arc

Send the changes to Differential for review

$ arc diff

$ arc list

$ arc amend

$ arc land

arc [options] archive.arc [files ...]

-a
    Add specified files to archive

-c
    Create new archive (equivalent to -a with empty archive)

-d
    Delete specified files from archive

-e
    Erase archive (delete all files)

-f
    Freshen existing files (update if newer)

-i
    Ignore directory CRC errors

-k
    Keep temporary files on error

-l
    List archive contents

-m
    Move files into archive (delete originals)

-o
    Order files by extension

-p
    Print files to stdout

-u
    Update files (add or replace if newer)

-v
    Verbose output

-x
    Extract files from archive

-z
    Use ZIP-compatible method (first z) or self-extracting (zz)

The arc command is a utility for handling ARC archives, an older file compression and archiving format from the 1980s. Developed originally for MS-DOS by System Enhancement Associates (SEA), it allows users to create, update, list, extract, and delete files within .arc files.

ARC supports multiple compression algorithms like LZW, Huffman, and packing methods, making it efficient for its era. On Linux, it's available via packages like 'arc' or 'lcab' in some distros, primarily for legacy support.

Key operations include adding files (-a), extracting (-x), and listing contents (-l). While powerful for its time, ARC has been superseded by ZIP, TAR, and RAR due to better compression, security, and standards compliance.

Example: arc a myarchive.arc *.txt adds all .txt files to a new or existing archive. Use with caution on untrusted archives due to potential vulnerabilities in old formats.

ARC is obsolete; prefer modern tools like tar or zip. Potential security risks with old binaries; verify sources. Not all implementations support all compression methods.
Limited cross-platform compatibility.

Supports LZW (-z0), Huffman (-z1), PACK (-z2), SQUEEZE (-z3), CRUNCH (-z4), LZH (-z5 to -z9). Use -z to select.

Use -z -z or arc zz archive.arc to create executable self-extractors.

Created in 1985 by Thom Henderson for SEA's MS-DOS ARC. Unix ports appeared in late 1980s. Peaked in BBS era; declined after PKZIP (1989). Linux versions maintained sporadically for legacy files.

ar(1), tar(1), zip(1), unarj(1)