5.51 Bug in Pack with Seperate Archives

[LVWolfman]

I reported what I believed to be a bug to support email yesterday, today I confirmed that it is a bug.

In Total Commander 5.51, when I select multiple files, do a Pack with the "Create separate archives, one per selected file/dir" option selected I get an error message "Cannot find external pack program! You need to install and configure an external packer to handle this specific archive." Then the Configurations->Options dialog opens to the Packer tab.

(The archive type selected is ZIP and I was using the defaults as Total Commander ships.)

Today I did more investigation and found the following:

1. Windows Command 5.10 (the only other copy I have on this computer) handles the same files just fine. Therefore the bug cropped up in 5.11, 5.5 or 5.51.

2. The error only seems to occur if there is a " -" (space hyphen) in the file name.

I use " - " (space hyphen space) a lot in my file names. I.E.:

Aesop - Fables {TXT}.zip
Plato - Cirto {TXT}.zip
Plato - Gorgias {TXT}.zip

This is pretty easy to reproduce...

Using 5.51, rename a file to have a " -" (space hyphen) anywhere in the file name.

Now select it, go to File->pack (or ALT+F5), select the "seperate archive" option at the bottom (it doesn't seem to matter what other ones are selected) and click "OK" or press "Enter".

[ben hub]

I get the same bug.

with a file "file - name.ext", I get the error you report.

with a file "file -name.ext", I get the external pkzip help screen in a dos session !!
it seems in this case that the external packer is called (why ??), then the "-" is interpreted as the prefix to pkzip options...

Christian, can you help ?

[LVWolfman]

I did some more checking... 5.11 is ok and so is 5.50 so it looks like it crept into 5.51.

I'm going to regress to 5.50 until it the next release. (I'll keep 5.51 on machine in case I'm needed to try something else to narrow it down.)

[Hacker]

Hi,
Yes, that is a known bug (see http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=531 (German)). TC misinterprets spaces in the target dir or dashes in the filenames as packer switch separators. It will be corrected in the next version. Meanwhile try no to pack to dirs with spaces in their names or files with dashes.

HTH
Roman

[LVWolfman]

Hi Roman,

Thanks, I'd never have found that thread as I'm one of the ugly Americans that only speaks English and some Spanish (very rusty.)

[Valentino]

Christian, as you plan to fix the bug related to "Create separate archives, one per selected file/dir" option, how about implementing the following new feature (that is somehow connected to it) that you promised to add to your wish list formerly ? I'll quote my letter here to see what other people think about it:

Code: Select all

Pack dialog: there is an option in it named "Create separate archives, one
per selected file/dir". I'd like to have one more option that will be

enabled only if the above-mentioned option is checked. This new option can
be called smth like "Do not store top level dir names". I'll explain what
it means by an example.

I have several archives:
  1.zip
  2.zip
  3.ace
  4.ace
  5.7z
  6.7z
and I want to repack them with some other packer, say, RAR. So I select
all of them, press Unpack, check "Unpack each archive to a separate
subdir" option in Unpack dialog. Then I select all unpacked dirs and press
Pack, select desired packer (Rar), check "Create separate archives, one
per selected file/dir" option and check new "Do not store top level dir
names" option.
So I can repack all archivers in two steps only. Currently when I do this
I obtain archives with a bit different structure:

BEFORE:
  1.zip/File1.txt
  1.zip/File2.txt
  2.zip/File1.txt
  2.zip/File2.txt

AFTER:
  1.rar/1/File1.txt
  1.rar/1/File2.txt
  2.rar/2/File1.txt
  2.rar/2/File2.txt

BUT I'D LIKE:
  1.rar/File1.txt
  1.rar/File2.txt
  2.rar/File1.txt
  2.rar/File2.txt

Code: Select all

Good idea! I will add it to my wish list.

[bellis]

I Get the same error on 5.50 and 5.51 but only if i try to pack from one harddrive to another. If i use separate archive and place them on the same harddrive but different folder it works ..

btw.. any news on when the next version is due for release ?

// Bellis

[Hacker]

any news on when the next version is due for release

IMHO in a few weeks.

HTH
Roman