Freelog 11/Freelog011.iso/Bas/Compression/Wiz/README

Text File | 1997-11-03 | 8KB | 153 lines

This is the README file for the 3 November 1997 public release
of the Info-ZIP group's WiZ zipfile creation/extraction program

wiz40.zip       WiZ, version 4.0, source code distribution
wiz40x.zip      WiZ, version 4.0, executables (16 bit)
wiz40xN.zip     WiZ, version 4.0, executables (32 bit)

__________________________________________________________________________

BEFORE YOU ASK:  WiZ, 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" in the proginfo directory.  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 commented listing of all the distributed files.
__________________________________________________________________________


GENERAL INFO
------------
WiZ is an compression/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.

The extraction code in WiZ (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 CE (GUI version), Windows 3.x (including
DLL version), MS-DOS, AmigaDOS, Atari TOS, Acorn RISC OS, BeOS, Macintosh
(GUI version), SMS/QDOS, MVS, VM/CMS, 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, Macintosh and BeOS extended
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.

CHANGES AND NEW FEATURES
------------------------

This is actually the first release of WiZ. It is based on WizUnZip which
was up to version 3.x. Wanting to keep the numbering sequencial due to the
strong influence of WizUnZip, the decision was made to start with a numbering
system that reflected this.

   - full Universal Time (UTC or GMT) support for trans-timezone consistency
   - cross-platform support for 8-bit characters (ISO Latin-1, OEM code pages)
   - support for NT security descriptors (ACLs)

What is (still!) not added is multi-part archive support (a.k.a. "diskette
spanning") and a unified and more powerful DLL interface.  These are the
two highest priorities for the 6.x releases.  Work on the former is almost
certain to have commenced by the time you read this.  This time we mean it!
Honest. ;-)


INTERNET RESOURCES
------------------

Info-ZIP's web site is at http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ and contains the
most up-to-date information about coming releases, links to binaries, and
common problems.  (See http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/FAQ.html for the
latter.)  Files may also be retrieved via ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ .
Thanks to Walnut Creek CD-ROM for hosting our primary site.


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 a subset of the supported systems, others may wish to pro-
vide ready-to-run executables for new systems.  In general there is no prob-
lem 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 can be
stored together, that's 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 re-
maining 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
[e-mail], 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 [e-mail], a
mailing list for the Info-ZIP beta testers, for discussion (the authors
hang out here as well, of course).  We make no promises to act on all
suggestions or even all patches, but 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 and Netware ports are claimed to be under construction, although
we have yet to see any up-to-date patches.  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 WiZ, UnZip (and companion Zip
utility) development, join the ranks of beta testers, add your own thoughts
and contributions, 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 [e-mail].  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-1997, 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.


-- Mike White modified version of Greg Roelofs' (sometimes known as Cave Newt),
readme file.