Solar wrote:I don't need the utilities 'pkzip' or 'WinZip' to create or extract ZIP files. In fact, I don't think I ever have.
Yes, you do if you want to handle all feature of the format. OpenSource alternatives covers only a fraction of it.
brain wrote:Well technically you havent written it in 20 lines, as zlib is many more lines than that and you cant handle the gzip portion without it
Yes, that's why I wrote I was cheating.
bubach wrote:Just because you like another format better
It's not a question of taste. I have to deal with archives of which 99,9% are tar, and only 0,1% zip. I'm only saying zip is used for win mostly, and avoided by non-m$ world. I would have no objection, if Solar wrote "if you want to play it safe and go for maximum compatibility
on desktops, there's nothing better
in windows world". Got it?
Hobbes wrote:BTW, wasn't ZIP also proprietary in its early days? I thought it was.
It is proprietary now. Only basic structure of format is public domain, many features (among reasonable encryption and 64 bit extensions) are patent pendig. And a company holds the right to change the format, not a community or a standard. See
http://www.pkware.com/documents/casestudies/APPNOTE.TXT
Some interesting quotes from the document:
from APPNOTE wrote:
Copyright (c) 1989 - 2007 PKWARE Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Patch support is provided by PKPatchMaker(tm) technology and is covered under U.S. Patents and Patents Pending
The Strong Encryption technology defined in this specification is covered under a pending patent application
Contact PKWARE for licensing terms and conditions
The use or implementation in a product of certain technological aspects set forth in the current APPNOTE, including those with regard to strong encryption, patching or extended tape operations, requires a license from PKWARE.
...and so on.
