[Info-vax] STARTREK.BCK Restore - How?

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] packing the individual files into a ZIP archive means
> you now have to worry about the preservation of file
> attributes of all the files, rather than a single one.
> [...]

   "worry"?  It's _possible_ to create a zip archive wherein
some, but not all, files are stored with VMS file attributes,
but it requires building a composite archive using multiple
Zip commands.  (Can you do that with BACKUP?)  Treating all
the files the same is the _worry-free_ way.

> Also, if you're shipping VMSINSTAL kits (please, lets not
> get into PCSI vs VMSINSTAL) you need Backup savesets.

   It's easy to pack BACKUP save sets into a zip archive.  It
can be done incorrectly, as we've seen, but doing it right is
trivially easy.

> [...] forcing us to use Unix style
> single-character-hieroglyphics for arguments.


   Just as VMS forces us to use 39.39 file names.  What year
is it now?


> I trust zip and unzip as much as I trust BACKUP, in this
> era. [...]

   I'd be a little cautious on such a claim.  Zip and UnZip
can't cope with aliases or hard links.  So far as I know, the
official zip archive structure lacks any such features.  But,
if all you want is a bunch of plain-old files (or symlinks),
and not a BACKUP /IMAGE, then I'd expect the Info-ZIP
programs to be adequate.  And, in some ways, superior.