Bug#784019: freeciv: removal of bz2 support => inability to load old savegames?

[Markus Koschany]

On 02.05.2015 12:46, Marko Lindqvist wrote:
> On 2 May 2015 at 11:52, Jacob Nevins
> <jacobn+debian at chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>> Package: freeciv-server
>> Version: 2.5.0-1
>>
>> I haven't tested this at all, I'm afraid, but noticed this in the
>> changelog of the new Freeciv packages in experimental:
>>
>> | - Remove libbz2-dev from Build-Depends.
>> |   We already support xz compression which is a superior compression format.
>>
>> I think this means that the new server won't be able to load .sav.bz2
>> savegames? That would be unfortunate, since the stable package generates
>> them (and Freeciv is generally able to load savegames from older
>> versions).
>>
>> Once you've released a package with support for a compression format, I
>> think you can practically never remove it, even if you add a newer
>> format.
> 
>  They can be deprecated and then obsoleted over long time in upstream
> - or by similar sources patching in downstream (I think we should
> start that process in upstream for bz2). Anyway, dropping the support
> for compression format that has been the default (assuming Debian uses
> upstream default) to create savegames in previous version is certainly
> no way to go.
> 
>>
>> Sorry if I've misconstrued the situation.

Hi,

indeed I deliberately dropped support for bz2 compression because I
think it is an outdated and deprecated format. gz compression is
superior in terms of speed and memory requirements whereas xz is much
better in producing smaller file sizes and it is even very close or even
better than gz in terms of speed when used with XZ_OPT="-0".

Debian's Freeciv package in stable is not affected and those who have
old savegames are able to convert them to gz or xz simply by
recompressing. I can mention that in README.Debian but I really don't
see the need for supporting three different compression formats. I can
file the upstream bug report about changing the savegame compression to
xz, if you want me to do that.

Regards,

Markus





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