On RAR and PDF Files Attachment in Forum

[odie]

Hi,

I have noticed that the forum does not allow rar (winrar zipped formats) and PDF (Portable File Format) as attachments.

I was wondering if these 2 files could be enabled?

rar files usually does alot better compressions (resulting in smaller files), whilst pdf files allow views of documents exactly the way u want it, disallow copying (if protection enabled) plus its cross-platform.

Thanks!

[Mattn]

please use bz2 and openoffice files - pdf is nice, but we are developing an open source game, so why should we use pdf where you can only extract stuff if you know how? rar is not really free.

[odie]

please use bz2 and openoffice files - pdf is nice, but we are developing an open source game, so why should we use pdf where you can only extract stuff if you know how? rar is not really free.

bz2? Oh, ok, np with me. Just tot its nice to have rar. Dun worry. i can work wif existing zip and bz2 if need.

pdf? Oh? I did not realize that pdf is not accepted in open source, since i saw in the NSIS script that the documentation will be sorta in *.pdf format..... thought that will be also same here.....
(PS: pdf for extracting stuff which only i know how? huh?)

[vedrit]

Why isnt PDF accepted in open-source? The viewer, atleast, is free

[Destructavator]

I agree - many free PDF viewers and readers are out there.  Linux has many, and even on Windows alone, there are alternatives to "A-Bloat-Be" Software (such as Foxit PDF Reader, much faster and cleaner than Acrobat with less bloat).

Also, many open-source programs can create and edit PDFs, such as PDFCreator - a virtual printer - and OpenOffice can also put a document into a PDF.

Edit:  Regarding file compression, I prefer 7zip, the format is very nice, free, and the free utility to make them also packs/unpacks almost anything (including .zip, .rar, and numerous others).

[mattheus]

7zip is nice packer, it supports threads and so on, but its file is practically unrepairable on damage. In most cases its not a problem, but still sometimes when getting files from internet they could get damaged. PDF is very open closed source format, practically everyone could make it with OpenOffice.org or PDF printer. ODT format has also issues between OpenOffice.org 3 and 2 versions, not to tell about uncompatible ODT filter for MS Office 2007 which was introduced just some weeks ago with SP2 by Microsoft and forced Open Document Alliance to claim that its implementation is not compatible. Do we support SVG as illustration format? I think SVG is good format and can be a very good explanation when needed. Unfortunately it is not very widely supported yet as output, but most webbrowsers support it nicely.

[Mattn]

[...]disallow copying (if protection enabled) plus its cross-platform.[...]

that was the sentence i was refering to. doesn't make sense to provide a document for an open source game where others can't work on because the original autor protected it from being modified.

of course you can use pdf - but why not openoffice or the tex sources instead? you can also provide the final pdf if you want to.

in fact we are using pdf, too - for the manual.

[odie]

that was the sentence i was refering to. doesn't make sense to provide a document for an open source game where others can't work on because the original autor protected it from being modified.

of course you can use pdf - but why not openoffice or the tex sources instead? you can also provide the final pdf if you want to.

in fact we are using pdf, too - for the manual.

Hehe.... yupz. I am using openoffice .... and yes, like destructavator, i use 7zip (windows and console-based ones) and pdfcreator (which is 0.97 implemented thruout my organisation under my care).

The point of protecting the pdf was imo, a standard practise of pdf files (so that ppl view it exactly the way u want it to view, unlike doc or txt, which has its layout running and varying.....). Of course, since we are on opensource, we can always choose not to protect it.

On pdf, yupz, i tot that we could allow pdf files to be uploaded on forums then?

[Mattn]

On pdf, yupz, i tot that we could allow pdf files to be uploaded on forums then?

not everyone can copy or modify a pdf file - and if you add images you should also add the images to the forum attachment which would be a pain imo (not to forget the tex sources or the oo sources). so please use openoffice directly. that's the way i would prefer. everyone can open it with free software and can easily modify and reuse content from it.

where exactly do you need a 100% layout match?

[odie]

not everyone can copy or modify a pdf file - and if you add images you should also add the images to the forum attachment which would be a pain imo (not to forget the tex sources or the oo sources). so please use openoffice directly. that's the way i would prefer. everyone can open it with free software and can easily modify and reuse content from it.

where exactly do you need a 100% layout match?

hmmm.... sounds good to me enuf on the first point -> to use open office files.

Where do i need 100% layout? That is mainly printer margins related issues..... sometimes i maxed out margins and this translate to off margins kinda look for those whose printers have bigger margins constraints. Or another possible scenarios are browser based looks / System fonts sizes look. Yupz.

[odie]

Hi,

I just noticed that i cannot upload 7z (7zip archives) onto the forums too......

See the attached. :S

[attachment deleted by admin]

[BTAxis]

7z should be allowed now.

[odie]

7z should be allowed now.

Okie, thanks BTAxis!

Will switch to tat version most likely from now.