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ZIPPER.DOC
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1989-03-01
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ZIPPER.DOC
ZIPPER.. by the Bytebrothers
J.L. Pearson
Zipper is designed to let you easily and quickly convert
any and all .ARC and .PAK files to the to the new Phil Katz
ZIP format using PKZIP. Place ZIPPER in the directory that
you keep PAK.EXE, PKUNPAK.EXE and PKZIP.EXE in. ZIPPER will
automatically sense .ARC or .PAK formats and uncompress them
and convert them to Phil Katz's new .ZIP format. It operates
on one file at a time in automated fashion and deletes the
original file after verifying the unarchive operation.. The
original file date and time are preserved in the new .ZIP
file. Any arcs embedded within arcs or embedded pak's within
arcs or pak's, in fact any combination of the above are
rezipped before being zipped into the main file so PC Mag
files and others that contain arcs within arcs will be
totally zipped.. Four command line switches are available..one
to allow batch operation without intervention for sysop
Events.. another to create a running log text file of the
entire conversion session including all files processed and
all bad files and unarc errors.. A third switch causes the
deletion of all bad ARC and PAK files at the end of the
conversion session.. and the last switch shuts off all sound
for late night conversions...
the switches are..
/b or b run in batch mode without user intervention..
/d or d delete all bad files at the end of conversion..
/l or l keep full log file of all activity for review..
/s or s shutup. kill all sound..
Before you rush into conversion read the READ.ME file or the
note below on correctly installing the PAK.EXE program from
NoGate Technology.. It can be dangerous when run uninstalled.
ZIPPER path/filename /b /l
path and filename are standard DOS format.. the /b switch
will force batch operation and should be used to run from
a batch file.. no operator intervention will be required.
All bad arcs and pak names are always logged in a BADFILE.LOG
text file.. The /l switch will cause ZIPPER to create a log
file called ZIPPER.LOG which will contain a log of every file
conversion every error and every bad arc/pak file.. as well
as the time and date of the conversion run..
ZIPPER c:\arcs /l /b
ZIPPER c:\arcs b l
are both acceptable..
Here are some examples of usage..
ZIPPER c:\arcs\*.pak
ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 2
this will convert all the .PAK files in directory C:\arcs
into .ARC files. The original .PAK files will be deleted so
when ZIPPER is done the .PAK's will be transformed into
.ZIPs.. If you have a number of .ARC's and .PAK's mixed in a
directory named C:\com the following commands can be used..
ZIPPER c:\com
this will change all the .PAK and .ARC files so that when
done directory c:\com will have nothing but .ZIP files..
ZIPPER c:\com\*.arc /b /l
this will change all the .ARC files to .ZIP but leave the
.PAK files intact.. C:\COM will have only .ZIP and .PAK files
in it..no .ARC's. It will run without intervention in batch
mode and a log will be kept of the session..
Let's say you run a bbs and have a directory full of .ARC
files you want to change to .ZIP.. The directory name is
C:\bbs\dl1. Enter the following..
ZIPPER c:\bbs\dl1 /l /b /d
ZIPPER will go to dl1 and since it is full of .ARC files it
will convert every one into a .ZIP file. Entering a directory
with no filenames is the same as \*.* and all files will be
converted. Notice that if the directory has both .ARC and
.PAK files they all will be converted to ZIP. Any .GIF, .MAC
or other extension files are always ignored.. again a log will
be kept of the entire conversion session, and at the end of
the session the /d switch will cause all bad files to be
deleted.. the filenames and paths will be in the log file..
If you have only one file to convert just enter the filename
as in ZIPPER pascal.arc The file PASCAL.ARC will be
converted to PASCAL.ZIP.. as simple as that..
There is only one requirement for setup on ZIPPER. You must
set an environment variable SPAT to the path of your archive
utilities.. PKUNPAK.EXE, PAK.EXE and PKZIP.EXE.
example.
set spat=c:\utility
will tell ZIPPER to look in directory C:\UTILITY for the
archving files. And to use this directory to store his config
file and the badfile list..
This command can be placed in your autoexec.bat file and
ZIPPER will automatically be set up every time you boot..
if you should get an error " out of environment space " when
ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 3
you boot use the command..
shell=command.com c:\ /e:1024 /p
Dos 3.3
or
shell=c:\command.com /e:1024 /p
Dos 3.2
in your CONFIG.SYS file.. using the drive that you boot from
and where your copy of command.com is located. This will
increase your environment area to 1k bytes but will not work
on early versions of DOS. Most later versions will accept
either command..
If you are running DesqView or some other muti-taskers they
DO NOT pass the environment variables correctly by default.
Drop from DV to Dos and set SPAT.. it will work in DV then.
ZIPPER will also use this path to create it's own
configuration file the first time you run it. You can modify
this file ZIPPER.CFG to reflect your unarchive command ( if
you have modified the commands in PAK.EXE ), the name you
want to call PKUNPAK ( ie. PKXARC etc.. ), and the actual
commands you send to PKZIP setting the level of compression.
Defaults are provided in the ZIPPER.CFG file for standard
operation at ZIP's highest compression level.. ZIPPER will
also use this directory to create a BADFILE.LOG file that
lists any and all .ARC or .PAK files that were bad and failed
to uncompress.. Make sure that you set PAK up right. Read the
notes in the READ.ME file or below under the heading
IMPORTANT on running the PAKINSTAL program on PAK.EXE.. He
can be dangerous if he is not installed correctly and you use
him outside of his home dir. With the SPAT variable set and
PAKINSTAL run on your copy of PAK.EXE ZIPPER will run from
any drive or directory as long as he is in your path..
Note that in revision E a new entry has been added to the CFG
file.. It is a comment that you can add to any and all files
that ZIPPER converts.. sysop's can put their BBS and phone
number in the last line of the CFG file and it will comment
all their conversions with an advertisement.. If you delete
your original CFG file on the earlier versions ZIPPER will
create a new one with a tag like this..
e
pkunpak
-eb4 -ea4
* place your comments here for tagging *
The first line is the command that causes PAK to unarchive
files.. the default is e. Line two is the name you want to
use for PKUNPAK.. ie. it could be PKXARC. Line three is the
command sent to PKZIP and specifies the compression level as
tightest.. The fourth line is the new comment line. The rules
are if the first character of the comment is a * character..
ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 4
or if the last line of your CFG file is blank then no comment
will be added to the new zips.. otherwise whatever you place
in the last line of your CFG file gets tagged onto every ZIP
file you create, automatically.. to temporarily disable
comments just stick a * character at the start of the line..
ZIPPER will run from whatever directory you are currently in
and will create its work directory there.. this is so you can
build a ramdisk and cd to it and optimize for speed. Just make
sure when you run ZIPPER that there is enough disk space under
you to unarc the largest arc you will encounter..
operation
ZIPPER converts a file at a time and creates a .\LOWER
subdirectory under your current directory to work in. The
work directory is deleted when done..if there is an abort or
error during compression of an already unarced file the
program will prompt you, so if you want you can save the work
directory data.. The work directory will contain the last
unarced file's contents if a file has been unarced and not
repacked... Any errors encountered with bad arcs are handled
by inserting the time,date and pathname of the bad .ARC or
.PAK file into the file BADFILE.LOG and ZIPPER goes onto the
next file.. ZIPPER will abort cleanly if you press escape..
Make sure there is enough disk space under you when you run
ZIPPER to hold the largest arc/pak you plan to convert..
ZIPPER saves the original date and time of the file and
touches the new .ZIP file, so the original file date is
preserved.. and you don't wind up with all your directory
files dated the day of the conversion..
ZIPPER creates a file in your SPAT directory called
BADFILES.LOG. Everytime you run ZIPPER it places the time and
date of the run in the BADFILE.LOG file as well as any files
it finds which fail to unarchive.. here is a sample of the
file..
ZIPPER badfiles Sunday February 5, 1989 time 8:40:26 p.m.
d:\arcs\hold\mona.pak
d:\arcs\hold\nc12.arc
d:\arcs\hold\nc13.arc
ZIPPER badfiles Sunday February 5, 1989 time 8:53:25 p.m.
d:\arcs\hold\mj12.pak
d:\arcs\hold\mono.arc
d:\arcs\hold\mj12.arc
If you use the /l option with ZIPPER it will create a file
in your SPAT directory called ZIPPER.LOG which will contain
a log of the entire conversion.. here is an example of a
ZIPPER.LOG file..
ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 5
ZIPPER runlog. Thursday February 10, 1989 time 4:19:42 p.m.
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\bb_vs_ml.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak
╔═══════ bad archive file ══════════╗
error occured during extraction of c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak
file being processed.. c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak is bad arc
badfile logged...
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\ffx.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc
found embedded ARC file FFF.ARC
processing FFF.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc
bad archive file FFF.ARC in ARC
c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc unsalvagable.. ARC logged..
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\limerick.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\bullet.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\usenet.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\ctype.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc
found embedded ARC file CTYPE.ARC
processing CTYPE.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc
found another embedded ARC file SELPSC13.ARC
processing SELPSC13.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc
════processing file c:\com\loads\test\stanho.arc
as you can see ZIPPER unarcs and rezips arcs and paks that
are embedded inside ARCS and of course retains the correct
date and time of the file..
Entering ZIPPER with no arguments will bring up a help
screen.
IMPORTANT:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
PAK can be dangerous in that if you want to run it outside
the current directory you need to run a program called
PAKINST to install it and tell it where it's CNF file is
located. This install program is in the .PAK arc ( ie.
PAK151.ARC or PAK16.ARC ) but it's use is documented in the
back of the docs and many people miss it. PAK can do some
very undesirable things if it is used outside it's home
directory without being installed.. Make sure and run PAKINST
and tell PAK where it's config file is before you use the set
command with ZIPPER and start using it outside of the PAK.EXE
directory..
If you appreciate and use this program please send $15 or what
you think the program is worth to you to..
FAST LOGIC OUTLAWS
J.L. Pearson
344 N. Acadia
Wichita Ks.
67212
make all checks payable to J.L. Pearson..
ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 6
I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by this
program.. it is distributed as is. Care should be taken to
insure enough disk space to do the conversions. A tightly
packed floppy with PAK files can not have enough room to hold
the larger loosely compressed .ZIP files. The program will
abort when the disk is full and the last unarchived file will
be in the work directory.. The program has been tested on
many computers and if your computer will run PK and PAK and
you have correctly INSTALLED your PAK.EXE program you should
have no problems..
J.L. Pearson
President and founder Bytebrothers
Member Fast Logic Outlaws
Wichita Ks.
a note..
We have all waited some time during the debacle between Phil
Katz's PKWARE vrs. SEA hassles. Phil has lost his PK code and
gone back to sqaure one while SEA's releases have found
remarkable new performance.. Phil has noted in his ZIP
release that the extension ZIP is released to the public
domain.. unlike SEA's attitude on ARC. I think this about
sums it up.. SEA now has the right to use ZIP on it's
tombstone and Phil can't complain let alone sue.. The worm
has turned folks..get Zippin. R.I.P. ARC, may it rot in the SEA !
The Bytebrothers