By zip, guessing you mean Windows platform.
I've always thought it 'strange' that Moodle Downloads has
available for download a .tgz archive (54.8MB) and a .zip (71.3MB).
Reason? Compression? No, it's platform specific stuff.
Kens-MBP-2:moodle kentask$ find ./ -name \*.exe
.//filter/tex/mimetex.exe
find ./ -name \*mime\*
.//filter/tex/mimetex.freebsd
.//filter/tex/mimetex.linux
.//filter/tex/mimetex.exe
.//filter/tex/README.mimetex
.//filter/tex/mimetex.darwin
A downloaded zip archive unzipped on a Mac:
Kens-MBP-2:moodle kentask$ du -h .//filter/tex/mimetex.exe
1.3M .//filter/tex/mimetex.exe
Kens-MBP-2:moodle kentask$ du -h .//filter/tex/mimetex.linux
1.3M .//filter/tex/mimetex.linux
Kens-MBP-2:moodle kentask$ du -h .//filter/tex/mimetex.freebsd
1.3M .//filter/tex/mimetex.freebsd
Kens-MBP-2:moodle kentask$ du -h .//filter/tex/mimetex.darwin
2.7M .//filter/tex/mimetex.darwin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_(operating_system)
Guess it's related to conflicting advice (to me at least) seen here in forums ...
'best for the job' vs 'use that which one is familiar'.
Thought 'educating'/learning was all about something you don't know, but probably should - any 'body of knowledge' ... including tech.
So no ... don't have any good advice concerning maintaining core code for the situation you've described - cept one ... use what's best for the job ... and in MHO, that's Linux!
'SoS', Ken