> IIRC it is exactly what the people at imp did in their own compile.

That's true.  You can find out more at:
http://www.imp.org/members/tech/rcast/imppovray.asp

In summary:

+  Can read POV, INI, BMP, GIF etc from inside tar file.
+  Can handle directory strutures withing the tar file.
+  Does not require unpacking the TAR file.
+  Tar handling is implemented in C++.
+  Tar handling works for Win32 or Linux, probably other platforms too.
-  POV True-type handling code depends on absolute offsets in file.
   (Therefore .TTF files are not handled correctly)
-  Implies slight changes to the way POV searches for included files.
-  Complete integration with POV would require adoption of some
   conventions.

The main issue with the IMPPOV concept was finding a generic way
of synchronising different machines sharing a common filesystem
so that they don't overwrite each other's results.  (Still no known
method of implementing a filesystem based mutex)

Cheers,

Nigel Stewart

--
Nigel Stewart (nig### [at] nigelscom)
Research Student, Software Developer
Y2K is the new millenium for the mathematically challenged.

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