>>>>> "Robert" == Robert Dodier <robert.dodier at gmail.com> writes:
Robert> On 2012-12-29, James Cloos <cloos at jhcloos.com> wrote:
>> I now have my dist use xz(1) to compress compresible files, including
>> man and info pages. The breaks maxima's describe functionality.
>> Both emacs and info(1) are happy with the xz(1)ed info files.
>> I looked through the code, but I couldn't determine how describe opened
>> the bzip2(1)ed (and presumably gzip(1)ed) info pages, so I couldn't write
>> a patch to add xz(1).
Robert> Unless someone changed something while I wasn't looking (entirely
Robert> possible, really), I don't think Maxima can read any kind of compressed
Robert> info file, only plain text.
I think that long ago when gcl was about the only lisp that ran
maxima, info files could be compressed. That capability went away
once gcl's info reader was replaced by a more portable reader.
Robert> In order to make it happen, one would need to bring in a Common Lisp
Robert> library for compressed streams. I guess it's feasible, but it seems like
Robert> nontrivial work to get a minor reduction in the amount of disk storage
Robert> required -- something which is considered very cheap these days.
cliki.net mentions chipz that can decompress deflate, zlib, and gzip
compression. I have not looked at it.
But I agree with Robert. Maxima, including documentation, is tiny
compared to many other things people download these days.
Ray