Self-extracting, please.

[nikoniko]

Years after getting our Commodore files on the net, why are we still distributing them in their original ARC and LNX formats? That makes sense for slow modems where you need to save every byte you can and the extra bloat of a decompressor is undesirable, but nowadays it's hardly useful when most of us are downloading at reasonable speeds.

I would personally love to see every blasted ARC and LNX file in every Commodore file archive on the internet replaced with a self-extracting version instead.

I have an ARC to SDA converter, but is there something like that for LNX files? I suppose Lynx itself might do the job, but it's been years since I've used Lynx so I can't recall.

[Andrew Wiskow]

I have an ARC to SDA converter, but is there something like that for LNX files? I suppose Lynx itself might do the job, but it's been years since I've used Lynx so I can't recall.

Yes, Will Corley, author of Lynx I through XVII, also wrote a program called SDL (Self-Dissolving Lynx), which changes "filename.lnx" into "[filename]" and is self dissolving.  It's designed to work with Lynx XV files, but I've used it with Lynx XVI and XVII files as well with no problem.  Personally, whenever I use this program, I change it to "filename.sdl"...  Anyway, it works basically the same way as ".sda" files, just load, run, and it dissolves.  The thing with SDA and SDL files is that they both have a limit of around 200 blocks.  Anything bigger, and it's a no-go...  I convert all archives into either SDA or SDL when possible, but when it's not, I just leave it as ARC, ARK, LBR, LNX or whatever.   You can use Omega-Q to dissolve all these files.  I've got all these programs available for download on my BBS.  :-)

-Andrew
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[nikoniko]

Thanks, Andrew, that's great information! I wouldn't mind so much if only large files came ARCed or LNXed, but I still find all sorts of smaller programs that come that way and I'd rather they didn't. At least if I convert them then I can keep them the way I like them in my own backups.

By the way, do self-dissolving Lynx files dissolve in place as normal Lynx files do? (Am I remembering that right?)

[Andrew Wiskow]

By the way, do self-dissolving Lynx files dissolve in place as normal Lynx files do? (Am I remembering that right?)

Yes, they do...  So if you want to keep the original SDL file, you have to make a copy of it first.  Another interesting thing that SDL does...  You make the LNX file first, then load and run SDL to create the SDL file.  Well, it adds the SDL filename to your directory, but the original LNX file will also be there.  But BOTH the LNX and SDL files are linked to the same files on the disk!  I'm not sure why Mr. Corley wrote it this way...  But he did.  :-)

-Andrew