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Text File | 1989-03-01 | 14.7 KB | 345 lines

ZIPPER.DOC ZIPPER.. by the Bytebrothers J.L. Pearson Zipper is designed to let you easily and quickly convert any and all .ARC and .PAK files to the to the new Phil Katz ZIP format using PKZIP. Place ZIPPER in the directory that you keep PAK.EXE, PKUNPAK.EXE and PKZIP.EXE in. ZIPPER will automatically sense .ARC or .PAK formats and uncompress them and convert them to Phil Katz's new .ZIP format. It operates on one file at a time in automated fashion and deletes the original file after verifying the unarchive operation.. The original file date and time are preserved in the new .ZIP file. Any arcs embedded within arcs or embedded pak's within arcs or pak's, in fact any combination of the above are rezipped before being zipped into the main file so PC Mag files and others that contain arcs within arcs will be totally zipped.. Four command line switches are available..one to allow batch operation without intervention for sysop Events.. another to create a running log text file of the entire conversion session including all files processed and all bad files and unarc errors.. A third switch causes the deletion of all bad ARC and PAK files at the end of the conversion session.. and the last switch shuts off all sound for late night conversions... the switches are.. /b or b run in batch mode without user intervention.. /d or d delete all bad files at the end of conversion.. /l or l keep full log file of all activity for review.. /s or s shutup. kill all sound.. Before you rush into conversion read the READ.ME file or the note below on correctly installing the PAK.EXE program from NoGate Technology.. It can be dangerous when run uninstalled. ZIPPER path/filename /b /l path and filename are standard DOS format.. the /b switch will force batch operation and should be used to run from a batch file.. no operator intervention will be required. All bad arcs and pak names are always logged in a BADFILE.LOG text file.. The /l switch will cause ZIPPER to create a log file called ZIPPER.LOG which will contain a log of every file conversion every error and every bad arc/pak file.. as well as the time and date of the conversion run.. ZIPPER c:\arcs /l /b ZIPPER c:\arcs b l are both acceptable.. Here are some examples of usage.. ZIPPER c:\arcs\*.pak ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 2 this will convert all the .PAK files in directory C:\arcs into .ARC files. The original .PAK files will be deleted so when ZIPPER is done the .PAK's will be transformed into .ZIPs.. If you have a number of .ARC's and .PAK's mixed in a directory named C:\com the following commands can be used.. ZIPPER c:\com this will change all the .PAK and .ARC files so that when done directory c:\com will have nothing but .ZIP files.. ZIPPER c:\com\*.arc /b /l this will change all the .ARC files to .ZIP but leave the .PAK files intact.. C:\COM will have only .ZIP and .PAK files in it..no .ARC's. It will run without intervention in batch mode and a log will be kept of the session.. Let's say you run a bbs and have a directory full of .ARC files you want to change to .ZIP.. The directory name is C:\bbs\dl1. Enter the following.. ZIPPER c:\bbs\dl1 /l /b /d ZIPPER will go to dl1 and since it is full of .ARC files it will convert every one into a .ZIP file. Entering a directory with no filenames is the same as \*.* and all files will be converted. Notice that if the directory has both .ARC and .PAK files they all will be converted to ZIP. Any .GIF, .MAC or other extension files are always ignored.. again a log will be kept of the entire conversion session, and at the end of the session the /d switch will cause all bad files to be deleted.. the filenames and paths will be in the log file.. If you have only one file to convert just enter the filename as in ZIPPER pascal.arc The file PASCAL.ARC will be converted to PASCAL.ZIP.. as simple as that.. There is only one requirement for setup on ZIPPER. You must set an environment variable SPAT to the path of your archive utilities.. PKUNPAK.EXE, PAK.EXE and PKZIP.EXE. example. set spat=c:\utility will tell ZIPPER to look in directory C:\UTILITY for the archving files. And to use this directory to store his config file and the badfile list.. This command can be placed in your autoexec.bat file and ZIPPER will automatically be set up every time you boot.. if you should get an error " out of environment space " when ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 3 you boot use the command.. shell=command.com c:\ /e:1024 /p Dos 3.3 or shell=c:\command.com /e:1024 /p Dos 3.2 in your CONFIG.SYS file.. using the drive that you boot from and where your copy of command.com is located. This will increase your environment area to 1k bytes but will not work on early versions of DOS. Most later versions will accept either command.. If you are running DesqView or some other muti-taskers they DO NOT pass the environment variables correctly by default. Drop from DV to Dos and set SPAT.. it will work in DV then. ZIPPER will also use this path to create it's own configuration file the first time you run it. You can modify this file ZIPPER.CFG to reflect your unarchive command ( if you have modified the commands in PAK.EXE ), the name you want to call PKUNPAK ( ie. PKXARC etc.. ), and the actual commands you send to PKZIP setting the level of compression. Defaults are provided in the ZIPPER.CFG file for standard operation at ZIP's highest compression level.. ZIPPER will also use this directory to create a BADFILE.LOG file that lists any and all .ARC or .PAK files that were bad and failed to uncompress.. Make sure that you set PAK up right. Read the notes in the READ.ME file or below under the heading IMPORTANT on running the PAKINSTAL program on PAK.EXE.. He can be dangerous if he is not installed correctly and you use him outside of his home dir. With the SPAT variable set and PAKINSTAL run on your copy of PAK.EXE ZIPPER will run from any drive or directory as long as he is in your path.. Note that in revision E a new entry has been added to the CFG file.. It is a comment that you can add to any and all files that ZIPPER converts.. sysop's can put their BBS and phone number in the last line of the CFG file and it will comment all their conversions with an advertisement.. If you delete your original CFG file on the earlier versions ZIPPER will create a new one with a tag like this.. e pkunpak -eb4 -ea4 * place your comments here for tagging * The first line is the command that causes PAK to unarchive files.. the default is e. Line two is the name you want to use for PKUNPAK.. ie. it could be PKXARC. Line three is the command sent to PKZIP and specifies the compression level as tightest.. The fourth line is the new comment line. The rules are if the first character of the comment is a * character.. ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 4 or if the last line of your CFG file is blank then no comment will be added to the new zips.. otherwise whatever you place in the last line of your CFG file gets tagged onto every ZIP file you create, automatically.. to temporarily disable comments just stick a * character at the start of the line.. ZIPPER will run from whatever directory you are currently in and will create its work directory there.. this is so you can build a ramdisk and cd to it and optimize for speed. Just make sure when you run ZIPPER that there is enough disk space under you to unarc the largest arc you will encounter.. operation ZIPPER converts a file at a time and creates a .\LOWER subdirectory under your current directory to work in. The work directory is deleted when done..if there is an abort or error during compression of an already unarced file the program will prompt you, so if you want you can save the work directory data.. The work directory will contain the last unarced file's contents if a file has been unarced and not repacked... Any errors encountered with bad arcs are handled by inserting the time,date and pathname of the bad .ARC or .PAK file into the file BADFILE.LOG and ZIPPER goes onto the next file.. ZIPPER will abort cleanly if you press escape.. Make sure there is enough disk space under you when you run ZIPPER to hold the largest arc/pak you plan to convert.. ZIPPER saves the original date and time of the file and touches the new .ZIP file, so the original file date is preserved.. and you don't wind up with all your directory files dated the day of the conversion.. ZIPPER creates a file in your SPAT directory called BADFILES.LOG. Everytime you run ZIPPER it places the time and date of the run in the BADFILE.LOG file as well as any files it finds which fail to unarchive.. here is a sample of the file.. ZIPPER badfiles Sunday February 5, 1989 time 8:40:26 p.m. d:\arcs\hold\mona.pak d:\arcs\hold\nc12.arc d:\arcs\hold\nc13.arc ZIPPER badfiles Sunday February 5, 1989 time 8:53:25 p.m. d:\arcs\hold\mj12.pak d:\arcs\hold\mono.arc d:\arcs\hold\mj12.arc If you use the /l option with ZIPPER it will create a file in your SPAT directory called ZIPPER.LOG which will contain a log of the entire conversion.. here is an example of a ZIPPER.LOG file.. ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 5 ZIPPER runlog. Thursday February 10, 1989 time 4:19:42 p.m. ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\bb_vs_ml.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak ╔═══════ bad archive file ══════════╗ error occured during extraction of c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak file being processed.. c:\com\loads\test\stant.pak is bad arc badfile logged... ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\ffx.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc found embedded ARC file FFF.ARC processing FFF.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc bad archive file FFF.ARC in ARC c:\com\loads\test\badone.arc unsalvagable.. ARC logged.. ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\limerick.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\bullet.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\usenet.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\ctype.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc found embedded ARC file CTYPE.ARC processing CTYPE.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc found another embedded ARC file SELPSC13.ARC processing SELPSC13.ARC in c:\com\loads\test\goodone.arc ════processing file c:\com\loads\test\stanho.arc as you can see ZIPPER unarcs and rezips arcs and paks that are embedded inside ARCS and of course retains the correct date and time of the file.. Entering ZIPPER with no arguments will bring up a help screen. IMPORTANT::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PAK can be dangerous in that if you want to run it outside the current directory you need to run a program called PAKINST to install it and tell it where it's CNF file is located. This install program is in the .PAK arc ( ie. PAK151.ARC or PAK16.ARC ) but it's use is documented in the back of the docs and many people miss it. PAK can do some very undesirable things if it is used outside it's home directory without being installed.. Make sure and run PAKINST and tell PAK where it's config file is before you use the set command with ZIPPER and start using it outside of the PAK.EXE directory.. If you appreciate and use this program please send $15 or what you think the program is worth to you to.. FAST LOGIC OUTLAWS J.L. Pearson 344 N. Acadia Wichita Ks. 67212 make all checks payable to J.L. Pearson.. ZIPPER.DOC Sunday, February 19, 1989 8:10 pm Page 6 I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by this program.. it is distributed as is. Care should be taken to insure enough disk space to do the conversions. A tightly packed floppy with PAK files can not have enough room to hold the larger loosely compressed .ZIP files. The program will abort when the disk is full and the last unarchived file will be in the work directory.. The program has been tested on many computers and if your computer will run PK and PAK and you have correctly INSTALLED your PAK.EXE program you should have no problems.. J.L. Pearson President and founder Bytebrothers Member Fast Logic Outlaws Wichita Ks. a note.. We have all waited some time during the debacle between Phil Katz's PKWARE vrs. SEA hassles. Phil has lost his PK code and gone back to sqaure one while SEA's releases have found remarkable new performance.. Phil has noted in his ZIP release that the extension ZIP is released to the public domain.. unlike SEA's attitude on ARC. I think this about sums it up.. SEA now has the right to use ZIP on it's tombstone and Phil can't complain let alone sue.. The worm has turned folks..get Zippin. R.I.P. ARC, may it rot in the SEA ! The Bytebrothers