README.TXT for ARCHIVE VIEWER VERSION 2.1 A '|' in the left-most column is used to indicate changes to this file since the previous release. This does not include simple formatting changes. The Archive Viewer is a very simple GUI tool for viewing and extracting archive files of various types. It cannot create archives, nor is this ever planned as a feature. (This program is not intended to compete with commercial archive managers which do allow this.) The Archive Viewer can handle the following types of archive file: * ZIP archives (*.zip) * Unix-style tape archives (*.tar) * Both tape archives (above) and single files which have been compressed using 'compress' (*.Z), 'gzip' (*.gz, *.tgz), 'bzip2' (*.bz2) or 'lzip' (*.lz). * RAR archives (*.rar) * ARJ archives (*.arj) * JAR archives (*.jar) * 7Z archives (*.7z) * LHArc archives (*.lzh, *.lha) * WarpIN archives (*.wpi) * RPM packages (*.rpm) Each of these types of archive support requires specific programs to be installed; see below under REQUIREMENTS for details. REQUIREMENTS Software: * Either eComStation 1.1 or higher, or any version of OS/2 Warp if the VX-REXX runtime library (VROBJ.DLL) is installed. * Some or all of the following programs somewhere in your PATH: o InfoZip UNZIP.EXE - Required for ZIP and JAR support Included in eComStation (all versions). Also available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=unzip+5.5&pushbutton=Search or http://os2ports.smedley.info/index.php?page=infozip-zip-unzip o GNU TAR.EXE - Required for TAR and TAR.Z/GZ/BZ2/LZ support Included in eComStation v2.x. Also available from: http://os2ports.smedley.info/index.php?page=tar The older (GTAK-enabled) version 1.10 from http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/gtar258.zip should also work. o GNU GZIP.EXE - Required for (TAR).GZ support Included in eComStation v2.x. Also available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/gz124_32.zip or in http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/gtar258.zip o GNU COMPRESS.EXE - Required for (TAR).Z support Available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/archiver/gtar258.zip o BZIP2.EXE - Required for (TAR).BZ2 support Included in eComStation v2.x. Also available from: http://os2ports.smedley.info/index.php?page=bzip o LZIP.EXE or PDLZIP.EXE - Required for (TAR).LZ support Available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=lzip&pushbutton=Search o ARJ.EXE - Required for ARJ support Available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=arj2&pushbutton=Search o UNRAR.EXE or RAR32.EXE - Required for RAR support Available from: http://www.rarsoft.com/rarold.htm (choose MS-DOS distribution) or http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=unrar+non-emx&pushbutton=Search o LHA.EXE - Required for LHArc support Available from: http://www.os2site.com/sw/util/archiver/lha2-208.zip o 7Z.EXE or 7ZA.EXE - Required for 7Z support Available from: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=p7zip&pushbutton=Search (Note that 7Z.EXE requires 7Z.DLL in the SAME directory as the EXE.) o CPIO.EXE - Required for RPM support Available from: http://www.os2site.com/sw/util/archiver/rpm_404_a2_bin.zip o RPM2CPIO.EXE or 7Z.EXE (not 7ZA.EXE) - Required for RPM support Available from: http://www.os2site.com/sw/util/archiver/rpm_404_a2_bin.zip (See above for 7Z.EXE link) If any of these programs is not present, you will still be able to use the Archive Viewer, but not for the corresponding type of archive file. Hardware: * A Pentium processor or higher is recommended, although in theory the software should run on any 386/486 CPU supported by OS/2. * 16 MB or more of RAM is strongly recommended. I have not actually tested the program on any system with less than 32 MB. INSTALLATION From WarpIn Package: You are assumed to have WarpIn installed. Double-click on the Archive Viewer package and use the GUI to install. The default install path lies under either \ecs or \usr on your boot drive, but you can install to any directory you like. Your CONFIG.SYS should be updated with the correct paths by the installer. Any files from old versions of the Archive Viewer which are located under the target path(s) will be deleted automatically. This includes the old version 1.x configuration file (ARCVIEW.INI); the settings will not be migrated. An icon for Archive Viewer will be created under the 'Utilities' folder ('Productivity' on Warp 3). From ZIP File: If you are installing the Archive Viewer from a ZIP file distribution, unpack the files into a temporary directory (you've probably done this already). Place ARCVIEW.EXE into a directory on your PATH, ARCV_*.HLP into a directory on your HELP path, and ARCV_*.MSG into a directory on your DPATH. To replace earlier versions of the Archive Viewer which are included with eComStation 1.1 or 1.2: * Replace the existing \ecs\bin\arcview.exe with the new arcview.exe * Delete \ecs\lang\arcview.msg and copy arcv_*.msg into \ecs\lang * Delete \ecs\help\arcview.hlp and copy arcv_*.hlp into \ecs\help (These directories are located on your system boot drive.) If you don't already have a program object for arcview.exe, you should create one, associated with the appropriate filename filters. GENERAL LIMITATIONS * The user interface is deliberately crude (in part to avoid competing with commercial/shareware products). The Archive Viewer simply reads output from the handling program and dumps it into the display area (which is a simple text control). Individual files cannot be selected; indeed, ArcView itself does not even keep track of the contents of the archive. * When extracting an archive, files with the same name that already | exist in the destination path will be overwritten automatically. * The programs used to handle archives (UNZIP.EXE, TAR.EXE, etc.) and their parameters are hard-coded. There is no way for the user to add support for new archive types (sorry!). * Some older versions of BZIP2.EXE are incompatible with ArcView because they do not properly support piping. Specifically, some releases of v1.0.2 and/or 1.0.3 which are statically linked with the EMX libraries appear to exhibit this problem. Dynamically-linked EMX releases, or more recent builds by Paul Smedley, should be fine. * When extracting archives into a directory which does not exist, that target directory will be created automatically, but ONLY if its immediate parent directory already exists. In other words, only one new directory level can be created automatically. TODO Future features under consideration: * EXE files are presently assumed to be self-extracting ZIP archives. More intelligent file-type detection may be implemented in the future. * An option to open the target directory using your preferred file manager, instead of the WPS, after extraction. * Support for extracting a particular file/mask (via input from the user). * More configurable preferences (remember last used directories, skip overwrite warning popup, etc.). LICENSE As of version 2.0, the Archive Viewer is open source software licensed under the GPL (see below). Full source code is available from the author's web site: http://users.socis.ca/~ataylo00/programming/os2/ ArcView - Simple Archive Viewer for OS/2 and eComStation (C) 2004-2011 Alex Taylor This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA The full text of the GPL is located in the online help file. | Permission is granted for the inclusion of the Archive Viewer binaries | in the eComStation operating system. In this case, the full source code | need not be included in the OS distribution so long it remains publically | available through affiliated channels and/or in a location which is clearly | indicated by the accompanying documentation. -- Alex Taylor, April 2011