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- This is the README file for the 30 April 1996 public release of the
- Info-ZIP group's portable UnZip zipfile-extraction program (and related
- utilities).
-
- unzip52.zip portable UnZip, version 5.2, source code distribution
- unzip52.tar.Z same as above, but compress'd tar format
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
-
- BEFORE YOU ASK: UnZip, its companion utility Zip, and related utilities
- and support files can be found in many places; read the file "Where" for
- further details. To contact the authors with suggestions, bug reports,
- or fixes, continue reading this file (README) and, if this is part of a
- source distribution, the file "ZipPorts". Also in source distributions:
- read "BUGS" for a list of known bugs, non-bugs and possible future bugs;
- INSTALL for instructions on how to build UnZip; and "Contents" for a com-
- mented listing of all the distributed files.
- __________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- GENERAL INFO
- ------------
- UnZip is an extraction utility for archives compressed in .zip format (also
- called "zipfiles"). Although highly compatible both with PKWARE's PKZIP
- and PKUNZIP utilities for MS-DOS and with Info-ZIP's own Zip program, our
- primary objectives have been portability and non-MSDOS functionality.
-
- This version of UnZip has been ported to a stupendous array of hardware--
- from micros to supercomputers--and operating systems: Unix (many flavors),
- VMS, OS/2 (including DLL version), Windows NT and Windows 95 (including DLL
- version), Windows 3.x (including DLL versions), MS-DOS, AmigaDOS, Atari TOS,
- Acorn RISC OS, Macintosh, VM/CMS, MVS (mostly), Human68k (mostly), AOS/VS
- (partly) and TOPS-20 (partly). UnZip features not found in PKUNZIP include
- source code; default extraction of directory trees (with a switch to defeat
- this, rather than the reverse); OS/2, VMS, Unix, RISC OS and Macintosh ex-
- tended file attributes; and, of course, the ability to run under most of
- your favorite operating systems. Plus, it's free. :-)
-
- For source distributions, see the main Contents file for a list of what's
- included, and read INSTALL for instructions on compiling (including OS-
- specific comments). The individual operating systems' Contents files (for
- example, vms/Contents) may list important compilation info in addition to
- explaining what files are what, so be sure to read them. Some of the ports
- have their own, special README files, so be sure to look for those, too.
-
- See unzip.1 or unzip.doc for usage (or the corresponding UnZipSFX, ZipInfo
- and fUnZip docs). For VMS, unzip_def.rnh or unzip_cli.help may be compiled
- into unzip.hlp and installed as a normal VMS help entry; see vms/descrip.mms.
-
-
- CHANGES AND NEW FEATURES
- ------------------------
- The 5.2 release adds many way-cool features:
-
- - new "Unix" extra field to preserve file times across timezones and
- operating systems (and, optionally within Unix, UID/GID info)
- - new OS/2 access-control-list support (LAN Server/Requester, Warp Peer)
- - new OS/2 -l listing of sizes of stored EAs and ACLs
- - new Amiga self-extracting-zipfile support
- - new assembly-language CRC routines for Intel and Motorola processors
- - new -M "more" option
- - extended VMS -b support to allow fixed-length 512-byte file format
- - greatly updated Windows GUI interface (WizUnZip)
- - new DLL ports: OS/2 (both C and REXX interfaces!), 16- and 32-bit Windows,
- and some Unixen (see below for caveats)
- - new Acorn RISC OS port
- - new VM/CMS port
- - new MVS port (mostly done)
- - new AOS/VS port (partly done)
- - unshrink() rewritten again for lower memory usage; now COPYRIGHT_CLEAN
- is default for all systems (unreducing supported via compilation option)
- - ability to pause zipfile comments with embedded ^S (useful for self-
- extracting archives)
- - many new work-arounds for broken zipfiles, compilers and/or OSes
- - various performance enhancements
- - lots of little fixes and improvements
-
- The DLL ports need a little explaining. Basically, it's like this: as of
- version 5.12, there were no DLL ports. During the 5.2 beta process, no less
- than three completely independent DLL ports showed up. The first was Scott
- Maxwell's OS/2 C and REXX DLL, which involved humongous changes to the code
- to support reentrancy; it uses a simple and somewhat awkward strings-based
- interface (that is, you basically create an UnZip command line and feed it
- to the API functions). The second port was Stew Loving-Gibbard's 16-bit
- Windows DLL. It too is strings-based and was created as part of another,
- divergent project; it is no longer actively maintained and is therefore not
- included with the main sources archive. The third DLL port was Mike White's
- 16- and 32-bit Windows DLLs, created as part of the latest WizUnZip (Windows
- graphical interface) update. It uses a "binary" interface wherein UnZip's
- internal variables can be set directly by API calls, without the need for
- any awkward and artificial pseudo-command-line strings. This interface will
- almost certainly become the "standard" UnZip DLL interface, but it still
- needs to be merged with the unique features of the other ports (particularly
- the OS/2 REXX code, which is naturally strings-based). And, of course, none
- of this is documented particularly well, other than in the source code.
- We'll get to it eventually. :-)
-
-
- EXCUSES
- -------
- The more astute humanoids amongst you will notice that the promised multi-
- part archive support did NOT make it into this release. The maintainer is
- most apologetic; 1995 turned out to be a busy year, with a dissertation, a
- new job and a new baby all colliding to make life extra-specially busy. The
- massive code changes to support the various DLL ports didn't help any, either.
- Multi-part archive support will be the very FIRST item on the list for ver-
- sion 6.0, and with luck it will be released within six months or so of this
- release, maybe even by summer. (No promises, but we'll try hard.)
-
- On the plus side, special thanks go to Christian Spieler, who did a spectac-
- ular job of integrating patches, fixing bugs, working with a remote VM/CMS
- user to make that port fully functional, and just generally picking up a lot
- of the slack. This release owes a lot to Christian's dedication.
-
-
- "IMPOSTERS"
- -----------
- Info-ZIP is aware of four "imposter" zip programs, one of which creates .zip
- files. The Andrew Toolkit (ATK) comes with a (now-obsolete) drawing editor
- called "zip" that creates these files (incompatible with .zip archives, of
- course); there is an interpreter for Infocom games called ZIP ("Z-code Inter-
- preter Program); Chris Barker has developed a pseudo-random number generator
- called "ZIP" for crypto purposes; and SGI may bundle an editor called "zip"
- with some versions of their operating system (it has apparently been renamed
- to "jot" in newer releases). The Andrew version actually predates not only
- Info-ZIP but also PKWARE (1984), but fortunately it has been replaced by a
- program called "figure" that uses the extension ".fi". The Infocom inter-
- preter appears to postdate Info-ZIP's version by a couple of years, although
- the documentation is too sparse to be certain. Barker's and SGI's versions
- were certainly publicly released long after Info-ZIP's and may have been
- created after ours, as well (almost certainly in the case of Barker's PRNG).
-
- In any case, there's nothing to be done about it now; just be aware of the
- potential name collisions and file incompatibilities (and upgrade to "figure"
- if you still have Andrew Zip installed).
-
-
- DISTRIBUTION
- ------------
- If you have a question regarding redistribution of Info-ZIP software,
- either as-is, as packaging for a commercial product, or as an integral
- part of a commercial product, read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- section of the included COPYING file.
-
- Insofar as C compilers are rare on some platforms and the authors only have
- direct access to Unix, VMS, OS/2, MS-DOS, NT/Intel, Win95, Mac, Amiga and
- Atari systems, others may wish to provide ready-to-run executables for new
- systems. In general there is no problem with this; we require only that
- such distributions include this README file, the Where file, the COPYING
- file (contains copyright/redistribution information), and the appropriate
- documentation files (unzip.doc and/or unzip.1 for UnZip, etc.). If the
- local system provides a way to make self-extracting archives in which both
- the executables and text files may be stored together, that is best (in
- particular, use UnZipSFX if at all possible, even if it's a few kilobytes
- bigger than the alternatives); otherwise we suggest a bare UnZip executable
- and a separate zipfile containing the remaining text and binary files. If
- another archiving method is in common use on the target system (for example,
- Zoo or LHa), that may also be used.
-
-
- BUGS AND NEW PORTS: CONTACTING INFO-ZIP
- ----------------------------------------
- All bug reports and patches (context diffs only, please!) should go to
- Zip-Bugs@wkuvx1.wku.edu, which is the e-mail address for the Info-ZIP
- authors. (Note that a few rare systems require the Zip-Bugs part to be
- capitalized as shown; most systems work OK with lowercase "zip-bugs,"
- however.) "Dumb questions" that aren't adequately answered in the docu-
- mentation should also be directed here rather than to a global forum such
- as Usenet. (Kindly make certain that your question *isn't* answered by
- the documentation, however--a great deal of effort has gone into making
- it clear and complete.) Suggestions for new features can be sent to
- info-zip@wkuvx1.wku.edu, a mailing list for the Info-ZIP beta testers,
- for discussion (the authors hang out here as well, of course), although
- we don't promise to act on all suggestions. If it is something that is
- manifestly useful, sending the required patches to Zip-Bugs directly (as
- per the instructions in the ZipPorts file) is likely to produce a quicker
- response than asking us to do it--the authors are always somewhat short
- on time. (Please do NOT send patches or encoded zipfiles to the info-zip
- address. Please DO read the ZipPorts file before sending any large patch.
- It would be difficult to emphasize this point too much...)
-
- If you are considering a port, not only should you read the ZipPorts file,
- but also please check in with Zip-Bugs BEFORE getting started, since the
- code is constantly being updated behind the scenes. For example, VMOS,
- VxWorks, Netware and QDOS ports are claimed to be under construction, al-
- though we have yet to see any up-to-date patches. (Actually, the QDOS
- port is apparently finished and available at a site in France; with luck,
- it will be fully integrated for the next release.) We will arrange to send
- you the latest sources. The alternative is the possibility that your hard
- work will be tucked away in a sub-archive and mostly ignored, or completely
- ignored if someone else has already done the port (and you'd be surprised
- how often this has happened).
-
-
- BETA TESTING: JOINING INFO-ZIP
- -------------------------------
- If you'd like to keep up to date with our UnZip (and companion Zip utility)
- development, join the ranks of beta testers, add your own thoughts and con-
- tributions, etc., send a two-line mail message containing the commands HELP
- and LIST (on separate lines in the body of the message, not on the subject
- line) to mxserver@wkuvx1.wku.edu. You'll receive two messages listing the
- various Info-ZIP mailing-list formats that are available (and also various
- unrelated lists) and instructions on how to subscribe to one or more of them
- (courtesy of Hunter Goatley). As of mid-1996, subscribing to the announce-
- ments list requires a command of the form
-
- SUBSCRIBE Info-ZIP-announce "Joe Isuzu"
-
- The discussion list is called Info-ZIP; it can be set for either normal or
- digest-style delivery.
-
-
- -- Greg Roelofs (Cave Newt), UnZip maintainer/container/explainer and
- developer guy, with inspiration from David Kirschbaum
-