Photo shows ARJ/2 installing on @Macarlo's Warp 4.0
Russian ARJ for OS/2
Available in V. 2.61 B The ARJ/2 Team Programmed by Andrew Belov
Testing lead by Viatcheslav Odintsov
I, @Macarlo, registerd user of 212 OS/2
programs, including PKZIP from PKWARE, iavazip from SFS, RAR/2 Archiver from Eugene
Roshal, WarpZip from PillarSoft, RPF Control from Frank Fortson, automatic zip features
from Stardock (ODP) and others, downloaded today November 23, 1998 this russian
ARJ, tested it sucessfully on my Warp 4.0. I recommend it to all OS/2 users. (All
russian products for OS/2 I tested on my Warp 4.0 have superior quality, I atest).
ARJ/2 v 2.61 has been released by ARJ Software Russia.
It was designed to be maximally compatible with the existing DOS version although
it adds some unique options. It also supports OS/2 long filenames and is able to
create native OS/2 ARJSFX, ARJSFXV and ARJSFXJR modules.
It is available at Hobbes ftp archive (hobbes.nmsu.edu) as arj2_261.exe (185Kb).
ARJ for OS/2 version 2.61 Release Notes November,
21, 1998
This product is an OS/2-hosted add-on for ARJ 2.60
and 2.61 for DOS. It
may be used separately from the DOS package but it doesn't contain the
documentation and other files found in DOS release.
INTRODUCTION
As the OS/2 lacks a multifunctional compression utility, a version
of ARJ for OS/2 has been developed by ARJ Software Russia. The
aim of the porting was to retain the functionality and
compatibility with ARJ for DOS but several exceptions occur. They
are covered later in this document.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
* OS/2 version 1.2 or higher. This product will NOT run under
Windows NT.
* A 80286 or higher CPU.
* 512K of memory is needed for operation.
DIFFERENCES WITH THE DOS VERSION
("-" indicates a missing feature, "*" - a different operation
and
"+" stands for a feature unique to ARJ/2)
- The -$ option (volume label handling) is disabled. You still
can process any archives which contain volume labels but you
can't set or query a volume label for a drive.
- The "+<var>" option has no effect under OS/2. To conserve
memory, we pass only the COMPSEC and ARJ_SW environment
variables to ARJ functions.
- The GOST 28147-89 encryption procedure, provided with
ARJCRYPT.COM utility, is not available in OS/2 version. You
can use "-hg!" option under OS/2, however.
- Spaces in long filename specifications on the command line are
not permitted.
- ANSI <esc>[2J command (CLS) is not supported in ARJ/2.
* ANSI pictures in comments are shown 80 columns wide. This is
mainly for compatibility reasons, as many of OS/2 users prefer
video modes other than 80x25, while DOS usually stays in 80
columns.
* ARJ/2 sets the "Host OS" to "OS/2" on its archives. When
extracting any such archive with ARJ for DOS, some unusual
behavior may occur. Versions of ARJ prior to 2.50 convert
high-ASCII characters in filenames to 7-bit characters by
ignoring the high bit. So, the filename "±TEST±" will be
converted to "1TEST1" on extraction. ARJ/DOS also strips high
bit from archive comments, but only if the archive was created
by ARJ/2. Archives created with ARJ/DOS and then processed
under OS/2 are not affected.
* ARJ/2 uses the default OS/2 error handler that will normally
display pop-up menus prompting for action. The -& option is
not effective in ARJ/2. Moreover, the ampersand character is
used in OS/2 to start two processes consequently, so this
switch will actually split the command line.
* ARJSFX and ARJSFXJR archives will display ANSI sequences if
the ANSI support is enabled in the current OS/2 session (it's
enabled by default in OS/2).
+ The new "-h2d" option will force the stamping of "MS-DOS"
as
host operating system for the archives created by ARJ/2. It
may be used for compatibility, to avoid "binary file from
another OS" warnings.
+ "-h2p<n>" can be used to set the priority of ARJ/2. The
knowledge of OS/2 scheduling system is required to use this
option. It can dramatically increase performance but slow down
other processes. The <n> can be equal to 1, 2, 3 or 4:
Priority delta values are not supported. We don't see a
strong requirement for them.
+ The "-h2a" option is implemented in ARJ/2 due to a popular
demand from FidoNet system operators. Basically it acts like
"-jo", with the exception that file names, and not the
extensions, are "serialized". Consider having a file called
"FILE995N.TXT" and an archive that contains the same file. If
extracted with the "-h2a" option, the file will be written to
to "FILE9950.TXT", if you extract it again, it'll be called
"FILE9951.TXT", and so on up to "FILE9959.TXT", then
"FILE9960.TXT". And after "FILE9999.TXT" ARJ/2 will start with
"FIL00000.TXT". This option allows you to extract one file to
100000000 unique names. It's essential to system operators
since multiple mail packets with the same name may come from
different systems.
NOTES:
1. It'll be wise to include this option in the script that
unpacks the ARCmail packets and NOT in ARJ_SW environment
variable. This option is a security measure for systems
running in unattended mode, and will only confuse you if
enabled by default.
2. There's a security hole: a file called "9999.XXX" or so,
will not be overwritten. However, all subsequent writes
will be redirected into file "0000.XXX". So, files with
9s in the beginning have less chances of being preserved.
Hopefully such situation is unlikely for FidoNet systems.
+ ARJ/2 has no shareware volume size limitation for ARJSFXV
archives, because the self-extractor itself consumes a lot of
disk space.
+ ARJSFXJR does not support long filenames under Win95 DOS.
ARJSFXJR in ARJ/2 supports OS/2 long filenames.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
ARJ/2 has been developed by ARJ Software Russia with the most of
original ARJ code left intact. It has been briefly tested on OS/2
Warp versions 3.0 and 4.0.
The ARJ/2 development team:
Programmed by Andrew Belov
Testing lead by Viatcheslav Odintsov
