Encrypt a whole directory in a single pass

[Leigh S. Jones, KR6X]

There are command-line implementations of gzip and tar that will
do the job under Microsoft operating systems, although there are
often limitations such as 8.3 filenames.

WinZip will open tarfiles and gzip files, but will not create them.

Generally, the "zip" format will be the format of choice on Microsoft
operating systems while tar and gzip or "compress"/"uncompress"
will be the archival method of choice on Unix and Linux.  There is
a "zip" implementation that is unique to Unix, producing files of a
different format from WinZip and other Microsoft implementations.
As of 1993, perhaps earlier, the zip implementation used widely on
Unix (SunOS and others) included the capability to produce files
that adhere to the zip formats from the Microsoft realm. More
modern is the "bzip2" zip format that produces tighter compression
yet but often seems to be available only on Unix/Linux computers
although I know of no reason that the program couldn't be compiled
under djgpp or similar to produce a Microsoft implementation.
WinZip hasn't been supporting bzip2 in the past nor "compress"/"
uncompress" outputs, although I haven't read the specs on the
latest release of WinZip to see what might be added in new
versions.

Frankly, for most kinds of files, the output produced by WinZip
will occupy more disk space than gzip or bzip2 files, with by
far the best compression performance marks going to bzip2.

Many of these tools provide for encryption as well as compression,
although I'd generally have more confidence in the gpg and
PGP encryption than in the zip tools if the security of the files
was at risk.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony E. Greene" <agreene@pobox.com>
To: <gnupg-users@gnupg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 22:34
Subject: Re: Encrypt a whole directory in a single pass


> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On Wed, Apr 17, 2002 at 09:50:52AM -0700, carl w spitzer wrote:
> >As i remember there is a cross compatibility between TAR & WINZIP and
> >between *ZIP & GZIP.  There may even be TAR for Winblows if not it may be
> >time to LILO as I do between the two OS.  Find your local Linux Users
> >group they can get you setup.  SUSE 8 is due out 4-22.
>
> WinZip is not the only zip implementation for Windows. There are others,
> but they may not support tar. That is why I recommended ZIP for creating
> compressed archives on Windows. It is possible to use tar and gzip, but
> they are simply not as well supported and you don't get any significant
> benefit for your efforts.
>
>
> Tony
> - --
> Anthony E. Greene <mailto:Anthony%20E.%20Greene%20%3Cagreene@pobox.com%3E>
> OpenPGP Key: 0x6C94239D/7B3D BD7D 7D91 1B44 BA26 C484 A42A 60DD 6C94 239D
> AOL/Yahoo Chat: TonyG05         HomePage: <http://www.pobox.com/~agreene/>
> Linux. The choice of a GNU generation <http://www.linux.org/>
>
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> Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Anthony E. Greene <agreene@pobox.com> 0x6C94239D
>
> iD8DBQE8vlrCpCpg3WyUI50RAqu+AKDQZcj5c8DQ7HIHu1/OA5Eui4amhQCg89oK
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> =KwYi
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>
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