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

[Philip TAYLOR]

Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard wrote:

> Well, I'm not sure there's such a resistance. On the contrary, I often
> get .rar archives from window people. I was also under the impression
> that most windows people use some kind of universal un*ziper like 7-zip.
> 
> Also, since the prefered installation method is from the network, don't
> you think that the people downloading the iso are probably more expert
> users, eg wanting to install on a series of machines?

Well, I'm basing my analysis partially on my own
feelings as a Windows user, but also on the recent
messages from Walter Saegesser and Eduardo Kalinowski.
They may not be "typical" Windows users but they have
very polar views, and my feeling is that we can accommodate
such people very easily without sacrificing any of the
benefits that led to the adoption of LZMA compression
in the first place.

> 1. I think it would be more useful to make the network installer more
> windows-friendly (eg, an executalbe people can click, no need to unzip
> then find install-tl.bat and click it) that working on the iso.

I don't know what the typical installation time is
for a full network install, but my experiments here
with a 3Mb download speed have suggested that it is
not feasible for use during (say) a half-day visit
to a friend or colleague.  For such situations I
would want to take a DVD with me.

> 2. But I can test, merely out of curiousity, a small example of SFX file
> to see if my linux version of unlzma can understand it.

I'm reasonably confident that it won't.  Even the
Windows LZMA unmangler supplied as a part of the
TeX Live kit cannot see inside a 7-Zip created
SFX file, but (as I suggested in a previous
message), given the licencing and availability of
7-Zip, is it not a candidate for distribution as
the general unpacker ? [Zdenek's later comments
already noted].

Off-line, Wolfgang Fleisher has suggested that
a better approach is to mirror the TLNET branch
of CTAN (circa 1Gb) and copy that to DVD, then
use the network installer to install from DVD
rather than from network, after which one uses
"option location" to allow future updates to
come from the network.  This seems a very promising
approach, and one that I will try for my next
away-of-home installation.  If this is viable,
what are the extra features on the 2.5Gb
texlive2008-20080822.iso DVD that will be missing
from the 1Gb TLNET image ?

** Phil.