User's Manual

BIX Archiver

Version 1.00 Beta 7

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Contents

Contents

Introduction

Command line syntax

Commands

Switches

FAR support

Final comments

Introduction

Contents

BIX Archiver is a freeware program for manipulating with file archives. BIX is a console 32-bit executable for Windows 95, 98 and NT.

Command line syntax:

Contents | Commands | Switches

BIX <command> [<switch>...] <base_archive_name>[.bix] [<arguments>...]

<arguments> ::= <switch> | <wildcard> | <filename> | <list_file>

<switch>::= {'/'|'-'}<switch_characters>[<option>]

<list_file> ::= '@'<filename>

Expressions in square brackets (between

'[' and ']') are optional.

Expressions in curly braces (between

'{' and '}') are required.

Expression

expression1 | expression2 | ... | expressionN

means that any (but only one) from these expressions must be specified.

Commands and switches can be entered in upper or lower case.

Command is the first non-switch argument.

The

"base_archive_name" must be the first filename on the command line after the command.

The switches and other filenames can be in any order.

Wildcards or filenames with spaces must be quoted:

"Dir\Program files\*"

Dir\"Program files"\*

Switch options can be combined to save command line length. However, some switch options take optional string arguments and therefore, must be the last option in a combined argument token string because BIX accepts the rest of the argument token as the optional argument.

BIX uses wild name matching similar to Windows 95:

'*'

means a sequence of arbitrary characters.

'?'

means any character.

Examples

:

"*.txt" | means all files with an extension of ".txt"
"?a*" | means all files with a second character of "a"
"*1*" | means all names that contains character "1"
"*.*.*" | means all names that contain two "." characters

The default wildcard

"*" will be used if there is no filename/wildcard in command line.

Restrictions for wildcards and filenames for archiving files

:

Wildcards and filenames can't contain disk name or network name. Every wildcard/filename path is treated as path from current directory on disk and as path from root directory in archive. In other words, the first part of path (letters before first slash (

'\') symbol) always must be name or wildcard.

Wildcards and filenames can't be ended by slash (

'\') symbol

Wildcards can contain wildcard characters (

'*' and '?') only in last part of path.

Examples

:

Dir1\*.cpp | OK
c:\Dir1\*.cpp | ILLEGAL: path contains disk name
Dir1\Dir2\g?.txt | OK
Dir1\D?r2\file1.txt | ILLEGAL: there is a wildcard char in non last part

These restrictions do not act to filenames and directory names used not as archiving files.

List file

You can supply one or more filenames or wildcards for special list files (files containing lists of files). The filenames in such list file must be separated by space, tab or new line symbol(s). Wildcards or filenames with spaces must be quoted.

Multiple list files are supported.

For example

, if contents of file "listfile.txt" is the following:

"My programs\*.cpp"

Src\*.cpp

then command

BIX a archive @listfile.txt

adds to archive

"archive.bix" all "*.cpp" files from directories "My programs" and "Src"

Commands

:

Contents | Command line syntax | Switches

ID | Description | Related Switches
a | Add | -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x
d | Delete | -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x
e | Extarct | -i, -o, -r, -x, -y
l | List | -i, -r, -x
t | Test | -i, -r, -x
u | Update | -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x
x | Extract with full paths | -i, -o, -r, -x, -y

a: Add files to archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

This command allows to add files to archive.

Examples

:

BIX a archive subdir\*

archives all files in directory

"subdir".

BIX a archive "Program files\*" -r

archives all files in directory

"Program files" and subdirectories.

See also

: d, u, -u

Related switches

: -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x

d: Delete files from archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

This command allows you to delete files from the archive. These deleted files are physically removed from the archive.

Example

:

BIX d archive *.bak

See also

: a, u, -u

Related switches

: -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x

e: Extract files from archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

This command will extract one or more files from the archive to the current directory or to the output directory if specified. BIX will prompt the user before overwriting existing files unless the user specifies the

"-y" switch. If the user gives a "no" answer, BIX will prompt must file be extracted to other filename. Then a "no" answer skips file and "yes" prompts for new filename.

BIX accepts the following responses:

"Yes"

"No"

"Always"

sets BIX to assume YES for ALL subsequent queries of the same class

"Skip"

sets BIX to assume NO for ALL subsequent queries of the same class

"Quit"

Abbreviated responses such as

"y", "n", "a", "s" and "q" are allowed.

Example

:

BIX e archive -oc:\soft *.cpp

extracts all files ending in

".cpp" to subdirectory "c:\soft".

See also

: x

Related switches

: -i, -o, -r, -x, -y

l: List contents of archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

l [a | t] [f]

List contents of archive.

a | List with Additional fields
t | List with all fields, including technical
f | List with pathnames

Example

:

BIX lf archive *.txt

lists all

"txt" files with full pathnames.

Related switches

: -i, -r, -x

t: Test integrity of archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Test archive files. This command performs a dummy file extraction, writing nothing to the output stream, in order to validate the specified file(s). BIX uses a 32 bit CRC to validate the contents of the files.

Example

:

BIX t archive *.doc

tests all files ending in

".doc".

Related switches

: -i, -r, -x

u: Update files to archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Update older files in the archive and add files that are new to the archive.

Example

:

BIX u archive *.doc

See also

: a, d, -u

Related switches

: -i, -m, -md, -r, -s, -u, -w, -x

x: eXtract files with full pathname

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

This command extracts one or more files from the archive to their full paths in the current directory or to the output directory if specified.

Example

:

BIX x archive -oc:\soft -r *.cpp

extracts all files ending in

".cpp" from all archive subdirectories to directory "c:\soft".

See also

: e

Related switches

: -i, -o, -r, -x, -y

Switches:

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands

ID | Description | Related commands
-i | Include filenames | a, d, e, l, t, u, x
-m | Set Method | a, d, u
-md | Set compression Dictionary size | a, d, u
-o | Set Output directory | e, x
-r | Recurse subdirectories | a, d, e, l, t, u, x
-s | Create Solid archive | a, d, u
-u | Update options | a, d, u
-w | Assign Work directory | a, d, u
-x | Exclude filenames | a, d, e, l, t, u, x
-y | Assume Yes on all queries | e, x

-i: Include filenames

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-i [r [- | 0] ] {@ listfile | ! wildcard}

This switch specifies additional include filenames and wildcards.

r [- | 0] | Specifies how wildcards and file names specified in this switch must be used. If this option is not assigned then global value, assigned by -r switch will be used. For more details see specification of -r switch
@listfile | Specifies name of list file. See List file description
!wildcard | Specifies wildcard or filename

Multiple include switches are supported.

Example

:

BIX a src *.txt -ir!DIR1\*.cpp

adds all

"*.txt" files from current directory and all "*.cpp" files from directory "DIR1" and from all it's subdirectories.

See also

: -r, -x

Related commands

: a, d, e, l, t, u, x

-m: set compression Method

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-m <method_id>

<method_id> ::= 0 | 1 | 9

This switch specifies archiving method.

-m0 | "Store" method. Files will be copied to archive without compression. Archiving with "-m0" is faster then with "-m1"
-m1 | "Normal" method. Files will be compressed. This option is set by default
-m9 | "x86" method. Special method for compressiong x86 32-Bit Executable Files

Note

: BIX can create solid archive only with "-m1" ("Normal") method.

Examples

:

BIX a archive *.jpg -m0

adds all

"*.jpg" files to archive without compression.

BIX a arch *.exe *.dll -m9

adds all

"*.exe" and "*.dll" files to archive using "x86" method.

See also

: -md, -s

Related commands

: a, d, u

-md: set compression Dictionary size

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-md <size_id>

<size_id> ::= <kb_size> | <letter_size>

<kb_size> ::= 64 | 128 | 256 | 512 | 1024

<letter_size> ::= a | b | c | d | e

This switch specifies size of the sliding dictionary. The sliding dictionary is a special memory area used by the compression algorithm. If the size of the file being compressed (or the total size of all files in the case of a solid archive) is greater than the dictionary size, then increasing the dictionary size will generally increase compression ratio, decrease packing speed and increase memory requirements.

switch | switch | Dictionary size
-md64 | -mda | 64 KB
-md128 | -mdb | 128 KB
-md256 | -mdc | 256 KB
-md512 | -mdd | 512 KB
-md1024 | -mde | 1024 KB
-md2048 | -mdf | 2048 KB
-md4096 | -mdg | 4096 KB

Default sliding dictionary size is 1024 KB. Speed of extraction doesn't depend upon dictionary size.

Note

: this switch doesn't affect to archiving with "-m0" method

Example

:

BIX a -s -mdf src *.cpp

adds to archive

"src" all "*.cpp" files with solid method and 2048 KB dictionary.

See also

: -m, -s

Related commands

: a, d, u

-o: set Output directory

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-o dir_path

This switch specifies destination directory where files are to be extracted.

dir_path | Specifies the destination directory path. It's not required path end with a backslash.

This switch works only with extraction commands.

Example

:

BIX e archive dir1\a.doc -oc:\Docs

extracts file

"dir1\a.doc" from archive to "c:\Docs\a.doc"

Related commands

: e, x

-r: Recurse subdirectories

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-r [- | 0]

This switch specifies method of treating wildcards and filenames assigned in command line.

-r | Enable recurse subdirectories. This option is default for all commands that matches files only within archive: e, l, t, x
-r- | Disable recurse subdirectories. This option is default for all commands that can scan files on disk: a, d, u
-r0 | Enable recurse subdirectories only for wildcard names.

Examples

:

BIX l archive -r- *.doc

lists all

"*.doc" files in archive that belong root archive directory.

BIX a archive -r src\*.cpp src\*.h

adds all

"*.cpp" and "*.h" files from directory "src" and all it's subdirectories.

See also

: -i, -x

Related commands

: a, d, e, l, t, u, x

-s: create Solid archive

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-s [-] [e] [<num_files > f] [<num_kb> k] [@ order_list_file [@] ]

This switch specifies special solid method of archiving.

- | Disable solid method.
e | Reset solid statistics if file extension is changed
<num_files> f | Reset solid statistics after compressing <num_files> files
<num_kb> k | Reset solid statistics after compressing <num_kb> kilobytes
@ order_list_file [@] | Specifies order list file path. This path must not contain character '@', because this character is used for determination of the end of "order_list_file" path. If "order_list_file" path is the last option in long switch (it can be -s or -u) then it isn't required that path was closed by '@' character.

Solid is a special archive type. Solid archive is archive packed using a special compression method, which sees all files as one continuous data stream. Particularly it is advantageous when packing a large number of small files.

Usually compressing to solid archive improves compression ratio.

Resetting statistics usually aggravates compression ratio but gives the following advantages:

Decreases losses in case of future archive's damaging.

Usually decreases extracting time of the group of files (it can be one file), if this group doesn't contain all files of archive.

By default BIX uses file

"bixsort.txt" as order_list_file.

Format of BIX order list file for solid archiving

:

This file may contain file names, wildcards and a special entry -

<default>. The default entry defines the position in the order list for files not matched with other entries in this file. Text between "<!" and "!>" is considered as comments and not processed. Place this file in the same directory as bix.exe.

Tips to provide improved compression and speed of operation:

Files containing similar information should be grouped together in the archive if possible.

Frequently accessed files should be placed at the beginning.

This switch can be used as part of Update option switch

-u.

Note

: BIX can create solid archive only with "-m1" ("Normal") method.

See also

: -u, -m

Related commands

: a, d, u

-u: Update options

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-u [-] [s [solid_options] ] <actions> [! new_archive_name]

<action_set> ::= <state_action>...

<state_action> ::=

<state_type> <action_type>

<state_type> ::= p | q | r | x | y | z

<action_type> ::= 0 | 1 | 2

This switch specifies how update files in archive and (or) create new archives.

- | Disable any updates in base archive.
s [solid_options] | Specifies solid options for archive referred by this command. See -s description.
! new_archive_name | Specifies path of the new archive, which must be created. All other options in this switch will refer to this new archive. If not assigned, then all other options in this switch will refer to base archive of command

Term "base archive" means archive assigned by

"base_archive_name" string in command line. See Command line syntax

Description of

<state_type>:

For each unique filename there are 6 variants of state:

<state_type> | State condition | Disk | Archive
p | File exists in archive, but isn't wildcarded by archive command. |  | Exists, but isn't wildcarded
q | File exists in archive but doesn't exist on disk. | Not exists | Exists
r | File doesn't exist in archive but exists on disk. | Exists | Not exists
x | File in archive is newer than file with same name on disk. | Older | Newer
y | File in archive is older than file with same name on disk. | Newer | Older
z | File in archive is same as file with same name on disk. | Same | Same

Description of

<action_type>:

For each of the

<state_type> you can specify action what do you wish:

<action_type> | Description
0 | Ignore file (don't create item in new archive for this file)
1 | Copy file (copy from old archive to new)
2 | Compress (compress file from disk to new archive)

Any update command (

a, d, u) can be assigned in these terms:

| p | q | r | x | y | z
Disk | any | Not exists | Exists | Older | Newer | Same
Archive | Exists, not wildcarded | Exists |  | Newer | Older | Same
d | Copy |  |  |  |  |
a | Copy | Copy | Com | Com | Com | Com
u | Copy | Copy | Com | Copy | Com | Copy

"Empty"

cell means 0 (Ignore).

"Copy"

cell means 1 (Copy from base archive).

"Com"

cell means 2 (Compress from disk).

If you don't specify

"!newArchiveName", then all options will refer to main archive (archive assigned in command line after command).

If you specify

"!newArchiveName", then BIX also will create a new archive with specified name. BIX can create any number of new archive during one operation.

By default for each new archive

<action_set> is set as action set of main command (there are 3 different action sets for commands: a, d, u). You can overload any. <state_action>

Example

:

BIX u exist_archive.bix -u- -usp0q0x2z0!update.bix *.cpp

creates new archive

"update.bix" and writes to this archive all "*.cpp" files from current directory that differs from files in archive "exist_archive.bix". Archive "exist_archive" will not be changed.

Note

: In this versions there are two restrictions:

Copy operation from solid archive is not supported.

Copy operation from existing archive to solid archive is not supported.

See also

: -s

Related commands

: a, d, u

-w: assign Work directory

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-w [<path>]

This switch specifies working directory for temporary base archive. By default, BIX builds a new base archive file in the same directory as the old base archive file. By specifying the

"-w" switch, you can specify the working directory where the temporary base archive file will be built. After the temporary base archive file is built, it is copied over the original archive and deleted. If <path> is not assigned, then BIX will use Windows temporary directory.

Example

:

BIX a archive *.cpp -wc:\temp

Related commands

: a, d, u

-x: Exclude filenames

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-x [r [- | 0] ] {@ listfile | ! wildcard}

This switch specifies what filenames or (and) wildcards must be excluded from operation.

For full option description of this switch see

-i Include switch description.

-i[r[-|0]]@listfile|!wildcard

Multiple exclude switches are supported.

Example

:

BIX a src *.txt -x!temp.*

adds all

"*.txt", except files with "temp" name, to archive "src.bix".

See also

: -i, -r

Related commands

: a, d, e, l, t, u, x

-y: assume Yes on all queries

Contents | Command line syntax | Commands | Switches

Format

:

-y

This switch disables most of the normal user queries during BIX execution. You can use this switch to suppress overwrite queries in the "

e" and "x" commands.

Example

:

BIX x src -y

extracts all files from archive

"src.bix". All overwrite queries will be suppressed and files on disk with same filenames as in archive will be overwritten.

Related commands

: e, x

FAR support

Contents

The "FAR Manager" is very good file manager. It facilitates a large number of operations with files, folders and archives under Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems. It works in text mode. You can download "FAR Manager" from sites:

http://www.rarsoft.com

If you want tune "FAR Manager" for BIX supporting you must

Install "FAR Manager"

Add contents of file

"bixtofar.ini" (this file is included to BIX distributive packet) to file "Plugins\MultiArc\Formats\custom.ini" in FAR directory.

Final comments:

Contents

In future, format of the

".bix" file will be changed and archives made by current version will be not compatible with archives made by future versions of BIX Archiver.

Please, don't trust this version for 100%. It's only the beta version, and it can have some bugs.

If you will disclose any bugs in program, please, send some report to the author.

The official page of the BIX can be accessed at:

www.7-zip.com

You may freely send your comments and suggestions to Igor Pavlov, the author of the BIX:

E-mail:

support@7-zip.com

WWW:

www.7-zip.com

Igor Pavlov

End of document