10x compression factor

[David Shaw]

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On Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 03:19:56AM +0100, Malte Gell wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 10. Februar 2004 19:29 schrieb David Shaw:
> > On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 08:32:24AM -0800, Steve Butler wrote:
> (...)
> > > So, 10:1 compression just means that the text files had more random
> > > text than a string of spaces.  But it wasn't completely random. 
> > > Most text files will fail most any statistical test for randomness.
> > >  Ergo, they compress really well!
> 
> > If you want to talk about good compression ratios, remember that
> > GnuPG 1.3 supports bzip2 compression.
> 
> What about bzip2 support already available with GnuPG 1.2.4? After 
> compiling gpg 1.2.4 with it and using Z3 in a key --list-packets 
> confirms that bzip2 was used when I tested it... or is it in such an 
> experimental stage in gpg 1.2.4 that one shouldn't use it?

No, it's fine, and you can use it.  It's mostly included in 1.2.x to
smooth the way for 1.4 though, so it doesn't let you do things like
"--compress-algo bzip2".

The trick to add a "Z3" pref into your key is allowed as it is safe.
Using the preferences system, GnuPG won't use bzip2 unless all of the
recipients can handle it.

David
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