                i6comp v0.20 Release Notes
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                (InstallShield v6.x CAB Util)
                 -] fOSSiL - Jun-16-2000 [-
                 -] Morlac - Dec-27-2000 [-


	1. INTRODUCTION  <-- Read it or DIE, DIE, DIE !!!
	2. INSTALLATION
	3. CONCEPTS
	4. BRIEF HELP
	5. UNSUPPORTED
	6. THAT'S IT
	7. BUGS


1. INTRODUCTION
---------------
   Under pressure from friends I am updating i5comp, giving birth to
i6comp in the process. This is the second attempt - I'll try to keep
it short.


Changes from i5comp (READ IT ALL):

---------------------- IMPORTANT------------------------------
Read Changes.txt as well. It contains more information as well.
You will miss some of the features if you dont.

1) No more ZDxxx.DLL - compression/decompression (deflate) routines are
statically linked in.

2) No need to Convert to Single-Volume for any operations (see P.3)

3) All IShield engine files are now stuck into data1.cab, so convertion to
single-volume cabinet has been changed. Conversion leaves data1.cab intact
and gathers everything else into data2.cab.
   Data1.cab contains all installation and uninstallation files and
is used by Uninstaller, and data2.cab contains all 'user' files.

4) Add command will now replace the files with the same name and path
within the cabinet (i5comp would add them and create duplicates no matter
what).

5) IShield Corp. screwed me over again by using '<' and '>' characters
in the kernel File Group names. These characters will be mapped to
'[' and ']' respectivly when File Group name is used in filesys paths.

6) Some uncompressed and 'uncabineted' files will also appear in listings.
I filtered some of them out, but haven't found a good way to get rid of
the rest of them yet.

7) Code can be ported to any Intel *ix with minimal modifications



2. INSTALLATION
---------------
   Stick 'i6comp.exe' wherever u want (preferrably somewhere in PATH).


3. CONCEPTS
-----------
   1) COMMAND SYNTAX
   Unlike weird icomp.exe, i6comp mimics the command syntax of ARJ/RAR
style compressors, but the big difference is that the established syntax
order can not be broken, meaning that u have to specify <cmd> [-opts] <cab>
in this order, no mixing is allowed.
   Just run i6comp with no parameters to see the explanation of syntax,
commands and options.

   2) FILE INDEX
   Every file inside a cab has a fixed index. U can see that index when u
do 'i6comp l your.cab' in the 'Ind' column. InstallShield allows duplicate
filenames within one cab, so u might have to referr to the file by its
index to ensure that u extract/replace the right one.

   3) MASK MATCHING
   In addition to the references to files by name and index u can use
filemasks ('fmask' for short in the command line help). The mask matching in
i6comp is extended compared to standard DOS one. U can use, for example,
masks like this : a*b.dll, *b?c?d*.d*, etc. For example, '*b?c*.dll' will
match with 'boc.dll', 'bac12.dll', 'aablc.dll', but will NOT match 'bc.dll'.

   4) FILEGROUPS
   Every file inside a cab belongs to some FileGroup. Because of this
structure, u have to specify a FileGroup with a -g option when adding files
to a cab. Alternatively, u cab use -f mode of i6comp, in which FileGroups
are treated as directories.


4. BRIEF HELP
-------------
This is extra help for some rarely used functionality.

Options:
	-f: treat FileGroups as directories (usefull for GUI, wrappers)
	    FileGroups will be printed and interpreted as directories from
	    the root of the cab. For any commands that modify the cab
	    (i.e. Add, Delete, Replace and Zero) only 1 FileGroup may be
	    used at a time.


5. UNSUPPORTED
--------------
   1) CAB creation functionality was never intended and required too much
effort, especially since u can create CABs with InstallShield itself.


6. THAT'S IT
------------
U are probably already bored to death, so I will be brief.
Thanx to all who took interest in my util and helped with fixing bugs.

7. BUGS
-------
I know some are still lurking here and there, so report them or even
better, fix 'em and tell me about 'em.
You can contact me at:
morlac@hotmail.com


GREETZ go to : Acpizer, Animadei, bK, BlackMage, Cooly, Crypto, Cybr Wolf,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Devil, djHD, Domnar, Ducky, Ghiribizzo, G-RoM, Groo, Ice,
               Ignoramus, Jacky, John Astig, Junior Mafia, Krk, MtD, MustDie,
               Karnage, LiuTaoTao, LordByte, Marquis, Muffin, Pain, The Owl,
               Razzi, Saint Tok, Sensi, Stone, Xoanon
