       *************************************************************
       **************    ===RKIVE file archiver===    **************
       *************************************************************
            
            Copyright (c)1996 Malcolm Taylor All Rights Reserved


      RKIVE is a high performance shareware file archiver which uses many 
   of the latest techniques to gain a high level of compression while
   maintaining a reasonable decompression speed.

   This is version 1.3. Released on 28th September 1996.


* Requirements:

   This program will run on any 386 or better computer. 4Mb of memory is
   required but 8Mb is recommended especially for the high compression
   modes.


* Shareware info:

   If you find this program useful then please register it by sending
   US$20 to the address given below.


* Legal info:

   The Author takes no responsibility for any damages resulting from the
   use or misuse of this program.
   USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK.

   This software is distributed as Shareware and is Copyright (c) 1996
   Malcolm Taylor, all rights reserved.


   Having said this if you have any problems then please feel free to 
   contact me at the e-mail address below.


* Usage:

   The usage of the archiver is fairly self explanatory:

      rkive [options] filename[.rkv] [files ... @list]

   The options are:
      -c           to compress (defaults to this if no options given).
      -e           to expand without paths.
      -x           to expand with paths.
      -v           to view the files.
      -r           recurse through sub-directories.
      -p[0,r,f]    store pathnames:
                      0 - no pathnames.
                      r - relative pathnames (default).
                      f - full pathnames.
      -s[0,t,e,n]  sets the sorting method to:
                      0 - no sorting.
                      t - sort by file type (default).
                      e - sort by extension.
                      n - sort by name.
      -m[1..3]     sets the compression mode (see below).
      -mm[0..2]    sets the multi-media compression mode to:
                      0 - no multi-media compression.
                      1 - file-type selected multi-media compression.
                      2 - forced all files multi-media compression.
      -o[+/-]      turns the compression optimisations on or off.
      -tNNNN       sets the table size (sets compression level).
      -bNNNN       sets the buffer size (see below).

   After the options come the archive filename and then the list of files
   for the given operation. A file containing a list of files to compress
   can also be used by prefixing the list's filename with '@'.

   The compression modes range from -m1 to -m3, with -m1 being the fastest
   mode. The default mode is -m1 with -m2 providing better compression on
   most data types. The highest compression mode -m3 is most useful for
   compressing large text files, but needs a large amount of free
   physical memory to perform fast (best with 16Mb free).

   The buffer size need not be set any bigger than the file(s) that you are
   compressing. RKIVE will not use a value any larger than this.


* Examples of use:

      rkive -m2 archive *.txt *.exe @list

   This will compress all *.txt, *.exe and the files listed in the file
   'list' to the archive file archive.rkv using compression mode 2.

      rkive -x archive

   This will extract all files in archive including any stored pathnames.
   NB. There does not need to be any files listed to extract, as in this
       case all files are extracted.


* Memory:

   This version of RKIVE has significantly larger memory requirements than
   any previous version. Given below is a list of the approximate usages of
   each compression mode. All modes will work on all computers, but if there
   is significantly less memory than that specified below then the speed
   will be severely reduced.

      Mode     Approx Mem use     Equivalent options
       1           3.0Mb           -t256  -b1024 -o-
       2           5.5Mb           -t512  -b1536 -o+
       3          14.5Mb           -t4096 -b4096 -o+

   There are other combinations of options that will give rise to different
   speeds and compression rates, these will use varying amounts of memory.


* Contact info:

   You can contact me if you have any advice, comments or requests for
   info via the Internet at:
      malcolm@manawatu.gen.nz

   My snail mail address is:
      Malcolm Taylor
      19 Koromiko Road
      Wanganui
      New Zealand


* Acknowledgments:

   I'd like to acknowledge some people for their help in creating RKIVE.
   The most notable is Charles Bloom without whose helpful pointers,
   information and homepage I would never have been able to write RKIVE.
   Also Philip Lai and Joe Negron need special thanks for the generous
   donation of their time in testing pre-release versions of RKIVE and
   helping me locate bugs.
   A general thanks as well to all others who have sent me mail about
   bugs or suggestions for new features.


