I think packages should be completely uncompressed on disk by default as hpkgs, but support optional, fast, compression for use on CD (or just migrate to DVDs already...).
The packages could simply be transferred in space-efficient compression format and uncompressed for installation. If the user/build wants compression, then the package will be compressed (with a speed-efficient, but less space-efficient method), but the package is entirely uncompressed
The installer could have an option not to use package compression, but otherwise leaves them compressed (since the packages will be compressed in a speed-efficient format on disc).
Best of both worlds, shouldn't be /that/ complicated to orchestrate.No need to make any file system changes, such as aligning on blocks, chunks, pages, or what-have-you, the performance penalty is something I haven't been able to benchmark in nearly a decade (though with memory pages and specialized instructions performance is certainly affected).
--The loon
