SOLVED: Creating Self-Extracting Windows ZIP files under FC2

[Mike McMullen]

> 
> I'm lazy.. so answer if you are free to.
> 
> What's this windows extractor stub anyway? why is it needed? 
> 
> I just looked up "man zip"
> 
>        -A     Adjust self-extracting executable  archive.   A  self-extracting
>               executable  archive  is created by prepending the SFX stub to an
>               existing archive. The -A option tells zip to  adjust  the  entry
>               offsets  stored in the archive to take into account this "pream-
>               ble" data.
> 
> HUH?
> 
> 
The stub is the target operating system specific code that does extracting
for you. You have to have the correct stub for the operating system you
plan to do the extracting on. 

In this case sfx32.dat is the Windows specific code that does the extraction.

The "-A" option of zip sets the correct offset from the beginning of the zip
file to where the actual zip data resides. The length of the offset "jumps"
you past where the extractor stub code is prepended to the zip file.

Mike