EXEPACK

From Just Solve the File Format Problem
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Software)
Line 26: Line 26:
 
Compression:
 
Compression:
 
* Microsoft's EXEPACK.EXE (or LINK.EXE with /E or /EXEPACK option) - Included with some development SDKs.
 
* Microsoft's EXEPACK.EXE (or LINK.EXE with /E or /EXEPACK option) - Included with some development SDKs.
** [https://archive.org/details/microsoftmacroassembler_v51 Microsoft Macro Assembler v5.1] - Includes EXEPACK 4.06 (on disk 2)
+
** [https://archive.org/details/microsoftmacroassembler_v51 Microsoft Macro Assembler v5.1] - Includes EXEPACK 4.06 (on Disk 2)
 
* [https://www.bamsoftware.com/software/exepack/ David Fifield's exepack]
 
* [https://www.bamsoftware.com/software/exepack/ David Fifield's exepack]
  
Decompression (static):
+
Decompression, general:
 
* [https://github.com/w4kfu/unEXEPACK unEXEPACK] by Samuel Chevet
 
* [https://github.com/w4kfu/unEXEPACK unEXEPACK] by Samuel Chevet
 
* [https://www.bamsoftware.com/software/exepack/ David Fifield's exepack]
 
* [https://www.bamsoftware.com/software/exepack/ David Fifield's exepack]
 
* [https://sourceforge.net/p/openkb/code/ci/master/tree/src/tools/unexepack.c UNEXEPACK from openKB]
 
* [https://sourceforge.net/p/openkb/code/ci/master/tree/src/tools/unexepack.c UNEXEPACK from openKB]
  
Decompression (dynamic -- DOS only):
+
Decompression, for DOS:
* Refer to [[Executable compression#Decompression software]]
+
* See [[Executable compression#Decompression software]] for some multi-format utilities that support EXEPACK.
 
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel20/MSDOS/EXECOMP/UNEXEP10.ZIP|UNEXEPAC}} by Dan Norstedt. Includes source code.
 
* {{CdTextfiles|simtel/simtel20/MSDOS/EXECOMP/UNEXEP10.ZIP|UNEXEPAC}} by Dan Norstedt. Includes source code.
 
+
* UPACKEXE by Fabrice Bellard - Included with [[LZEXE#Software|LZEXE]].
Decompression (unknown technique):
+
* UnPack ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070101000000*/http://www.tbcnet.com/~clive/unpack.zip archived]) by Tenth Planet Software / Clive Turvey
* UPACKEXE by Fabrice Bellard - Included with [[LZEXE#Software|LZEXE]]. For DOS.
+
  
 
Patchers:
 
Patchers:

Revision as of 17:23, 9 April 2022

File Format
Name EXEPACK
Ontology
Wikidata ID Q105858233
Released 1985

EXEPACK is an executable compression utility by Microsoft. It compresses DOS EXE files using run-length encoding. It was originally written by Reuben Borman.

It was a part of some development SDKs, and was not a separate product. The compression can be done by the EXEPACK.EXE program, or by a feature integrated into the LINK.EXE program.

There are about a half dozen different versions of the compressed format.

Some of the EXE files included with some versions of MS-DOS were compressed with EXEPACK.

Identification

Apparently, bytes 80 00 always appear at offset 16. In other words, the SP field is 128.

Bytes 10 00 or 12 00 appear at offset 20. In other words, the IP field is 16 or 18.

The ASCII signature "RB" appears immediately preceding the start-of-execution point in the file. This position can be calculated from the EXE header fields.

The characteristic error message "Packed file is corrupt" appears about 200 to 300 bytes after the signature. In rare cases, this message may be translated or erased. D. Fifield suggests searching for the byte sequence cd 21 b8 ff 4c cd 21 that immediately precedes the error message.

Software

Compression:

Decompression, general:

Decompression, for DOS:

Patchers:

Links

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox