Title: Document on LHARK Version 0.

4d

I. Introduction

LHARK is an LZH-compatible archiving software with a new

compression method that is faster and more efficient (makes
smaller archives).
Just like anything that's free, THIS DOES NOT COME WITH
ANY WARRANTY! IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
ANYTHING RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE!

II. Using LHARK

A. LHARK Modes

There are two LHARK modes. The first one (known as

LHARK-A) has a set of commands and options that is
slightly different from LHA. The second mode (LHARK-B) has
a set of commands and options that is compatible with LHA.

B. Commands

In this section, the command names are given followed by

how they are invoked (for LHARK-A and then for LHARK-B).
The format is:
command-name (LHARK-A command, LHARK-B command)

1. Add (a, a)
This command will cause LHARK to compress the
files specified in the command line and add them to
the archive. This command will create the archive if
it does not exist.

2. Check (c, )
This command will check LHARK to determine if it
has been tampered or not.
This command is only available in LHARK-A.

3. Delete (d, d)
This command will delete from the archive all
files specified in the command line.

4. Extract (e, e|x)

This command will decompress and recreate files
from the archive. If no file is specified in the
command line, all files in the archive is decompressed
and recreated.
When directory paths are needed to be extracted,
the "-p" option should be used for LHARK-A. With
LHARK-B, this is done with the command 'x'.

5. Freshen (f, f)
This command is like the Add command except that
only those files that are already in the archive and
is newer will be compressed and added to the archive.

6. List/View (l, l|v)

This command will display the names and other
information of the files in the archive.
 With LHA, the 'l' command is for listing filenames
without their directory paths; 'v' is used for listing
filenames with directory paths.
With LHARK, files are always listed with directory
paths, so with LHARK-B, 'l' and 'v' are identical.

7. Move ( , m)
This command will "update" the archive file (see
"update" command below), and all files added to the
archive is removed (deleted).
This command is available only in LHARK-B. To
achieve the same effect in LHARK-A, the "move option"
('-m') should be used.

8. Change mode (o, o)

This command will cause LHARK to toggle its mode
between LHARK-A and LHARK-B. Several bytes in the
executable file is altered by this command.

9. SFX (s, s)
This command will make an self-extracting archive
from an existing archive file. This version of
LHARK-SFX does not yet support encrypted archives.

10. Test (t, t)

This command will decompress files from the
archive and test the validity of their CRC. If no file
is specified in the command line, all files in the
archive is decompressed and tested.

11. Update (u, u)

This command is like the Add command except that
only those files that are not yet in the archive or is
newer that those in the archive will be compressed and
added to the archive.

C. Options

In this section, the option names are given followed by

how they are invoked (for LHARK-A and then for LHARK-B).
The format is:
option-name (LHARK-A option, LHARK-B option)

1. Add directories as archive entries (-d, -d)

This option allows the archiving of directories.
Entries of directories in the archive have the "-lhd-"
method.

2. Any attribute (-a, -a)

This option allows the archiving of files with
"system" and "hidden" attributes.

3. Compression method (-c?, -z|-o)

This option controls the method of compressing
files when adding them to the archive. The following
methods can be used:
a. No compression (-c0, -z)
No compression is done and files are
stored/copied to the archive.
 b. -lh5- (-c5, -o)
The "-lh5-" method (compatible with LHA
2.xx) is used.
c. -lh7-
The new "-lh7-" method is used. This is
the default option.

4. Encrypt (-e, -e)

This option causes LHARK to encrypt files when
compressing or decrypt when decompressing. LHARK will
ask for the password that will be used as a key for
encryption/decryption.
Care should be taken in using this option with
this current version because LHARK does not record in
the archive header whether a file is encrypted or not.
This is because there is no provision on the basic
header for a flag that denotes encrypted data. This
flag can be stored on the extended header but there is
no standard yet as to where it should be placed. I
will have to consult this with Yoshizaki.
If this option is used in compressing, be sure to
use this option again when decompressing.

5. Do not ignore file name case (-i, -i)

This option causes filenames to be treated as case
sensitive.

6. Keep temporary file (-k, -k)

On errors, this option will prevent LHARK from
deleting the temporary archive file that is generated
when the archive file is updated.

7. Move (-m, )
This option works with Add, Update, and Freshen
commands. With this option, all files added to the
archive is removed (deleted).
This option is available only with LHARK-A. To
achive the same effect with LHARK-B, the "move
command" ('m') should be used.

8. Old method (-c5 , -o)

This option will cause LHARK to use the "-lh5-"
compression method which is compatible with LHA.

9. Overwrite/no message for query (-o, -m)

This option works during decompression of files.
This will cause an existing file of the same name to
be overwitten without asking for confirmation.

10. Path (-p, -x|-p)

When adding files to the archive, this option
includes the directory names of the files to the names
stored in the archive. LHARK-B uses '-x' to achieve
this.
When extracting files from the archive, this
option will create the directory of the files in the
archive. LHARK-B uses '-p' to achieve this.

11. Recurse directories (-r, -r)

 When adding files to the archive, this option will
search for files from all the subdirectories of the
paths and files specified in the command line.

12. Archive time stamp (-s, -t)

This option will cause the date and time stamp of
resulting archive to be the same as the newest file in
the archive.

13. Compression type (-t??, -y?)

This option controls the speed and efficiency of
the compression when using the "-lh7-" method. The
following types can be used:
a. Turbo/fast (-tt, -y0)
This option will use a very fast
compression routine at the cost of some
inefficiency.
b. Acceptable-1 (-ta1, )
This option will use a routine that makes
use of a good trade-off of speed and
efficiency. This method finds match
distances of up to 32K. This option is not
available in LHARK-B.
c. Acceptable-2 (-ta1, )
This option is like the "-ta1" option, but
will find match distances of more than
32K. This is a little slower but is more
efficient for large files. This option is
not available in LHARK-B.
d. Optimum-A (-toa, -y1)
This option will use a routine that will
try to compresses better but at a slower
rate. This method finds match distances of
up to 32K. This is the default option.
e. Optimum-B (-tob, -y2)
This option is like the "-toa/y2" option,
but will find match distances of more than
32K. This is a little slower but is more
efficient for large files.

14. Verify (-v, -v)

This option will check the CRC of the files in the
archive after the archive has been updated by the
addition or deletion of files.

15. Long file names (-l, -u)

This option will cause LHARK to support the long
file names of Windows 95 (MS-DOS 7).

D. Reponse files

Response files are specified by prepending their name

with '@'. When a response file is encountered, commands
and options are taken from the file as if it were given on
the command line.

E. Base Directories

Directory paths may be specified in the command line

 and this will cause the files being extracted to be placed
on the specified directories.
A base directory affects all file specifications that
follow it until another base directory is encountered in
the command line.

III. Compatibility with LHA

A. Archive file format

LHARK generates archive file headers that are

compatible with LHA. Any archive created by LHARK can be
operated on by LHA and LHARK can operate on any archive
create by LHA.

B. Compresssion methods

LHARK can generate compressed files using the "-lh5-"

method compatible with LHA and can be decompressed by LHA.
The default compression method used by LHARK ("-lh7-") is
new and cannot be decompressed by LHA.
LHARK can decompress files made by LHA using "-lh4-",
"-lh5-" and "-lh6-" methods.

IV. Reaching the Author

I would greatly appreciate comments, suggestions and bug

reports. I can be reached at:

Internet e-mail: kerwin@infoserve.net

Kerwin F. Medina
Dec 12, 1996