paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) (10/02/88)
A Short History of Compression and Archive-files on Microcomputers
In the beginning, there was no need for an archive-file; disks were
simply too small to hold more that 90K or so, and you kept what you
wanted on a single diskette... or a whole bunch of diskettes.
Some time went by and it was a CP/M world, and diskettes were bigger.
In 1981 Richard Greenlaw released SQ and USQ, based on Huffman encoding
and written in BDS C. This was the first popular compression technique.
Greenlaw gave away the binaries and source code.
In 1982 Mike Rubenstein released a series of programs written in DRI
PL/1 that collected groups of files into a pair of files-- one of them
containing a directory structure, and the other the file collection.
Mike gave away the binaries.
The two-file format was a bit unwieldy, and later in 1982 Gary
Novosielski released "LU", or Library Utility (written in BDS C), which
provided a single-file method of collecting a number of files together.
LBR (Library) files became extremely popular. Gary was featured in an
Infoworld article as a beneficial Public Domain luminary. He gave LU
away.
By 1983 it was getting hard to ignore the IBM PC as programs which
weren't written in BASIC started appearing. SQ/USQ was ported by Chuck
Forsberg from unix C-source code. LU was ported to the PC by Tom
Jennings, from a unix implementation named "lar" (for Library ARchive).
Jennings and Forsberg gave these programs away.
MSDOS allowed time and date stamping for directory entries, and before
long, renegade, non-compatible versions of LU and SQ appeared which
supported this feature. Several people interested in promoting
continuing standards in the Public Domain/BBS world (Novosielski, Vern
Buerg, Cliff Sharp, and Paul Homchick) got together and added
downward-compatible time and date stamping to both SQ and LU. Programs
supporting this compatibility included NSQ/NUSQ, LU86, LUE, LUU, and
LUD. The authors of these programs gave them away.
In order to combine the benefits of LBR organization and file
compression, people began putting SQueezed files inside of libraries, or
SQueezing LBR files, turning them into LQR files. It thus became
logical to add an automatic sq/usq module to a LU utility. Vern Buerg
added this feature to his LUU and LUE utilities.
The next advance came in 1985 when Thom Henderson of System Enhancements
Associates (SEA), released his ARC.EXE program. ARC introduced LZW
compression (which was in common use in the unix world) to micros. LZW
compression gave users much better compaction than the Huffman encoding
used in SQueeze programs. ARC files began to displace SQ and LBR files
on Bulletin Board systems throughout the land. ARC was distributed as a
shareware program, which meant that if you used it, you were supposed to
pay for it. SEA also claimed proprietary rights to the program and the
format. They weren't giving anything away.
ARC-clones eventually appeared. These were usually coded in assembly
language and were faster than the standard SEA-ARC program. These
clones included: ARCE/ARCA by Vern Buerg (distributed with the
permission of System Enhancement Associates), and PKARC/PKXARC from Phil
Katz (PKware, which did not have such permission). Buerg's programs
were free, with a suggestion that a donation be sent to SEA. PKware was
distributed as shareware, just like SEA's ARC.
In 1986 Rahul Dhesi released the zoo archiver. It added 13-bit LZW for
tighter compression, full pathnames, and a number of other improved
features. Highly portable source code was released, and zoo was ported
to Unix, VMS, MS-DOS, and Amiga. Dhesi gave away the source code and
the binaries. At first, zoo was largely ignored because it was not "ARC
compatible." Later events led to this being seen as an advantage.
Phil Katz continued to produced new versions of PKARC, finally, in the
latter part of 1987, introducing "SQUASHING" which was similar to zoo's
13-bit LZW compression. Although PKARC was no longer "ARC-compatible"
it retained the .ARC extension. This caused confusion for novice users
and a lot of grief for BBS operators. This policy was regarding by many
as "standard busting," and likely was a factor in the litigation that
followed in the summer of 1988.
By the middle of 1988, Henderson had been marketing ARC commercially for
several years. Katz started advertising in the same magazines as SEA,
and began to have significant success. From the outside, it appeared
that this market was quite financially rewarding. After some
negotiations which failed, SEA sued PKware claiming unfair competition
and trademark infringement. This led to BBS archiving getting into the
trade press again; Henderson and Katz were featured in an Infoworld
article as litigants squabbling over proprietary archiving methods.
The lawsuit was settled out of court with PKware agreeing to pay some
damages to SEA, and to stop marketing ARC-compatible products after
January 1, 1989. After this success, SEA's lawyers apparently began
contacting authors of other ARC-compatible programs in an effort to
protect SEA's trademark.
Phil Katz announced that he would develop a 'new', and 'improved'
archiver which would have a 'public' file format, but which would, of
course, still be a commercial program. A few BBS operators made some
statements of support for this new format. Many observers felt that
these statements were premature and essentially political in nature, as
at the time the statements were made, there was no format or programs to
support.
Some BBS operators said that ARC had served well, was an established
standard, and they would continue to support it. Other BBS operators,
tired of lawyers and the entire shareware and commercial jungle, began
to endorse Zoo, as the only truly public format and program.
This produced a state of confusion where people were unsure of what
course future archiving efforts should take.
Some people give programs away. Other people make a business out of
their programs, and sell and control them. Those who are unable to
learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
--
Paul Homchick UUCP: {allegra | rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul
Chimitt Gilman Homchick, Inc.; One Radnor Station, Suite 300; Radnor, PA 19087darrylo@hpsrli.HP.COM (Darryl Okahata) (10/04/88)
In comp.sys.ibm.pc, paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) writes: > A Short History of Compression and Archive-files on Microcomputers [ ... ] > Some BBS operators said that ARC had served well, was an established > standard, and they would continue to support it. Other BBS operators, > tired of lawyers and the entire shareware and commercial jungle, began > to endorse Zoo, as the only truly public format and program. Just to clarify things, ZOO IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. It comes with some crippling (in my opinion) licensing restrictions, which almost insures that it will not become widely used. Don't get me wrong -- I like zoo and will probably use it for my own personal purposes, but I really think that the licensing agreement is a bit silly. [ ... ] > Paul Homchick UUCP: {allegra | rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul > Chimitt Gilman Homchick, Inc.; One Radnor Station, Suite 300; Radnor, PA 19087 -- Darryl Okahata {hplabs!hpccc!, hpfcla!} hpnmd!darrylo CompuServe: 75206,3074 Disclaimer: the above is the author's personal opinion and is not the opinion or policy of his employer or of the little green men that have been following him all day.
malpass@vlsi.ll.mit.edu (Don Malpass) (10/04/88)
In article <757@cgh.UUCP> paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) writes: >A Short History of Compression and Archive-files on Microcomputers > >... Those who are unable to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. >-- How unusual to read something about this dead horse that isn't pure BS. If you passed this one up, ask for it to be mailed to you. Because of the subject, which most of us are sick of, I almost didn't read it. No axe grinding - it simply shows that we are ALL the losers in this fray, even though we collectively will never agree on who the villains are. -- Don Malpass [malpass@LL-vlsi.arpa], [malpass@spenser.ll.mit.edu] My opinions are seldom shared by MIT Lincoln Lab, my actual employer RCA (known recently as GE), or my wife.
dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) (10/06/88)
In article <340019@hpsrli.HP.COM> darrylo@hpsrli.HP.COM (Darryl Okahata) writes: > Just to clarify things, ZOO IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. It comes with >some crippling (in my opinion) licensing restrictions, which almost >insures that it will not become widely used. I mailed this response and am posting it here too: I realize that a number of organizations may distribute zoo 2.x only if they modify their own policies slightly. For example, zoo files could be placed on a separate disk or in a separate downloading area which is not covered by any compilation copyright. I have seen a lot of flaming, but few specific arguments. I want genuine, specific feedback about why conforming to my restrictions would be a hardship to any organization, and to which organizations in particular. I'm open to well-reasoned arguments. -- Rahul Dhesi UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi
greggy@infmx.UUCP (greg yachuk) (10/06/88)
In article <340019@hpsrli.HP.COM> darrylo@hpsrli.HP.COM (Darryl Okahata) writes: >In comp.sys.ibm.pc, paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) writes: >> tired of lawyers and the entire shareware and commercial jungle, began >> to endorse Zoo, as the only truly public format and program. > Just to clarify things, ZOO IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Well, almost right. This is probably for Rahul to defend, but he posted a note several weeks ago (does time really go that fast?) that zoo FORMAT is in the public domain. ZOO.EXE is NOT in the public domain. Here's where I get unsure of my data: I believe that I read a posting claiming that looz (the extract only portion of zoo) is either in the public domain, or is freely-distributable. I also think that I saw a list some time ago in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d which listed a whole slew of zoo-related programs and which ones were public domain and which were copyrighted. This list would be useful. I'll look for it. Anyone who has it (if it actually existed and I'm not just reliving a possible drug-infested past), please send it to me. >> Paul Homchick UUCP: {allegra | rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul > -- Darryl Okahata > {hplabs!hpccc!, hpfcla!} hpnmd!darrylo > CompuServe: 75206,3074 -greg Greg Yachuk Informix Software Inc., Menlo Park, CA (415) 322-4100 {uunet,pyramid}!infmx!greggy why yes, I DID choose that login myself
paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) (10/07/88)
After I wrote:
&> Other BBS operators, tired of lawyers and the entire shareware and
&> commercial jungle, began to endorse Zoo, as the only truly public
&> format and program.
Darryl Okahata (hpnmd!darrylo) wrote:
& Just to clarify things, ZOO IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. It comes with
& some crippling (in my opinion) licensing restrictions, which almost
& insures that it will not become widely used.
Just to "re-clarify" things a bit, when I said that Zoo was "the only
truly public format and program", I was contrasting zoo with SEA's ARC,
and PKware's products and products-to-be; I was not making a statement
of zoo's legal status. When compared to anything from SEA or PKware,
both the zoo format and the zoo program are public. Essentially, you
can do ANYTHING you wish with zoo, except that 1) you may not limit it's
distribution, and 2) you can't break it and continue to call it zoo.
Many incendiary statements about the zoo copyright policy have been
posted on the net, but how many have seen the acutal thing itself?
Here is the zoo copyright statement from the 2.01 source package.
Draw your own conclusions:
===============================================================
COPYRIGHT
The following rules apply only to the zoo archiver itself.
Currently, all extract-only programs, and all supporting utili-
ties, are fully in the public domain and are expected to remain so
for the forseeable future.
Copyright Statement for Version 1.71
The distribution restrictions placed on zoo versions 1.71 and ear-
lier are now relaxed. Version 1.71 and earlier source and the
AmigaDOS and MS-DOS binary files may be distributed for any pur-
pose, whether commercial or noncommercial, by anybody, provided
(a) the files are distributed unmodified and (b) the recipient is
notified in advance of being provided the software that "version
1.71 is an outdated version and version 2.00 and higher versions
are now available from other sources". However, creation and dis-
tribution of any derivative work is governed by the copyright
statement for versions 2.00 and 2.01.
Copyright Statement for Versions 2.00 and 2.01
The following conditions apply to the C source code, the MS-DOS
support package, and to the MS-DOS executable code. Distribution
conditions for J. Brian Waters's AmigaDOS implementation may
differ and will be stated in the copyright statement accompanying
it.
"This program" refers to versions 2.00 and 2.01 and separately to
each subsequent version of the Zoo archiver and to all derivative
works thereof. "Distribution right" means any copyright, compila-
tion copyright, license, or other right to control distribution or
copying. "Compiled code" means software that can be executed by a
computer system.
This program is copyrighted but its distribution for noncommercial
purposes is permitted, with the following restrictions.
- You are prohibited from distributing this program as part of
any package over which you claim a distribution right. This
restriction does not apply if any distribution right is
claimed only over individual items that you own or for which
the distribution right has been explicitly assigned to you,
and not over the package as a collection.
- You are prohibited from making this program available for
downloading via telecommunications if you charge a total of
more than $8.00 per hour at 1200 bps during evening and night
hours.
- You are prohibited from distributing this program as compiled
code unless you also distribute the source code from which
the compiled code was obtained. This restriction does not
apply if the compiled code was created by me.
- You are prohibited from creating, from this program, any
derivative work over which you claim a distribution right.
- You are prohibited from creating from this program, whether
deliberately or through negligence, any derivative work that
violates the compatibility goals stated in the user manual
for this program.
- You may use this program, and any derivative works that you
create, internally within your own organization free of
charge. You may distribute such derivative works outside
your organization provided you adhere to all other conditions
of this copyright policy.
The above restrictions may be relaxed by special agreement; please
contact me for details.
-- Rahul Dhesi 1988/08/25
UUCP: iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi or
pur-ee!bsu-cs!dhesi
GEnie: DHESI
Plink: OLS806
Phone: +1 317 285 8641 daytime EST
US mail: 720 W. Centennial Ave #15,
Muncie, Indiana 47303
===============================================================
Where does this say, "please send money"? Or, how about, "source code is
available for $100,000." Does anyone see "don't bother asking for
information about file layouts?" Or, "please inquire about our porting
schedule to the Atari"? It looks to me like: [send no money], [here is
the source code, have fun], [file layouts and compression methods are
spelled out in the code], and [gee, if you want to port it to the Atari,
please go ahead, I tried to make the source as portable as possible].
These provisions allow everyone, everywhere, to make and extract zoo
files without making a monitary contribution or without fear of incompatible
formats appearing. I suppose reasonable people could quibble about some
of these provisions, but compared to the alternatives, the choice is clear.
--
Paul Homchick UUCP: {allegra | rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul
Chimitt Gilman Homchick, Inc.; One Radnor Station, Suite 300; Radnor, PA 19087pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg) (10/08/88)
In article <759@cgh.UUCP> paul@cgh.UUCP (Paul Homchick) writes:
... - You are prohibited from making this program available for
... downloading via telecommunications if you charge a total of
... more than $8.00 per hour at 1200 bps during evening and night
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
... hours.
...These provisions allow everyone, everywhere, to make and extract zoo
...files without making a monitary contribution or without fear of incompatible
...formats appearing. I suppose reasonable people could quibble about some
...of these provisions, but compared to the alternatives, the choice is clear.
...--
...Paul Homchick UUCP: {allegra | rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul
...Chimitt Gilman Homchick, Inc.; One Radnor Station, Suite 300; Radnor, PA 19087
The ^^^^ part (above) seems to be arbitrarily selected to prevent
distribution by CompuServe and perhaps others, in favor of GEnie. While
that is Rahul's right, it does seem rather mean,
Pete Holsberg UUCP: {...!rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh
Technology Division ...!att!jonlab!mccc!pjh
Mercer College CompuServe: 70240,334
1200 Old Trenton Road GEnie: PJHOLSBERG
Trenton, NJ 08690 Voice: 1-609-586-4800allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) (10/14/88)
As quoted from <4209@bsu-cs.UUCP> by dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi): +--------------- | In article <340019@hpsrli.HP.COM> darrylo@hpsrli.HP.COM (Darryl Okahata) writes: | > Just to clarify things, ZOO IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. It comes with | >some crippling (in my opinion) licensing restrictions, which almost | >insures that it will not become widely used. | | I realize that a number of organizations may distribute zoo 2.x only if | they modify their own policies slightly. For example, zoo files could | be placed on a separate disk or in a separate downloading area which is | not covered by any compilation copyright. +--------------- Rahul, surely you understand that nobody is going to settle for having to do a little extra WORK without an argument...? The messages I've seen on here castigating your license are only slightly less stupid and annoying than the SEA/PKWARE nonsense. (Then again, just about the only compressed archives I ever use are built via "find . -print | afio -o - | compress -b12"....) ++Brandon -- Brandon S Allbery uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery allbery%ncoast@hal.cwru.edu (LAST RESORT ONLY: allbery@uunet.uu.net) DELPHI: ALLBERY comp.sources.misc is moving off ncoast -- please do NOT send submissions direct "So many articles, so little time...." -- The Line-Eater