PRC (Palm OS)
PRC is an archive-like file format associated with Palm OS. It stores executable code, and/or resource data.
PRC probably stands for Palm Resource, though it is sometimes said to stand for Palm Resource Code, or Palm Resource Compiler.
It is very similar to PDB, but it is not the same format. For example, the resource records that follow the header are 10 bytes each, while for PDB they are 8 bytes each.
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Disambiguation
The term "PRC" is also associated with PalmDOC and related formats, though PalmDOC is a PDB format, not a PRC format.
Identification
In many PRC files, ASCII characters "appl" appear at offset 60. But when they don't, it is not easy to identify a PRC file by its contents.
A few PRC files even have a .pdb file extension. PRC and PDB can be distinguished by the byte at offset 33, which has its low bit set for PRC, and unset for PDB.
Sample files
- http://cd.textfiles.com/pdasoftware/PILOT/ ...
- http://cd.textfiles.com/palmpilotc/ ... (inside many of the self-extracting ZIP files)
- http://cd.textfiles.com/hhot/PALMP~13/ ...
- PDA Essentials (Issue 27) → contents/Palm/... - CD image from archive.org; may have newer files than the above collections
