arc

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$ arc diff

$ arc list

$ arc amend

$ arc land

arc [command] [options] <archive_file> [files...]
command: typically l (list), x (extract), a (add/create), d (delete).
archive_file: the .ARC archive to operate on.
files...: optional list of specific files within the archive.

l
    List the contents of the archive.

x
    Extract files from the archive.

a
    Add or create an archive. Note: often not fully supported by modern Linux arc variants for new archive creation.

d
    Delete files from the archive. Note: often not fully supported by modern Linux arc variants.

-v
    Verbose output, showing detailed information during operation.

-o
    Overwrite existing files without prompting during extraction.

-n
    Do not overwrite existing files during extraction, skipping files that already exist.

-P <password>
    Specify a password for encrypted archives.

The arc command on Linux refers to a utility designed to interact with files compressed and concatenated in the .ARC format. This format, developed by System Enhancement Associates (SEA) in the early 1980s, was highly prevalent during the MS-DOS era, particularly for distributing software and files via bulletin board systems (BBSs). Unlike modern Linux archiving utilities such as tar or zip, arc is not a general-purpose archiver for contemporary data. Instead, its primary function on Linux systems is to provide compatibility with these legacy .ARC archives.

While historically the original ARC tools on DOS could create, modify, and extract archives, Linux implementations (often provided by packages like unarc or nomarch) typically focus on extraction and listing the contents of existing .ARC files. This makes arc an essential tool for accessing historical data or software preserved in this older format. It encapsulates multiple files into a single archive, usually applying a form of data compression to save space. Despite its diminished contemporary usage for new archive creation, the arc command remains a valuable component for digital archaeology on Linux, ensuring continued access to a significant part of computing history.

The arc command, as a standalone general-purpose archiving tool, is not a standard utility on modern Linux distributions like tar or zip. Its primary purpose on Linux is to interact with legacy .ARC archive files, which were popular in the MS-DOS era. Functionality like creating or modifying .ARC archives is often limited or absent in Linux implementations (e.g., unarc, nomarch), which primarily focus on extraction and listing. Users requiring general archiving should use standard Linux tools.

The .ARC file format was innovative for its time, combining multiple files into a single archive and applying compression. While superseded by formats like ZIP, its historical importance in early computing, especially for software distribution and data storage on platforms like MS-DOS, is significant. The arc command on Linux primarily acts as a gateway to this historical data.

The ARC file format was developed by System Enhancement Associates (SEA) in the early 1980s, becoming one of the most popular archiving formats in the MS-DOS era, particularly for bulletin board systems (BBSs). It introduced concepts like concatenation and compression. Its widespread use diminished with the advent of newer, more efficient formats like ZIP. On Linux, arc utilities typically serve as compatibility tools to extract or list contents of these older archives, reflecting the format's historical significance rather than its contemporary use for new archive creation.

tar(1), zip(1), gzip(1), unarc(1), nomarch(1)