Category : OS/2 Files
Archive   : UNZ51X32.ZIP
Filename : README

This is the README file for the 7 February 1994 public release of the
Info-ZIP group's portable UnZip zipfile-extraction program (and related
utilities).

unzip51.zip portable UnZip, version 5.1, source code distribution
unzip51.zoo same as above, but ZOO format
unzip51.tar.Z same as above, but compress'd tar format

__________________________________________________________________________

BEFORE YOU ASK: UnZip, its companion utility Zip, and related utilities
and support files can be found in many places; read the file "Where" for
further details. To contact the authors with suggestions, bug reports,
or fixes, continue reading this file (README) and, if this is part of a
source distribution, the file "ZipRules". Also in source distributions:
read "BUGS" for a list of known bugs, non-bugs and possible future bugs,
and see "Contents" for a commented listing of all the distributed files.

ALSO NOTE: Info-ZIP's mailing addresses have CHANGED AGAIN (since UnZip
5.0p1 and Zip 2.0.1)! See below.
__________________________________________________________________________


GENERAL INFO
------------
UnZip is an extraction utility for archives compressed in .zip format (also
called "zipfiles"). Although highly compatible with PKWARE's PKZIP and
PKUNZIP utilities for MS-DOS (in addition to Info-ZIP's own Zip program),
our primary objectives have been portability and non-MSDOS functionality.

This version of UnZip has been ported to a wide array of hardware--from
micros to supercomputers--and operating systems: Unix (many flavors),
VMS, OS/2, MSDOS (+ Windows), NT, TOPS-20 (partly), AmigaDOS, Atari TOS,
Macintosh and Human68k. UnZip features not found in PKUNZIP include source
code; default extraction of directory trees (with a switch to defeat this,
rather than the reverse); VMS, Macintosh and OS/2 extended file attributes;
and, of course, the ability to run under most of your favorite operating
systems. Plus, it's free. 🙂

For source distributions, see the main Contents file for a list of what's
included, and read INSTALL for instructions on compiling (including OS-
specific comments). The individual operating systems' Contents files (for
example, vms/Contents) may list important compilation info in addition to
explaining what files are what, so be sure to read them. Some of the ports
have their own, special README files, so be sure to look for those, too.

See unzip.1 or unzip.doc for usage (or the corresponding ZipInfo and fUnZip
docs). For VMS, unzip.rnh may be compiled into unzip.hlp and installed as
a normal VMS help entry.


NEW FEATURES
------------
New features in this version include the ability to extract to a directory
other than the current one; the inclusion of ZipInfo as an integral part
of UnZip; wildcard zipfiles; full Amiga, Atari, Mac, NT and Human68K support
(and partial TOPS-20 support); and funzip ports to most systems. UnZip it-
self still does not have the capability to extract zipfiles read from stdin,
nor to extract multi-part archives. Both of these features are planned for
the next version.


DISTRIBUTION
------------
If you have a question regarding redistribution of Info-ZIP software,
either as-is, as packaging for a commercial product, or as an integral
part of a commercial product, read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
section of the included COPYING file.

Insofar as C compilers are rare on some platforms and the authors only
have direct access to Unix, VMS, OS/2, MS-DOS, Mac, Amiga and Atari
systems, others may wish to provide ready-to-run executables. There is
no problem with this; we require only that such distributions include
this README file, the Where file, the COPYING file (contains copyright/
redistribution information), and the appropriate documentation files
(unzip.doc and/or unzip.1 for UnZip, etc.). If the local system provides
a way to make self-extracting archives in which both the executables and
text files may be stored together, that is best; otherwise we suggest a
bare UnZip executable and a separate zipfile containing the remaining
text and binary files. If another archiving method is in common use on
the target system (for example, Zoo or LHa), that may also be used.


BUGS AND NEW PORTS: CONTACTING INFO-ZIP
----------------------------------------
All bug reports and patches (context diffs only, please!) should go to
[email protected], which is the e-mail address for the Info-ZIP au-
thors. Suggestions for new features can be sent to [email protected],
a mailing list for the Info-ZIP beta testers, for discussion (the authors
hang out here as well, of course), although we don't promise to act on
all suggestions. If it is something which is manifestly useful, sending
the required patches to zip-bugs directly is likely to produce a quicker
response than asking us to do it--the authors are always somewhat short
on time. (Please do NOT send patches to the info-zip address.) If you
are considering a port, however, please check in with the authors FIRST,
since the code is constantly being updated behind the scenes (witness
the new Amiga and Atari ports in this version; VMOS, Acorn/ARM, VM/CMS,
Netware and QDOS ports are claimed to be under construction, although we
have yet to see any up-to-date patches). We'll arrange to send you the
latest sources. The alternative is the possibility that your hard work
will be tucked away in a sub-archive and pretty much ignored, or ignored
altogether if someone else has already done the port (and you'd be surprised
how often this has happened).


BETA TESTING: JOINING INFO-ZIP
-------------------------------
If you'd like to keep up to date with our UnZip (and companion Zip utility)
development, join the ranks of beta testers, add your own thoughts and con-
tributions, etc., send a two-line mail message containing the commands HELP
and LIST (on separate lines in the body of the message, not on the subject
line) to [email protected]. You'll receive two messages listing the

various Info-ZIP mailing-list formats which are available (and also various
unrelated lists) and instructions on how to subscribe to one or more of them
(courtesy of Hunter Goatley).


Greg Roelofs (Cave Newt), UnZip maintainer/container/explainer and
developer guy, with inspiration from David Kirschbaum