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Usage: LZEXE-WC FileSpec PgmName [options] Example: LZEXE-WC * All /D FileSpec: Any Program ending with an .EXE or .COM. PgmName: Maybe either: UPackExe, ComtoExe, LzExe, LzeShell, or ALL. Options: /D Deletes the original programs. /S:n Process only those files over n bytes in size. LZEXE-WC ver 2.1F Copyrighted (C) 1990-1991, John H. Gohde, All Rights Reserved Page 1 09-04-91 INTRODUCTION LZEXE is a file packing utility that compresses COM and EXE program files. Many commercial programs have been packed for a long time. LZEXE is a public domain packer that achieves better results than some commercial products. The packed programs maintain their separate identity and remain executable. By packing programs you can realize a substantial space savings of somewhere between 30 and 60 percent of the original program size. LZEXE-WC is a FREEWARE program which functions as a frontend for LZEXE. It forces LZEXE into being user friendly. LZEXE-WC does what you would have expected LZEXE to have done in the first place. It makes the Bellard programs function as one unit. The approach advocated by LZEXE-WC is to pack all the existing programs in your current directory by computer control while skipping over known problem programs and other small programs. Then as problems are discovered (ie, the discovery that an executed program does not work properly), the respective programs are replaced as needed. The author feels that this concept makes more sense than to convert and test individually each packed program, especially when you are talking about several hundred PD programs and over a MEG of disk space savings!!!. Most PD programs are not complicated enough to cause any conversion problems. So, if you have directories containing 100's of PD programs, then you will realize a big time shavings using LZEXE-WC with relatively little risk. Just imagine how long it would take to convert just 100 utilities; one at a time! When new programs are acquired they should be packed via LZEXE-WC rather than directly with LZEXE. My program will pickup all the lose ends that LZEXE does not. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Both the software and its documentation are copyrighted materials. I reserve all rights to these materials under United States law and international copyright conventions which are not expressly granted to the user. No part of this material may be reproduced or modified in any way without my prior, expressed written permission. DISCLAIMER I EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY. YOU USE BOTH THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION AT YOUR OWN RISK! Page 2 09-04-91 LICENSE I grant all users of this software and documentation a limited license for their own private noncommercial use. I expressly forbid any user from making any changes to either the software or documentation or from profiting from its distribution. I grant all BBS's and software distributors the right to distribute this software and to charge a maximum distribution fee of $5.00. WARNING DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT WITHOUT FIRST BACKING UP YOUR HARD DISK! A copy of all original programs must be available so that you may replace those few programs which the LZEXE program may render nonfunctional. It is a certainty that a few programs converted by LZEXE will need to be replaced. Read this entire manual before attempting to use LZEXE-WC on your hard disk. It is, further, recommended that your backup copy be in an executable format (ie, not created with DOS's BACKUP) or in a ZIP/ARC format where an executable copy can be selectively uncompressed. Or, you can alternately not delete the old copies. They will have an extension of .OLD for .EXE programs and .CO! for .COM programs. However, this strategy will double your disk space requirements and would only be practical for short periods of time. Using PC Magazines SWEEP utility is NOT recommend. Its use will result in unpreditable results! DO NOT RUN LZEXE-WC in any directory containing WINDOW programs! BACKGROUND INFORMATION The intelligence that created LZEXE is truly mind boggling. It does what appears to be the impossible. Yet, it also contains some idiosyncrasies that make its use rather difficult and even undesirable: (1)No Wild Card capability. (2)The Newly created files have the wrong Date and Time Stamps. (3)The old files are not deleted. Often temporary work files are also left laying around, too. (4)Dash embedded program names are not properly handled by COMTOEXE or earlier versions of LZEXE. Page 3 09-04-91 (5)Packed files must first be unpacked with UPACKEXE. (6)LZEXE and COMTOEXE will make tiny files bigger. (7).COM programs must first be processed by COMTOEXE. (8)The old .COM programs still have the .COM extension so that the new .EXE version will not execute until the .COM version is either renamed or deleted. These idiosyncrasies of the Bellard programs make converting an entire Hard Disk a very time consuming process. Here, is where LZEXE-WC comes to the rescue! LZEXE-WC will allow you to use Wildcards. You can convert an entire directory (the current directory) in one shot. With the /D option you can have the original files automatically deleted, too. The /S option allows you to skip programs smaller than your own byte size specification. LZEXE-WC works much like XCOPY with the /M parameter. You can convert your hard disk several times without any problems. The programs already converted will simply be rejected from further processing. This product will not work without the programs written by other authors. Ce programme a été conçu et réalisé par Fabrice BELLARD qui a décidé généreusement de le mettre en FREEWARE. FILE EXTENSIONS The safest approach is to not to use the /D parameter. This will result in always having a good version of your program in case the newly packed program does not work! Here is a run down of what the extensions are. Please not that this is an extension and is contrary to the extensions created by using the Bellard programs directly. .EXE PROGRAMS .EX! Original packed .EXE program (appears only if packed) .OLD unpacked program or original unpacked program .EXE newly packed format .COM PROGRAMS .CO! Original .COM program .COM Nonconverted original program .OLD .COM converted to .EXE format .EXE newly packed format Page 4 09-04-91 The Bellard programs when used directly use an .OLD extension. This resulted in certain cases in losing the original copy of the program. Which is obviously contrary to the object of keeping a copy of the original. However, as you can see unless you do use the /D parameter you could end up with 3 copies of each program! DIRECTIONS Usage: LZEXE-WC FileSpec PgmName [options] FileSpec: The file specification should normally be * or *.*. This code stands for all .COM and .EXE programs. Other Wildcard combinations are possible provided you specify an extension of either .COM or .EXE. The usual DOS specifications hold with the exception that the Extension is forced to either .EXE or .COM depending on which PgmName you specify. In addition you may use just a * which equates to either or both *.COM and *.EXE. PgmName: LZEXE-WC works by feeding files to a program of your choice. The Program name can be either ALL, LZESHELL, LZEXE, UPACKEXE, or COMTOEXE (second file specification). Selecting ALL causes LZEXE-WC to execute UPACKEXE, COMTOEXE, and LZEXE in sequence. And is the normal option to be used. LZEXE-WC will check for invalid file specification combinations. The easiest approach is to simply always use LZEXE-WC * ALL (This will process everything). My product will feed program files to UPACKEXE, COMTOEXE, LZEXE, or LZESHELL. If you specify ALL then LZEXE-WC program will first run UPACKEXE, then COMTOEXE, and then finally LZEXE. The output of these programs may be redirected at the command line with > or >> (Note, however, that the current version of LZEXE can not be redirected.) My program also allows you to use LZESHELL (not included) which is a popular shell. Also you may substitute English language versions or functional equivalents of the programs. However, these substitutions must be named: UPACKEXE.EXE, COMTOEXE.EXE, LZEXE.EXE, or LZESHELL.EXE. Page 5 09-04-91 Remember that LZEXE and LZESHELL will prompt you with opposite questions. LZEXE will ask you if you want to stop (in French, of course). You should respond with N for NON (ie, KEEP GOING) or with O for OUI (ie, YES, STOP). On the other hand, LZESHELL will ask if you want to continue. Respond with Y to continue and N to STOP. In addition, LZESHELL will respond immediately to your key press (ie, no mistakes allowed!!!) while LZEXE will wait for you to press [Enter] (ie, you can change your mind). These occasional prompts are only relative to one program file. To exit or to abort LZEXE-WC entirely, hit Ctrl-Break (the ^C key does not work!). Using ALL will result in longer processing times but with fewer operator prompts while using LZESHELL will require a lot more operator attention. In addition, LZESHELL does not convert .COM files. So if you plan to use LZESHELL you should run COMTOEXE, first. Options: /D Deletes the original programs. The default keeps the old files. The program will only delete where a file was converted. You must use this option if you have extremely limited disk space. /S:n Processes only those files over n bytes in size. The default size is 2048. If you want to convert all files then you must specify /S:1. SAMPLE CONFIGURATIONS LZEXE-WC * ALL The normal recommended execution setup for my program. If you have a backup copy of all your program files then add the /D parameter to delete the old or original program file. If you do not know what you are doing then use this setup. LZEXE-WC * LZEXE Converts those .EXE files over 2K in size in the current directory. LZEXE-WC * COMTOEXE Converts those .COM files over 2K in size in the current directory. Page 6 09-04-91 LZEXE-WC * LZESHELL /D Converts those .EXE files over 2K in size in the current directory indirectly via LZESHELL. The old converted programs are deleted. LZEXE-WC * LZEXE /S:20480 Converts only those .EXE files in the current directory that are bigger than 20K. LZEXE-WC * COMTOEXE /D >LOG Converts those .COM files over 2K in size in the current directory and produces a text LOG file of the COMTOEXE output. The old converted programs are deleted. SAFEGUARDS Using LZEXE is a relatively dangerous process that that should be undertaken carefully by all users of LZEXE-WC. For your safety, LZEXE-WC contains several built in safeguards that makes the use of Wild Cards with LZEXE practical. FILE SIZE: Files can be skipped over on the basis of size. For example, specifying /S:20480 will skip all files less than 20K in size. Generally speaking, tiny files might take up more space after being converted than the original copy (ie, those less than 2K). By default LZEXE-WC skips over all programs less than 2K in size. SKIP LIST -- LZEXE-WC.DAT: You can skip all potential problem File Names by listing them specifically and correctly in a text file. This file called: LZEXE-WC.DAT must be placed in the same directory where your copy of LZEXE-WC.EXE resides (ex, if you put Page 7 09-04-91 LZEXE-WC.EXE into C:\UTIL because it is a utility then the file called LZEXE-WC.DAT must also be put into the C:\UTIL directory.). It is a REQUIRED FILE! There is no point in trying to convert programs which are known to convert badly! Intelligent use of the SKIP list can make converting an entire disk relatively safe and automatic. Before, doing any processing you should build a skip list by surveying your hard disk. Suggested guidelines for including files in your skip list are as follows: (a)Any program that uses Overlays. Clues that indicate overlay files are many files that use the same name but with different extensions or files with the following extensions: .OVL, .OVD, .OVR, or .OV#. (b)The Main Program of Each commercial program costing over $200. These programs usually include exotic protection schemes in their main program. (c)Any program which installs options by changing the program itself such as Turbo Pascal. If you are happy with their current setup than you might want to convert them, too. There exclusion is more a matter of convenience, rather than any safety factor. (d)Any program that is too important to take chances with. (e)Any known list of problem programs. (f)Any Windows 3 program. But, it would probably be easier to simply skip directories containing Windows programs. I have provided for skipping a maximum of 1000 files names. That should be more than enough; since the attached list only contains a handful of programs to be avoided. CURRENT DIRECTORY: My product forces you to process one directory of files at a time. Generally, the only programs that do not covert successfully are those super big commercial programs. These big programs use Overlays and should be therefore avoided. You can avoid problems simply by skipping over directories containing those big commercial programs. Also, those commercial programs which use exotic copy protection schemes, Page 8 09-04-91 generally are not converted successfully. However, you will find in most cases that this problem will only apply to the main program. For example, while Lotus 1-2-3 can not be converted successfully; both View and PGraph convert with no problems. You can skip over these problem programs by including their exact file name (including extension) in your SKIP file. INADEQUATE DISK SPACE: LZEXE-WC will refuse to continue if there is not enough free disk space, equal to the target file size plus 5K. LZEXE-WC does not bother to process files on the basis of size. So if it happens to select a big program to work with first, you could run out of space with a couple 100K of space available on your HD. I/O ERROR TRAPPING: This product will not bomb out on you because all unexpected I/O errors are trapped with my own exit routine. This means that the program will properly exit and in most cases will provide an error message in plain ENGLISH. For example, defective Hard Disks will be caught here. (However, I can not vouch for the LZEXE programs. These programs operate out of my control.) COMMAND.COM: My product will ignore COMMAND.COM or any other command processor provided that it is specified in your ENVIRONMENT under COMSPEC. Of course you can list other versions in the SKIP LIST, too. LOG FILE -- LZEXE-WC.LOG: You can see exactly which files where processed, etc. via the automatic Log file recorded by default in the directory LZEXE-WC resides in. It is appended, so you can see the results of processing an entire Hard disk, even if you take several weeks to complete the job. Each entry starts off with your DOS date and time and will list each file examined by LZEXE-WC, as well as the outcome of the selection process. REQUIRED FORMAT OF LZEXE-WC.DAT: The required format of the skip file is as follows: (a)Text file or ASCII format. (b)First 12 digits are reserved for the file name. The file name consists only of the name and extension (No drives or paths). No spaces are allowed within a file name. The period is required. Page 9 09-04-91 (c)Comments are allowed provided at least one digit of space separates the file name from the comment. (d)No leading spaces are allowed. (Hey man you can not sort text with leading spaces, or didn't you know that?) (e)The file MUST be SORTed in ascending order. This can be achieved by using the DOS SORT utility as follows: SORT < LZEXE-WC.BAK > LZEXE-WC.DAT (f)Only one file name per line. (g)Blank lines are tolerated. (h)Maximum of 1000 files names per file. (i)Place LZEXE-WC.DAT in the same directory on your hard disk with LZEXE-WC.EXE. Page 10 09-04-91 HOME OF THE AUTHOR The author runs a LZE-WC SUPPORT ECHO on the multi-node RBBS-PC FreeBoard BBS. First time callers can get support as well as download the lastest version by calling by data phone at (804) 744-0744. From the MAIN menu enter J LZE-WC ╔═══════════════════════════════╗ ║ The FreeBoard BBS ║ ║ DTP WIN3 <HST> FIDO IPE ║ ║ Lantastic Support ║ ║ (804)744-0744 ║ ║ Richmond, Va. ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════╝ The FreeBoard BBS is a multi-node RBBS-PC board on the Fido Net Work with over 400 MEG's of files. Or the author may be contacted by writing to: JOHN GOHDE LZEXE-WC P O BOX 17581 RICHMOND, VA 23226-7581 If you expect a reply be sure to included a selfed addressed and stamped business size envelop. Page 11 09-04-91 TECHNICAL INFORMATION This section covers general information that applies to all my programs. No I am not a member of that ShareWare Organization of ShareWare Authors. But, so what! My programs speak for themselves! I also think that makes my program manuals more readable and user friendly. At least, I do not stick 20 pages of ShareWare advertisement in front my manuals! This program does NOT use what is commonly known as a graphical or windows interface. While those other programs are colorful, they also execute more slower and take up more disk space. This program uses a command line format which is similar to what DOS's external programs or other popular ShareWare utilities use. My programming philosophy is to first identity an area that could use a new utility. Second, I write the MANUAL before coding the first line of code. Then I knock out a program that addresses my wish list that was identified during development of the MANUAL. This program was compiled with Borland's Turbo Pascal version 6.0. While it does NOT incorporate OOP's programming, it does use a rather unique set of units that keep me from redefining the wheel each time I write a new program. This programming magic is accomplished because I know how Units initialize. All I have to do is write a small primary file and define a few variables in a common unit. All the routine stuff is already there. This means to the user that my utility programs are quite uniform both in appearance and in operation. This assures you that all my utility programs will give you the same standards of quality that you have come to expect from me. Some users frown on anything not written in "C". Actually, "C" only benefits software developers, not users. Personally, I prefer the Structured style of PASCAL over any portability considerations. TP is simply a real world version of a structured programming language. Unlike "C" TP's units can self initialize. Unlike "C" TP has a smart linker that automatically leaves out both unused code and data. TP contrary to popular opinion can be fast, too. Profilers are available to identify bottle necks in TP programs. Assembly routines can be selectively written to speed things up. Most "C" developers like to brag about how small their programs are. What they don't point out and what they fail to comprehend is how unfriendly and how unusable their programs really are. Small "C" programs Page 12 09-04-91 are the ones who are most likely to give you some strange error number without a clue as to what is wrong! Sorry, but extremely small programs simply are not user friendly. While my programs are not tiny neither do they take up several MEG's of disk space. In addition, I am a registered commercial user of Eagle Performance Software. My programs utilize Eagle's SYSTEM UNIT replacement and their STRING UNIT. The net effect of this means that this program runs up to 25% faster than other comparable TP programs. Also, the registered versions of Eagle's units incorporated in this program are both smaller and faster than their ShareWare counter parts. So this means to you that I am using professionally written assembly language routines in my programs for that HIGH SPEED effect. All my programs have been profiled with Borland's Turbo Profiler. This shows me how long each line of code is actually taking to execute or where the program is actually bogging down, time wise. I optimize program execution by redesigning program logic, adjusting text buffers, and utilizing assembler coding. This means to you the user that not only do my programs work, they also run fast! Profiling is how I can double the speed of my programs with minimal effort! All my programs are self-documented! In addition, to the attached MANUAL.DOC text file, running the program itself with the help parameter (ie, ? or H ) will produce additional information on screen. Most strings in my programs have been encrypted and are translated with assembler routines. While it is certainly not impossible to decode my system, I can guarantee to you that it would be one R-O-Y-A-L P-A-I-N I-N T-H-E B-U-T-T to do so!!! The program itself has been packed (with permanent unpacking disabled). My programs will refuse to operate if there has been a one byte change in file size. Any change in my copyright notice will prevent all my programs from operating. Further, I can prove authorship. This is called a practical approach to both protecting my copyright and to detecting file/virus corruption. Further, all my programs can be scanned for viruses with the McAfee Associates SCAN 5.1V67, or above, virus scanner or any scanner capable of reading packed programs. I use a proprietary error trapping system. This makes my programs both user friendly and safe to use. I have incorporated a background approach that should catch all possible unplanned, unexpected, and unknown errors. Page 13 09-04-91 What this means is that all my programs check for errors before attempting to run. When an error is found, the actual file specification or Parameter at fault is found and pointed out with an English explanation. Second, when an unexpected Run Time, I/O, and/or Critical Error occurs, the error is intercepted and the program WILL properly shut down. These features have been added by me and are not in TP's default compile mode. This means that my programs will not lock up your PC! Furthermore, I give you both an error number and an English explanation of the problem. This feature makes my programs rather unique. Error numbers 1 to 99 are the standard DOS errors. Any unexplained numbers can be looked up in any technical reference under DOS errors. Error numbers 100 - 149 are I/O errors which really means Hardware problems. These are reported by Turbo Pascals Run-Time Library. Error numbers 150 - 199 are Critical Errors. These are caught by DOS. This type of error for example will produce a message similar to: <A>bort, <R>etry, <Q>uit You should select R to attempt to recover. In addition, you might have to do some other things like turn your printer on or close a drive door. Error numbers 200 - 255 are fatal errors which are reported by Turbo Pascals System Unit. Error Numbers 500 - 599 are proprietary and catch invalid file specifications and/or parameters. Error Numbers 600 - 699 are proprietary and indicate program tampering or file corruption. If you ever get a 600 series number then you might as well as delete the program as YOUR copy will not execute (by design)! And, as if that was not enough my programs offer a second chance of recovering from run time errors in certain situations (mostly in file I/O). I check for pre-existing files. I give you the opportunity to Write Over or Append to existing files, etc. Other I/O Run Time Errors will simply halt the program. Sorry, but next time get the command line right before executing the program! Parameters may actually be defined by the user three different ways. For example, the universal help parameter maybe defined as /?, -?, or ?. In others words, no delimiter is necessary. Or, you can use either / or - as a delimiter. Page 14 09-04-91 Programs that write TEMPORARY work files check the ENVIRONMENT for TEMP. If not found it writes temporary files in your current directory. If you don't know what I am talking about then don't worry about it. It concerns only programming style. Hint: To configure any of my programs to your specifications use a BATCH (.BAT) file placed on the path. You can abort execution of my programs in process by entering Ctrl-Break. You must hit the special Ctrl-Break key on your keyboard as Ctrl-C will not work. Whether or not VERIFY is on or off makes no difference. My programs can execute .COM, .EXE, and .BAT program files placed on the path, provided of course you do have a PATH! If you want to use APPEND with any of my programs, then use DOS 3.3 or above and place APPEND /X in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. APPEND is how you can locate data files not in the current directory. WARNING: careless use of APPEND can will produce negative results. Always end an APPEND session with APPEND ;. Each program has three different modes of operation: Run, Help, and Error. In RUN mode, the program runs as fast as possible with minimal advertising / help. So to execute in RUN mode requires the correct use of the program name and the correct corresponding file specifications and parameters. In ERROR mode the program refuses to operated due to an invalid command line. Normal first time execution results in the ERROR mode and produces error number 507 Missing FileSpec. This is because as a safety feature all my programs will refuse to operate without at least one filespec and/or parameter. The ERROR mode results in a brief help screen and an English explanation. Plus the actual coding problem is physically pointed out. No one can check for all possible errors! But, I do at least catch the more serious ones. HELP mode has to be physically requested by the user by using either /? or /H as a parameter. This produces additional on screen information for the user. It is also how I make my programs both fast and user friendly. Page 15 09-04-91 UPDATE HISTORY VERSION 2.1F This is the first ShareWare Distribution Network release. In this version I implemented program standard testing of execution results. The long and the short of it is that I ran LZEXE-WC through sequential executions of sixty different and specifically specified command line parameters, several times in a row. The test results show that the outcome of each execution was as expected. VERSION 2.0F This is the last local release. The program was substantially rewritten and uses my standard utility format. In addition, a few bugs were corrected and some minor enhancements added which mainly involved the processing of .COM programs and the old copies of programs. The number of options available has been reduced in order to make operation simpler. VERSION 1.1F (1)works with either LZEXE version 0.90 or 0.91. (2)works with LZEXE, LZESHELL, UPACKEXE, or COMTOEXE. (3)/S Parameter to skip over files on the basis of size. (4)/L Parameter to provide for NAMING your Log file. [removed in ver 2.0F] (5)/F Parameter to provide for the skipping of files names. [removed in ver 2.0F] (6)I/O error trapping exit routine. (7)Checks for free space before each file is passed for conversion. VERSION 1.0F (1)works with LZEXE version 0.90. (2)Processes file names containing dashes. (3)/D Parameter automatically deletes the old files. (4)Corrects the time and date stamps.