Several years ago, just a short while before gzip appeared, a much improved version of compress was distributed by the Free Software Foundation. Although this version was distributed by the FSF, it is not under the GPL. When I say "much improved", I mean that it is more than twice as fast. That makes it enough faster than gzip that in certain time-critical applications, like backups, you may be able to use compress and not be able to use gzip. I realize that the patent situation with compress is not so great, but if you're going to ship it at all, you might as well ship the best. The FSF stopped distributing compress when gzip appeared. I have no idea where the official site for this version is, but you can get a copy from ftp://ftp.idiom.com/pub/net-sources/ncompress-4.2.4.tar.gz
State Changed From-To: open->closed Stale problem report (nearly 2 years old). Please re-file if you really want to see a newer version of compress supplied.