Deon wrote (2020-07-03):
JAM does not have the limitations that squish has... it has its own
limitations but they allow for larger areas than most other message
base formats...
What are the Jam limitations? (Just preparing for what I might be in for...)
https://defsol.com/news/jammbp-the-joaquim-andrew-mats-message-base-proposal/
Jam also uses 32 bit for the "offset of text in ????????.JDT file". A JAM base can store more messages than a Squish base as the *.jdt file only includes the text (message body) and not the header, kludge lines and SEEN-BYs. The file size is still limited to 4 GB.
JAM's uint32 unix time overflows in 2106-02-07, Squish can store dates up to 2107-12-31 (dos time).
Overall there are not that much different.
Advantages of Squish:
It can store a message exactly as received
All essential data is stored in in the *.sqd file in one piece. Easier to repair.
Unique message IDs
Advantages of JAM:
No message linking limits
Full 5D (if FTNs would support it)
Has better support for non-FTN messages (in theory)
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* Origin: (2:280/464.47)