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1988-09-14
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
Using PAKAS and PAKSE for "safe" Archived Mail
on the IFNA(tm) Amateur Network
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This text file should be part of a public-domain archive titled
"PAKUTLxx.PAK", where "xx" is the version/release number. (xx=12
for version 1.2, as of this writing.) The .PAK suffix is the Mike
Housky's personal preference for naming archives produced by Phil
Katz's PKPAK/PKPAKJR programs (and which may not be extractable
by the SEA ARC and ARCE programs), but this may have been renamed
to .ARC by some overly-conformist sysop along the line. No
matter. You should find the following programs, along with
documentation and complete *source*:
PAKLIST.EXE Quick list of .PAK/.ARC contents to console.
PAKSORT.EXE Sort contents of .PAK/.ARC archives.
PAKAS.EXE ARCA.COM replacement, uses PKPAK+PAKSORT to
produce or update sorted .PAK/.ARC archives.
PAKSE.EXE ARCE.COM replacement, uses PAKSORT+PKUNPAK to
extract .PAK/.ARC archive members in sorted order.
If any of the above are missing (or source is not included) rush
to your dealer for a refund!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The substantial performance of the PKWARE archive utilities over
earlier archive programs (15-25% faster than ARCA, with generally
better compression even in "compatibility" mode, by my reckoning)
has prompted many sysops in the IFNA network and elsewhere to use
these programs for archived (echo)mail processing. This is no
problem when extracting archived packets, since PKUNPAK (nee
PKXARC) is completely compatible with prior programs. However,
the PKPAK utility (nee PKARC) is not entirely compatible with
older archive programs:
1. PKPAK provides an additional compression method (dynamic
LZW, or "squashing") which is not understood by the
"vanilla" ARCE program.
2. PKPAK timestamps the finished archive with the that of the
newest file contained, rather that the date/time of update.
3. PKPAK sorts the member files by file name/type rather than
order of entry into the archive.
4. (Last but least) the PKPAK command name and arguments are
different from older programs.
Item 4 is easily defeated with a "filter" program that adjusts
the arguments. Also, PKPAK has command line options for timestamp
and compression method compatibility with the earlier programs,
which solve items 1 and 2. The order of files within the archive
is not usually important, but is crucial to archived mail
processing.
PAKMAIL.DOC [12-Sept-1988] Page 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
(continued)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Typical archived mail programs will accumulate multiple mail
packets for a single destination node into a single archive until
it is ultimately transferred. There is an embedded assumption
(weak, perhaps, but reasonable considering the state of affairs
when the archived mail concept was first put into practice) that
the member packets would be extracted in order of creation, and
this is the "raison d' etre" of PAKSORT and the PAKAS/PAKSE
front-end programs.
PAKSORT will resort the members of a .PAK or .ARC compatible
archive in a variety of orders. The most useful for archived mail
is date/time order, and this is the default if no sort criteria
are stated.
PAKAS.EXE is a plug-compatible replacement for ARCA.COM, which
uses PKPAK to pack the mail packets and PAKSORT to resort the
resulting bundle (if necessary) into date/time creation order.
This should have the intended result, except perhaps around a
system date/time change (use care during the Daylight/Standard
time changes.) Other than that, PAKAS should produce the same
packet order withn a bundle as ARCA, and even correct for a few
unusual circumstances arising from manual interruption of the
mail process and resumption after directory changes have been
made.
PAKSE.EXE is a plug-compatible replacement for ARCE.COM, which
uses PAKSORT to reorder packets within an incoming bundle into
date/time order before calling PKUNPAK to extract the individual
packets. This is mainly provided as a guard against unsorted PK-
packed bundles from a "first-level" feed. If any BBS "upstream"
has unpacked and repacked messages from an out-of-order bundle,
then no correction is possible.
The balance of this document is directed to sysops running Opus-
CBCS, but sysops of other IFNA mail-compatible BBS programs may
also find this useful. Also, I am assuming that "bundle" means an
archived file containing mail packets. If this is poor usage,
then I apologize.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The installation procedure below makes certain assumptions about
your setup:
First, the examples presume that the Opus and related executable
files are in a directory named "C:\OPUS", which is included at
the front of the search path during BBS execution, but not
necessarily part of the path during non-BBS keyboard operation.
This directory is presumed to contain the regular ARCA.COM and
ARCE.COM files.
PAKMAIL.DOC [12-Sept-1988] Page 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
(continued)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Second, the examples presume that a temporary working directory
for unpacking the archives can be created on drive C: as
C:\PAKUTL.
Third, the examples presume that your "regular" utilities are
stored in a directory named "C:\UTILS", which appears AFTER
C:\OPUS in the DOS PATH.
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE:
0. First, get a copy of PK361.EXE: Earlier versions are NOT
recommended.
1. Make the working directory:
>C:
>MD \PAKUTL
>CD \PAKUTL
2. Copy files (presuming originals on floppy drive A: root) and
unpack archives:
>COPY A:PK361.EXE -- Get PK v3.61 distribution file.
>COPY A:PAKUTL12.PAK -- Get PAKUTL distribution file.
>PK361 -- Extract PKWARE .EXE files (only)
>DEL PK361.EXE -- Done with this now.
>PKUNPAK PAKUTL12.PAK -- Extract PAKxxx utilities and
documentation.
>DEL PAKUTL12.PAK -- Done with this now.
3. Change to the Opus utility directory and make backup copies
of your existing ARCA/ARCE for quick uninstall in case of
problems:
>C:
>CD \OPUS
>REN ARCA.COM ARCAOLD.COM
>REN ARCE.COM ARCEOLD.COM
4. Copy executable files for PAKAS/PAKSE:
>COPY C:\PAKUTL\PAKSORT.EXE
>COPY C:\PAKUTL\PKPAK[JR].EXE PKPAK.EXE
>COPY C:\PAKUTL\PKUNPAK[J].EXE PKUNPAK.EXE
>COPY C:\PAKUTL\PAKAS.EXE ARCA.EXE
>COPY C:\PAKUTL\PAKSE.EXE ARCE.EXE
Now you should be ready to test PAKAS and PAKSE with archived
mail. I strongly recommend that you test this with "disposable"
packets before committing to regular use with IFNA mail. The most
likely problem to encounter is lack of memory to run PKPAK or
PAKSE+PKUNPAK, especially if you are running a multitasker. See
the memory requirements below for estimates. I recommend using
the PKPAKJR and PKUNPAKJ programs when memory space is limited.
Even so, these utilities require substantially more RAM than the
"vanilla" ARCA/ARCE and may not run in your environment.
PAKMAIL.DOC [12-Sept-1988] Page 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
(continued)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If for any reason you need to "uninstall" PAKAS and/or PAKSE, the
following procedure should get you right back to normal:
>DEL C:\OPUS\ARCA.EXE
>DEL C:\OPUS\ARCE.EXE
>REN C:\OPUS\ARCAOLD.COM ARCA.COM
>REN C:\OPUS\ARCEOLD.COM ARCE.COM
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PAKUTL12 Memory Requirements
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Approximate memory requirements for version 1.2 PAKUTL programs:
PAKSORT 50K
PAKLIST 48K
PAKAS 14K+125K if PKPAK is used = 139K
14K+90K if PKPAKJR is used = 104K
PAKSE 92K if PKUNPAK is used
68K if PKUNPAKJ is used
The PAKAS/PAKSE requirments are based upon PK[un]PAK memory usage
as published by PKWARE, Inc. I have to take these figures on
faith, since these programs are "undebuggable" ... defeating
empirical tests of memory use, or at least the easy ones that I
can think of at the moment. The versions of ARCA.COM and ARCE.COM
which I have encountered seem to require much less:
ARCA 32K (better performance if 36K+ is available)
ARCE 63K (better performance if 67K+ is available)
As you can see, the main problem is that the PAKAS step (the most
important, of course) requires at least 72K more RAM than ARCA.
This is of particular importance if you are running a
multitasker. In some circumstances, you may be able to make room
by reorganizing your mail procedure to allow packing and
unpacking of bundles by smaller external programs, rather than
as a part of a larger program's operation.
One of the testers was able to remove the multitasker entirely
and run a full-size machine during mail processing, on an
automated basis. Another tester reported that a partition of 320K
was sufficient for mail processing with OMMM to pack bundles and
Opus (with -u) to unpack them. Personally, I don't have enough
experience with M'taskers to be more specific at this time.
PAKMAIL.DOC [12-Sept-1988] Page 4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, Warranty, Etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The attached programs are the copyrighted original work of
Michael J. Housky and Jeffrey J. Nonken. These have been released
to the public domain with full source code as of September, 1988.
The materials herein are provided "as is", with no warranty
expressed or implied.
"Results are not guaranteed, but if not perfectly satisfied,
your wasted time will be refunded."
- Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The authors may be reached for comment via IFNA netmail at:
Mike Housky, via Hog Heaven (1:103/522.6)
Jeffrey Nonken, Sysop of Opus Julius (1:103/522)
(714)997-8958 (1200/2400)
(714)997-9342 (300/1200)
First-person references in this document are those of Mike
Housky.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgements
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- PKWARE, PKPAK, PKPAKJR, PKUNPAK and PKUNPAKJ are trademarks
of PKWARE Inc.
- ARC and SEA are trademarks of Software Enhancement
Associates.
- ARCA and ARCE are names of programs distributed by Software
Enhancement Associates and as such may be trademarks of
same.
- FidoNet and IFNA are trademarks of the International FidoNet
Association.
Thanks are due to Bowen Goletz (sysop: Post Central, 1:103/516)
and Dan Thomson (sysop: Sam's Place, 1:163/34) for volunteering
to test the programs prior to general release.
PAKMAIL.DOC [12-Sept-1988] Page 5