# iso .xz extension - annoying as hell



## da1 (Mar 8, 2011)

I was in the process of burning a 8.2-RELEASE DVD iso to a DVD today from a windows laptop. it's incredibly annoying that:
1) The iso is archived (why is that anyway ? the size of the file does not decrease that much anyway )
2) it's a .xz file (took me some time to find the utility I needed to decompress it, not to mention I had to work with the windows cmd - which sucks in my opinion)

I remember the dvd ISO was packed in a .tar.gz archive some time ago. Why the change ? A .tar.gz archive can be opened by winrar/winzip and it's quite easy to work with it. This .xz stuff however, gave me some headaches and I hate it....


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## graudeejs (Mar 8, 2011)

You can extract xz with 7zip on Windows.


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## phoenix (Mar 8, 2011)

Unless you are installing packages from the DVD during the install, you don't need the DVD.

If you have a fast enough Internet connection to download the install DVD, consider using just the *bootonly* CD.  That includes the same installer (sysinstall) as the DVD, but it downloads all the needed files from the Internet, then installs them to your harddrive.

If you don't have a fast Internet connection, you can always grab just the *disc1* CD.  That includes the OS and a handful of binary packages, and is all you need to boot, install, reboot a new system.

Once the OS is installed, then you use all the normal ports/pkg_* tools to install software.


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## da1 (Mar 8, 2011)

I need to create a GPT/ZFS setup so I need to boot (bootonly), go into fixit mode (liveCD) and install most of the distributions (dvd).

Still, why is an ISO file archived since the size difference is next to negligible ?


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## oliverh (Mar 8, 2011)

Just use something different like mfsbsd: http://mfsbsd.vx.sk/


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## da1 (Mar 8, 2011)

Heck ... I forgot about mfsbsd, thx


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## Pushrod (Mar 9, 2011)

I agree with the OP completely on this issue. It should not be compressed at all.


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## nORKy (Mar 9, 2011)

What is the " ZFSv28 special edition" ?


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## phoenix (Mar 9, 2011)

Read the info right below (or is it above?) the link to download the mfsBSD image.  It explains exactly what the different versions are, when to use them, etc.


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## UNIXgod (Mar 9, 2011)

doesn't tar support .xz? pipe directly to the burner?


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## Alt (Mar 10, 2011)

Can't understand why a DVD is ever needed xD I alway get disc1 CD and install fresh software from pkgs or ports... 
No point to save this software for months/years on DVD.


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## da1 (Mar 10, 2011)

Guys, regardless of the reason, there is a DVD image for those of us who consider it necessary. My question is, why does an ISO image need to be archived ? It makes no sense at all ...


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## Alt (Mar 10, 2011)

da1 said:
			
		

> why does an ISO image need to be archived ?


10Mbytes saved from archiving * 100,000 downloads = lots of bandwidth


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## nakal (Mar 10, 2011)

I'm always downloading the torrents. It's a lot faster and does not have this problem.


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## da1 (Mar 10, 2011)

Alt said:
			
		

> 10Mbytes saved from archiving * 100,000 downloads = lots of bandwidth



Well, you do have a point but it's annoying for the end-user (for me anyway)


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## Alt (Mar 10, 2011)

da1 said:
			
		

> annoying


You can contribute hardware then xD


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## Pushrod (Mar 10, 2011)

Alt said:
			
		

> 10Mbytes saved from archiving * 100,000 downloads = lots of bandwidth



0.4% of total. Not worth it.


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## da1 (Mar 10, 2011)

@Alt: as stated by Pushrod, for 0.4% it ain't worth it


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## wblock@ (Mar 10, 2011)

Worth it to somebody, or they wouldn't have bothered to use xz on the DVD image but not on the CD images.  If bandwidth costs you nothing, apparently there are people who would appreciate a mirror of the DVD image.

Besides compression, an archiver also checksums the contents.  That's even more important for gigantic DVD files than mid-size CD images.

Otherwise, ask yourself "Why am I downloading an extra gigabyte of binary packages I will never even install?"


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## Christopher (Mar 10, 2011)

In addition to the file size reduction of bits over the wire, there is a 2GB filesize limit on some of the FreeBSD release mirrors.  From the FreeBSD 8.2-RC2 announcement:



> Due to a limitation in the
> mechanism used in some of our FTP mirror site infrastructure we are
> still limited to a 2Gb maximum file size (we hope that issue will be
> addressed before the next release) the package set on the DVD image is
> ...


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## Shadowmeph (Mar 17, 2011)

I am having the same problem but after reading through this I realize that to actually download the DVD could be a possible waste especially if some of the software has to be updated, he he. I think that I am just going to re-download but this time download the boot only ISO


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## gkontos (Mar 17, 2011)

To all being annoyed by the fact that they have to:

`$  xz -d FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.xz`

a) You can purchase DVDs from the FreeBSD Mall
b) Download the bootonly.iso

Until bandwidth becomes free, all ways of conserving it are welcomed.

Best


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## rsanchez (Mar 22, 2011)

You can download the "iso.xz" file anyway. And then install the package "xz" with
`# cd /usr/ports/archivers/xz && make install clean`
as usual. Then you can consult the man pages with
`# man xz`
To decompress the archive, the man pages say that you can type
`# unxz FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.xz`
at the command prompt of your root shell, and you get the decompressed file. (Of course, you have to substitute the version of the DVD "iso" file that you previously downloaded from the "FreeBSD" download site, because in this example I put the version I use: FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.xz from the FTP site "ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/8.2/").


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## da1 (Mar 23, 2011)

@rsanchez:





			
				da1 said:
			
		

> I was in the process of burning a 8.2-RELEASE DVD iso to a DVD today *from a windows* laptop.



I had no FreeBSD machine at hand at that point. Xz on windows is $#|t. Anyway, "solved".


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## Senlac (Sep 17, 2011)

*No Problem opening xz*

The Archive Manager in LinuxMint-Debian which is based on Ubunto, opens and extracts it automatically. So the xz compression is not a big deal. It uses unxz <file> to uncompress.

I think unxz comes with most Unix systems along with tar and others, of course if your on Windows, use 7-Zip as others suggested.


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## Radoslav (Nov 6, 2011)

*Regarding the DVD release...*

I want to thank to all who says that a DVD release is good to have. My reasons for that are two:

1. The DVD release have a *.xz* extension which enables me to download it behind the corporate proxy rules (*ISO* extensions are disabled).

2. It is a big distribution with many packages inside, so it is easier for me to start up. Why? Because I do not have an Internet connection.

Thanks and regards,


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## Martillo1 (Nov 8, 2011)

nORKy said:
			
		

> What is the " ZFSv28 special edition" ?


8.2-RELEASE "as is" does not include ZFSv28. It goes just up to 14 or 15.


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