Explanation of -c

[Badders]

Hi,

c[0,1,2,10,11,13,15,17,19,l,p,w,b,d,z] : set compression level
                  (0 - store; 1 - normal ; 2 - maximal)
                  (10 - store, 11 - super fast, 13 - fast, 15 - normal, 17 - max, 19 - ultra
                  (l - use LZMA, p - use PPMd, w - use WavPack, b - use BZIP2, d - use Deflate
                  (z - use optimized compression method based on file exstension)

Can you confirm whether these are cumulative or whether you can only have one option?

For example: Can I have 2-maximal compression using d-Deflate? If so would the format be "-c2,d"?

Thanks.

[Badders]

Does no one know the answer to this? Mods? Anyone?

[spwolf]

i thought i answered, just put them separate as -c2 -cd and it will work fine... you can test and check compression method afterwards

[Badders]

Thanks for the syntax, appreciated.

So looking at the options:

(0 - store; 1 - normal ; 2 - maximal)

This is type of compression not related to speed?

(10 - store, 11 - super fast, 13 - fast, 15 - normal, 17 - max, 19 - ultra)

This is compression based on speed?

(l - use LZMA, p - use PPMd, w - use WavPack, b - use BZIP2, d - use Deflate, z - use optimized compression method based on file extension)

This is the compression method used.

[spwolf]

0,1,2,10,11,13,15,17,19 are all the same... 0/1/2 are there for backwards compatibility as we added more of them in PACL 6.x I believe but didnt want to break anyone's script.

They are are compression/speed related. Strong the compression, lower the speed.... faster the speed, lower the compression :-)

[Badders]

OK that's understood - thanks. So, finally, is there anywhere which describes the benefits of the compression methods? Is it, again, down to speed or compression for the various methods?

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by Badders

OK that's understood - thanks. So, finally, is there anywhere which describes the benefits of the compression methods? Is it, again, down to speed or compression for the various methods?

maybe we should have something on our wiki? :-)

[spwolf]

deflate - default and compatible with all other zip utilities. Great speed, low compression.
lzma - only compatible with utilities that support lzma method (zipx/lzma).
ppmd - great for text files (zipx)
wavpack - only for wav files (zipx)

Optimized tries to guess which one is best to use based on stenght selected and extension of the files.

[Badders]

Great - thanks for that. You have a PACL wiki?

[spwolf]

nope...only PA:
http://wiki.powerarchiver.com/en:hel...ome?redirect=1

should we?

[Badders]

Ah OK - already been through that one.. :-)

[spwolf]

should we?

[Badders]

Possibly. I think the information sent out with PACL (manual.txt) is very minimal. It might have been fine for version 4 when the functionality was much less but there's too much guess work in using the options and how the options interact with each other.

e.g. "0 start as a low priority process". OK, that's fine, but then what? What causes the process to change priority? Is it up to the user to change the priority? Will it change priority automatically when the machine is less busy or more busy?

There's not enough detials for the type of computer-literate user who will be using PACL. Maybe it just needs more detailed documentation.

[spwolf]

it wont change priority, it will be started as lowest possible priority - started as in run as low priority...

[spwolf]

we could convert manual.txt to wiki and then improve....

[Badders]

Originally Posted by spwolf

it wont change priority, it will be started as lowest possible priority - started as in run as low priority...

I understand that (maybe a bad example from me) but having compression options "0 - store" and "10 - store" without the "backwards compatibility" explanation you gave above is confusing.

manual.txt, wiki, pdf - doesn't really matter how you present it so long as the information is available. It wouldn't take much but it's up to you on whether you think it's worth it.

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by Badders

I understand that (maybe a bad example from me) but having compression options "0 - store" and "10 - store" without the "backwards compatibility" explanation you gave above is confusing.

manual.txt, wiki, pdf - doesn't really matter how you present it so long as the information is available. It wouldn't take much but it's up to you on whether you think it's worth it.

it is always worth it if our users request it :-)

[spwolf]

so... what do we need to improve?
http://wiki.powerarchiver.com/en:hel...ne_manual_pacl

[Badders]

You've been busy Nice!

OK, it looks like you used the text from manual.txt as the basis of the wiki. Initially, I'd like to see a short explanation of each command and it's capabilities\requirements at the top of the wiki so it's the first thing you see in the wiki - sort of an expanded whatsnew.txt for each command - with links to the syntax of each command. Is there a reason why PAEXT is first. I'd have thought you compress then uncompress so PACOMP followed by PAEXT maybe?

(These are just my thoughts so anyone else please sound-off).