[TriLUG] Availability of bzip2 in 20 years?

[Ron Joffe]

As a side note,

How many of you still have compress/uncompress binaries on your distribution 
of choice ?

Ron



On Saturday 25 November 2006 21:57, Steve Litt wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm considering backing up to bzip2 instead of gzip (.tgz) to pack more on
> a single DVD. I'm getting close to 2 full DVDs, and I'd hate for my backups
> to span 3.
>
> So in other words,
>
> tar cjvf mybup.tar.bz2 mydir
>
> instead of
>
> tar czvf mybup.tgz mydir
>
> My question is this: 20 years from now, will it be trivially easy to find
> software to decode bzip2. I'm sure it will be trivially easy to decode
> gzipped tars -- that's been a standard for years and years. Is bzip2 here
> to stay, or will it be dropped as years go by?
>
> I'm serious about this. I often look at computer programs I wrote in 1984.
> I still regularly use Micrografx Windows Draw drawings I made in 1992 (this
> remains my one major reason for keeping a Windows machine around). Will
> tar.bz2 be decodable in 20 years?
>
> Thanks
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> Author:
>    * Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware
>    * Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist
>    * Manager's Guide to Technical Troubleshooting
>    * Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
>    * Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist
>
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/utp/tcourses.htm

-- 
Ron Joffe
Siena Tech, Inc.
120 Old Bridge Lane
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
(919) 928-0404