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Comment by out_of_protocol | Hacker News Reader

> Just let Pack do its thing, and you will be happy

Well, no. Sometimes i want maximum compression while having a lot of CPU and wall clock time. And sometimes being fast is more important than compression level. Also managing server utilization is needed. Level thing is there for a reason

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Then `--press=hard` would be the choice for you.

This is not a binary choice, actual level of effort is required. I've seen many times people fine tuning compression levels in all kinds of automation scenarios

Also, zstd covers a lot of ground between super fast compression and good compression ratio

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/facebook/zstd/master/doc/i...

Thank you for the notes. I am well aware of the levels and Pack uses custom configuration to match its inner design. Maybe more level come, or maybe not. But to be clear, Pack supports any valid Zstandard content, and this levels we are discussing are about Pack CLI chosen for better user experience. Any other client can produce and store any valid content for chose level or configuration, and other clients can read it.

There are many different usecases, and each one have different set of requirements. E.g. - for end-user facing cli: support as much conventions as possible (-v --version, -h --help, other options similar to other compressors), sane defaults

- for automatic tasks like making backups via cron: piping, correct exit codes, level of effort configuration, silent modes for reduced logging.

Second one is likely to fly first, can be used isolated on company level if file format is stable

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