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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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unzipsfx - self-extracting stub for prepending to ZIP
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<name of unzipsfx+archive combo> [-cfptuz[ajnoqsCLV$]]
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[file(s) ... [-x xfile(s) ...]]
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unzipsfx is a modified version of unzip(1L) designed to be
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prepended to existing ZIP archives in order to form self-
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extracting archives. Instead of taking its first non-flag
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argument to be the zipfile(s) to be extracted, unzipsfx
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seeks itself under the name by which it was invoked and
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tests or extracts the contents of the appended archive.
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Because the executable stub adds bulk to the archive (the
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whole purpose of which is to be as small as possible), a
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number of the less-vital capabilities in regular unzip
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have been removed. Among these are the usage (or help)
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screen, the listing and diagnostic functions (-l and -v),
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the ability to decompress older compression formats (the
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``reduce,'' ``shrink'' and ``implode'' methods). The
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ability to extract to a directory other than the current
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one can be selected as a compile-time option, which is now
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enabled by default since UnZipSFX version 5.5. Similary,
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decryption is supported as a compile-time option but
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should be avoided unless the attached archive contains
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encrypted files. Starting with release 5.5, another com-
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pile-time option adds a simple ``run command after extrac-
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tion'' feature. This feature is currently incompatible
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with the ``extract to different directory'' feature and
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remains disabled by default.
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Note that self-extracting archives made with unzipsfx are
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no more (or less) portable across different operating sys-
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tems than is the unzip executable itself. In general a
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self-extracting archive made on a particular Unix system,
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for example, will only self-extract under the same flavor
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of Unix. Regular unzip may still be used to extract the
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embedded archive as with any normal zipfile, although it
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will generate a harmless warning about extra bytes at the
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beginning of the zipfile. Despite this, however, the
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self-extracting archive is technically not a valid ZIP
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archive, and PKUNZIP may be unable to test or extract it.
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This limitation is due to the simplistic manner in which
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the archive is created; the internal directory structure
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is not updated to reflect the extra bytes prepended to the
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An optional list of archive members to be pro-
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cessed. Regular expressions (wildcards) similar to
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those in Unix egrep(1) may be used to match
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 1
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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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multiple members. These wildcards may contain:
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* matches a sequence of 0 or more characters
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? matches exactly 1 character
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[...] matches any single character found inside
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the brackets; ranges are specified by a
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beginning character, a hyphen, and an ending
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character. If an exclamation point or a
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caret (`!' or `^') follows the left bracket,
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then the range of characters within the
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brackets is complemented (that is, anything
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except the characters inside the brackets is
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(Be sure to quote any character that might other-
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wise be interpreted or modified by the operating
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system, particularly under Unix and VMS.)
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An optional list of archive members to be excluded
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from processing. Since wildcard characters match
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directory separators (`/'), this option may be used
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to exclude any files that are in subdirectories.
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For example, ``foosfx *.[ch] -x */*'' would extract
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all C source files in the main directory, but none
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in any subdirectories. Without the -x option, all
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C source files in all directories within the zip-
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file would be extracted.
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If unzipsfx is compiled with SFX_EXDIR defined, the fol-
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lowing option is also enabled:
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An optional directory to which to extract files.
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By default, all files and subdirectories are recre-
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ated in the current directory; the -d option allows
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extraction in an arbitrary directory (always assum-
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ing one has permission to write to the directory).
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The option and directory may be concatenated with-
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out any white space between them, but note that
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this may cause normal shell behavior to be sup-
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pressed. In particular, ``-d ~'' (tilde) is
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expanded by Unix C shells into the name of the
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user's home directory, but ``-d~'' is treated as a
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literal subdirectory ``~'' of the current direc-
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unzipsfx supports the following unzip(1L) options: -c and
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-p (extract to standard output/screen), -f and -u (freshen
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and update existing files upon extraction), -t (test
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archive) and -z (print archive comment). All normal
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 2
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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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listing options (-l, -v and -Z) have been removed, but the
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testing option (-t) may be used as a ``poor man's'' list-
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ing. Alternatively, those creating self-extracting
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archives may wish to include a short listing in the zip-
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See unzip(1L) for a more complete description of these
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unzipsfx currently supports all unzip(1L) modifiers: -a
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(convert text files), -n (never overwrite), -o (overwrite
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without prompting), -q (operate quietly), -C (match names
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case-insensitively), -L (convert uppercase-OS names to
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lowercase), -j (junk paths) and -V (retain version num-
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bers); plus the following operating-system specific
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options: -X (restore VMS owner/protection info), -s (con-
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vert spaces in filenames to underscores [DOS, OS/2, NT])
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and -$ (restore volume label [DOS, OS/2, NT, Amiga]).
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(Support for regular ASCII text-conversion may be removed
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in future versions, since it is simple enough for the
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archive's creator to ensure that text files have the
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appropriate format for the local OS. EBCDIC conversion
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will of course continue to be supported since the zipfile
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format implies ASCII storage of text files.)
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See unzip(1L) for a more complete description of these
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unzipsfx uses the same environment variables as unzip(1L)
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does, although this is likely to be an issue only for the
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person creating and testing the self-extracting archive.
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See unzip(1L) for details.
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Decryption is supported exactly as in unzip(1L); that is,
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interactively with a non-echoing prompt for the pass-
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word(s). See unzip(1L) for details. Once again, note
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that if the archive has no encrypted files there is no
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reason to use a version of unzipsfx with decryption sup-
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port; that only adds to the size of the archive.
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When unzipsfx was compiled with CHEAP_SFX_AUTORUN defined,
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a simple ``command autorun'' feature is supported. You may
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enter a command into the Zip archive comment, using the
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$AUTORUN$>[command line string]
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When unzipsfxP recognizes the ``$AUTORUN$>'' token at the
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beginning of the Zip archive comment, the remainder of the
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 3
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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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first line of the comment (until the first newline charac-
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ter) is passed as a shell command to the operating system
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using the C rtl ``system'' function. Before executing the
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command, unzipsfxP displays the command on the console and
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prompts the user for confirmation. When the user has
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switched off prompting by specifying the -q option,
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autorun commands are never executed.
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In case the archive comment contains additonal lines of
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text, the remainder of the archive comment following the
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first line is displayed normally, unless quiet operation
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was requested by supplying a -q option.
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To create a self-extracting archive letters from a regular
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zipfile letters.zip and change the new archive's permis-
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sions to be world-executable under Unix:
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cat unzipsfx letters.zip > letters
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To create the same archive under MS-DOS, OS/2 or NT (note
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the use of the /b [binary] option to the copy command):
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copy /b unzipsfx.exe+letters.zip letters.exe
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copy unzipsfx.exe,letters.zip letters.exe
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letters == "$currentdisk:[currentdir]letters.exe"
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(The VMS append command may also be used. The second com-
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mand installs the new program as a ``foreign command''
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capable of taking arguments. The third line assumes that
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Zip is already installed as a foreign command.) Under
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MakeSFX letters letters.zip UnZipSFX
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(MakeSFX is included with the UnZip source distribution
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and with Amiga binary distributions. ``zip -A'' doesn't
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work on Amiga self-extracting archives.) To test (or
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list) the newly created self-extracting archive:
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To test letters quietly, printing only a summary message
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indicating whether the archive is OK or not:
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 4
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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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To extract the complete contents into the current direc-
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tory, recreating all files and subdirectories as neces-
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To extract all *.txt files (in Unix quote the `*'):
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To extract everything except the *.txt files:
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To extract only the README file to standard output (the
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To print only the zipfile comment:
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The principle and fundamental limitation of unzipsfx is
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that it is not portable across architectures or operating
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systems, and therefore neither are the resulting archives.
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For some architectures there is limited portability, how-
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ever (e.g., between some flavors of Intel-based Unix).
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Another problem with the current implementation is that
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any archive with ``junk'' prepended to the beginning tech-
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nically is no longer a zipfile (unless zip(1) is used to
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adjust the zipfile offsets appropriately, as noted above).
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unzip(1) takes note of the prepended bytes and ignores
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them since some file-transfer protocols, notably MacBi-
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nary, are also known to prepend junk. But PKWARE's
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archiver suite may not be able to deal with the modified
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archive unless its offsets have been adjusted.
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unzipsfx has no knowledge of the user's PATH, so in gen-
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eral an archive must either be in the current directory
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when it is invoked, or else a full or relative path must
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be given. If a user attempts to extract the archive from
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a directory in the PATH other than the current one,
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unzipsfx will print a warning to the effect, ``can't find
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myself.'' This is always true under Unix and may be true
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in some cases under MS-DOS, depending on the compiler used
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(Microsoft C fully qualifies the program name, but other
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compilers may not). Under OS/2 and NT there are operat-
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ing-system calls available that provide the full path
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name, so the archive may be invoked from anywhere in the
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user's path. The situation is not known for AmigaDOS,
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Atari TOS, MacOS, etc.
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 5
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UNZIPSFX(1L) UNZIPSFX(1L)
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As noted above, a number of the normal unzip(1L) functions
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have been removed in order to make unzipsfx smaller:
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usage and diagnostic info, listing functions and extrac-
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tion to other directories. Also, only stored and deflated
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files are supported. The latter limitation is mainly rel-
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evant to those who create SFX archives, however.
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VMS users must know how to set up self-extracting archives
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as foreign commands in order to use any of unzipsfx's
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options. This is not necessary for simple extraction, but
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the command to do so then becomes, e.g., ``run letters''
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(to continue the examples given above).
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unzipsfx on the Amiga requires the use of a special pro-
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gram, MakeSFX, in order to create working self-extracting
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archives; simple concatenation does not work. (For tech-
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nically oriented users, the attached archive is defined as
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a ``debug hunk.'') There may be compatibility problems
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between the ROM levels of older Amigas and newer ones.
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All current bugs in unzip(1L) exist in unzipsfx as well.
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unzipsfx's exit status (error level) is identical to that
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of unzip(1L); see the corresponding man page.
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funzip(1L), unzip(1L), zip(1L), zipcloak(1L), zipgrep(1L),
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zipinfo(1L), zipnote(1L), zipsplit(1L)
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The Info-ZIP home page is currently at
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http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/
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ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/ .
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Greg Roelofs was responsible for the basic modifications
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to UnZip necessary to create UnZipSFX. See unzip(1L) for
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the current list of Zip-Bugs authors, or the file CONTRIBS
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in the UnZip source distribution for the full list of
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Info-ZIP contributors.
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Info-ZIP 17 February 2002 (v5.5) 6
added
removed
zip/unzip/unzipsfx.txt
