XARCHIVE(1) Manual Page

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.

Normally the passed archive file is opened, and a multi-file selector is presented with any passed files already added to the selection list.
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.

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:

~/.xarchive/wrappers/
/usr/local/lib/xarchive/wrappers/
(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:

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.
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
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:

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:

file1;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
file2;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
file3;size;attributes;user;group;date;time;linkinfo
(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

0 success
65 unsupported action for this archive type
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

Version 0.2.8-6
Last updated 27-Feb-2006 14:00:14 NDT