Re: Deprecating .gz format on kernel.org

[John Bradford]

> At some point it probably would make sense to start deprecating .gz
> format files from kernel.org.

Presumably the idea is to save bandwidth.  In that case, it might be
simpler to add:

<h1>.gz is depreciated and will be removed soon!</h1>
Please start using .bz2 immediately.  .gz downloads are rate limited
to 5kbps.

to index.html :-).

Seriously, there are occasions when you're patching a kernel on a 486
or something, that it's quicker to use the .gz than the .bz2, even
including the download time, (if you're on a fast connection).
However, there are probably a lot of people downloading .gz, because
they don't know what .bz2 is.

Likewise, http access to kernel.org is frequently slow, whereas ftp
access can use 100% of my link, simply because many more people use
http.

One other thing that occurs to me, the send your e-mail address as
anonymous password requirement means I can't use wget to access the
ftp site, (I think - the user:password@host syntax seems to confuse
it, when it's anonymous:me@[e-mail]).

John.