home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Cream of the Crop 21
/
Cream of the Crop 21 (Terry Blount) (October 1996).iso
/
compress
/
xpack149.zip
/
XPACK.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
PGP Signed Message
|
1996-08-27
|
13KB
|
318 lines
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
XPACK An Executable and DiskImageFile Compressor (public domain)
Copyright (c) 1995-1996 by JauMing Tseng
WHAT IS XPACK?
XPACK is an EXE/COM/SYS Executable file compressor. This program
compresses most DOS executable files. Compressed programs use
less disk space because they are much smaller,
yet they run EXACTLY as before.
XPACK now allows a compressed diskette image to be created for electronic
transmission. The compressed diskette image can be transmitted with the
use of a modem on regular phone line, or any other electronic networks.
It can be used to archive diskette images on hard drives or tapes.
This gaurantees the contents of the diskette to be the same as the
original -- including all directory structures, date and time stamps of
all the files and directories. This is useful for archiving bootable
diskettes, too.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.
XPACK works on any IBM-compatible machine with 192Kb of free
DOS memory.
DOS 3.0 or higher is required.
method 4 need extra 192Kb,
method 5 need extra 147kb for compression
Every file compressed with XPACK can run on any IBM compatible
system: XT, AT, 80286, 80386, 80486, Pentium or Pentium Pro;
on Intel and non-Intel.
USING XPACK.
Enter the command: XPACK [options] filename
where "filename" is the name of the Executable file to be compressed.
XPACK will only work properly on Executable files, so if you do not
type a file extension, ".EXE", ".COM" or ".SYS" is assumed.
The filename can include drive and path specifications
and wildcards (* or ?).
The various "options" are explained later.
XPACK will make an Executable file that:
(a) is smaller than the original, and
(b) works as before, without any noticeable loss of speed.
The computer may take several seconds to do the compressing. If
you are impatient you can interrupt the process by pressing the
ESC key.
Not every .EXE file can be compressed with XPACK.
(e.g. .EXE with internal overlay packed with option /g)
That's why this program creates backups. The original FILENAME.EXE file
is renamed to FILENAME.OLE. If anything goes wrong you can
restore the original file by entering these 2 commands at
the DOS prompt:
COPY FILENAME.OLE FILENAME.EXE
DEL FILENAME.OLE
(.COM and .SYS files are always packed ok.)
OPTIONS.
Any "options" that you use are typed after "XPACK" and
before "FILENAME".
Options are all case-insensitive, separated by spaces, and begin
with either the hyphen ('-') or the slash ('/') character.
Here are the details of the command line options:
-? This switch invokes option -h
-h This switch tells XPACK to display a
Help Screen to the DOS console device.
You can use "XPACK /? > XPACK.HLP" to save it.
-4 This switch tells XPACK to use pack method 4
best ratio
-5 This switch tells XPACK to use pack method 5 (default)
2nd compression ratio
fastest compression
quickest extraction
smallest sfx
-x expand a compressed .COM or .SYS file.
-f This switch tells XPACK to convert the file even if
the result is bigger than the original file. (Not many
users will take advantage of this option!)
-o This switch tells XPACK to override the default
generation of FILENAME.OLE backup files. (Use this only
if you have already determined that XPACK compresses
the file(s) successfully.)
-g This tells XPACK to merge an overlay into packed file.
(See note below concerning files that cannot be packed.)
Without the -g option, XPACK does not try to compress
an .EXE file that contains overlays.
The -g option may not work with every .EXE that contains
an overlay. It works well with .EXE files compiled from
text (ASCII) with TURBOTXT (an excellent program that is
supplied with the registered version of the TURBOBAT
batch file compiler), overlay programs compiled by
TURBO/BORLAND Pascal and Clipper 5.2 with Blink 3.0
-pd Pack files as Data
those data files can be used by XPACK OnLine Decompression System
which gives painless access to XPACKed-Data files
(XPACK OnLine Decompression System is still under alpha-testing,)
(if you want to do a beta-testing please send a email to: )
("s8203143@simon.pu.edu.tw", thanks )
-ud Unpack XPACKed-Data files
USING XPACK to create compressed diskette image.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter the command: XPACK option drive: filename
where "filename" is the name of the compressed diskette image file.
If you do not type a file extension, ".XDI" is assumed.
The filename can include drive and path specifications.
Here are the details of the new options:
-p Pack the diskette in drive: to filename
-u Unpack to the diskette in drive: from filename
the filename here can include wildcards (* or ?).
EXAMPLES.
~~~~~~~~~
To compress all the .EXE files in the current directory
just type:
XPACK *.EXE
To compress without backup all .EXE files in C:\PROGS,
type:
XPACK /O C:\PROGS\*.EXE
To pack all the Executable files using method 4, enter this
command:
XPACK /4 *
To compress BUMF.EXE (made from BUMF.TXT using TURBOTXT),
enter the command:
XPACK -g BUMF
To create a compressed diskette image named MYDISK.XDI in drive B:
type:
XPACK -p b: MYDISK.XDI
To unpack (restore) a compressed diskette image C:\BOOT.XDI in drive A:
type:
XPACK -u a: C:\BOOT
To pack all the files as data in D:\MYDATA
type:
XPACK -Pd d:\mydata\*
To unpack all the XPACKed-Data files in E:\MYDATA
type:
XPACK -Ud e:\mydata\*.*
FILES THAT CAN'T BE PACKED.
Some files can't be compressed with XPACK.
- Programs that check the CRC of a file
- Files that store configuration data internally
- Drivers that can be loaded in a
config.sys file (EMM386.EXE)
- Some files with "overlays" or DOS4GW overlays, etc..
Some "overlaid" files can't be compressed because
when you compress such a file the overlay offset
changes and the compressed program may not find
an overlay.
WINDOWS AND OS/2 FILES.
We cannot Pack Windows or OS/2 New .EXEs are because at the
ends of these files there are resources, which have to be
located there. (e.g. the BITMAPs, Dialogue, Boxes,
Buttons, and Icons)
These resources are loaded not with the execution
of the file, but only when needed by Windows or OS/2.
Windows and OS/2 files are automatically recognized by
XPACK.
DISTRIBUTING XPACK.
The XPACK utility is protected by copyright, and may be
distributed only according to the following limitations:
1) NO price may be charged, other than a fee for copying
and mailing the disk.
2) The utility and documentation must be included together,
in unmodified form. The XPACK.COM, XPACK.DO