                                 ARQ

                         v0.02 - 14 July 1993

            4DOS command-line shell for multiple archivers

             By Roger Burton-West <ubte30e@ccs.bbk.ac.uk>


        Copying


        ARQ is distributed under the  terms  of the GNU General Public
Licence, a copy of which is included.   In brief, this states that ARQ
is freely distributable, subject  only  to  the  condition that if you
make a modified version and choose to  distribute it, you must make it
freely distributable as well.  See the file COPYING for details.

        ARQ is copyright 1993 by Roger Burton-West.


        Why ARQ?


        ARQ is designed for  those  people  who,  like me, use several
different archivers on a regular  basis.   ARQ  allows  you to use the
same syntax to issue commands to  any archiver you have available.  It
also  provides   a   convenient   short-cut   for   archivers  without
configuration files.
        I've  used  programs  like  GUS   and  PKBTM,  but  they  were
orientated towards file extraction; I wanted to retain the majority of
the archiver command  set,  especially  the  hard-to-remember commands
such as comment addition.


        Use


        The ARQ syntax is simple:

ARQ command archive (files)

The archive parameter  should  include  the  extension; otherwise this
will be assumed to be  ARJ.   If  the  files  parameter is omitted, it
defaults to *.*.

Command should be one of:

a       Add files to archive
m       Move files to archive
x       Extract files from archive
d       Delete files from archive
l       Short list of archive contents
v       Long list of archive contents
t       Test archive integrity
c       Add comment file to archive
s       Create self-extractor (large model)
s1      Create self-extractor (small model)

        ARQ issues the appropriate command  to  the archiver, based on
the file extension.   Note  that  self-extracting  archives  cannot be
handled under ARQ, as there is no way of telling which archiver should
be used.

a       Add files to archive
m       Move files to archive

        Adds the named files to the archive; m will delete files after
they have been added.  If  the archiver supports subdirectories, these
will also be searched.

x       Extract files from archive

        Extracts the named files from the archive.

d       Delete files from archive

        Deletes the named files from  the  archive.  Not available for
all archivers.

l       Short list of archive contents

        Lists the contents of the archive in a brief mode.

v       Long list of archive contents

        Lists the contents of  the  archive  in  a longer mode.  (Some
archivers only  have  one  list  mode,  in  which  case  this  command
duplicates the effects of "l".)

t       Test archive integrity

        Tests the files in the  archive for corruption.  Not available
for all archivers.

c       Add comment file to archive

        Adds the named file as an ANSI comment.  Not available for all
archivers; archivers which require the comment  to be typed in are not
supported.

s       Create self-extractor (large model)

        Converts the archive into  a  self-extracting  .EXE file.  Not
available for all archivers.   Hyper  is  a  special case; the program
hyper.exe must be available in the current working directory.

s1      Create self-extractor (small model)

        Converts the archive into  a  self-extracting .EXE file, using
the small  model  code.   Not  available  for  all  archivers.   (Some
archivers only have  one  self-extractor  model,  in  which  case this
command duplicates the effects of "s".)


        Limitations


        ARQ currently supports  the  following  archivers: Arj, PKZip,
Arc, LHA, PAK, Zoo, Hyper, DWC, Larc,  HPack, HA, AR, MD, Sqz and Hap;
it also supports Vernon Buerg's utilities for LBR library files.

        ARQ expects 4DOS' command-separation character to be ^.

        ARQ cannot handle self-extracting archives, because it detects
the archive type by the file extension.

        ARQ does not support file compressors such as GZip or COMP430.

        Future versions may include  a simulated file-deletion command
and expanded control over the archiver.

        If you have an archiver which  is not supported by ARQ, please
let me know where to find it -  I'm always interested in adding to the
collection.

