[Cialug] Alien inconsistent output

[Daniel A. Ramaley]

Running into a really weird problem.

I'm trying to use alien to convert an RPM to a DEB. I ran it 3 times on
the input package. Each time it gave different output! On a 46 MB
package the output only varied by about 8 kB. So it's not a huge
variance. But i would expect that if i have a program that transforms
data, and i give it the exact same data, it should give the exact same
result. Right? Is there something wrong? Or something i am not
understanding?

It's extra annoying because in certain circles the word "alien" seems to
mean something else so when i search for alien size differences i get
all sorts of conspiracy-theory and sci-fi style sites talking about
fantastical creatures.

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Daniel Ramaley
Server Engineer 2, Information Technology Services
Drake University

T: +1-515-271-4540
W: https://www.drake.edu/its