I replied to Stan privately before seeing this on the list, so let me make
a few points here since quoting the previous reply wouldn't quite work...
 
On Sun, 21 Jan 1996 15:02:32 -0800 Stan Sieler said:
>Jeff writes:
>...
>> [Sometime later we, as a group, should agree on a standard distribution
>>  format that ideally retains MPE attributes AND minimizes output file size]
>
>How about Telamon's LZW?  Versions exist for PCs, HP3000s, Unix, and ??
>And itseems to do a good job of compressing.
 
LZW is fine, but do the "other platforms" recognize the MPE attributes?  We
have undergone so many possibilities (Reflection labels, Session labels,
and so forth) that preserve MPE attributes, but they aren't "universal"
tools.  The CSL uses SQUISHER archives, again not "universal" and further
complicates uploads since the archive file is sensitive to filecode/format.
Since Express 2, MOVER is available to the user community at large; but it
does a less than admirable job of compression.  My preference for anyone on
5.0 or higher is to create a MOVER file and run it through compress (shell).
As long as you binary transfer this across platforms, it appears to always
work (bytestream/variable/fixed/whatever) and preserves all MPE attributes.
 
Prior to 5.0, there's UHAUL, but again, it is filecode/format sensitive.
The emulators (Reflection/Session/Minisoft) can't package a fileset; you
have to lzw/zip/gzip/etc the files into a single entity.  And you are still
dependent on the receiving end having suitable software.  Pre-5.0 is a mess
that I won't touch here.
 
The most universal (IMHO) is a MOVER file subsequently compressed.
 
Having said that, I wonder what the purpose of "mpetar" reported to be coming
in 5.5 has to do with anything (isnt' MOVER adequate?).
 
Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>