zipnote

View the comments on a Zip archive

$ zipnote [path/to/file.zip]

$ zipnote [path/to/file.zip] > [path/to/file.txt]

$ zipnote -w [path/to/file.zip] < [path/to/file.txt]

zipnote [options] zipfile

zipfile
    The path to the ZIP archive file to be commented on.

-w or -m
    Write (edit) the archive comment. If a comment already exists, it is loaded into the editor for modification. If no comment exists, the editor starts with a blank slate.

-c or -z
    Display the archive comment to standard output. If no comment exists, nothing is printed.

-v
    Provide verbose output, showing more details about the processing.

-q
    Operate in quiet mode, suppressing most non-error messages.

zipnote is a command-line utility from the Info-ZIP suite designed to add, view, or modify comments embedded within existing .zip archive files. Unlike re-creating an archive to include a comment, zipnote efficiently updates only the central directory portion of the zip file, making it a quick operation, even for very large archives.

When invoked to add or edit a comment, it launches the user's preferred text editor (defined by the EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables) allowing for easy input of the desired text. This comment can serve as a descriptive note, a version marker, or any other metadata associated with the entire archive.

For viewing, zipnote simply prints the existing archive comment to standard output. This tool is invaluable for managing and documenting zip files without the overhead of full re-compression or extraction, making it a staple for anyone frequently dealing with compressed archives on Linux systems.

The EDITOR or VISUAL environment variable must be set for zipnote to open a text editor when adding or editing a comment. If neither is set, it might default to a basic editor like vi or ed, or simply fail.

zipnote modifies the ZIP archive in place. It's always a good practice to back up important files before modifying them.

The comment is associated with the entire ZIP archive, not with individual files within it.

Large comments can increase the size of the ZIP file's central directory.

zipnote respects the EDITOR and VISUAL environment variables. When editing a comment, zipnote will attempt to launch the program specified by EDITOR first. If EDITOR is not set, it will then try VISUAL. If neither is set, its behavior depends on the system's default, often falling back to vi or ed.

zipnote typically returns an exit status of 0 upon successful execution. Non-zero exit statuses indicate an error, such as an invalid ZIP file, problems writing to the file, or issues launching the editor.

zipnote is a component of the widely used Info-ZIP software suite, which has been a staple for ZIP archive management on Unix-like systems since the early 1990s. Its development arose from the need for a robust and cross-platform solution for handling PKZIP-compatible archives. zipnote specifically addresses the requirement to manage archive-level metadata without the resource-intensive process of re-compressing the entire archive, maintaining its utility as a quick and efficient tool for adding or updating descriptive notes directly within the ZIP file structure.

zip(1), unzip(1), zipinfo(1)