Category : Tutorials + Patches
Archive   : TOKEN.ZIP
Filename : MYZIP006
BBS: PALACE Conference : ARCHIVE Imported: 08/19/1990
To: YOU Number: 109 Date: 08/13/1990
From: PHIL KATZ Reference: 0 Time: 10:33 pm
Subj: ADDITION TO ZIP FORMAT æ Security: PUBLIC Read: Y
Echo Flag : N Personal Read: N
PR>To all persons interested in the ZIP archive format:
PR>
PR>I am developing a change to this format to add an additional type of
PR>compession directly related to the storage of text files. This format
PR>will be fully explained to anyone interested. I will be sendng out
PR>copies of the document explaining what I am trying to accomplish and
PR>asking for comments on
PR>
PR>1. Will the change cause a roblem;
PR>2. Will there be a problem implementing this new type of
PR> compression;
PR>3. Will there be any problem in extracting fles using it;
PR>4. Should other information be supplied with this format to
PR> assist programs which access it.
Paul,
I don't think that this would cause any problem, since the
.ZIP file format was designed to allow up to 65,535 different
compression methods. What I would suggest would be to use a
value of 7 (seven) for the 'compression type' field in the
file's header, and place a value of 12 (twelve, = ver 1.2) in
the 'version needed to extract' field. PKUNZIP will look at
both of these fields (as I would assume other extractors would
[and should] do) before deciding that it knows how to extract
a file. In this way, if extraction of your method is ever
implemented in PKUNZIP 1.3, 2.0, or whatever, and other
extraction programs, these files would be able to be extracted
properly.
PR>The general ide is the compression of words to tokens. There are two
PR>reasons for using this system: Compression of source files so they can
PR>b extracted by a compiler directly, thus allowing compilers to use ZIP
PR>files for source libraries. This would also allow a compier to use a
PR>ZIP archive to store the text of their error message file.
This sounds very interesting. I assume that you are writing
or planning on writing this compiler?
PR>A copy of the document will be sent to the following indviduals
PR>(Please excuse me if I misspell someone's name):
PR>
PR> Phil Katz, Rahul Dhesi, Vern Buerg, S. H. Smith
PR>
PR>Additionally, oter people who have written programs that directly
PR>manipulate ZIP format archives will be sent copies of the document.
PR>I will at hat point wait at least 30 days for comments to be
PR>received by U.S. Mail or E-Mail. Any comments will be made public
PR>unless othrwise requested. As soon as all relevant comments are
PR>processed, the new format will be publicly announced. Copies of
PR>all docuents will also be placed on several BBSs across the country
PR>for anyone who wishes to download them.
You might also want to add NoGate Consulting (PAK), Infinity
Design Concepts (NARC), Jim Derr (Shez), John Newlin
(ArcMaster), and Richard Patterson (Navigator) to your mailing
list if they are not already on it.
Will I be able to include some or all of the text of your
format document in the APPNOTE.TXT file distributed with
PKZIP? If it were published in APPNOTE.TXT then anyone else
who was interested would most likely know about it too. Also,
(and I realize that this is hard to tell without seeing your
document yet) I think it would be a good idea to include some
psuedo-code in your document, if practical, on how to extract
one of these files, for those who want to implement the
extraction.
>Phil>
---
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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/