FreeArc 0.40 released

[Bulat Ziganshin]

I've just released FreeArc 0.40. The changes are:

Fixed errors:
----In freearc.addon (settings for Total Commander plugin). You should reimport new settings
----It was impossible to extract archives created with external compression (in -m5p..-max modes)
Improved compression in -m5p..-max modes by adding "exe" filter to $iso/$precomp methods in arc.ini

Download & other info: http://freearc.sourceforge.net/


Plans for FreeArc 0.50 (scheduled for Feb 1):
----GUI archive manager, Explorer right-click support
----Smart selection of compression algorithm for each file depending on its contents
----Support for localizations
----SFX

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Old FreeArc-related threads:

FreeArc is becoming more and more interesting...
http://www.encode.su/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=437

FreeArc 0.40 pre-release version
http://www.encode.su/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=558

[LovePimple]

Thanks Bulat!

[VistaSucks]

> I've just released FreeArc 0.40. The changes are:

It doesn't work

Reason: Stupid OpenThread (post edited: was wrong "CreateThread" originally) API call which seems to exist in Vi$ta only

Could you next time compile a more compatible version (still console of course), please ?

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Reason: Stupid "CreateThread" API call which seems to exist in Vi$ta only

what OS are you used to test?

according to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682453( VS.85).aspx its supported since Win2000

[Black_Fox1]

Thanks Bulat! Tried compressing a few sources with WinRar and then with FreeArc - rar took several seconds, while arc finished instantly and with better ratio Brilliant! BTW, have you considered releasing a pack including all compressors possibly needed for -max setting?

[Bulat Ziganshin]

ar took several seconds, while arc finished instantly and with better ratio

probably its just because input files was cached during RAR run

BTW, have you considered releasing a pack including all compressors possibly needed for -max setting?

imho, its illegal. russian docs includes URLs for them all. it would be good idea to also include them in arc.ini

[LovePimple]

Works like a charm!

[VistaSucks]

I wrote:

> Reason: Stupid "CreateThread" API call which seems to exist in Vi$ta only

SORRY for the confusion: it was OpenTread that is Vista-specific ... CreateThread is well compatible ("msdn2.macrosoft"... lies ... and confused me previously, I had a look there)

7-ZIP works well using CreateThread only

BTW: why do you import from WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL ? Does an archiver need such stuff ?

PS: PE header of FreeArc claims compatibility "4 - Win95 or Win NT 4"

[nimdamsk]

FreeArc can download files from internet, i.e. to update archive

[VistaSucks]

> FreeArc can download files from internet, i.e. to update archive

Thanks for crucial hint ... OTOH I still would prefer an archiver focusing on archiving and not too many unrelated activities ... less bloat and more compatibility ... otherwise all the bloated archivers bring each other the work (compress the bloat) that wouldn't exist otherwise

PS: "m$dn2.macro$oft"... even claims ExitProcess to be exclusive for Vi$ta and similar ... in the past it reportedly was supported in Win95 also http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682658( VS.85,printer).aspx

[Vacon]

Hello everyone,

thanks Bulat!
Happy New Year

Best regards!

[giorgiotani]

Thanks Bulat, congratulations for the 0.40 release!

[Bulat Ziganshin]

OTOH I still would prefer an archiver focusing on archiving and not too many unrelated activities

something like tar?

why do you import from WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL ?

read Changes.txt

[Bulat Ziganshin]

i've added plans for next FreeArc version to the topic head

[Vacon]

Hello everyone,

so you did read my mind!
Or have written down my wishes...?
How will you solve the problem of different OS-GUI? GTK? QT?

Best regards!

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Vacon
i just summarized the most common ones

now i use gtk2hs which works with both linux and windows. you probably seen preliminary linux version published in old thread

[Intrinsic]

Minor niggle:

As an option Freearc has:
-lcN --LimitCompMem=N limit memory usage for compression to N bytes

If i use the option -lc536870912 to limit it to use 512mb it hangs on the halflife test set at 22.4% on my machine.

arc a -mx -lc536870912 "-di -di+$#" -r ..HL-mx-512b *.*
Started: 0.00 secs
Found 1945 files, 0 archives: 0.09 secs
Sorted 1945 files: 0.22 secs
Joined filelists: 0.22 secs
Compressing 128 files of 320.223 bytes: 0.28 secs
Using tempfile+dict:314kb:80%:l8192:m400:s100+tempfile+l zp:314kb:92%:225:h19:d
1mb+tempfile+ppmd:20:768mb: 0.28 secs
Memory for compression 768mb, decompression 768mb: 0.2 1.0%
Solid block compression results (0.094 seconds): 0.44 secs
tempfile: 320.223 bytes in 0.000 seconds: 0.44 secs
dict:314kb:80%:l8192:m400:s100: 246.623 bytes in 0.000 seconds: 0.44 secs
tempfile: 246.623 bytes in 0.000 seconds: 0.44 secs
lzp:314kb:92%:225:h19:d1mb: 246.627 bytes in 0.016 seconds: 0.44 secs
tempfile: 246.627 bytes in 0.000 seconds: 0.44 secs
ppmd:20:768mb: 44.402 bytes in 0.078 seconds: 0.44 secs
Compressing 1.812 files of 129.023.490 bytes: 0.44 secs
Using tempfile+exe+tempfile+rep:124mb+tempfile+delta+tem pfile+lzma:128mb:max:b
t4:128: 0.44 secs
Memory for compression 1gb, decompression 128mb: 0.4 22.4%

You actually need to add a "b" to the end of that switch for it to work ie -lc536870912b

This is just a minor issue, but the info from the arc.exe if executed without any options should be updated, it may even be worth talking in Mb's as opposed to Bytes as that'll be easier for the average user to understand. In the html documention can be the more detailed options available for that switch as currently it doesn't mention that you can specify the size in Bytes.

[Bulat Ziganshin]

it may even be worth talking in Mbs as opposed to Bytes

actually it takes. at some moment ive redesigned program to take in all memory-related options by default in mbs (and its mentioned in 0.40 docs). moreover, for all such options you can explicitly specify unit used: -lc512m, -md64k and so on

[Intrinsic]

For those of you who use the wonderful Directory Opus(i hate using a windows machine without it myself) i've created a little reg file which will add various options to the right mouse button context menu.

Now when you right click on a directory you have 2 new options, Freearc: Create Archive MX and Freearc: Create Archive MAX
Those should be pretty self-explanatory what they do, and the archive created will be placed in the directory which you clicked on. The archives will be given the name of the directory selected when you right clicked on it, but i also add to the filename either -mx or -max depending on which option you chose, this is for my own test purposes and you can remove easily, if unsure how just ask.
Both these options recurse into subdirectories.

And when you right click an .arc file you have 3 options.
Freearc: Extract to (this will create a directory based on the archive name and then extract the files into it.
Freearc: Extract Here (this will extract the archive contents to the current directory)
Freearc: List Contents (this will list the contents of the archive)

It can be found here:
http://www.zenadsl5706.zen.co.uk/Freearc-DOpus.reg

If anyone wants i can create an option that will ask for the compression level you want to use instead of only having mx and max options. This file was created for Directory Open 8 + XP, unknown if it works with version 9 or not or with vista.

Just make sure you have the location of arc.exe in your Path environment variable.

[VistaSucks]

> read Changes.txt

OK ...

When we work with archive, only the data required for actual operation will be
downloaded. This means that you may work quickly even with huge archives.
Please note that servers without RESUME functionality are not supported at all

Funny

> something like tar?

NO, with compression, something like 7-ZIP

Still, it would be cool if it didnt attempt to OpenThread and loaded the WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL with LoadLibrary only when needed

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Still, it would be cool if it didnt attempt to OpenThread and loaded the WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL with LoadLibrary only when needed

this will need more time to implement and i dont know which problems this creates for you

[Arkanosis]

From the 7-Zip forum:

Hi Bulat,

Its nice to see FreeArc publicly released

However, Im experiencing some problems when trying to use it with the
-mx option, so I cant have a good idea of what its really able to do
for me.

When I try to compress my full Firefox directory, it fails with an
uncaught exception:
> This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
> Please contact the applications support team for more information.

Same when trying to compress the original paq8o8.cpp

(Im using a Core2Quad with 3Gib RAM, under WinXP 32bits)

Without the -mx option, it works well, but I always managed to get a
better compression ratio with 7-Zip (with some tweaks, and I did not
compress wavs or bmps).
With the default configuration for both programs, FreeArc performs at
least as well as 7-Zip.

I didnt pay attention to compression times.

Regards

this problem was in pre-release 4 version, hopefully fixed now. please
try release and report the problem if the fix doesnt work for you

and, if possible, write at
http://www.encode.su/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=599
- now its used as official support forum for FreeArc

No, sorry, I was using the release version (built on January 1st).
Ill try to compress the same files on another computer to see if Ive
the same problem.

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Arkanosis
please give us program output with "-di -di+$" options added

[Arkanosis]

Arkanosis
please give us program output with "-di -di+$" options added

I get the following when trying to compress paq8o8.cpp:
<div class=""jscript""><pre>ARC 0.40 Creating archive: test.
arc using exe+rep:1gb+delta+tempfile+lzma:
128mb:max:bt4:128, &#036;obj => rep:1gb
+delta+tempfile+lzma:128mb:max:bt4{ :
}128, &#036;text => dict:128mb:80%:l8192{ :
}m400:s100+lzp:128mb:92%:225:
h24:d1mb+ppmd:24:1536mb, &#036;wav => tta,
&#036;bmp => mm+grzip:8mb:m1:l:a
Memory for compression 2gb, decompression 2gb, ca
che 1mb
Started: 0.00 secs
Found 1 files, 0 archives: 0.00 secs
Sorted 1 files: 0.00 secs
Joined filelists: 0.00 secs
Compressing 1 file, 142.636 bytes. Processed 0%

Compressing 1 file of 142.636 bytes: 0.00 sec
s
Using dict:140kb:80%:l8192:m400
:s100+lzp:140kb:92%:225:h18{ :
}d1mb+ppmd:24:1536mb: 0.00 secs
Memory for compression 2gb, decompression 2gb{
: } 0.00 secs[/code]


Well, I suppose its an uncaught bad_alloc, since 7-Zip is not able to allocate 1536MiB for PPMdH.
For information, ive the WinXP "/3GB" switch enabled, but not "/PAE".

[Bulat Ziganshin]

the FIRST gui archiver shell for FreeArc: http://flashmobile.ru/arc/eng/

it's still very early version, but afaik drag-n-drop already works in both directions

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Well, I suppose its an uncaught bad_alloc, since 7-Zip is not able to allocate 1536MiB for PPMdH.

can you please try the same with prerelease-3 version?

pre4 has changes to allow it use more than 2gb of memory but these changes was probably not actually tested by anyone having enough RAM

[Arkanosis]

Everything works fine with pre-3:

ARC 0.40 prerelase-3 Updating archiv 
e: test.arc using exe+rep:1gb+delta+tempfi 
le+lzma:128mb:max:bt4:128, $obj => 
 rep:1gb+delta+tempfile+lzma:128mb:max 
:bt4:128, $text => dict:128mb:80%{ 
 : }l8192:m400:s100+lzp:128mb:92%{ 
 : }225:h24:d1mb+ppmd:24:1536mb, $ 
wav => tta, $bmp => mm+grzip:8mb:m1:l{ 
 : }a 
Memory for compression 2gb, decompression 2gb, ca 
che 1mb 
Started: 0.00 secs 
Found 1 files, 0 archives: 0.00 secs 
  Decoding directory: 0.00 secs 
  Directory decoded: 0.00 secs 
  Directory built: 0.00 secs 
Sorted 1 files: 0.00 secs 
Joined filelists: 0.00 secs 
Compressing 1 file, 142.636 bytes. Processed   0% 
 
Compressing 1 file of 142.636 bytes: 0.02 sec 
s 
  Using dict:140kb:80%:l8192:m400 
:s100+lzp:140kb:92%:225:h18{ : 
 }d1mb+ppmd:24:1536mb: 0.02 secs 
  Memory for compression 2gb, decompression 2gb{  
: } 0.02 secs  0% 
  Solid block compression times 0.000+0.000+0.031 
: 0.05 secs 
 
  Writing directory: 0.05 secs 
  Found 1 directory names: 0.05 secs 
  Directory written: 0.05 secs 
Compressed 1 file, 142.636 => 37.550 bytes. Ratio 
 26.3% 
Compression time 0.03 secs, speed 4.564 kb/s. Tot 
al 0.06 secs 
All OK

PPMd is still in 1536MiB mode, but this time without any problem, which is strange... Maybe 7-Zip tries to allocate the whole block at the beginning.

Btw:

Original: 142,636 bytes
FreeArc pre-3, mx: 37,833 bytes
7-Zip 4.57, PPMdH 1024MiB: 37,781 bytes

The difference might come from the archive overhead.

[MrC]

Hey Bulat,

first of all - congratulations, FreeArc is great tool and has a lot of potential!

I'm currently playing around with compressing .iso files.

Is there a way for selective (external) compression of files WITHIN .iso files?

For example, exclude some files from compression or use DURILCA for &#036;exe files? (I mean without manually extracting the ISO file.)

Keep up the good work!

[Bulat Ziganshin]

The difference might come from the archive overhead.

of course. freearc has much larger constant overhead than any other archiver i know. it shows best results on large volumes of data

Is there a way for selective (external) compression of files WITHIN .iso files?

no. it needs segmentation and may be i will work on it in Feb. or maybe later. at some time it definitely will be implemented

Everything works fine with pre-3:

please try http://www.haskell.org/bz/arc-fixed.7z - its 0.40 version with error hopefully fixed

btw, can you try 64-bit Vista?