cabextract

cabextract [options] archive.cab [file1 file2 ...]

-d directory
    Extract files into the specified directory.

-f
    Force overwrite of existing files.

-l
    List the contents of the CAB archive without extracting.

-p
    Print output to standard output instead of creating files.

-s
    Silently skip over damaged CAB files.

-v
    Enable verbose output.

-V
    Print version information and exit.

archive.cab
    The CAB archive file to process.

[file1 file2 ...]
    Optional list of specific files to extract. If omitted, all files are extracted.

cabextract is a command-line tool for extracting files from Microsoft Cabinet (CAB) archives. It supports various CAB formats, including those used by Windows installation packages, software updates, and other applications. cabextract can list the contents of a CAB archive, extract specific files, or extract all files contained within the archive. It handles compression methods like LZX, MSZIP, and Quantum. cabextract is particularly useful for extracting driver files, system components, or other resources that are distributed in CAB format, especially when dealing with Windows-specific archives on non-Windows operating systems like Linux.
The extraction process typically recreates the directory structure found within the CAB archive. Options allow to overwrite existing files, to choose destination directory, or ignore cab structure.

cabextract may not support all CAB archive formats or compression methods. It might encounter issues with malformed or corrupted CAB files. Symbolic links inside the CAB archive are not supported.

cabextract returns 0 on success, and non-zero on error. Common errors include failure to open the CAB archive or encountering an unsupported compression method.

cabextract was developed to provide a way to access the contents of Microsoft CAB archives on non-Windows platforms.
It aimed to facilitate the extraction of files needed for driver installation or system configuration. Over time, it has been maintained and updated to support newer CAB formats and compression methods. Its utility lies in bridging the gap between Windows-specific archive formats and other operating systems.

unar(1), gzip(1), unzip(1)