Speaking of the Windows version but presuming the
other versions are about the same size ... (I am also
certain the linux version is only 10k and can run on an
Atari 800 w/48k.)

    Viewing the terabyte transfers from the POV website
and if there really are three million users each
upgrade theoretically accounts for 3M x 5MB of traffic,
15 terabytes per release. Someone correct me but I
think there have been six such releases in the last
year.

    But then I note that for most all of the .x
revisions only the povengine.exe changes which runs
less than 1MB compressed at the moment. Usually the
.hlp files do not need to change except with and X.
change. That looks to me like an 80+% reduction in
traffic by simply releasing the revised engine.

    Additionally the .x required changes to the .hlp
files could be released as revs.hlp to keep the
transfers down.

    OTOH, the full version being the only way to get
the files causes me to save all my editted files, e.g.
insert|shape, so they do not get overwritten. I would
frankly prefer the option of only the engine for
revisions.

    OK, Ken, tell me where on the POVsite just the
revised engine has always been available and make me
feel real dumb. :)

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Matt Giwer wrote:
> 
>     Speaking of the Windows version but presuming the
> other versions are about the same size ... (I am also
> certain the linux version is only 10k and can run on an
> Atari 800 w/48k.)
> 
>     Viewing the terabyte transfers from the POV website
> and if there really are three million users each
> upgrade theoretically accounts for 3M x 5MB of traffic,
> 15 terabytes per release. Someone correct me but I
> think there have been six such releases in the last
> year.
> 
>     But then I note that for most all of the .x
> revisions only the povengine.exe changes which runs
> less than 1MB compressed at the moment. Usually the
> .hlp files do not need to change except with and X.
> change. That looks to me like an 80+% reduction in
> traffic by simply releasing the revised engine.
> 
>     Additionally the .x required changes to the .hlp
> files could be released as revs.hlp to keep the
> transfers down.
> 
>     OTOH, the full version being the only way to get
> the files causes me to save all my editted files, e.g.
> insert|shape, so they do not get overwritten. I would
> frankly prefer the option of only the engine for
> revisions.
> 
>     OK, Ken, tell me where on the POVsite just the
> revised engine has always been available and make me
> feel real dumb. :)

There were a couple of minor revisions that they did indeed allow you
to download just the executable itself. There were also problems with
the new editor in some of the early releases of v3.1x. Because of this
they needed to include the extra .dll's for the editor and I believe
there were some minor changes to a few of the example scene files that
required a full download if you wanted to run the program with all of
the bugs and changes included. At those times that this happened they
did not allow an executable only upgrade of the program. Pov v3.1g was
one of those releases that required a full download to avoid problems
with people mixing apples with oranges. I anticipate that when v3.5
is released it too will undergo some revision changes and I suspect
that the POV-Team will release just the executable where possible.
Really they evaluate it case by case to see what they can get away
with realizing that not everyone wants to download the whole
distribution each time.

-- 
Wishing you Seasons Greetings, A Merry Christmas, and A Happy New Year !
Ken Tyler -  1200+ Povray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html http://www.povray.org/links/

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I once suggested that the distribution included patchers, like for
example the service packs for NT or those game patches (the Descent
Freespace patch is 3 MB and the game takes up 2 CDs, thankfully I
didn't have to download *that*). The suggestion went into oblivion but
I have it on my personal wishlist and will at some point just slip it
under the Team door, ring the bell and run like hell.


Peter Popov
pet### [at] usanet
ICQ: 15002700

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