I need a PUBLIC DOMAIN tool to create/extract compressed archives.
Ronald F. Guilmette
I'm going to be distributing a commercial package which consists of a large
set of individual MS-DOS files. I want to collect these into some flavor
of archive (I don't really care which flavor... zip, tar, cpio, or whatever)
and get them compressed somehow so that they will fit onto fewer floppies.
I *do not* want to contaminate my product *either* with copyrighted shareware
or with anything carrying a GNU copyleft.
(Note that this means that I CANNOT use any flavor of the good old UNIX
compress and uncompress programs, because someone has claimed a patent
on the internal algorithim... or so I have heard.)
One person pointed me at the zip/unzip stuff at wuarchive.wustl.edu, but
looking at the docs for the unzip part, it appears that LOTS of people
claim copyrights to some part of that code. (The copyright holders also
expressely forbid inclusion of this stuff into commercial products.)
So can anyone suggest something?
P.S. It would be REALLY helpful if whatever package I get is supplied in
source code form, but that isn't necessarily a hard and fast requirement.
--
-- Ronald F. Guilmette, Sunnyvale, California -------------------------------
------ domain address: r...@netcom.com ---------------------------------------
------ uucp address: ...!uunet!netcom.com!rfg -------------------------------
Cave Newt
>One person pointed me at the zip/unzip stuff at wuarchive.wustl.edu, but
>looking at the docs for the unzip part, it appears that LOTS of people
>claim copyrights to some part of that code. (The copyright holders also
>expressely forbid inclusion of this stuff into commercial products.)
That is the case, but if you are packaging the stuff yourself, you
will presumably use Zip 2.0.1, which only uses the deflate algorithm.
And inflate.c has been placed into the public domain by its author,
Mark Adler, so you could easily just start with that (or even with
funzip, also by Mark) and make yourself a quick, dirty, braindead
extractor.
I've appended the FAQ section from UnZip's new COPYING file; Info-ZIP's
policies are better stated (and more liberal) than in previous releases.
Greg Roelofs
Info-ZIP
Frequently Asked Questions about distributing Zip and UnZip:
Q. Can I distribute Zip and UnZip sources and/or executables?
A. You may redistribute the latest official distributions without
any modification, and without even asking us for permission.
[Note that an "executable distribution" includes documentation,
even if it's in a separate zipfile; plain executables do NOT
count.] You can charge for the cost of the media (CDROM, disk-
ettes, etc.) and a small copying fee. If you want to distribute
modified versions please contact us at zip-...@wkuvx1.wku.edu
first. You must not distribute beta versions.
Q. Can I use the executables of Zip and UnZip to distribute my
software?
A. Yes, so long as it is clear that Zip and UnZip are not being
sold, that the source code is freely available, and that there
are no extra or hidden charges resulting from its use by or in-
clusion with the commercial product. Here is an example of a
suitable notice:
NOTE: <Product> is packaged on this CD using Info-ZIP's
compression utility. The installation program uses UnZip
to read zip files from the CD. Info-ZIP's software (Zip,
UnZip and related utilities) is free and can be obtained
as source code or executables from various anonymous-ftp
sites, including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip/*.
Q. Can I use the source code of Zip and UnZip in my commercial
application?
A. Yes, so long as you include in your product an acknowledgment
and an offer of the original compression sources for free or
for a small copying fee, and make clear that there are no extra
or hidden charges resulting from the use of the compression
code by your product. In other words, you are allowed to sell
only your own work, not ours. [Note the additional restrictions
above on the code in unreduce.c, unshrink.c and vms.c.] If you
have special requirements, contact us at zip-...@wkuvx1.wku.edu.
Sammy D.
: I'm going to be distributing a commercial package which consists of a large
: set of individual MS-DOS files. I want to collect these into some flavor
: of archive (I don't really care which flavor... zip, tar, cpio, or whatever)
: and get them compressed somehow so that they will fit onto fewer floppies.
:
: I *do not* want to contaminate my product *either* with copyrighted shareware
: or with anything carrying a GNU copyleft.
In <1993Nov17.0...@midway.uchicago.edu>,
ro...@midway.uchicago.edu scribbles:
: I've appended the FAQ section from UnZip's new COPYING file; Info-ZIP's
: policies are better stated (and more liberal) than in previous releases.
[FAQ exerpt deleted]
Well, these policies look slightly _more_ restrictive than the GNU
copyleft. In fact, they seem to be identical, except that unlike GNU,
they seem to prohibit you from modifing the source, beyond including it
in your own routines, and prohibit you from distributing beta source.
Ron, what is your problem with the copyleft? If you use gzip, the
copyleft only requires you to point people to _its_ source, not make
_your_ source publicly available. That doesn't seem like "contamination"
to me.
Finally, you could (gasp) spend money on PKZIP if you are really
worried about this stuff. Damn near every compression scheme devised
is going to infringe _somebody's_ patent, especially if you try to roll
your own using some scheme cribbed from a magazine article. Give some
money to someone who makes a living researching these matters, so you
won't have to worry about it yourself.
--
"What is truth?" -- Pontius Pilate
Cave Newt
>: I've appended the FAQ section from UnZip's new COPYING file; Info-ZIP's
>: policies are better stated (and more liberal) than in previous releases.
jl...@cec2.wustl.edu (Sammy D.) writes:
>Well, these policies look slightly _more_ restrictive than the GNU
>copyleft. In fact, they seem to be identical, except that unlike GNU,
>they seem to prohibit you from modifing the source, beyond including it
>in your own routines, and prohibit you from distributing beta source.
I never said anything about the GNU copyleft; I only claimed that the
new policy is more liberal than previous policies covering UnZip. For
historical reasons, the original Info-ZIP code was heavily copyrighted;
over the years we've been busily rewriting large parts of it, but not
all the issues are resolved yet. Of course, the copyright is your prob-
lem (figuratively speaking), not ours--Zip and UnZip themselves are free
for virtually any use. The original poster was (apparently) only inter-
ested in a way to package his own software, and aside from requiring a
short message about how to obtain the Info-ZIP sources for free, what
is so painful about that part of the policy?
It is only when you start talking about "borrowing" the source code that
there are serious worries about copyrights, modification and redistribu-
tion; it goes without saying that you can always write your own. And
even so, I noted that parts of UnZip are in the public domain: inflate.c,
explode.c and funzip.c. A trivial modification of these gives you a fully
functional, bare-bones unzipper, completely unencumbered by any Info-ZIP
(or other) copyrights. If even that is not enough, you're whining.
Nor is modifying the other (copyrighted) sources out of the question. We
just want to make sure that we don't get blamed for potential bugs in your
work and that we do get credit for our own work. We also want anyone who
uses our code (in any form) to know that it is available for free. Your
code can be as proprietary and secret as you want; but if requested, you
must supply the original Info-ZIP sources for free or for a small copying
fee. This may be slightly more restrictive than the GNU policy, but on
the other hand, our sources are considerably smaller and not as widely
mirrored as the FSF's. (Oh yes: the inflate/deflate code in gzip is the
same as in Zip/UnZip, so you can use that and the copyleft if you wish.)
Finally, there are very few packages which allow unrestricted distribution
of beta sources, and I make no apologies for our policy in that regard.
*Our* names are plastered all over the sources and executables, and *we*
are the ones who have to answer all the e-mail from clueless users who
don't realize what they've gotten into. It's hard enough to exterminate
all the old *public* releases, much less the dozens of betas. (We still
get mail from people who have just ftp'd UnZip 4.1--does everyone remember
our old Simtel address?--even though there have been three public releases
since then and a fourth one is imminent. Oh, and three changes of e-mail
address, too.)
Greg Roelofs
Info-ZIP
Sammy D.
ro...@midway.uchicago.edu scribbles:
[flamage deleted]
Down, boy, down!!!
Go read my posting again. I was in no way attacking Zip/UnZip, I was
only comparing your reply to the original inquiry.
--
"We cannot always do the good that we would, but we can
always refuse to do evil." -- Richard John Neuhaus
gee...@vms.ocom.okstate.edu
> : set of individual MS-DOS files. I want to collect these into some flavor
> : of archive (I don't really care which flavor... zip, tar, cpio, or whatever)
> : and get them compressed somehow so that they will fit onto fewer floppies.
> :
> : I *do not* want to contaminate my product *either* with copyrighted shareware
> : or with anything carrying a GNU copyleft.
----------------- 8<-----------
> "What is truth?" -- Pontius Pilate
(Love this sig!!)
basetwo development
11 East 200 North
Orem, Utah 84057
(801) 222-9500
This house produces products called Spontaneous Assembly.
The products are source code, which you purchase the right to use
(assemble into a product) and then sell (executable). Their
products are excellent (I have 3 years exp with them -- they
even helped me find an error in (blush) _my_ code when I thought
it was in theirs.
They have a compression routine which can be used to build your
own file compressor/fluffer. No copyright hassels. No bugs.
HTH,
R*
--
Robert H. Geeslin, Ed.D. | Voice (918) | Department
Gee...@VMS.OCOM.OKSTATE.EDU | 582-2681 day| of
doing EDucational Programming for 20 years | 224-0065 eve| P. and B.S.