home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ftp.wwiv.com
/
ftp.wwiv.com.zip
/
ftp.wwiv.com
/
pub
/
BBS
/
ZLAB_19C.ZIP
/
ZIPLAB.DOC
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-02-03
|
47KB
|
948 lines
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.9c
(C)Copyright 1991 by Jeffrey S. Morley
January 20th, 1991
Archive testing and maintenance program for
PCBoard/ProDoor Sysops, and all BBS users.
##############################################################################
Table of Contents
##############################################################################
Introduction to ZipLab Plus ............................................... 1
Installation of ZipLab(PTEST.CFG) / Quick Start ........................... 2
Explanation of items in PTEST.CFG / Example ............................... 4
ProDoor Setup ............................................................. 5
ZipLab Plus Version History ............................................... 6
Credits ................................................................... 8
##############################################################################
INTRODUCTION TO ZIPLAB PLUS
##############################################################################
What is ZipLab Plus?
ZipLab Plus is a program which will test archived files. In addition,
ZipLab will allow you to add .ZIP comments, strip out unwanted members, and
much, much more! ZipLab was primarily designed for PCBoard/ProDoor SysOps,
to test files as they are uploaded to their systems. It can also be used by
any BBS user who wants to test and maintain those archive files downloaded
from a BBS.
The following is a quick list of ZipLab's features:
Testing:
* Test for CRC errors in the archive file.
* Test for imbedded archive files and if found, CRC check those too.
* Test for imbedded .TD0 (Teledisk) files and if found, test with TDCHECK.
* Virus SCAN archive member files, using SCAN.EXE from McAffey.
* SCAN inside archive files imbedded inside another archive file.
* Test .GIF files for validity if you accept that file format (Optional)
* Run SCAN on files which you optionally pass without ZIP testing.
* Reject programs older than a date (mmyyyy) which you specify.
* Will fully test "self-extracting" archives of the .ZIP/.ARJ/.LZH formats.
Maintenance:
* Remove all archive comments from the file.
* Replace archive comments with your own. (Optional)
* Delete unwanted BBS ads and/or other unwanted archive members as you define.
* "Rusty and Eddy" protection! See "Quick Start"
* Allows you to optionally add a file to the archive.
* Will maintain an information listing of archive files that have been tested.
This file will contain the FILE_ID.DIZ description if contained in the
archive, as well as all other information about the file.
BBS specific features:
* Add the resolution of .GIF files to the description (Optional)
* Adds most recent archive member date to the description (Optional)
* Optionally replace the description left by the user if FILE_ID.DIZ is
found in the archive file.
* Will make a notation in the CALLER file for the current node of any
files which fail upload testing, including the failure reason.
* Allows your users to run the TEST command in PCBoard to test files, but
ZipLab will not remove the file if it fails DATE checking. The file will
be moved for failure on other tests. You will be notified via the node's
CALLER file of archives which fail PCBoard's TEST command.
General:
* Run the full range of tests on .ZIP, .LHZ and .ARJ archive formats
* Works both on a PCBoard/ProDoor BBS, as well as in non-BBS LOCAL mode!
SPECIAL NOTICE ***** SPECIAL NOTICE **** SPECIAL NOTICE ***** SPECIAL NOTICE
** ZIPLAB IS NO LONGER "FREEWARE". REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR ITS USE **
PLEASE SEE THE ENCLOSED REGISTER.DOC FILE FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION
SPECIAL NOTICE ***** SPECIAL NOTICE **** SPECIAL NOTICE ***** SPECIAL NOTICE
##############################################################################
INSTALLATION OF ZIPLAB PLUS
##############################################################################
REQUIRED FOR OPERATION:
You must already have the following programs.....
PKZIP.EXE - Phil Katz archive create program (version 1.01 +)
PKUNZIP.EXE - Phil Katz archive extract program (version 1.01 +)
LHA.EXE - Yoshi's archive program (version 2.13 +)
ARJ.EXE - Robert Jung's archive program (version 2.30 +)
TDCHECK.EXE - .TD0 (Teledisk) checker from SyDex (any version)
SCAN.EXE - McAffey's virus detection program (any version)
There are other small utility programs which I have bundled with this
.ZIP. They may require registration for continued use. PLEASE SUPPORT
SHAREWARE AND THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT! REGISTER THESE PROGRAMS IF REQUESTED
TO DO SO!
RECOM.EXE - Mike Loewen's ZIP file comment remover (PLEASE REGISTER!)
GIFTEST.EXE - Dave Navarro's .GIF file tester (PLEASE REGISTER!)
GETCRC.EXE - Gets a file's CRC32 value. For "Rusty and Eddy" protection.
Written by me (No registration required).
DELF.COM - A version of DEL with no "Are you sure?" prompt written by me.
(No registration required)
##############################################################################
QUICK START
##############################################################################
* Place the PTEST.EXE, and SETUP.EXE files into a directory which is in
your DOS PATH.
* UnZIP the enclosed supplemental utilities into directories in your DOS
PATH. Make note of where you put them, you will need this information
later.
* Create, or use any existing directory to hold your PTEST configuration
files. Change into this directory, and run SETUP.EXE once for each of
your nodes. Be sure to give different configuration file names for each
node. I use PTEST1.CFG and PTEST2.CFG. You may keep the particular
node's configuration file in the PCBoard ROOT/HOME directory for the
node, but this is not required.
* Fill in the following information when prompted by SETUP.EXE:
- The [drive:\path\]filename.ext of the .CFG file you wish created.
(This information will not be written to the .CFG file)
- The type of modem HANDSHAKE you desire. This can be
0, 1, 2 or 3. 0=none, 1=XON/XOFF, 2=CTS, 3=CTS & XON/XOFF
(Use 2 or 3 with an error correcting modem...)
- The DRIVE:\PATH\NAME of your PCBOARD.DAT file for this node.
- The name of your BBS system. 43 characters maximum.
- The DRIVE and PATH to the directory where rejects will be
placed pending manual sysop inspection.
- The date (mmyyyy) which will be the minimum accepted year. ZIPs
containing files older than this will be rejected.
- A "Y" if you wish to replace the description left by the user
with the contents of FILE_ID.DIZ (if found in the archive).
A "N" if you do not wish to make use of this feature. No changes
will be made in either case if FILE_ID.DIZ is not found.
- A "Y" if you wish the "recent date" notation added to the file
descriptions. A "N" if you do not wish this addition.
- Information to appear in the description before the "recent date"
This can be "CRC", "FILES", or "NONE"
CRC = The CRC value of the archive
FILES = The number of files in the archive
NONE = Just that... none.
- The fully qualified filename of the zip comment to add, or
"ZIPLAB" if you wish ZipLab to create a comment for you,
or "NONE" if you don't want to add a comment.
- The fully qualified filename of a file which you may wish to
add to the .ZIP, or "NONE" (please!) if you can refrain from
this practice.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to PKZIP.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to PKUNZIP.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to LHA.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to ARJ.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to TDCHECK.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to SCAN.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to RECOM.EXE.
- Full DRIVE:=PATH to DELF.COM
- Full DRIVE:\PATH to GIFTEST.EXE (or NONE if not using)
- Command line PARAMETERS you wish to pass to GIFTEST.EXE
/B:2 /N:2 /C:C:\VGA\GIFTEST.CFG
Just enter NONE if you do not desire to use parameters.
- A list, each on one line, of any extensions (.EXE, .TXT
etc) Which will be passed without normal ZIP testing. SCAN
will still be performed on these files. Any extensions
other than .ZIP which do not appear in this .CFG file will
be rejected by the process. The "." is optional. If .GIF
appears in this list, GIFTEST will be used to test the
integrity of the .GIF file. .ZIP, .ARJ and .PAK files will
always be tested, and their inclusion here is not required.
If you enter a "*" as one of the extentions, then ALL files
will be passed through, with non-archived files being
SCAN'd only.
NEW! - A list, each on one line, of files which you wish deleted
from .ZIP's before posting. This could include the famous
"READMEOR.DIE", "BBS.AD", or other unwanted advertising.
You may also have a file with these names listed one on
each line, and pass the name of the file with an "@" before
the name. The other way to do this (the best way) is to use
the enclosed GETCRC.EXE program, to find the CRC32 value of
the BBS advertisement you wish to remove. Add this in the
following format to a file called CRC.ADS (MUST have this name).
00000000,filename.ext
Where "00000000" is the CRC32 value, and "filename.ext" is the
name of the BBS advertisement you wish to remove. You can use
GETCRC to do this automaticaly, by typing:
GETCRC filename.exe >>CRC.ADS {ENTER}
Then place the full path and name of CRC.ADS on a line in
PTEST.CFG, just as if it were any other BBS advertisement
name you were adding. Now ZipLab PLUS will find that pesky
BBS add and delete it, EVEN IF IT HAS BEEN RENAMED. This is
is what I call my "Rusty and Eddy" protection!
Please see the example PTEST.CFG to be sure you add it in the
right place and in the right format. NOTE! This feature will
NOT work with .LZH files at this time, as LHA only stores CRC16
values.
* Edit your existing PCBTEST.BAT file, and delete the whole thing except
for two lines:
Sample PCBTEST.BAT file:
@ECHO OFF
PTEST %1 C:\ZIPLAB\PTEST1.CFG %2
* That's it... Now when PCBTEST.BAT is run by PCBoard, it will pass
command over to PTEST.EXE with the parameter containing the path
and name of the file to be tested. PTEST will check out the file,
placing any rejects in the holding directory you specified in the
SETUP process above.
##############################################################################
A SAMPLE PTEST.CFG FILE
##############################################################################
2
C:\NODE1\PCBOARD.DAT
The Interconnect BBS
M:\HOLD
199001
Y
Y
FILES
C:\EXE\COMMENT.CMT
C:\EXE\FILETO.ADD
C:\ZIP\PKZIP.EXE
C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE
C:\ZIP\LHA.EXE
C:\ZIP\ARJ.EXE
C:\ZIP\TDCHECK.EXE
C:\DIAGS\SCAN.EXE
C:\EXE\RECOM.EXE
C:\UTILS\DELF.COM
C:\EXE\GIFTEST.EXE
/B:2 /N:2 /C:C:\VGA\GIFTEST.CFG
.ROM
.GIF
C:\EXE\CRC.ADS
@BBSADS.LST
##############################################################################
SOME NOTES ON MEMORY USAGE
##############################################################################
* NOTE! Since PCBoard is SHELLING out to run PCBTEST.BAT, there is
limited memory available for PTEST.EXE. If you are running in a
multitasking or other memory constrained situation, PTEST may not work!
You should have at least 250k free memory when shelled out of PCBoard.
If this is a problem, you may want to consider the VAROOM (overlay)
version of PCBoard, which runs in considerably less memory than the
standard PCB.EXE.
The other option is to run PCBoard with the SET PCB = /SWAP environment
variable. This will cause PCBoard to "swap" its code to the best
available storage (EMS, DISK) whenever a SHELL function (external
protocol, viewfile, and even DOORS if you have the SHELL column in
DOORS.DAT(LST) set to "Y") is called. This method will cause a slight
delay when SHELLING, but will provide the largest amount of available
DOS memory for your external code.
##############################################################################
PRODOOR USAGE NOTES
##############################################################################
* PRODOOR SYSOPS -
You will need to set up your PROUTEST.BAT file like this:
@echo off
rem -- process test uploads request - for ProDOOR 3.4
rem -- %1-logfile, %2-testdir, %3-comport
rem -- test each uploaded file individually
proecho %3 ~~Testing uploads. Please wait...~
SET PCBDOOR=PRODOOR
for %%f in (%2\*.*) do COMMAND /c PTEST %%f drive:\directory\configfilename
SET PCBDOOR=
:end
Replace the "drive:\..." stuff with the location and name of the PTEST
configuration file for this node.
Be sure you have enough ENVIRONMENT space to set up the PCBDOOR variable.
If you are using DesqView, you may want to set PCBDOOR=xxxxxxx in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT to be sure enough room is allocated in your DesqView
partitions for this variable. The x's will be replaced by PRODOOR when
PROUTEST.BAT is executed. I need this variable set to "PRODOOR", or PTEST
won't know you are running out of ProDoor. You don't want to leave it set
to PRODOOR though, since this could confuse things for other
doors/processes. Thus the "SET PCBDOOR=" line. ZipLab will fully work with
ProDoor, including display/modification of the file descriptions.
##############################################################################
VERSION HISTORY (NEWEST TO OLDEST)
##############################################################################
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.9c
* Changes are NOT required(but may be desirable), in your configuration for
this version! Please see the "Rusty and Eddy" Protection below, and
run SETUP.EXE to add the appropriate entry if desired.
* Non-standard comm ports are back! I have talked with Jeff Sumburg, the
author of QBSerial (The communications routines used in ZipLab) about
the problems I was having with non-standard comm ports in an earlier
version of ZipLab, and he gave me some tips on using his code to enable
communications with ports which are not at the standard DOS supported
address and IRQ locations. Mostly his advice was "Jeeze Jeff, did you
read the manual?" <grin>. In any case, ZipLab PLUS will now get both the
IRQ and PORT ADDRESS from PCBoard.Dat. If you have set a non-standard comm
port with PCBSETUP, ZipLab PLUS will use them.
* "Rusy and Eddy" Protection(tm) - There are some BBS systems which insist
on putting annoying, space wasting BBS advertising in everything which
passes through their hands. There are even some who are so intent that you
read all about how many megabytes and Dual Standards they have that they
have a routine to create a new name for the BBS ad before they insert it.
A new feature of ZipLab PLUS will allow you to use the CRC32 value of the
ads you wish to remove, instead of just the name. All you do is use the
enclosed GETCRC.EXE program, to find the CRC32 value of the BBS
advertisement you wish to remove. Add this in the following format to a
file called "CRC.ADS" (NOTE! It MUST have this name).
00000000,filename.ext
Where "00000000" is the CRC32 value, and "filename.ext" is the name of the
BBS advertisement you wish to remove. You can use GETCRC to do this
automaticaly, by typing:
GETCRC filename.exe >>CRC.ADS {ENTER}
Then place the full path and name of CRC.ADS on a line in PTEST.CFG, just
as if it were any other BBS advertisement name you were adding. Now
ZipLab PLUS will find that pesky BBS add and delete it, even if it has
been renamed.
Please see the example PTEST.CFG to be sure you add CRC.ADS in the right
place and in the right format. NOTE! This feature will NOT work with
.LZH files at this time, as LHA only stores CRC16 values. It will work
with both archive and self-extracting .ZIP and .ARJ files.
* The parameter 'CRC' in the config file is no longer valid. I have removed
the program's ability to get the file CRC of the archive file, which was
then displayed on the line with the newest and oldest file dates. I am
currently working with the author of ZDCS, to provide hooks from ZipLab
to this fine product. There is just no need to weigh down the ZipLab
code with a function which is implemented in another product. If you
are using CRC in your .CFG file, please replace with FILES or NONE.
* The two most common "description" files are FILE_ID.DIZ and DESC.SDI.
ZipLab will now ignore these files in the date verification routines,
so the act of using a tool to add a FILE_ID.DIZ to an archive will not
cause it to pass date checking.
* Some corrections were made to the way "self-extracting" archives were
handled, and this feature should be more reliable.
* ZipLab will now handle removing and/or replacing comments in .ARJ file
formats, and will properly handle imbedded .ARJ files. I am using and
testing with ARJ version 2.30, and this version is recommended.
* Tons more work on trapping any possible errors which may occur. I am
now 99% positive that ZipLab can't "hang" your system at an "abort,
retry, fail?" prompt. Please let me know if have this occurs at any
time! I still have a few Sysops who are having problems with ZipLab
under DesqView (although most run it just fine), and a few with problems
under Lantastic (again, most are running with no problem). I am working
at isolating what set of conditions are giving these few people trouble,
and hope to have it pinned down soon.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.9b
* NO Changes to your configuration are required from version 1.9a. Changes
ARE required from 1.8c or earlier.
* Well, the swapping routines I added in the first 1.9 version have turned
out to be a whole lot more trouble than they are worth. Instead of
solving memory problems for some people, the additon of these routines
seem to have caused no end of other problems for a larger group of folks.
I have removed the swapping routines for now, until I can find a method
which is stable with QuickBasic (particuarly in a QEMM/DesQView setup).
This does mean that some people who are in extremely memory constrained
conditions will NOT BE ABLE TO RUN ZIPLAB PLUS. Again, ZipLab will need
about 160K of RAM to run, and the ZIP/ARJ/LHA programs used in testing
will required additional memory (PKUNZIP needs about 80K more). If you
can't give ZipLab this much memory when running PCBTEST.BAT, then it
just isn't going to work for you right now...
* Aside from that, this version is mostly a lot of changes to tighten up
error detection and reporting. The code has been re-written to a large
extent to allow for better error trapping. Any problems should now be
correctly reported in PTEST.ERR, with a better explanation of what went
wrong, what file was being accessed, and when in the process the error
occured. More importantly, there should be lots less errors to begin
with. The code will handle missing files, incorrect PTEST.CFG parms,
and low-memory conditions in a much cleaner fashion.
* The one big feature change in this version is that ZipLab will now test
"self-extracting" archives. If you put ".EXE" as one of the extensions
you wish to pass, all .EXE files will be examined for the signatures of
the 3 supported archive types, and if found to be self-extracting files,
will be fully tested. If not self-extracting (but in fact just .EXE
files), they will be SCAN'd for virus infection, and then passed.
* Sam Smith has changed the format of the $DOOR.NAM file (where the
descriptions are held while testing) in the latest versions of ProDoor.
This version of ZipLab PLUS will correctly handle both the new and the
old $DOOR.NAM formats. Please let me know if there are any further
problems with Ziplab and ProDoor.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.9a
* NO Changes to your configuration are required from version 1.9. Changes
ARE required from 1.8c or earlier.
* This is a really quick one, sorry. I found a problem with the swapping
routines on machines with no XMS or EMS memory. ZipLab was incorrectly
creating the swap file at one point in the process, and the "custom
comment" was not being inserted. All other processes were working fine,
and in any case - it's fixed... Again, sorry for the quick release.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.9
* Changes to your configuration ARE required for this release! Run SETUP!
* This version of Ziplab will now swap itself to XMS, EMS or DISK (whatever
it can find, in that order) on all SHELL functions. This will mean a
significant reduction in the amount of memory required for PTest.Exe.
Please let me know if any problems are seen running in unusual memory
conditions, such as under DesqView, OmniView, Windows, or network software.
* A new version of DELF.COM is included in this version (no longer in the
DELF11.ZIP archive) which has been modified to take advantage of the
new "swap" capabilities of ZipLab. You must add the location of this
new version of Delf to your PTest.Cfg, by running Setup.Exe. If you
see "unable to erase" error messages overwriting the ZipLab screen, it
means you are not using the new version of Delf. If you use Delf for
purposes other than ZipLab (I do...) then keep the old version in your
DOS path, put the new version in a directory NOT in the path, and have
PTest.Cfg point specifically to the new version.
* The reason for failure will now be added to the file description for
PCBoard or ProDoor if a file is rejected by ZipLab. This description
will be posted by PCBoard / ProDoor to your "private" DIRxx file.
* ZipLab can now optionally create a .ZIP "comment" for you, in place of
inserting one you create yourself. To enable this feature, place the
word "ZIPLAB" in the field for the "comment location" in PTest.Cfg.
The format of the comment created and added by ZipLab is:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────
File ZLAB_18C.ZIP tested by ZipLab Plus version 1.9a
───────────────────────────────────────────────────
* No virus infection detected by SCAN.EXE
* File passed all CRC integrity checking
Tested on 12-21-1991 at 03:11:42
Date of Newest file is 12/21/1991
Date of Oldest file is 01/20/1991
ZipLab PLUS version 1.8b
Compiled 12/02/91 at 10:15pm A PCBTest.Bat
enhancement for PCBoard/ProDoor SysOps.
Tests ZIP,ARJ,LZH,GIF files. CRC value,
dates, and (optionally) FILE_ID.DIZ inserted
in / replacing description of file. Process
includes SCAN, CRC checking, date limits,
comment replacement/removal, BBS advertising
removal and more... $10 Shareware by Jeffrey
S. Morley
As you can see, the contents of FILE_ID.DIZ or DESC.SDI will be
added to the description if either of them is included in the file.
The "user's" description will NOT be added in leu of these files, as
descriptions left by users are not always as "descriptive" as they
should be...
Also, before you ask - I will NOT add information to the comment which
could identify a particular BBS system. There are boards who run
private or adult upload areas who would rather not have their board's
or users names in the .ZIP comment.
* There is still an outstanding problem with -AV'd files. Be aware
that if a file has had "AV" applied to it, and you delete a file
which fits your criteria of a "BBS advertisement", then the file
WILL fail subsequent testing with ZipLab Plus. The AV will have
been modified by deleting the file. I am working on which of
several methods to use to correct this.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.8c
* Changes to your configuration ARE required for this release!
* I think I have finally tracked down the elusive "ERROR 6" problem that
some sysops are having. The problem was related to the size of your
CALLER file, where I was stupidly using an integer variable in a file
which certainly has the ability to grow to over 65,000 records. I use
a utility in my EVENT which maintains my CALLER file at a certain size,
and so never saw the problem here. This problem is now fixed.
* If the upload was marked as "private" with the "/" character in the
first position of the description, and a FILE_ID.DIZ was found, the
replacement description was not being marked as "private". Fixed.
* The beeps which are produced by ZipLab when a file fails any of the
tests will now follow the setting of the "alarm" function in PCBoard.Dat.
This is set with the F7 key at the Call Waiting screen. If this is
set to "off", then ZipLab will produce no sounds.
* There was a problem with ProDoor and the FILE_ID.DIZ routines which
would cause an ERROR 52 in LOCAL mode. This has been fixed.
* One feature change this version. At the request of several sysops, I
have made the date validation based on YEAR and MONTH instead of just
year. This involves a change to your PTEST.CFG file, so please run
SETUP.EXE and create new config file(s). If you set the earliest
date which you accept to "199006", then all files newer than May 1990
will pass, and all files May 1990 and older will fail.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.8b
* Changes to your configuration ARE required for this release!
* Several Sysops were having problems with ZipLab hanging or even
locking up their computers from time to time. This seemed to be
most evident when running the latest 2.41 version of DesqView, but
on a few systems, was independant of DV. The problem for these few
systems seems to have started with version 1.6 of ZipLab Plus, and
the major change in that version was the new serial routines I
introduced to allow for non-standard commport IRQ's. I have gone
back to the previous version of the routines at this time, and would
like feedback on whether or not this corrects the problem for those
systems which were hanging... If you in fact have a non-standard
IRQ for your commport, and ZipLab 1.8 is working ok for you, STAY
with that version. I hope to have the situation straightened out for
the next full version, so we can have the non-standard commports as
well as a stable product on as many machines as possible. If you
have had problems with ZipLab crashing, please give this version a
try to see if it corrects your problem.
* Other problems which some people are experiencing is that ZipLab
will return ERRORs 9, 5 or 6, will see all uploaded files as having
bad CRC values, won't replace the description with File_Id.Diz, or
or won't add the date information to the description. These are
almost certainly due to not having enough RAM memory free when
ZipLab is executing. If you are running under a multi-tasker
(DesqView, OmniView etc...) and are having the problems described
above, you MUST use the "SET PCB=/SWAP" command in either your
Autoexec.Bat or in each nodes Board.Bat. This will cause PCBoard to
get out of the way when SHELL'ing out to ZipLab, and you should then
have plenty of memory. If you are having ANY problems with ZipLab
Plus, please try the /SWAP setting above, and see if that corrects
them. ZipLab does require a fair amount of memory (like 160K), and
then ZipLab shells out to run PKUNZIP (another 80K or so).
* One other note. I have tried to build in as much error trapping as
possible, and will be looking to improve this for the next version.
Howver, if something gets by me, and you walk in to an "Error in
module PTEST at address xxxx:xxxx - Hit any key to return to system"
message, on your computer, PLEASE REBOOT at this time. If I am
unable to catch the error and exit through my error traps, your
serial port may not be left in the proper state. This almost
certainly will cause a "hang" at some point later on.
* Please re-run SETUP, or simply remove the second line from any of your
PTEST.CFG files. This line is in support of the IRQ number, and must
be removed for ZipLab 1.8b to function properly.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.8
* NO changes to your configuration are required for this release!
* The DATE CHECKING was moved up in the process, just after the CRC
checking of the file. This way, if a file is going to fail in any
case becuase it is old, no reason to wait for all the other testing
and modifications. I do need to at least CRC check first, as a bad
archive will at best cause my date checking routines to return the
wrong date, and at worst cause a program crash.
* Some other minor cosmetic changes, and some tightening up of the code
to improve speed.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.7
* NO changes to your configuration are required for this release!
* This version is primarily to fix some problems ZipLab was having with
file descriptions and ProDoor. All of the options for adding to the
file descriptions, as well as replacement with FILE_ID.DIZ (if desired)
are now fully supported in both PCBoard 14.5a and ProDoor 3.4. Sam Smith
is apparently considering changing from the current $DOOR.NAM method to
a more "PCBoard'ish" UPDESC.[node] method of storing file descriptions,
and if/when this happens additional changes will probably be required.
* The sample PTEST.CFG file which is included in the ZLABP_xx.ZIP archive
is now fully commented. This is to help those who wish to manually
change existing .CFG file(s), instead of recreating with SETUP.EXE. The
";" characters and the comments which follow can be left in the .CFG
file, or removed as is your preference. Please don't use the ";" character
in actual .CFG data (like your BBS name), or ZipLab will parse the .CFG
file incorrectly. The file created by SETUP.EXE will not contain comments.
* In testing the current version of ZipLab, It has been determined that the
memory requirements are between 146,052 and 159,480 bytes of RAM, depending
on the number of members in the archive. Keep in mind that you will need
this much free RAM, as well as another copy of COMMAND.COM when PCBoard
shells out to run PCBTEST.BAT. See the notes under "Quick Start" above
for some suggestions on managing memory with PCBoard.
* Several SysOps have expressed some confusion about the registration process
for ZipLab. There are NO "keys", "serial numbers" or "registered versions"
required for ZipLab. ZipLab as downloaded from any BBS is fully functional,
with no advertising, "beg screens", delays or registration reminders. It
is expected that you will register ZipLab if you are going to use it, and
when you do, you will be entered into my database for purposes of receiving
what I hope is quick and friendly support. Once registered for any 1.x
version of ZipLab, you are automatically entitled to run future versions,
but you will need to do so before I release version 2.0. Registration of
version 2.0 will cost more than the nominal $10.00 I have charged while
in the "development" 1.x version, and after 2.0 is released I will accept
no further registrations of 1.x.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.6
* Changes to your configuration ARE required for this release!
* Version 1.5 was opening the CALLER file in exclusive mode, which would
cause a conflict with PCBoard in the SHELL mode. I now open the
CALLER file in shared mode, and the "error 70" should be eliminated.
* ZipLab will now support non-standard commport IRQ addresses. I have
added a line to the .CFG file to allow you to set the IRQ for the
commport. ZipLab will get the commport itself by looking in
PCBoard.Dat. ZipLab will obey the IRQ setting you specify, but will
use standard Base Port addresses. If your commport has non-standard
IRQ AND Base Port addresses, ZipLab will most probably not function
properly. If you have a standard commport, and are using COM1-COM4,
please just enter a '0' (zero) in the field when prompted by SETUP.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.5
* You must run SETUP.EXE and create a new .CFG file for this version!
* A record of files which fail ZipLab's testing process will now be
written to the CALLER file for the current node.
* Users can now run the TEST command in PCBoard to check files before
downloading, but the files will not be moved offline if they fail
DATE checking. The user will be informed of any problems with the
file, and names of files which fail TEST will be written to the
CALLER file for the current node. A Change is required to your
PCBTEST.BAT file to support this feature!
@ECHO OFF
PTEST %1 C:\P2\PTEST.CFG %2
^^NEW!!
Note the additon of %2 at the end of the command line. PCBoard will
pass the word TEST as %2 when using the TEST command from the board,
and will pass nothing in %2 when testing an upload.
* The user was being displayed the name of the file including drive and
path when a file failed testing. This has been modified to show only
the filename, for security reasons.
* In order to allow maximum flexibility in using GIFTEST for testing
.GIF files, ZipLab will no longer make ANY assumptions about what
command lines need to be passed to GIFTEST.EXE. You should use
GTSETUP.EXE (from GIFTEST) to configure GIFTEST, and then use the
new item in the PTEST.CFG file to pass any additonal parameters you
require. Please run SETUP.EXE to effect the change required in the
PTEST.CFG file, and read the documentation for GIFTEST to see what
command line parameters you require.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.4
* A CONFIGURATION CHANGE IS REQUIRED FOR THIS VERSION!!! RUN SETUP.EXE!
* Added an entry in the .CFG file for the type of information to appear at
the beginning of the line added to the file description. The choices
are:
ENTRY: MEANING:
CRC The CRC32 value of the archive file.
FILES The number of files in the archive
NONE Insert only the date information.
Note that if you see two files with the same CRC32, they are the SAME
file, even if the names and dates are different. How you use this
information is up to you for now, although I plan for a future release
of ZipLab to have the capability to search a database of existing file
CRC32's on your system, and reject re-named duplicates.
Note as well that calculating the CRC32 will cause a momentary delay
during the "checking CRC" process. The delay will be a second or two on
a small file, and up to 15-20 seconds on a file around 1meg.
* Added an entry in the .CFG file which if "Y" will search the archive
for FILE_ID.DIZ. If FILE_DIZ is found, ZipLab will replace the
description left by the user with the description contained in
FILE_ID.DIZ. Set this to "N" if you do not wish this feature, but
I do strongly recommend it. FILE_ID.DIZ is a standard format file
containing the author's description of the archive contents. Why not
get the description from the "horses mouth"? Not all Shareware authors
are inserting FILE_ID.DIZ yet, but it is becoming increasingly popular.
* Please run SETUP.EXE to create the new .CFG file(s) for your system.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.3
* No configuration file changes required for this version.
* Corrected several things which were not working correctly.
1) If a file failed any test, ZipLab was doing everything it was supposed
to, but then exiting with an ERROR 76. Fixed.
2) A flag on ARJ was set wrong, so that imbedded files with the same
name as a file in the top level .ARJ would cause an "overwrite?" pause.
3) SCAN'ing for virus infestation was not working properly in "imbedded"
archives. ZipLab will now properly SCAN executables and overlays
contained in imbedded archives.
4) I broke CRC checking in archives and .TD0 files in the 1.2 version.
This has been fixed. Archives and .TD0 files inside the top level
archive will now be CRC checked properly.
5) I was previously only running SCAN against .EXE and .COM files in
the archive. I have added .OVL (which SCAN recognizes as executable).
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.2
* No configuration file changes required for this version.
* Fixed a tricky little problem with an ASM routine I use to RD directories.
The routine was not properly killing the directory if SET ZIPLAB= was used
to set the "work" directory to a RAM drive. This should now work fine.
There were other instances where some machines (or DOS') were having
trouble with removing the "work" directory. These are also fixed...
* Fixed a problem where PKUNZIP was stopping with a "do you want to overwrite?"
message (which we couldn't see), if a file had imbedded paths with files of
the same name in different paths. This should no longer be a problem.
* The LHARC program is now called LHA.EXE in newer versions. ZipLab will
work properly with either LHARC.EXE or LHA.EXE, but defaults to LHA.EXE.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.1
* No configuration file changes required for this version.
* I had left in a lot of "local" display of the testing process, so that I
could get useful debugging information back from my users. I have now
removed as much as possible of the local displays, and the process should
look a lot less jerky to the watching sysop.
* Added a the ability to use ".*" as one of the extensions which will be
passed without archive testing. If you put ".*" in using Setup.Exe, ALL
files will be passed. Files passed with this method OR by specifing
particular extensions in PTest.Cfg will still be SCAN'd for virus'.
* Fixed a problem where in LOCAL mode using wildcards, a directory which
contained a mixture of archive types (ZIP, ARJ, LZH) would cause problems
after testing the first type.
* Some users were having problems reassigning the "working" directory. This
is by default PTEST.DIR under the current directory (C:\PCB\PTEST.DIR\ for
most sysops), but can be changed to another directory with an environment
variable. In your Autoexec.Bat, the line "SET ZIPLAB=d:\path" will allow
any drive and directory to be used for the "working" directory. PLEASE,
remember that this directory will be used and DELETED when the process is
done. Several people tried to use C:\PCB or just C:\ and experienced
unfortunate effects. I have tested ZipLab PLUS with a ramdrive as the
"working" directory, and it seems to work fine. There may be a problem
with directories containing a "." in early versions of DOS. if you are
not running DOS 4.0 or later, and are having problems with ZipLab Plus,
you may want to try reassigning to another directory name.
* Descriptions will not be modified if you are not running PCBoard 14.5(a)
or later. Early 14.5 versions didn't save the descriptions in the same
location during the testing process, and ZipLab Plus won't find them.
ZipLab PLUS Version 1.0
* Configuration file changes required for this version! (from old ZipLab)
* This is the new ZipLab PLUS! A lot of hard work has gone into this and
earlier versions, and I will be requiring a *REGISTRATION FEE* with
this version. See REGISTER.DOC for details on how to register ZipLab
PLUS.
* ZipLab will now test .ARJ and .LZH files, as well as the .ZIP
format. You will need to have ARJ.EXE and LHA.EXE if you accept
these formats, and a change to the .CFG file is *REQUIRED* to tell
PTEST where they are. You must put them in the PTEST.CFG file, even
if you don't accept these formats, and don't have the programs...
Just lie to it.
* ZipLab now fully supports ProDoor as well as PCBoard.
* You may now run ZipLab while out of the bulletin board system and use
wildcards (* or ?) in the testing procedure. This will allow you to test
existing archive file(s) on your system. *NO* changes will be made to
existing descriptions. To enable this feature, place the word LOCAL at
the end of the PTEST command line.
EXAMPLE: C:\ZIPLAB>PTEST m:\pcb\dir1\*.zip ptest.cfg LOCAL
* ZipLab will now SCAN archives inside archives to test for virus
infestation.
* You may now have rejected uploads left in your private directory if you
prefer this setup. Set the "holding" directory to the location of your
"private" or "upload" directory (whichever you wish), and the file(s)
will remain there. The description(s) will be posted to your "private"
dir file. This corrects a situation where sysops trying to do this with
earlier releases of ZipLab would lose the rejected file.
* By default, ZipLab will use a directory called PTEST.DIR under the
current directory for unzip'ing and testing purposes. This directory
will be erased and removed by ZipLab at the end of the run. If you wish
to use another directory for this purpose (like a RAM drive to improve
speed), set the DOS environment variable "ZIPLAB".
EXAMPLE: SET ZIPLAB=E:\WORKDIR
* You may choose to add a file to the archive package, by adding the
appropriate information to the PTEST.CFG file. I am opposed to this
practice, but don't desire to tell anyone how to run their shop.
* The ORIGINAL file date of the archive file is now retained. Earlier
versions of ZipLab would set the archive file date to the date of the
newest member in the archive. This was required for age testing, but is
no longer.
* ZipLab will NOT leave behind "hidden, read-only or system" files
which were imbedded in archives. They will be tested, and properly
deleted when the tests are finished.
* ZipLab now uses GIFTEST.EXE to test .GIF files (if permitted). This
program by Dave Navarro will allow you to set up a GIFTEST.CFG file -
giving you even more control over .GIF testing. An addition to your
PTEST.CFG file is required to support this. Please read the docs with
GIFTSTxx.ZIP for details on how to best set up the GIFTEST.CFG file.
YOU MUST REGISTER GIFTEST TO USE IT!
* You may now put all BBS advertising file names into a text file, one
on each line. In PTEST.CFG, place an "@" before the name of this text
file, and ZipLab will delete all listed advertising files in one pass.
THIS IS MUCH FASTER for those with multiple advertising files to reject.
***********************************************************************************************
This program was written in QuickBasic 4.5, with some help from
Hammerly Computing's ProBas 4.01. I have also included a few utilities
which PTEST will use in the course of testing. These utilities are the
property of the authors, and you are strongly requested to register them
if you continue to use ZIPLAB PLUS.
Jeffrey S. Morley
The Interconnect BBS
(703)425-2505
PLEASE SEE REGISTER.DOC FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION
(C)Copyright 1989-1991 by Jeffrey S. Morley