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-
- INTRO.TXT September 1999
-
-
- INTRODUCTION:
-
- This document is intended for new users of the file archiver, ARJ.
-
- ARJ is a program that allows the user to store one or more files in
- a compressed format in an archive file. This saves space both in
- the compression and in the saving of disk sector clusters. On a
- hard disk, each file requires a minimum amount of space, typically,
- 2048 to 32767 bytes. Combining 100 small files in an archive can
- save up to one megabyte of space or more.
-
- For archiver flexibility, ARJ is arguably unsurpassed for features.
-
-
- INSTALLATION:
-
- This document assumes that you have already executed the
- self-extracting distribution archive and extracted its archived
- files into a directory. The default installation directory is
- C:\ARJ.
-
- You will need to modify your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file by adding the
- following line of text to the end of the file.
-
- set path=%path%;c:\arj
-
-
- ARJ COMMAND USAGE:
-
- The ARJ archiver gives you a lot of flexibility in command usage.
- You can use zero options or many options on a command line.
-
- The basic command line consists of:
- 1) the command "ARJ"
- 2) the ARJ command letter such as "a" (add), or "e" (extract)
- 3) the switch options such as "-r" (recurse through subdirectories)
- 4) the name of the ARJ archive
- 5) the name of the target directory (if any)
- 6) the names of the selected files
-
- ARJ <command> [<options>] <archive_name> [<target_dir\>] [<files>]
-
- Switch options (-r, -jp, and so on) may be placed anywhere in the
- command line after the command "ARJ". The target directory name is
- optional and should end in a "\" symbol. The default for the
- selected files is "*.*".
-
-
- CREATING ARJ ARCHIVES:
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing all of the files in the
- current directory:
-
- ARJ a archive
-
- To create an ARJ archive in another directory containing all of
- the files in the current directory:
-
- ARJ a directory\archive
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing all files with the ".DOC"
- extension in the current directory:
-
- ARJ a archive *.DOC
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing all files with the ".DOC"
- and ".EXE" extension in the current directory:
-
- ARJ a archive *.DOC *.EXE
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing all of the files in a
- named directory:
-
- ARJ a archive named_directory\*.*
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing all of the files in the
- named directory and all files in subdirectories of the named
- directory:
-
- ARJ a -r archive named_directory\*.*
-
- To create an archive containing files without pathname information
- in the archive, creating slightly smaller archives:
-
- ARJ a -e archive named_directory\*.*
-
- For maximum compression, use the "-jm" or "-jm1" options.
- For better speed, use the "-m2" option.
-
- ARJ a -r -jm1 archive named_directory\*.*
- ARJ a -r -m2 archive named_directory\*.*
-
- To create an ARJ archive containing the full specified pathnames
- of the stored files including any drive and root specs:
-
- ARJ a -r -jf archive C:\top_directory\*.*
-
- For protection (ARJ-PROTECT) against data corruption, use the
- "-hk" option when creating an archive.
-
- ARJ a archive *.DOC -hk
-
-
- LISTING THE CONTENTS OF AN ARCHIVE:
-
- To list all of the files in an archive:
-
- ARJ l archive
-
- To list all of the files with display pauses:
-
- ARJ l archive -jp
-
- To list only the files with a ".DOC" file extension in an archive:
-
- ARJ l archive *.DOC
-
- The last field on the LIST display "BTPMGVX" stands for:
- B -> file not contained in the last chapter (obsolete file)
- T -> text/binary/directory/chapter/label type
- P -> path information available in "V" listing
- M -> compression method used
- G -> file has been garbled (encrypted), version number
- V -> archive has been continued to another volume
- X -> this file is an extended portion of a larger file
-
-
- EXTRACTING ARJ ARCHIVES:
-
- To extract all of the files in an archive to the current
- directory:
-
- ARJ e archive
-
- To extract all of the files in an archive to a named directory:
-
- ARJ e archive named_directory\
-
- To extract all files with the ".DOC" extension to the current
- directory:
-
- ARJ e archive *.DOC
-
- To extract all of the files in an archive recreating the
- original directory structure within the current directory:
-
- ARJ x archive
-
- To extract all of the files in an archive containing absolute
- pathnames to the original paths:
-
- ARJ x -jf archive
-
-
- TESTING THE INTEGRITY OF AN ARCHIVE:
-
- To test the contents of an archive:
-
- ARJ t archive
-
- This testing verifies that the contents of the archive data matches
- the original file. This is done using cylical redundancy
- checksumming, CRC for short. ARJ uses a 32 bit CRC for increased
- reliability.
-
-
- REPAIRING A DAMAGED ARJ-PROTECTED ARCHIVE:
-
- If you had previously protected a damaged archive with the "-hk"
- option, you may be able to fully repair the damage. ARJ will try
- to repair the archive and write the results in a file named
- ARJFIXED.ARJ.
-
- ARJ q archive
-
-
- RECOVERING FILES FROM A DAMAGED ARCHIVE:
-
- If you have a damaged archive that is non-repairable (Bad file
- data, CRC error, or header CRC error), you can still recover the
- undamaged portions of the archive.
-
- ARJ x archive -jr
-
-
- CREATING A SELF-EXTRACTING ARJ ARCHIVE:
-
- A self-extracting ARJ archive is an EXE file that contains an ARJ
- archive. This self-extractor when executed will extract the
- contents of its archive.
-
- The command "ARJ y -je archive" will create a full featured
- self-extracting archive from an already built archive.
-
- Syntax: ARJ y -je archive produces archive.exe
-
-
- CONVERTING ZIP ARCHIVES TO ARJ ARCHIVES:
-
- You can convert a directory of ZIP archives to ARJ archives with
- the following commands:
-
- 1) Change to the directory with the ZIP archives.
- 2) Type REARJ *.ZIP
-
-
- COMMON PROBLEMS USING ARJ:
-
- By default, ARJ stores the path specified with the filename in the
- archive. "ARJ a archive temp\*.*" will store the path "temp\" with
- the filenames. You may eliminate the paths with the "-e" option.
- You can remove the paths with the "r" command as in "ARJ r archive".
-
- ARJ identifies each file by the name stored in the archive.
- Filenames with paths are considered by ARJ to be DIFFERENT from
- filenames without paths. In other words, "temp\notes" is not the
- same as "notes". This can result in archives that have duplicates
- if you archive a set of files twice with different file
- specifications as in
- "ARJ a archive temp\*.*" and "ARJ a archive *.*".
-
- When updating an ARJ archive, ARJ builds the new archive as a
- temporary file in the same directory as the original archive. This
- can require a lot of extra disk space. If you are adding files,
- you will need as much free space as the original archive plus space
- for the added files.
-
- When archiving files to DISKETTES, it is STRONGLY recommended that
- you use the "-w" option and the "-jt" option. The "-w" option sets
- a working directory. This should point to a fast disk drive
- directory. The "-jt" option verifies the archive.
-
- ARJ a -wC:\ -jt a:archive *.*
-
- When copying archives to DISKETTES, it is strongly recommended that
- you verify that the diskette archives are intact. Most damaged
- archives involve diskettes.
-
-
- FOR FURTHER STUDY:
-
- ARJ supports hundreds of options for functions such as archiving
- across multiple diskettes, accessing hidden files, selecting files
- by date, and more. See the ARJ.TXT reference guide for more
- information.
-
-
- end of document
-
-