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1991-11-14
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ZIPUP Version 1.43
"ZIP Comment Stripper/Adder"
November 14, 1991
Written by:
Bob Jaques
and
Jim Barth
PURPOSE/INTRODUCTION
--------------------
"ZIPUP" is a handy utility written and compiled in Turbo C++ that will
add comments to user-supplied files that are compressed under Phil Katz's
PKZIP compression routines. ZIPUP does not rely on the use of PKZIP.EXE
since it has its own algorithms for inserting and modifying comments
within the archive. ZIPUP is flexible and configurable to fit the
needs of most who would use this type of program. This utility has been
tested under all known possible combinations and has proven to be
reliable, fast and easy-to-use, but we, the authors, can take no liability
nor provide any guarantee for the use of this program. If you come across
a problem or a suggestion to make this routine better and more efficient,
please drop us a line as we would like to hear your comments. At any rate,
please share this program with others.
The authors also wish to send a word of "thanks" to the many users who
have tried and commented on the previous versions of ZIPUP -- your feedback
encouraged this enhancement release and we are dedicated to make ZIPUP
the friendliest and fastest .ZIP comment manager around.
COST
----
There is no cost! There are already too many programs (even other .ZIP
comment utilities) that can and will "nickle-and-dime" you to death. This
utility is not Shareware, commercial or public domain. Instead, it is
"PostWare", meaning that if you like it and find it useful, we would
appreciate you sending us a postcard from your locale letting us know
that you are using it. Or, drop one or the other of the authors a FIDO-Net
NETMAIL message letting us know your comments on the utility.
Bob Jaques Jim Barth
297 County Road 1488 11544 Kevin Lane NE
Cullman, AL 35055 Poulsbo, WA 98370
BBS: The Exchange of Bytes BBS BBS: The Jimby! BBS
Ph. 205-795-7005 Ph. 206-698-1044
(12 - 9600 HST) (300 - 9600 HST/DS)
Fidonet Address - 1:3607/21.0 Fidonet Address - 1:350/21.0
USAGE
-----
Beginning with Version 1.40, ZIPUP will make use of a DOS environment
variable "ZIPUP" if this option is used. ZIPUP's speed is significantly
increased by setting the variable to the path and filename of your .ZIP
comment file. The following are some examples of this option:
SET ZIPUP=C:\MISC\ZIPUP.TXT => Sets your comment file name to
ZIPUP.TXT, which is located in
C:\MISC\
SET ZIPUP=D:\WILDCAT\NEWUPS\MYZIP.TXT => Sets your comment file name to
MYZIP.TXT, which is located in
D:\WILDCAT\NEWUPS\
Note that if you opt to use the ZIPUP variable as just described, you
do not have to enter it again on the command line or have a ZIPUP.TXT
file located in the working directory. You can, however, override a
preset named ZIP comment file by entering a different name on the
command line as described below. It should be further noted that the
use of the "SET ZIPUP=..." command is purely optional. Omitting this
option will cause ZIPUP to simply act in the same manner as previous
versions of ZIPUP.
ZIPUP will accept up to two command line arguments to process your ZIP
files in the general format of:
ZIPUP C:\PATH\ZIPFILE.ZIP C:\PATH\COMMENT.TXT
If no argument for the comment path\filename is entered, and if the
option described above is not utilized, ZIPUP will automatically default
to use a comment file called ZIPUP.TXT, which should be in the same
directory that ZIPUP is run from. The comment file is simply any ASCII
or ANSI file that you create with your word processor or text editor
(such as DOS' EDLIN.COM) and is often used to personalize a bulletin
board's downloadable files. There is an upper size limit to the length of
the comment file that can be inserted to a ZIP file by ZIPUP, which is
around 4,096 bytes. (A comment file that is 4K long is a somewhat unfeasible
in our opinion.)
If there are already comments attached to the ZIP files that ZIPUP will
process, ZIPUP will automatically replace those "old" comments with the
comment specified in your comment file. This is a handy fix for users who
upload ZIP files to a BBS that still has comments from the BBS he may have
just downloaded it from.
STRIPPING .ZIP COMMENTS ALLTOGETHER
----------------------------------
For those who want to get rid of comments placed in .ZIP files, ZIPUP is
capable of doing this chore as well. Since ZIPUP's main purpose is to
insert or replace comments, the manner in which one would delete the
comments is to actually insert a comment -- a comment of 0 bytes in
length. One way of doing this is to open a file for editing using an
editor such as EDLIN.COM (or similair) and then closing that file. For
ease of use, you might want to consider naming that file ZIPUP.TXT.
Then to strip a .ZIP file (or a whole directory of .ZIP files) follow
the same procedure as presented in this documentation. Presto! Your
0-byte comment file will be inserted, eliminating any previous comments.
EXAMPLES
--------
Here are some valid examples for the use of ZIPUP:
ZIPUP => Program will prompt for .ZIP file
name. If the comment file
name is not found in the DOS
environment table, a comment file
name will also be prompted for.
ZIPUP *.* => Adds a comment to all .ZIP files
in the current directory.
(Note that the '.ZIP' file need
not have an actual '.ZIP'
extention -- ZIPUP can and
will detect if it is a .ZIP
file.)
If the ZIPUP variable containing
a pre-defined comment file
name is found, that comment
file will be added to all .ZIP
files. Otherwise, a default
comment file of ZIPUP.TXT,
located in the current
directory will be used.
ZIPUP *.ZIP => Effectivly the same as the above
example. Will run slightly
faster as it doesn't have to check
whether the file has a .ZIP
extension.
ZIPUP ZIPFILE.* COMMENT.TXT => Adds the comment stored in
COMMENT.TXT to the specific file
ZIPFILE.ZIP. Program will ignore
anything but a .ZIP file
automatically. By specifying
a comment file to use, as in
this example, a predefined
comment file pointed to by the
ZIPUP variable, will be
overridden.
ZIPUP ZIPFILE.ZIP COMMENT.TXT => Exact same results as above
example. Runs slightly faster as
it doesn't have to check whether
the file has the .ZIP extension.
This overrides a comment file
name that was that was
previously declared in the DOS
environment.
ZIPUP E:\BBS\UPLOAD\*.ZIP C:\ZIPUP.TXT => Adds the comment stored in
C:\ZIPUP.TXT to all ZIP files
found in E:\BBS\UPLOAD\
ERROR LEVELS
------------
Since ZIPUP was written to be easily run from a batch file, two possible
ERRORLEVELS are set after the program has run. If no errors were
encountered during program execution, the ERRORLEVEL will be set to '0'.
If, on the other hand, ZIPUP was unable to execute flawlessly, the returned
ERRORLEVEL will be set to '1'. After running this routine for a while, we
have noticed that perhaps a couple more ERRORLEVELS would be handy to
indicate specific "problems", this will be added in a future update.
SOURCE CODE
-----------
This utility came about as a result of a combination of the authors
wanting to know more about the structures used in Phil Katz's remarkable
.ZIP files and wanting to write a useful utility incorporating this
knowledge. If you would like more information on the way this program
processes a .ZIP file, please feel free to write or leave a message on
either author's BBS systems.
UPDATES
-------
This pet project of the authors, ZIPUP, undergoes revision from time-to-time.
The latest revision of ZIPUP can be obtained directly from the authors,
who each run a BBS. Using FIDONET, File Requesting the magic name of
'ZIPUP' will result in obtaining the latest version. The latest
version ZIPUP is also downloadable from either author's BBS.
VALIDATION
----------
For those who wish to validate the current copy of ZIPUP.EXE, the
following was reported by McAffee Associates' VALIDATE.COM utility:
File Name: ZIPUP.EXE
Size: 13,964
Date: 11-14-1991
File Authentication:
Check Method 1 - 0643
Check Method 2 - 05B0
HISTORY
-------
Version 1.43
Corrected a bug that showed up when a person was processing multiple
files. If you tried to fix the comment 15 consecutive non-ZIP files,
the program would not recognize ANY zip files.
Changed the routine that actually writes the comment to the ZIP archive,
to make it a bit faster.
Version 1.42
Increased ZIPUP's execution speed by approximately 150% by reading
the .ZIP Comment File into memory and then writing out of memory when
processing the individual .ZIP files. This increase is most notable
when processing several .ZIP files from the command line using
wildcards, but is noticeable when processing even single files. In
previous versions, the .ZIP Comment File was opened and read for EACH
of the .ZIP files ZIPUP processed -- a process we knew was slowing
ZIPUP down but we were too lazy to correct.
Corrected a bug that didn't restore the original TIMESTAMP to the
files that ZIPUP was processing. In version 1.30, the problem of
restoring the original file datestamp was resolved, but the timestamp
was overlooked.
Added an information line to the output screen that showed the user
what .ZIP comment file was being inserted into the archives, as well
as the length that file.
Expounded the documentation.
Version 1.41ß (Not released to the public)
Changed how ZIPUP determines whether the file is a ZIP compressed file
or not. Now the program looks at the starting header of the file and
ignores the extension. It makes it so you can add a comment to a ZIP
file that does not end with a .ZIP extension. In addition, this also
speeds up the execution on Wildcard type comment changes.
Changed code so that it will only search 0xFFFF bytes into the archive.
That is the physical size limit of any zip comment.
Version 1.40
Tightened up the code, causing the executable file to be smaller yet
run significantly faster.
Cleaned up the source code some for easier readiblity by those who
wish to peruse it.
Invoked a 4,096 byte limit to the allowable length of a .ZIP comment
file.
Added the ability to use the DOS environment to pre-define the
location of the .ZIP comment file. This also increased the execution
speed somewhat, as well as making the program easier to use.
Version 1.30
Added code to prompt for .ZIP file name and Comment file name if they
aren't found on the command line. Some late releases of Version 1.2
had this feature.
Added some code to retain the original date of the .ZIP file. This was
requested by some of the users who don't get a chance to process the
uploads on there BBS the same day they get them.
Sped up the display of the working indicator to show activity better
when ZIPUP is used on a network.
Version 1.20
Improved the command line use of Wildcards. All DOS wildcards are now
supported.
Added error messages for non-fatal errors.
Changed display to look similar to PKZIP.
Added indicator to tell when program is actually working. (Thanks, Phil!)
Version 1.10
Fixed major bug that cropped up when you tried to add a shorter comment
to the ZIP file than what was there before. The program used to just
skip over the offending .ZIP file and go on to the next one.
Introduced limited wildcard usage.
Fixed minor bugs that were reported in Version 1.0.
Modified display of program to show file that have been processed.
Version 1.00 10-15-89
The first release.