		    ZOO 2.01 -- MS-DOS BINARY DISTRIBUTION


This package contains version 2.01 of the Zoo archive program, along with
the supporting utilities Fiz 2.0 and Stuff 1.0.


			       REDISTRIBUTION

Because all the programs in this package support one another, and because it
is nearly impossible to use them properly without the user manuals, I
strongly recommend that everything in this package be distributed together. 
If necessary you can distribute the executable programs separately, but you
should in that case be sure to warn the recipient that there is more, and
how and where to get it.


			  CONTENTS OF THIS PACKAGE

In addition to the file "readme.1st", which you are reading, the following
files are included in this package.  File sizes, dates, times, and CRC
values (as found in a zoo archive with the "zoo lC" command) are shown
below.

Length    Date      Time     CRC    Filename
--------  --------- -------- ----   ----------
   10716  31 Jan 88 23:40:04 b60f   fiz.exe
    4132  13 Feb 88 15:09:12 cf97   fiz.man
    8427  13 Feb 88 15:08:48 53a3   stuff.doc
   10738   6 Feb 88 20:03:28 cfa4   stuff.exe
   40078  25 Aug 88 18:08:18 27db   zoo.exe
   52640  25 Aug 88 16:26:42 cfe9   zoo.man

fiz.exe:
-------
Fiz 2.0, the Fix Zoo utility.  This program helps recover data from damaged
zoo archives.  The existence of fiz.exe does not indicate that zoo archives
are easily damaged (they are not, and they are immune to trailing garbage
added by some file transfer protocols).  But should a transmission error
result in a corrupted download of a zoo archive, you will likely be able to
recover the data from most or all of the undamaged parts of the damaged
archive.

fiz.man:
-------
The user manual for Fiz.

stuff.exe:
---------
Stuff 1.0, a file finder for use with Zoo 2.01.  This program will generate a
list of pathnames based on selection criteria that you decide.  The output
may be fed to Zoo 2.01 through a pipe to allow you to archive one or more
subdirectory hierarchies.  Later, the resulting zoo archive can be extracted
to recreate the original subdirectory hierarchy.

stuff.doc:
---------
The user manual for Stuff 1.0.

zoo.exe:
-------
Zoo 2.01, a file archiving program.  Currently zoo is available in binary
form for AmigaDOS and MS-DOS and in C source form for MS-DOS, VAX/VMS, and 
**IX and look-alike systems.

zoo.man:
-------
The user manual for zoo 2.01.


			       OTHER PROGRAMS

In addition to Zoo, Stuff, and Fiz, which are included in this package, other
supporting programs that you may find useful are:

Sez 2.3:  (Self-Extracting Zoo)  This program will convert any Zoo archive
to self-extracting form in a few seconds.  Self-extraction overhead is less
than 2500 bytes, and the self-extracting archive will recreate the original
contents of the zoo archive when executed on any MS-DOS system.  These
self-extracting archives can be extracted on non-MS-DOS systems too with the
help of Fiz 2.0 and Zoo 2.01.

Looz 2.1:  (Ooz with List)  This program will extract, list, and execute
files from zoo archives on any MS-DOS system.  As far as I can tell, Looz is
the only program in existence for MS-DOS systems that allows you to have
executable programs stored in compressed form and execute them by extracting
directly into memory, with no net memory penalty, no need for any temproary
disk space, and with the usual MS-DOS command-line arguments, I/O
redirection, and piping fully available.  There are substantial savings in
disk space due to avoiding fragmentation if many small EXE or COM programs
are stored in a zoo archive.  For example, if you have 20 tiny programs on a
hard disk, each 100 bytes long, you will typically tie up 40 kilobytes of
disk space (160 kilobytes under some earlier versions of MS-DOS).  Stored in
a Zoo archive, these programs will take up about 4 kilobytes or less;  if
stored uncompressed, execution can still be virtually instantaneous.


			 AVAILABILITY OF SOURCE CODE

As I write this, it is planned that the portable C source code for Zoo 2.01
will be posted to Usenet and uploaded to GEnie's IBM PC RoundTable in the
next few weeks.  I will separately be releasing an MS-DOS support package at
about the same time.  In conjunction with the portable C source code, this
package will allow recompilation under MS-DOS using Turbo C version 1.0.  It
will include all the assembly language routines that are currently used for
speed.


				  COPYRIGHT

The source distribution will contain a detailed copyright notice.  So long
as you distribute Zoo 2.01 at no charge (or at an hourly telecommunications
charge not exceeding $8.00 per hour during evening hours at 1200 bps), and
do not distribute it as part of a package over which you claim a compilation
copyright or other right to restrict redistribution of those contents of the
package that you do not own, you should be safe.  But if you're in the
business of collecting free software written by others and attempting to
restrict its further distribution, this copyright policy will seriously
hinder your including Zoo 2.01 in your collection.

The above is just a summary.  The full text of the copyright notice as found
in the source distribution takes precedence if there are any discrepencies. 
Also note that currently binary distributions of all supporting utilities
(Fiz, Looz, Stuff, Sez) and many earlier versions of Zoo are fully in the
public domain.

                                  -- Rahul Dhesi 1988/08/25
