[Zlib-devel] zlib 1.2.3 final

[Cosmin Truta]

Hi,

Sorry I could not reply in time, neither to Gilles' personal email, nor
to this one, so zlib123.zip and zlib123-dll.zip, which are now posted,
have to stay as they are.


On Wed, 20 Jul 2005, Gilles Vollant wrote:

> http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/zlib123.zip
> http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/zlib123-dll.zip
>
> [...]
>
> My zlib123.zip is smaller than your, with exacctly same content. I
> compressed using "zip -9 -X -r zlib123 *"

Using "zip -X" is not a good idea, unless you're using zip3.

It's okay to strip useless extra fields, like NTSD EAS (if you're using
Windows) or UID/GID (if you're using Unix), but stripping the universal
(UX) time stamps is bad. The original zip structure stores the local
time stamps in MS-DOS format. Local time stamps are okay if you're
sitting in a single timezone (most usually in a single country, if
you're not from North America or Russia...) and you're using zip only.
It is not okay when mixing zip's local time with tools like "tar", that
store time stamps in universal time. Furthermore, it is not okay when
travelling across different time zones, like I do once in a while.

The best strategy when making zip releases, is to use a custom-built
zip that includes UX time zones, but not the other useless fields. In
particular, when using Windows, it's best to download Info-ZIP's zip
tool, and build it with the compiler option -DNO_NTSD_EAS, to exclude
the support for NTSD EAS. After this, zip should be used normally,
without the "-X" flag.

Or, use the upcoming zip3 (when it's ready) with the "-X" option.
In zip3, option "-X" eliminates the extra fields, but, as a special
exception, it keeps the UX time stamps.


> In zlib123-dll.zip , I only recompiled the DLL by updating the .RC
> file as you suggested

Excellent.


Best regards,
Cosmin