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General discussionOffline backup archiving(4 posts)solved(4 posts)solved
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Posted December 17, 2020
I'm trying to keep a private archive of offline backups for my GOG library. So far I've just been archiving the Windows versions but I am wondering: do I need to keep three copies of everything in order to keep all platforms, or are the "bin" files the same between Windows, Linux and Mac? It'd be nice if all I needed was three of the tiny installers which could all use the same "bin" files. But if I'd have to keep separate "bin" files for different platforms then I might just stick to keeping Windows archives only.
This question / problem has been solved by WinterSnowfallimage
Posted December 17, 2020
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BenMcLean: I'm trying to keep a private archive of offline backups for my GOG library. So far I've just been archiving the Windows versions but I am wondering: do I need to keep three copies of everything in order to keep all platforms, or are the "bin" files the same between Windows, Linux and Mac? It'd be nice if all I needed was three of the tiny installers which could all use the same "bin" files. But if I'd have to keep separate "bin" files for different platforms then I might just stick to keeping Windows archives only.
Taking a look at the library, they have different formats and file structure. Windows has .exe files and .bin parts for installers larger than 4 GB. For Mac and Linux the offline installers are one file (they don't use smaller .bin parts) in different formats (.pkg and .dmg for Mac, .sh for Linux).
Posted December 17, 2020
I don't know about Mac but the Linux installers are one big .sh file. The game Cayne, for example, has a small .exe file and a .bin file of about 2gb for Windows and a .sh file of about 2gb for Linux.

Edit: Caesar was too fast for me!
Post edited December 17, 2020 by HappyPunkPotato
Posted December 17, 2020
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BenMcLean: are the "bin" files the same between Windows, Linux and Mac?
Doesn't work that way I'm afraid. Though there will be some common elements, different OS builds will be packaged differently when it comes to binaries and libraries at least, so the installers would differ even if they were packaged in the same way (which they are not, as others have previously mentioned).

You can however get away with storing only the Windows version of games using DOSBox and ScummVM, since you can easily extract and use them with a generic DOSBox/ScummVM installation on Linux or Mac.
Post edited December 17, 2020 by WinterSnowfall
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General discussionOffline backup archiving(4 posts)solved(4 posts)solved
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