GNU bug report logs - #41794
Thoughts on using Zstd compression instead of lzip

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: romulasry <romulasry <at> protonmail.com>
To: "bug-guix <at> gnu.org" <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Thoughts on using Zstd compression instead of lzip
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2020 19:22:46 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

http://www.zstd.net/

Zstandard is a real-time compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios. It offers a very wide range of compression / speed trade-off, while being backed by a very fast decoder (see [benchmarks](http://facebook.github.io/zstd/#benchmarks) below). It also offers a special mode for small data, called [dictionary compression](http://facebook.github.io/zstd/#small-data), and can create dictionaries from any sample set. Zstandard library is provided as open source software using a BSD license.

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Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: romulasry <romulasry <at> protonmail.com>
Cc: 41794 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#41794: Thoughts on using Zstd compression instead of lzip
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:59:44 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Romulas,

It's not clear where you want to see zstd used.  Here's a trivial 
patch to add Zstd to ‘guix pack’, if that's what you mean.

I didn't submit it in the past because I dread bikeshedding the 
compression level.  -3 is the default, and compresses slightly 
better than gzip in a fraction of the time.

Kind regards,

T G-R

[0001-pack-Add-zstd-compressor.patch (text/x-patch, inline)]

From fa2ead6ac0f6c005e6392d6073122c7191e08944 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 09:03:27 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] pack: Add zstd compressor.

* guix/scripts/pack.scm (%compressors): Add ztsd.
---
 guix/scripts/pack.scm | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/guix/scripts/pack.scm b/guix/scripts/pack.scm
index 518bf6e7e3..5e71ca9c21 100644
--- a/guix/scripts/pack.scm
+++ b/guix/scripts/pack.scm
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen <at> fastmail.net>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Chris Marusich <cmmarusich <at> gmail.com>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Efraim Flashner <efraim <at> flashner.co.il>
+;;; Copyright © 2019 Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -81,6 +82,8 @@
                     #~(#+(file-append xz "/bin/xz") "-e"))
         (compressor "bzip2" ".bz2"
                     #~(#+(file-append bzip2 "/bin/bzip2") "-9"))
+        (compressor "zstd" ".zst"
+                    #~(#+(file-append zstd "/bin/zstd") "-3"))
         (compressor "none" "" #f)))
 
 ;; This one is only for use in this module, so don't put it in %compressors.
-- 
2.26.2

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Message #14 received at 41794 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Cc: 41794 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, romulasry <romulasry <at> protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#41794: Thoughts on using Zstd compression instead of lzip
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2020 23:21:07 +0200

Hi,

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr> skribis:

> It's not clear where you want to see zstd used.  Here's a trivial
> patch to add Zstd to ‘guix pack’, if that's what you mean.

I suppose that was for substitutes, in reference to:

  https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2019/substitutes-are-now-available-as-lzip/

The idea is worth discussing, but IMO, romulasry, discussions should
happen on guix-devel rather than guix-patches… unless the discussion
comes with a patch, of course.  :-)

Closing!

Ludo’.

Message #21 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 41794 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>,
 romulasry <romulasry <at> protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#41794: Thoughts on using Zstd compression instead of lzip
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2020 22:30:27 +0200

Hi,

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
skribis:

> From fa2ead6ac0f6c005e6392d6073122c7191e08944 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
> Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 09:03:27 +0100
> Subject: [PATCH] pack: Add zstd compressor.
>
> * guix/scripts/pack.scm (%compressors): Add ztsd.

BTW, feel free to push it after mentioning zstd for -C under “Invoking
guix pack”.

Thanks,
Ludo’.

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