ATTN: Lex users and librarians
SUBJECT: More on pack

Our programmer has noted some reasons for packing:
1. To condense the file after a lot of cataloguing or editing which can
leave garbage records in the file. A packed file takes less space to
backup.
2. To try to correct a search or circ problem.
3. To update the indexing after a big jump in version number when
updating the program.
4. To syncronize the main databaset with the circ database if either one
of them is restored from a backup.

> How often do you recommend packing globally and circ or pat
> files? What exactly is a global pack - I assume it packs
> all files that need packing? For the first couple of weeks
> I was doing global packs almost daily but have reduced
> since then to maybe once a month.

There really isn't a global pack in LexWin, just an option to make
global changes to a database, and that does nothing different if you
don't actually change something. Each database has to packed
separately.

As far as frequency of packs, I see some packing their databases daily.
Others again never pack their databases. Maybe you have to find some
happy medium between those extremes, something that you are comfortable
with, and maybe you already have. Maybe Jim has something to add to
this.

Some reasons for packing are,
1. To condense the file after a lot of cataloguing or editing which can
leave garbage records in the file. A packed file takes less space to
backup.
2. To try to correct a search or circ problem.
3. To update the indexing after a big jump in version number when
updating the program.
4. To syncronize the main databaset with the circ database if either one
of them is restored from a backup.

Tenho