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> Iirc you could split files with Zip at that time as well, but the major annoyance was that you always needed to insert the last disk of the Zip set at the sta
by JadeNB 5y ago
> Iirc you could split files with Zip at that time as well, but the major annoyance was that you always needed to insert the last disk of the Zip set at the start.
I remember that! Was it some technical detail of the .zip format, or just poor design choice?
- NovemberWhiskey 5y agoThe "central directory" of a ZIP archive is at the end of the bitstream; so, yes, it's a consequence of the format.
- godshatter 5y agoBecause of this, if I'm remembering correctly, you can append a .zip file to, say, a .jpg file and it will work most image viewers and as a zip archive. It used to be the case, anyway, I haven't tried it lately.
- kej 5y agoThis is how some self-extracting .exe files work, too. You modify the unzip command to use its own filename instead of an argument, and then you append a zip to the end of that.
- whizzter 5y agoI (and others in demoscene and gamedev) often used this "trick" to avoid having extra resource-files and just distribute a single .exe (that was in reality a small exe plus a huge zip appended just behind it). Works well because Windows just reads the MZ and then PE headers that says where the EXE data is (up to the original .exe size). Then the .ZIP central directory pointer is easily findable at the end of the file so it works fine after appending.