davidsen@steinmetz.UUCP (02/11/87)
Recently a new version of PKARC, identified as PKX34A20, was
distributed. Having gotten this version, I attempted to use it, and got
an "insufficient memory" error. After many tests I concluded that there
was an error in the program. When the program was run with the
environment value PKARCTMP set, the program failed (in 580k free
memory). The same thing happened with the values TMP, ARCTEMP, and
HOME. There were no resident programs, but there may have been some
interraction with device drivers.
I later pulled a copy of the program from another source and found that
it ran. Comparison of these versions showed that byte 407D (location
417D in debug) had a value of 08 in the version which caused problems,
and 06 in the version which ran as expected.
I decided to test the results compressing data with the old version
(PKX33A12), the version which objected to environment values, and the
version which worked correctly. Since the output of the new version is
not compatible with the ARC program, I wanted to see how much I gained
by using the new version.
The results, given below, indicate that in some cases the compression is
not as good! I was also unable to measure any improvement in speed using
the new version. In the results, the tables labeled "pkarc 1.2" are the
older version which produces ARC compatible files. The new version
allows compatibility with the older version as an option, so I ran it
both ways. The archives labeled STLOG are text logs of BBS logins, while
the STBIN archives are compressions of the PKARC and PKXARC programs
themselves. Note that even with the "/oc" (old compression) option set,
some files were larger in the output of the new version.
Conclusion: the PKX33A12 version gives speed and compatibility with the
ARC program. Because of the inconsistant results obtained with version
PKX34A20, I am going to wait for another release.
Text files
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STLOG1.ARC pkarc v1.2
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
ST.LOG 25073 Crunched 13145 48% 01-29-87 09:38:32
ST1.LOG 5229 Crunched 3023 43% 01-29-87 11:07:16
ST2.LOG 10037 Crunched 8318 18% 01-29-87 12:39:22
ST3.LOG 6694 Crunched 3455 49% 02-05-87 12:47:12
----- ------ ------ -----
0004 47033 27941 41%
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STLOG2.ARC pkarc v2.0
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
ST.LOG 25073 Squashed 13055 48% 01-29-87 09:38:32
ST1.LOG 5229 Crunched 3006 43% 01-29-87 11:07:16
ST2.LOG 10037 Squashed 8860 12% 01-29-87 12:39:22
ST3.LOG 6694 Crunched 3443 49% 02-05-87 12:47:12
----- ------ ------ -----
0004 47033 28364 40%
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STLOG3.ARC pkarc v2.0 /oc
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
ST.LOG 25073 Crunched 13151 48% 01-29-87 09:38:32
ST1.LOG 5229 Crunched 3006 43% 01-29-87 11:07:16
ST2.LOG 10037 Crunched 8332 17% 01-29-87 12:39:22
ST3.LOG 6694 Crunched 3443 49% 02-05-87 12:47:12
----- ------ ------ -----
0004 47033 27932 41%
Binary files
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STBIN1.ARC pkarc v1.2
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
PKARC.COM 17456 Crunched 14847 15% 12-15-86 00:00:00
PKXARC.COM 11482 Crunched 10126 12% 12-15-86 00:00:00
----- ------ ------ -----
0002 28938 24973 14%
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STBIN2.ARC pkarc v2.0
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
PKARC.COM 17456 Crunched 14854 15% 12-15-86 00:00:00
PKXARC.COM 11482 Crunched 10132 12% 12-15-86 00:00:00
----- ------ ------ -----
0002 28938 24986 14%
PKXARC FAST! Archive Extract Utility Version 3.4 12-15-86
Copyright (c) 1986 PKWARE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PKXARC/h for help
Searching: STBIN3.ARC pkarc v1.2 /oc
Filename Length Method Size Ratio Date Time
-------- ------ ------ ------ ----- ---- ----
PKARC.COM 17456 Crunched 14854 15% 12-15-86 00:00:00
PKXARC.COM 11482 Crunched 10132 12% 12-15-86 00:00:00
----- ------ ------ -----
0002 28938 24986 14%
--
bill davidsen sixhub \
ihnp4!seismo!rochester!steinmetz -> crdos1!davidsen
chinet /
ARPA: davidsen%crdos1.uucp@ge-crd.ARPA (or davidsen@ge-crd.ARPA)