use Perl

My work on Archive::Zip has been stopped for two weeks as my right-eye contracted a viral infection. I am applying eye-drops and ointments. However, it is difficult to concentrate in work as I have to take frequent naps. Also, the right eye has got blurred in vision due to the disease. The blurriness interferes a lot. So, I thought of stopping the work for two weeks, which is the period within which I hope the eye will cure ( the doctor said so ).

I will post as soon as I get back to work.

My study of the .zip file format:

Magic bytes

Magic numbers are common in programs across many operating systems. Magic numbers implement strongly typed data and are a form of in-band signaling to the controlling program that reads the data type(s) at program run-time. Many files have such constants that identify the contained data. Detecting such constants in files is a simple and effective way of distinguishing between many file formats and can yield further run-time information.

That is Wikipedia's definition of magic bytes / numbers. .zip magic bytes are:
0x50 0x45 at offset 0x00.
0x50 = P,
and 0x45 = K in ASCII.

PK stands for Phil Katz, the creator of the .zip file format.

Meta Data

• Optional archive comment
• Optional comment per entry
• All kinds of system-specific data ( like file attributes ) can be added per file using so called extra fields

Limitations

• Internal offset values are 32-bits large, so only files upto 4 GB can be stored
• No support for extended character sets in file names

My proposal `Fixing Bugs in the Archive::Zip Perl Module' has been accepted by The Perl Foundation. Shlomi Fish ( http://www.shlomifish.org ) helped me with the proposal, supported me and also encouraged me.

Thank you very much Shlomi. :-)

I am having examinations at college now. I will start working as soon as the examinations are over.

Abstract: Perl programs often need to manipulate .zip files. Archive::Zip (http://search.cpan.org/dist/Archive-Zip/) is a Perl module that allows a Perl program to manage Zip archive files without calling an external utility.

The Archive::Zip module, however, has some bugs which prevent it from generating fully-portable .zip files, that are handled correctly by all .zip file readers and manipulators. The project's main aim is to address the outstanding bug reports (http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Archive-Zip), by using pyconstruct (http://pyconstruct.wikispaces.com/), which is a flexible framework for defining dissectors for binary formats in a declarative way.

I have to start working on the project soon. I, most probably, will be having the time to work from the start of May 2008. I am very thrilled to work on it and be part of the Perl community.

Hope the project goes well. I am also applying for `The Perl Foundation Grants'.