Re: ISO image: to xz or not to xz?

[Christopher Baines <mail@cbaines.net>]

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Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi!
>
> Here’s the installation ISO image (with built-in zlib compression):
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> $ ./pre-inst-env guix system image -t iso9660 gnu/system/install.scm
> /gnu/store/kg63cyg94dmy9x7rpxf5ycn97sqx1ndl-image.iso
> $ xz < /gnu/store/kg63cyg94dmy9x7rpxf5ycn97sqx1ndl-image.iso > /tmp/t.iso.xz
> $ du -h /tmp/t.iso.xz
> 496M	/tmp/t.iso.xz
> $ du -h /gnu/store/kg63cyg94dmy9x7rpxf5ycn97sqx1ndl-image.iso
> 647M	/gnu/store/kg63cyg94dmy9x7rpxf5ycn97sqx1ndl-image.iso
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> The xz-compressed image is 23% smaller, which is not negligible.
> However, it’s apparently quite unusual to distribute compressed ISOs and
> some services/tools such as libosinfo require plain ISOs (uncompressed).
>
> Should we distribute the installation ISO without xz compression?

Personally I think the ISO is more useful if it's published as such,
rather than an as a xz compressed file.

I believe this will make things like getting Guix through Gnome Boxes
easier, and using Guix at various hosting providers easier.

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