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diff --git a/lib/chmlib/README b/lib/chmlib/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d39924b --- /dev/null +++ b/lib/chmlib/README @@ -0,0 +1,141 @@ +CHMLIB 0.38 +=========== + +------- +SUMMARY +------- +chmlib is a small library designed for accessing MS ITSS files. The ITSS file +format is used for Microsoft Html Help files (.chm), which have been the +predominant medium for software documentation from Microsoft during the past +several years, having superceded the previously used .hlp file format. + +Note that this is NOT the same as the OLE structured storage file format used +by MS Excel, Word, and so on. Instead, it is a different file format which +fulfills a similar purpose. Both file formats may be accessed via instances +of the IStorage COM interface, which is essentially an "acts like a +filesystem" interface. + +------- +FILE FORMAT SUPPORT +------- + +Lookup of files in the archive is supported, and should be relatively quick. +Reading of files in the archive is also supported. +Writing is not supported, but may be added in the future. + +In terms of support for the ITSS file format, there are a few places in which +the support provided by this library is not fully general: + +1. ITSS files whose names contain UTF-8 characters which are not part of the + ASCII subset will not currently be dealt with gracefully. Currently, the + filenames are not converted from UTF-8, but are instead returned as-is. I'm + very interested in hearing any suggestions as to the "right" way to handle + this. + +2. Only version 3 ITSS files are supported at present, though some work has + gone towards divining the differences between different versions of the + file format. It is possible that version 2 ITSS files might work properly + with this library, but unconfirmed. + +3. Archives larger than 4 GB should be supported just fine, but if they + contain files larger than 4GB, this library may break. Fortunately, this + seems somewhat unlikely. + +If you run into .chm files (or files you suspect are ITSS files) that this +library doesn't work with, please contact me so I can fix the library. + +------- +PORTABILITY +------- + +This software was originally developed on a Intel x86 Debian Linux machine, +using gcc 3.0. It has since been compiled on various flavors of RedHat as +well, and using versions of gcc from 2.95 through 3.2. Basic Win32 support +should be in this release. (While a port to Win32 may _seem_ like a funny +idea, given that Windows ships with libraries for CHM access, it turns out that +Win CE does not; I've gotten a request for a port to Windows CE.) + +Chmlib apparently works on OS X, with some tweaks. In particular, disabling +pread and io64 apparently works. + +Finally, Andrew Hodgetts has ported to Solaris and IRIX: + +On Monday, 7 Oct 2002, Andrew Hodgetts wrote: +> Solaris(Sun): +> +> I used both SunProC and GCC on the solaris machines to compile. They +> both worked ok. +> However, both required -lsocket on the link line of the Makefile or you +> recieve linking errors. +> +> I have this working on CPUs ranging from Sun4m (Sparc5) through to +> UltraSparcIII (SunFireV880). +> +> Irix (SGI): +> +> I only testing with the MIPS compiler (not GCC). All worked ok - lots of +> warning messages, but it always does that. + +He further noted that: + +> ... for NON GCC compilers, a little tweaking may be required, but nothing too +> complex. ie SunProC doesn't understand -fPIC for library building. Irix +> required -n32 (new 32bit libraries) etc. These are things that someone who +> uses the OS and compiler should be used to dealing with. + +------- +CREDITS +------- + +* Stuart Caie: the LZX decompression code, and for granting permission to + re-license under the LGPL. + +* Sven Tantau: identification of a stack-overflow security flaw and a quick fix + for the problem; identification of a possible security danger in the example + program "extract_chmLib" + +* iDEFENSE Labs: identification of a nasty stack-overflow security flaw + +* Palasik Sandor: identification of a potential security flaw in lzx.c as well + as a quick fix for the problem + +* David Huseby: An excellent patch to the chm_enumerate functionality, relating + to the "what" flags, which didn't work entirely correctly before + +* Vadim Zeitlin: Configure script cleanup, including an important update to + allow detection of platforms where pread64 doesn't work. (OS X) + +* Vitaly V. Bursov: Compilation on x86-64. + +* mc: A suggestion to add a "mkdir" to the install step. + +* Stan Tobias: bugfixes and the added 'index page' feature of chm_http. + +* Andrew Hodgetts: porting to Solaris and IRIX, as well as fixing some + little-endian biases in the code. + +* Rich Erwin: Windows CE support. + +* Pabs: bug fixes and suggestions. + +* Antony Dovgal: setting up autoconf/automake based build process. + +* Ragnar Hojland Espinosa: patches to make chm_http more useful. + +* Razvan Cojocaru: forwarding along information regarding building on OS X. + +* Julien Lemoine: creating and maintaining the Debian package of chmlib. + +* Prarit Bhargava: Compilation on ia64 + +* Jean-Marc Vanel: elimination of compilation warnings in extract_chmLib + +* Sisyphus & Matej Spiller-Muys: Compilation under MinGW32 + +* Kyle Davenport: helper script for using chm_http with mozilla + +* Matthew Daniel & Mark Rosenstand: help to sort out issues with the build + system. + +* Anyone else I've forgotten. 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