Total Commander v6.01 - internal zip engine trouble and bug

[nu2bart]

Hi all,

I use TC alot specially when dealing with zipfiles...

But...
The internal zip engine does not handle really large zipfiles well.

When trying to build a >2GB zipfile, TC says "Warning: The total size of all selected files (unpacked) is > 2GB. IF the resulting archive is larger that 2GB, it will be unreadable. Continue anyway?"

Why this limit? We're not on DOS/FAT volumes anymore

Also when I try to "test" an archive (shift+alt+f9) that is >2GB, I get "Error in packed file ..." But I know my file is OK!!!
I think of this as a bug!

My personal "workaround" is to use "pkzipc.exe v4.00 from pkware" (command line tool). This tool handles >2GB zipfile OK.

Regards,
Bart.

[Hacker]

If you can read German, look at http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=3016 .
If not, Christian said that the official limit for the ZIP format is 2GB and only a few programs can handle larger ZIP files. It was suggested to Christian to show a warning message and let the user decide.
And TC should unpack ZIP files <=4GB fine. Is your file larger than that?

HTH
Roman

[nu2bart]

If not, Christian said that the official limit for the ZIP format is 2GB
and only a few programs can handle larger ZIP files. It was suggested to Christian to show a warning message and let the user decide.

Could be, but pkware can do >2GB...

And TC should unpack ZIP files <=4GB fine. Is your file larger than that?

My zipfile is 2.3GB and when unpacking it TC says "Error in packed file ..."
While pkzipc.exe extracts it just fine...

Regards,
Bart.

[Black Dog]

[face=courier]On 28-01-2004 17:54:23 +0000 nu2bart wrote:

n> While pkzipc.exe extracts it just fine...

Well, it looks like all you can do now is to configure Commander to use pkzipc.exe instead of build-in ZIP unpacker.[/face]

[Innuendo]

A few facts:

1. The Zip format was invented by PKWare.

2. PKWare just recently updated the Zip format to v6.0. Where PKWare goes with the Zip format the world must follow or no longer be able to read/write the newest created Zip archives.

3. The newest version of the Zip format is officially capable of handling zip archives that are a terabyte in size.

4. Total Commander uses the zip format that was implemented/supported in Info-Zip.

5. Info-Zip, as near as I can tell, hasn't been updated since around 1997. That's 7 years...a lifetime in the area of computers.


I think it's time for Christian to start looking for ways to update this area of TC. Perhaps he could enter into a partnership with one of the current unzippers such as IZArc or take it upon himself to construct his own unzipper/unarchiver.

[Maxwish]

Another fact:
6. Read the sad ending of Phil Katz, creator of PKzip here:
http://www.donzeigler.com/html/phil_katz.html

[MichelPy]

Why not implement first in TC the decompressor part for GB big ZIP files, like for the RAR format.

I cannot create big RAR files with TC, but I'm happy to be able to decompress them with the internal decompressor, even if they are bigger than 4GB !

I understand that Mr. Ghisler does not like to create zip files unreadeable by other. But unzipping mutant zip files created by others (Winzip, etc) should be ok !

IMHO, Michel

[Innuendo]

Maxwish,

I knew about that last "fact" but left it out as I didn't want to bring a downer into the conversation.

For the record, Phil was a wonderfully smart man & really innovative before the world of shareholders "took over" PKWare and turned it into a bureaucracy.

I was around when PKZip and PKUnzip were released. Phil wrote them mainly to compete with Seagate's ARC archiver program. He didn't feel it right that Seagate was charging exhorbitant prices for both their ARC archiver program and their ARC unarchiver program.

The way Seagate had their business model set up, even if you didn't create archives and just wanted to unarchive some so you could use the files within them you still had to pay.

Phil modeled his business structure around just charging for the archiver & allowing free use of the unarchiver. Needless to say, ARC nearly disappeared overnight & once Phil had optimized his compression algorithms & his program was producing much, much smaller archives than ARC, well...ARC's fate was sealed & why you very rarely, if ever, see files with an .arc file extention anywhere.

[Innuendo]

MichelPy,

Just a quick comment to your post. You will not be able to create any kind of RAR file with anything other than the genuine RAR and WinRAR.

The author of those programs releases the could for the unarchiving algorithms, but has stated he will never release the code for archiving.