
 ÛÛÛÛÛÛ»   ÛÛÛÛÛ»  ÛÛÛÛÛÛ»     The RAR Convertor
 ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ» ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ» ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ»    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ÛÛÛÛÛÛÉ¼ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛº ÛÛÛÛÛÛÉ¼    Archive Conversion Utility version 1.02
 ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ» ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛº ÛÛÉÍÍÛÛ»    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ÛÛº  ÛÛº ÛÛº  ÛÛº ÛÛº  ÛÛº    User manual
 ÈÍ¼  ÈÍ¼ ÈÍ¼  ÈÍ¼ ÈÍ¼  ÈÍ¼    ~~~~~~~~~~~

   The RCVT Archive Conversion utility provides conversion of different
   archive types to one, master type.

   RCVT extracts files from the source archive and packs them into the
   new archive, removing the original archive provided the output archive
   was successfully created.

   The configuration file RCVT.CFG contains archive types and options.
   Archive types are defined with archiver program calls to pack, extract
   and test the corresponding archives.

   The utility has been specially developed to convert archives of different
   types to RAR archives in order to obtain a higher compression ratio for
   your data.  However it is possible to re-configure RCVT to another master
   archive type - This is achieved by placing the definition of the master
   archive type before others in the configuration file.


      1. The configuration file RCVT.CFG

   The RCVT configuration file RCVT.CFG is a plain text file containing
   options and archive type definitions.  RCVT.CFG must be in the same
   directory as RCVT.EXE.

   Strings starting with the semi-colon character ';' are comments and are
   ignored by RCVT.EXE.


      1.1. Options

   OnError  NextArchive | Abort

   The value of this option defines how RCVT is to proceed when an error
   in the current archive is reported by the archiver. Set this option to
   'Abort' if you want RCVT to stop processing archives when an error
   occurs.


   RepackRatio <Percent>

   Specifies the lowest acceptable compression ratio after repacking.


   Add <filename>

   Specifies the name of the file which must be added to every repacked
   archive.  Full pathname should be provided.  Multiple "Add" strings are
   allowed.


   Del <filename>

   Specifes file(s) that should not be placed into the repacked archive.
   Wildcards may be used.  Root directory of the archive is assumed
   if no full path given.  Multiple "Del" strings are allowed.


   Scan <filename-to-run>

   You can set up a program call to process files extracted from the source
   archive before repacking them into new archive. For instance, an
   antivirus program to scan files for computer viruses may be defined.
   Should the program return non-zero exit code (ERRORLEVEL) the source
   archive will not be repacked and a corresponding message will be
   placed into the log file RCVT.LOG.  Multiple "Scan" strings are allowed.


   Filelist <filename>

   Specifies the file where source archives are listed.  The name of the
   source archive, after successful conversion, is replaced with the new
   name as well as the actual file size if possible.  If a full path is
   not given, the filelist is expected to be in the same directory as the
   archive. Multiple "Filelist" strings are allowed.


      1.2. Archive definitions

   Each archive definition consists of 4 strings.

   The first string declares archive type - the archive file extension and
   optional archive signature - a mask containing up to the first 32 generic
   bytes of the archive file as hexadecimal numbers, for instance:

    ; Converting from old (prior to version 1.50) RAR format
    .RAR 52457E5E

   The archive signature is optional, so the archive files could be
   distinguished only by the extension, for instance:

    ; Converting from zip format
    .ZIP

   The remaining strings define program calls for the archive type to pack,
   extract and test the archive:

    PACK <command-line>  to pack files to the archive (create the archive)
    EXTR <command-line>  to extract files from the archive
    TEST <command-line>  to test files in the archive

   Following example is a complete definition of the RAR archive type:

    ; Master archive definition: converting to RAR format

    .RAR
    PACK RAR a -s -std -c- -r -z$CMT$
    EXTR RAR x -std -c- -y -av-
    TEST RAR t -std -c-

   (See the RAR user's manual for the full description of command line
   options.)

   When processing .RAR, .ARJ and .ZIP archives, the comment from the
   source archive is placed into a temporary file which will then be
   repacked to the new archive.  To denote the archive comment file, in
   the archiver command line, the name '$CMT$' is used.  RCVT replaces
   it with actual comment file name when repacking to the new archive
   type.

   NOTE: The PACK and EXTR archiver command lines should be defined to
   recurse subdirectories.

   The TEST command line is optional. It is used to verify the freshly
   created archive (checking that files can be extracted without errors).
   In case the program returns a non-zero exit code (ERRORLEVEL) the
   repacked archive is discarded and the source archive is not removed,
   a corresponding messages are placed into the log file RCVT.LOG.

   If no TEST command line is defined the repacked archives are assumed
   to have been successfully created without checking them, however it
   is highly recommended to use the TEST command if possible.

   NOTE: Archiver programs described in command lines of RCVT.CFG must be
   in the current path to be called from RCVT.


      2. Usage


      To run RCVT use following syntax:

        RCVT [-switch[-]] <archive>

      You need only supply the archive name (wildcards allowed).
      Optional switches:

            -r[-]: convert archives in subdirectories
            -n[+]: convert nested archives
            -k[+]: keep archive time

      Examples:

        Convert all archives on the current disk:
        RCVT -r *.*

        Convert the archive book.lzh:
        RCVT book.lzh

   Extraction is performed to a temporary directory created in the
   current path.  Files are scanned, if the SCAN option is set.
   Files indicated with the DEL option are not included to the
   converted archive. Files indicated with the ADD option are added
   to the converted archive.

   After new archive has been successfully created (and tested by the
   TEST command line) the source archive file is removed. If the FILE
   contains Nested archives (archives within archives), these are also
   repacked unless the switch '-n-' has been given on the command line.

   Archive comments are restored in the repacked archive if the master
   archiver has the option to add archive comment "$CMT$".  Volume
   labels and other specific information are ignored and not repacked.

   If the archiver reports an error and the option 'OnError Abort' is
   set in the configuration file, RCVT stops processing archives. All
   errors are reported in the file RCVT.LOG, which is located in the
   same directory as RCVT.EXE.

