An outline proposal

[Dave Pawson]

My view,
A bare outline, skipping the 'version'/type of zip, until we get legal input.

Comments please?

2010-10-09T21:29:51Z
Outline requirements for a zip specification.
rev 1.0, Dave Pawson

1. Provide a compressed archive format for general use.

1.1. A compression algorithm shall be provided which is usable without
infringing any existent patent.

1.2. A compression algorithm shall be provided which may be used
without payment of any sort.


2. The packaged entity shall hold one or more file.

2.1 It will be possible to extract one or more individual files from
the package.

2.2 Any file hierarchy present when the package is created shall be
duplicated on extraction if requested.

2.3 The package shall hold any combintation of  binary and/or text
files.

2.3.1 There shall be no difference between a file prior to being
archived and the corresponding file when extracted from the archive.

2.3.2 No change shall be made to any character encoding by compressing
and decompressing a file. I.e. an input file after decompression must
match its character encoding prior to compression.

3. A means of verification of an archive shall be provided.

4. A means of listing the contents of an archive without extraction
shall be provided.

5. A package listing shall be created as a a plain text file within
the archive which lists all files within the archive excepting itself.


5. A means of extracting the contents of an archive shall be provided
which meets the requirement of 2.3.1

5.1. A decompression algorithm shall be provided which is usable without
infringing any existent patent.

5.2. A decompression algorithm shall be provided which may be used
without payment of any sort.




-- 
Dave Pawson
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