APE - Amiga's Packing Enhancement V1.0 Author: Jim Geuther Graanzolder 29 3262 CR Oud-Beijerland Netherlands (Europe) This archive contains APE V1.0, Ape V1.0 is a pre-release beta-version of a new (yet another) packing (compression) program for the Amiga. In contrast to other Amiga compression programs, this program is bug free! APE was designed to: o Amiga Only, no shitty MS-DOS features o Be bug free (no undocumented features either) o Have a good compression ratio o Be fast o Easy to install. Syntax: APE command archive_name file_specification Command can be one of the following characters: a Add new files to the archive. The archive will be updated with the files specified in file-specification. Only files which don't exist in the archive will be archived. d Deletes the files specified in the file-specification from the archive. f Freshen, the archive will be updated with the files in the file- specification when they're already in the archive and have a more recent date. i IFF-display, displays IFF files (not yet implemented) m Move, same as u but files will be deleted!!! u Updates the archive with the files specified in the file-specification. If the file doesn't exist in the archive or when the file has a more recent date it will be archived. x Extracts file from the archive. v Verbose, lists all the files in the archive. Highlights: Better compression ratios than any other compression program. During encoding the original protections bits, date, filename and comment will be stored into the archive. During decode the protection bits, original filename and comment will be restored. Supports empty files. Written entirely in C. Requirements: An Amiga which is not running any games currently. Arp.Library V33 Req.Library 512K RAM (or more) Future enhancements: o Intuition support o Workbench support o A command language like AmigaDOS commands, Add commands from archive handling, like comparing files with files in archive, merging archives, etc... Search text of data within archives. o ARexx interface o Display IFF-Graphics files o Self extracting archives. o Adding sorting options during listing options. o Implement dynamic hufman encoding for faster compression. o Restoring file under a different name. o As soon as a version has been implemented with all of above options The source of this program will be put in Public Domain. Recovery: When an accident occurs there are several files left. filename.ape filename.ap$ T:APE.timestamp Depending on the type of error one can do the following: 1. Delete the filename.ape and rename filename.ap$ to filename.ape then delete T:APE.timestamp 2. Delete filename.ap$ and T:APE.timestamp Restrictions: No more than one task should access an archive. When using wildcards in the file-specification, case must match. The program can be interrupted using CTRL-C, remember when using this option, the results might be unpredictable. Status: This program is in public domain and may be copied freely, any commercial use is forbidden. BBS which have this program in there file area(s), must give author of this program full download access to the file area containing this program. This program has been put in BBS's to have it evaluated. Comments remarks can be electronically sent to: Jim Geuther, QBBS Hoekse Waard 0031-1866-1491. No part of this program or it's source may be copied or used in any commercial program witouth a written permission of the author. This program has met a basis set of programming and documentation standards, but may not have been program tested in any formal fashion by Jim Geuther. The user is expected to make the final evaluation as to usefullness in his own environment. Jim Geuther makes no warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranty or merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose as to the documentation, function or performance of this program. Jim Geuther will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason. Acceptance and use of this program constitutes a release from liability of Jim Geuther, for any problems use of the program may cause at the user's site. Users are invited to submit suggestions or error documentation to Jim Geuther. However no promise can be made that such suggestions will be implemented or errors corrected. Comments and contributions can be submitted to above address. The name of the author and his address must not be removed from the documentation or program (may the virusses strike you). People interested in C source program swapping should contact the author at the above address or send an electronic message to Jim Geuther at the QBBS Hoekse Waard. Installation Copy program and doc's to a sub-directory available via the PATH commands. Copy arp.library and req.library to the LIBS: directory. Reset Amiga and go ahead. Question & Answers: Q. Why is the size of the control information in the archive so big? A. Because control information is stored in fullwords (4 bytes), to have no limititations on size, etc... Q. Why are the filenames and comments in the archive not compressed? A. To save execution speed. Credits: Thanks to: ARP.Library For making the programming job easier. Req.library To simplify the use of requesters. Kenjirou Okubo For putting the C Sources files in public domain. Haruhiko Okomura For explaining the algorithms Commodore For making the Amiga so hard to program. Lattice For making a nice development compiler. Aztec For making that excellent optimizing 5.0 compiler. WordPerfect For not making WP 5.0 for the Amiga. Rahul Desi For inventing ZOO Brian Waters For making ZOO so slow. Raymond S.Brand For not using a better compression algorithm. Paolo Zibetti For making duplicate files in his .lzh archives. Phil Katz For not giving a Command Line Interface to PKazip. Jack Lems For borrowing me, his Supra Modem. Steve Jobs For make the first PC.