FreeArc 0.40 released

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 00:31

Old FreeArc-related threads:

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

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

VistaSucks
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 01:44 | Edited by: 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 ?

Black_Fox
Tester

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 02:22

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?

LovePimple
Moderator

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 03:13

Works like a charm!

nimdamsk
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 04:14

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

Vacon
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 10:20

Hello everyone,

thanks Bulat!

Happy New Year

Best regards!

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 10:59 | Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin

Quoting: VistaSucks

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

something like tar?

Quoting: VistaSucks

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

read Changes.txt

Vacon
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 14:49

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!

Intrinsic
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 19:15

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.

Intrinsic
Member

# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 20:31

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.

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 02:30

Quoting: VistaSucks

Still, it would be cool if it didn't 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 don't know which problems this creates for you

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 16:40

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

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:25

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

Arkanosis
Member

# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:59

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.

Bulat Ziganshin
Programmer

# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 23:01 | Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin

Quoting: Arkanosis

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

Quoting: MrC

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

Quoting: Arkanosis

Everything works fine with pre-3:

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

btw, can you try 64-bit Vista?

Author	Message
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 00:13 \| Edited by: 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 Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 00:31 Old FreeArc-related threads: FreeArc is becoming more and more interesting... http://www.encode.ru/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=437 FreeArc 0.40 pre-release version http://www.encode.ru/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=558
LovePimple Moderator	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 00:40 Thanks Bulat!
VistaSucks Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 01:44 \| Edited by: 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$ta only Could you next time compile a more compatible version (still console of course), please ?
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 02:00 \| Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin Quoting: VistaSucks Reason: Stupid "CreateThread" API call which seems to exist in Vi$ta only what OS are you used to test? according to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682453( VS.85).aspx it's supported since Win2000
Black_Fox Tester	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 02:22 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 Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 02:49 \| Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin Quoting: Black_Fox ar took several seconds, while arc finished instantly and with better ratio probably it's just because input files was cached during RAR run Quoting: Black_Fox BTW, have you considered releasing a pack including all compressors possibly needed for -max setting? imho, it's illegal. russian docs includes URLs for them all. it would be good idea to also include them in arc.ini
LovePimple Moderator	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 03:13 Works like a charm!
VistaSucks Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 03:27 \| Edited by: VistaSucks I wrote: > Reason: Stupid "CreateThread" API call which seems to exist in Vi$ta only SORRY for the confusion: it was OpenTread that is Vista-specific ... CreateThread is well compatible ("msdn2.macrosoft"... lies ... and confused me previously, I had a look there) 7-ZIP works well using CreateThread only BTW: why do you import from WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL ? Does an archiver need such stuff ? PS: PE header of FreeArc claims compatibility "4 - Win95 or Win NT 4"
nimdamsk Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 04:14 FreeArc can download files from internet, i.e. to update archive
VistaSucks Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 05:28 \| Edited by: VistaSucks > FreeArc can download files from internet, i.e. to update archive Thanks for crucial hint ... OTOH I still would prefer an archiver focusing on archiving and not too many unrelated activities ... less bloat and more compatibility ... otherwise all the bloated archivers bring each other the work (compress the bloat) that wouldn't exist otherwise PS: "m$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 Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 10:20 Hello everyone, thanks Bulat! Happy New Year Best regards!
giorgiotani Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 10:43 Thanks Bulat, congratulations for the 0.40 release!
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 10:59 \| Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin Quoting: VistaSucks OTOH I still would prefer an archiver focusing on archiving and not too many unrelated activities something like tar? Quoting: VistaSucks why do you import from WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL ? read Changes.txt
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 14:13 i've added plans for next FreeArc version to the topic head
Vacon Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 14:49 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 Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 15:09 \| Edited by: 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 Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 19:15 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 Programmer	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 20:10 \| Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin Quoting: Intrinsic it may even be worth talking in Mb's as opposed to Bytes actually it takes. at some moment i've redesigned program to take in all memory-related options by default in mb's (and it's mentioned in 0.40 docs). moreover, for all such options you can explicitly specify unit used: -lc512m, -md64k and so on
Intrinsic Member	# Posted: 3 Jan 2008 20:31 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 Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 01:49 > 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 didn't attempt to OpenThread and loaded the WININET.DLL and WSOCK32.DLL with LoadLibrary only when needed
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 02:30 Quoting: VistaSucks Still, it would be cool if it didn't 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 don't know which problems this creates for you
Arkanosis Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 14:41 From the 7-Zip forum: Quoting: Arkanosis Hi Bulat, It's nice to see FreeArc publicly released However, I'm experiencing some problems when trying to use it with the -mx option, so I can't have a good idea of what it's 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 application's support team for more information. Same when trying to compress the original paq8o8.cpp (I'm 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 didn't pay attention to compression times. Regards Quoting: Bulat Ziganshin this problem was in pre-release 4 version, hopefully fixed now. please try release and report the problem if the fix doesn't work for you and, if possible, write at http://www.encode.ru/forums/index.php?action=vthre ad&forum=1&topic=599 - now it's used as official support forum for FreeArc No, sorry, I was using the release version (built on January 1st). I'll try to compress the same files on another computer to see if I've the same problem.
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 16:40 Arkanosis please give us program output with "-di -di+$" options added
Arkanosis Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:25 Quoting: Bulat Ziganshin Arkanosis please give us program output with "-di -di+$" options added I get the following when trying to compress paq8o8.cpp: ARC 0.40 Creating archive: test. arc using exe+rep:1gb+delta+tempfile+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 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 Well, I suppose it's an uncaught bad_alloc, since 7-Zip is not able to allocate 1536MiB for PPMdH. For information, i've the WinXP "/3GB" switch enabled, but not "/PAE".
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:25 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 Programmer	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:33 Quoting: Arkanosis Well, I suppose it's 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 Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 18:59 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 Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 21:45 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 $exe files? (I mean without manually extracting the ISO file.) Keep up the good work!
Bulat Ziganshin Programmer	# Posted: 4 Jan 2008 23:01 \| Edited by: Bulat Ziganshin Quoting: Arkanosis 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 Quoting: MrC 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 Quoting: Arkanosis Everything works fine with pre-3: please try http://www.haskell.org/bz/arc-fixed.7z - it's 0.40 version with error hopefully fixed btw, can you try 64-bit Vista?