Category : A Collection of Games for DOS and Windows
Archive   : GOLFSELC.ZIP
Filename : ARCFILE.TXT
Bob Mahoney, SYSOP 1/2/87
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This is a brief note to expalin what an ARC file is, and to
explain some of the confusing ARC file format standards.
An ARC file is any file with a filename extension of ".ARC". This
means the file contains one or more separate files, all of which have
been compressed to a smaller size, then packed into the ARC file.
This compression and collecting of files serves a few purposes:
1. It makes the files much smaller for quicker download and smaller
storage.
2. It makes it easier to download a related collection of files. You
can download the one ARC file instead of many individual files.
3. File integrity is guaranteed, since a CRC check is performed on each
file as you unarc it. A CRC check is a very accurate method of
assigning a type of checksum to a collection of data.
ARC files are created with an ARC program. The first ARC program was
published by System Enhancement Associates Inc. (SEAWARE). Seaware
invented the ARC concept. At the time of this writing, the latest
version of the SEAWARE ARC program is version 5.12, usually listed on
bulletin boards as ARC512.COM or ARC512.EXE.
There are now a number of ARC programs available from other authors.
Phil Katz (PKWARE Inc.), Vernon Buerg, and others, have created
ARC programs that usually improve upon the performance of the SEAWARE
ARC programs. For example, both the PKXARC program from Phil Katz, and the
ARCE program from Vernon Buerg are excellent examples of VERY FAST unarcers.
PKXARC and ARCE are small in size, making them perfect for inclusion on
a nearly full diskette with a bunch of ARC files.
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A PROBLEM TO BE AWARE OF:
As the ARC file format has evolved, it has been improved with new compression
techniques allowing smaller and faster compression of files. This means
an old version of an ARC program may not be able to unarc an ARC file
created by one of the new and improved ARC programs. For this reason, you
should occasionally get the latest version of an ARC program from a bulletin
board.
In the past, only SEAWARE changed the ARC format. Recently, PKWARE has
added a compression technique called squashing. This is in addition to the
packing, squeezing and crunching used in compressing members of ARC files.
Starting with version 2.0 of the PKARC program, squashing is used in the
creation of ARC files. PKXARC version 3.4 and ARCE version 2.08 are capable
of unarcing squashed files. For that reason, you should should use one of
thse programs (or a later version) for all of your unarcing, since they
will handle all known versions of the ARC format. As an added benefit,
these programs are smaller and faster than the ARC 5.12 program.
I personally do not like to see the ARC format changed and improved by
more than one author, since we will then have awkward times (as now) when
you cannot be sure your "latest version" ARC program will be able to unarc
all ARC files. I also do not want to stand in the way of progress, so
the best way to handle the problem is to be aware of it. I hope this file
has helped to relieve a little of the confusion.
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On the Exec-PC BBS, you can always find the latest version of the
PKWARE software available in file collection #3, the FREE TO
UNREGISTERED USERS collection. Use the
a file starting with "PKX".
End of info.
Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!
This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.
But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/