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xarchive(1) DragonFly General Commands Manual xarchive(1)
NAME
XArchive - a gtk2.0 front-end for various command line archivers.
SYNOPSIS
xarchive [-a archive | -c archive] [files...]
DESCRIPTION
XArchive is graphical front-end that uses external wrappers to
communicate with the command line archiving tools. XArchive handles
creation, extraction and manipulation of archives depending on whether
or not the command line tools (and the wrappers written for them)
support those actions. The types of archives supported depends on what
wrappers are available in XArchive's wrapper directories (see WRAPPERS
below), and what command line tools are installed.
Currently there are bash shell wrappers for:
tar using tar, bzip2, gzip, and compress
rar using rar, or unrar(unrar only cannot modify rar's)
zip using unzip, zipinfo(from unzip), and zip
ace using unace (extraction only)
7zip using 7za from p7zip
arj using arj
rpm using rpm and cpio (extract only, use appropriate packing tools
to modify)
deb using dpkg-deb from dpkg (extract only, use appropriate tools to
modify)
OPTIONS
-a archive
Add passed files to archive.
o Normally the passed archive file is opened, and a multi-file
selector is presented with any passed files already added to
the selection list.
o However, if the archive filename passed is ask, or the passed
archive file cannot be found, then a dialog will be presented
asking whether to create a new archive or use an existing one.
An appropriate chooser will then be presented for finding, or
creating, an archive to add to. Once an archive is found, or
created, a multi-file selector will be presented with any
passed files already added to the selection list.
-c archive
Create a new archive file named archive with passed files.
o A dialog will be presented asking for an archive name. If the
archive name passed is ask then a generic sample filename will
be shown. Otherwise the passed archive name with be shown. On
accepting the name is checked to make sure the file doesn't
already exist, and that a wrapper for that type of archive is
present. Thus the archive name should contain the extension of
the archive type that is desired (eg. test.zip). Once a valid
archive name is accepted a multi-file selector is presented
with any passed files already added to the selection list.
USAGE
When XArchive starts it consults each wrapper it finds in it's wrapper
directories (see WRAPPERS below) to see what file types it can support.
If XArchive is started without being passed any files to open, or any
options, an information page is shown detailing what wrappers were
found and what file types are (based on file extensions) supported by
those wrappers
If some files to open are passed to XArchive without any options it
will treat them as archives and attempt to use the wrappers associated
with those archives (based on file extensions) to get, and show, the
contents of each.
The -a and -c options allow you to use XArchive with your file-manager
to add to an existing archive, or to create a new one.
Using xarchive -a ask as your file-manager's "open with" command on
some selected files will allow you add those selected files to an
existing archive (xarchive will ask which archive to add them too).
Using just xarchive -a as your file-manager's "open with" command on a
selected archive file will allow you open that archive and use
XArchive's multi-file selector to choose the files to add to it.
Using xarchive -c ask as your file-manager's "open with" command on
some selected files allows you to create a new archive containing those
files (XArchive will ask you for the new archive's name). This option
won't allow opening an existing archive and guarantees that a unique
one is created.
Once and archive is opened it's entries can be selected to delete,
extract, or open-with. You can use the following selection methods:
Left-Click
To select one file, and unselect all others. If that one file is
a directory it's contents will also be selected.
CTRL * Left-Click
To select/unselect multiple files. Hold down the Control Key
while Left-Clicking individual files to toggle their selection
state. If the file clicked is a directory it's contents will
also be selected or unselected.
SHIFT * Left-Click
To select a block of files. Select the first file in the block
normally (just a Left-Click), then Shift + Left Click the last
file in the block and all the files in between will also be
selected.
Right-Click on an archive listing will bring up a context menu with the
actions from the toolbar on it.
Double-Left-Click on an entry will temporarily extract that file from
the archive and use the default handler to view it. If no default
handler has been set the "open with.." dialog is opened so that you can
set one.
Just select an item in the archive and start typing to use the
type-ahead search feature (or you can press Ctrl-f).
ABOUT 'DRAG AND DROP'
Once an archive is opened you can drag files from your filemanager (if
it supports drag and drop) on to the archive list and have the
add-to-archive file chooser open. It's list of files to add will
contain the items dropped. From there you can select more files to add
from the file chooser, or drop files onto this list from your
filemanager.
ABOUT 'OPEN WITH'
Open with will temporarily extract selected files and view them with
the user selected application. From this dialog you can also set an
application as the default double-click handler by clicking that
option's checkbox. Setting this allows you to double left click entries
in the listing and have them viewed with the set application.
Note: When picking an open with application you should make sure that
application doesn't fork to the background. If it does then the
temporary file that was extracted will most likely be deleted before
the application can view it. For example, gvim will fork to the
background, so instead you should use gvim --nofork.
ABOUT CREATING ARCHIVES
When you select New you will be asked for an archive name. The
extension you use on your name will determine what kind of archive is
created. For example using mywebstuff.zip will create a zip, and
mywebsutff.tar.bz2 will create a bzip2 compressed tar.
Then, in the same dialog, you'll select the folder you want to save the
archive in. When that's done, and you press open the multiple file
selector will be opened.
The multiple file selector allows you to browse around the file system
and pick off what files and directories you wish to add to your
archive. Just select the files in the file chooser list and press the
add to list button. To remove files from the add to archive list,
select the files and press the remove from list button.
Note that the the full path for the file or directory will be listed in
the add to archive list for your reference, but when the archive is
made only the basename of the entry will be added. For example, if the
/home/me/html directory is on the list to be added then the archive
will contain the directory html (and it's contents), not it's full path
(the /home/me part is discarded). This is a good thing. When you send
someone your archive, and they extract it, you probably don't want it
trying to create a /home/me/html directory tree on your buddies
machine.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
MAIN ARCHIVE LISTING
CTRL + Q
quit
CTRL + O
open an existing archive
CTRL + N
create a new archive
CTRL + W
close the current archive window
CTRL + S
select all files in archive
CTRL + U
unselect all files in archive
CTRL + E
extract selected files from archive
CTRL + P
temporarily extract selected files and view them with a user
specified application. (has command history, saved in
~/.xarchive/cmd_history)
CTRL + R
remove selected files from archive
CTRL + A
add files to archive
CTRL + H
read the help file
CTRL + I
show wrapper information
FILE AND DIRECTORY CHOOSER
ALT + UP
move up to parent directory
ALT + DOWN
move down a directory
ALT + HOME
move to home directory
CTRL + L
ask for a specific location to move to
ALT + A
if on a directory in the File Chooser, add a shortcut for it to
the Folder Shortcuts List
ALT + R
if on a shortcut in the Folder Shortcuts List, remove it from
the list
ALT + O
OK
ALT + C
Cancel
(Note: To select hidden directories right click on the file listing and
select "show hidden files" from the popup menu)
'ADD TO ARCHIVE' SELECTOR
The same as the File and Directory Chooser with the following added:
ALT + T
add selected files in the File Chooser to the Add To Archive
List below it
ALT + F
remove selected files from the Add to Archive List (can also be
activated by a right-click on the list)
WRAPPERS
XArchive checks the following directories, in the following order, for
it's wrappers:
o ~/.xarchive/wrappers/
o /usr/local/lib/xarchive/wrappers/
o (or, depending on installation /usr/lib/xarchive/wrappers/)
The first wrappers found are the first ones used. Thus, if you copy a
wrapper from the system wide directory
(/usr/local/lib/xarchive/wrappers/) to your own private wrapper
directory (~/.xarchive/wrappers/) and modify it, your modified version
will be used.
The wrappers are stand alone executables whose job is to:
o When asked what files it supports, check to see if the command line
tools it needs are installed and tell XArchive what types of files it
supports based on what's installed.
o When asked for the contents of an archive, take the output from the
command line tools it uses and mangle it into the format XArchive
likes
o When sent an action to perform, take the requested action from
XArchive and send the command line tool the appropriate options to
perform said action.
Wrappers can be any type of executable file (python scripts, c
programs, bash scripts, etc...) that handle the following options in
the following manner:
-i Info: Check to see if command line programs are installed and
return a line containing a semicolon separated list of supported
file extensions based on what's installed. eg:
o tar;tar.gz;tar.bz2;tar.z;tgz;tbz;tbz2
-o archive
Open: Use command line tools to get contents of "archive" and
return contents in the format XArchive accepts. Each entry in
the archive on a separate line like so:
o file1;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
o file2;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
o file3;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
o (note: all fields must be present, so if there's no data for a
field fill it with a "-", or a space if you like.)
-a archive files
Add: Add to "archive" the "files" sent. File names sent are
escaped to be bash friendly by XArchive.
-n archive file
New: create a new archive "archive" with single file "file".
(other files selected to be put in new archive will be "added"
after creation.)
-r archive files
Remove: remove from "archive" sent "files"
-e archive files
Extract: extract from "archive" sent "files" into the current
dir. XArchive changes into a user selected directory before
sending this command.
WRAPPER EXIT CODES
o 0 success
o 65 unsupported action for this archive type
o Anything else for wrapper failure
See the wrappers included in /usr/local/lib/xarchive/wrappers (or
/usr/lib/xarchive/wrappers) for examples.
BUGS
Use bug tracker on the sourceforge project page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xarchive/
AUTHOR
Written by Lee Bigelow <ligelowbee@yahoo.com>
RESOURCES
SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xarchive/
Main web site:
http://xarchive.sourceforge.net
COPYING
Copyright (C) 2005 Lee Bigelow <ligelowbee@yahoo.com>. Free use of this
software is granted under the terms of the GNU General Public License
(GPL).
xarchive(1)