iB::Topic::Diff file for new releases

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Topic: Diff file for new releases, Small distro, small download

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b1ackmai1er Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 115
Joined: June 2005

Posted: Dec. 15 2007,13:35

Hi Guys,

The great thing about DSL is that it is under constant development and improvement. I am always hungry for the latest release candidate.

The downside of this is that I am constantly downloading 50M ISO's.

Is it possible that new releases could come out as a diff file too.

For example, the shareware version of WinISO supports up to 100M ISO's for free.

It would be great if we could download the changed files/directories and drag them into WinISO and burn the updated ISO.

This could save heaps of bandwith and possibly reduce each update download to the 1M region. Great for us hardcore users and good for the download sites too.

Is this possible?

Downloading 4.2RC1 now!

Regards Phil

b1ackmai1er Offline

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Posts: 115
Joined: June 2005

Posted: Dec. 15 2007,14:21

Ahhh, I see, this is probably harder than it looks because the system is set up as a 47M file.

Oh well, seemed like a good idea.

Regards Phil

^thehatsrule^ Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 3275
Joined: July 2006

Posted: Dec. 15 2007,20:12

Well, there are binary diff utilities. But I should think that it could be just faster to download a new release. You could try it out...

A better solution might be to open up the cloop file, apply whatever diffs to text files, replace binaries as needed, add/remove files as needed, then remake the cloop, and optionally the cd image. But again, it seems a bit complicated, and for other OS's you might need to use a vm or something along those lines.

clivesay

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Posts: 935
Joined: Dec. 2003

Posted: Dec. 16 2007,02:58

There is the xdelta program that some distros are using to allow people to merge the latest release updates with a previous iso. Some of the Mepis group use it.

Chris

b1ackmai1er Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 115
Joined: June 2005

Posted: Dec. 16 2007,09:26

Great suggestion,

I downloaded and tried xdelta.

The diff file between dsl-4.1.iso and dsl-4.2RC1.iso was 40 Meg.

Not the dramatic improvement I was expecting.

Mind you, if I was still on dial-up I would think its great.

cheers Phil

16 replies since Dec. 15 2007,13:35

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » DSL Ideas and Suggestions » Diff file for new releases