's focus on reducing the size of the zip by only including what's  
> used and by using faster servers.
>
>
> Andrei
>

In the faster servers department I agree. I have a 25Mbps fiber connection  
and the download tops out around 300Kbps. Have you considered Amazon S3  
for storing your larger files? It's plenty fast and quite cheap, we use it  
at work because for large files versus delivery costs, it beats everything  
else on the planet. If you want you can even setup multiple zones so that  
Europeans can contact a server that is close to them and Staters can  
contact one in the US. Just my 0.02$.

-- 
Adam Wilson
Project Coordinator
The Horizon Project
http://www.thehorizonproject.org/