Re: Zutils vs single compressor utilities

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

Paul Eggert wrote:
> > I propose to rename the corresponding gzip-only scripts in the gzip
> > distribution to gzcat, gzcmp, gzdiff, and gzgrep, so that the
> > multi-compressor programs in zutils can replace them.
>
> I have no objection to doing that, as a build-time option (for
> backward compatibility).

I am not sure this is enough to guarantee the peaceful coexistence of 
both packages, unless the build-time option is to rename by default.

I mean, if a user installs zutils and then gzip, the gzip-only scripts 
would overwrite those of zutils. An unpleasant surprise!

Zutils is supposed to be an improvement over gzip-only scripts, 
therefore backward compatibility is supposed to be provided by zutils' 
programs themselves. (Zutils' zcat for example, ignores some gzip 
options to be compatible with gzip). What I think we have to find is a 
way to avoid one package overwriting files in the other.


Best regards,
Antonio.