💾 Archived View for cugi.ie › aminet › 1677988058.gmi captured on 2023-11-04 at 12:19:27. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-03-20)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Uploader: bifat neoscientists org (bifat/tek)
Type: util/pack
Version: 0.66
Architecture: ppc-morphos
URL: http://neoscientists.org/~bifat/binarydistillery/cranker/
Date: 2023-03-04
Readme: http://aminet.net/util/pack/cranker-mos.readme
Downloads: 6
=> http://aminet.net/util/pack/cranker-mos.lha
Cranker by The Electronic Knights
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cranker is an Amiga executable and data cruncher and decruncher.
Executables decrunch while loading and decrunching requires no
additional memory. Cranker is by far the fastest way to run large
executables from disk on old, unexpanded Amigas.
You can choose from different executable headers: plain/standard,
minimal, with text progress or graphical progress display.
All source codes are included, including cruncher, executable and
data decrunchers. You can specify a modified decruncher in the
commandline and produce custom executables, for example showing
a logo of your group, or run an OS-legal effect while loading.
As of version 0.51, only an Amiga executable of the cruncher is
included. See download section for other platforms, and src/INSTALL
on how to build Cranker yourself and using it on different platforms.
Rationale:
Large OCS demos (onefilers) often reserve most available memory in
their executable sections. This is best practice and recommended.
Crunching them with most crunchers like Imploder or Powerpacker is
not an option, because all crunched data plus all sections must fit
into memory at the same time, so the demo will fail to run in the
minimal configuration (typically 512k+512k).
Titanics cruncher was 30 years ahead of its time in that it includes
a decruncher that loads from an overlay hunk, which requires no (or
little) additional memory. Unfortunately the Titanics decruncher is
very slow (it probably does not really load and decrunch at the same
time, but alternates between loading and decrunching), and its crunch
ratio is bad. Another issue found with Titanics is that if a program
disables multitasking, the disk motor can keep spinning for the whole
time it is running.
Cranker addresses all this, and more. It certainly does load and
decrunch at the same time, it uses no additional memory, it has a
solid crunch ratio, and it is blazingly fast. Since version 0.40
Cranker also addresses the disk motor issue.
Some benchmarks:
Rebels Retrodentro, crunched size:
----------------------------------
Original : 499768 Bytes
Titanics : 236388 Bytes
Cranker : 217548 Bytes
Imploder : 213332 Bytes - does not work with 1mb
Shrinkler: 179472 Bytes
Starting time, Kick 1.3:
----------------------------------
Cranker : 20s
Imploder : 28s - does not work with 1mb
Titanics : 35s
Original : 41s
Shrinkler: 87s
Starting time, Kick 2.04:
----------------------------------
Cranker : 14s
Imploder : 24s - does not work with 1mb
Original : 33s
Titanics : 46s
Shrinkler: 86s
Usage:
$ cranker -h
argument template:
-f FROM input file
-o TO output file
-mo MAXOVH/N max. overhead (else store hunk, or error)
-q QUIET/S quiet operation
Data options:
-cd CDATA/S crunch raw data
-dd DDATA/S decrunch raw data
-eo ENCOVH/S encode overhead into first header byte
Executable options:
-m MERGE/S merge hunks (dangerous)
-s STORE/S do not crunch, store all hunks
-a APPEND/K userdata file to append to executable
-t TEXT/K text line to display while loading
-tf TEXTFILE/K text file to display while loading
-p PICTURE/K IFF ILBM picture to show while loading
-st SHOWTIME/N min. number of seconds to display picture
-b BLACK/S black screen (same as '-d black')
-d DECRANKER name of an internal decranker to use
-ld LISTDEC/S list available internal decrankers
-ed EXTDEC/K use external decranker from this file
A 'decranker' is an executable header with certain features.
You can specify an internal decranker using the -d option:
default can show text
progress can show text and shows progress
minimal silent, read-ahead disabled
cinema shows a progress bar on a black screen
picture shows a picture while loading
black black screen while loading
All decrankers are fully conformant to the operating system. The
executables should run on all real Amigas, all OS versions and from
all filesystems and devices.
About the decrankers 'cinema', 'picture', and 'black': These
decrankers obscure the shell or Workbench with a screen until the
executable exits. They make little sense if they are not used to run
fullscreen applications, games or demos. Don't worry: This is a
regular Intuition screen, and it will be opened after all memory
for the program has been allocated, so if the system runs out of
memory, the screen will not open, but the executable is started
anyway.
About the 'picture' decranker: Supports IFF pictures with up to 32
colors, plus EHB and HAM. On v36 or later tries to enforce a PAL
screen. Better do not use freaked-out image dimensions, it is
recommended to stick with 320x256 (or less).
Regarding the APPEND option: This allows extra data to be added to
the executable. Your program, when started, can load the extra data
from e.g. BPTR filehandle = FindTask(NULL)->tc_UserData . This must
be commented in in decranker.asm, it is not available by default.
Expect bugs and problems. In any case, keep your original binaries.
Feedback is welcome.
Technical info:
Cranker does not allocate memory. All allocations are made by the OS
loader. Hence it is decided right at the beginning if the executable
fits into memory and will be loaded at all. It uses a combination of
techniques, hunk overlay, asynchronous and buffered I/O, and in-place
decrunching with one of the fastest decrunchers in existence. Relocs
are packed into 1, 2, and 4 bytes entities.
Due to its complexity, the decrunch header is quite large, but the
decrunch header and a few extra bytes to allow in-place decrunching
are the only memory that adds to the required memory of the
executable. It will be freed by the OS at exit, like all other
sections.
So why is it tricky? Cranker operates on three data pointers at the
same time, one for loading, one for reading crunched data, one for
writing out the decrunched data. All three pointers wander forwards
in a hunk's memory area and must not overrun each other:
_______________________________________________________ hunk
| | : : |
| decrunched | crunched data : yet unloaded : |
|_________________|__________________:________________:_|
^----> ^----> ^----> ^- overhead
destptr srcptr loadptr
The crunched data is aligned towards the end of the hunk.
The overhead (usually only a few bytes) gets calculated for the
particular data and ensures that the destination pointer does not
overrun the source pointer. Loading takes place in DOS packets, which
are requested from the executable's file handler task. When a packet
arrives, the load pointer is updated and the next packet requested.
The decruncher starts immediately with the first packet, but it
suspends waiting for the next packet if and when the source pointer
catches up with the load pointer. Another complexity is imposed by
the reloc tables, because after loading a hunk, for loading them
efficiently, the loader has to switch from asynchronous to buffered
I/O (with a small load buffer on the stack), and back to asynchronous
for the next hunk.
At least when loading from floppy disk the construct should be I/O
bound under all practical circumstances, even if asynchronoucy kicks
in just a little.
Download:
http://neoscientists.org/~bifat/binarydistillery/cranker.lha
Precompiled Linux, Windows, Mac OS X binaries:
http://neoscientists.org/~bifat/binarydistillery/cranker/
Authors:
Coding by Bifat/TEK <bifat at neoscientists.org>
LZO by Markus Franz Xaver Johannes Oberhumer
Changes:
Recompiled with vbcc; the executable bit now set in the resulting
executable; also it's faster (20210913)
0.66
The picture option was pointless when starting an executable with a
fast CPU from harddisk. Added SHOWTIME argument, the minimum number
of seconds to display the picture. Default: 5. Flickers and glitches
removed from the decrankers black, picture, and cinema.
0.64
Added 'picture' decranker (and -p option) for showing an IFF ILBM
picture while loading. Added 'black' decranker (and -b option) that
shows a black screen while loading. Added an 'append' option that
allows to append a file of userdata to the executable (to be loaded
from inside your program - see decranker.asm on how to obtain the
filehandle). In case of an I/O error, the cinema decranker forgot
to close the progress bar screen, corrected.
0.63
Errors were not reported when saving the crunched file, corrected.
The crunched format has changed: Now an initial payload of up to
65535 bytes can be passed to hooks. This can be used with the new
TEXTFILE option for displaying large texts (ANSI logos, etc.) - not
just a single line of text. The NOFLASH option has been removed - if
you want a decranker that pokes to the background color register,
assemble one yourself. Major code cleanup; all decrankers are now
built from the same source. Improved source code documentation on
writing custom hooks.
0.60
This version can continue loading ahead. (Previous versions loaded
ahead one readsize only.) This allows for faster loading, depending
on the media, CPU and filesystem fragmentation.
The decruncher has been reworked and is faster, too.
0.53
Now supports dreloc32 hunks, can now crunch vbcc executables.
Reduced memory consumption for crunching.
Major source code cleanup.
Improved error messages, safe decrunching of defective data.
Added cinema decranker. Added multiple inbuilt decrankers.
0.51
Partially uninitialized hunks are now supported.
Debug and symbol hunks are now handled and stripped away.
The merge option appears to be more stable now.
Added -eo option to encode the overhead into the crunched data
header. Suggested by Origo.
The build procedure and sources have been cleaned up. The Linux,
Windows, and Mac OS X binaries have been dropped from this package.
See src/INSTALL on building them yourself.
0.42
The Amiga version now works on Kickstart 1.x and on 68000 CPUs,
a FPU is no longer required. Requested by Sachy. Crunching fastmem
hunks is now supported. Added an external example decrunch header.
0.40
When an executable was started that disabled multitasking, the disk
motor could keep spinning while the executable was running. Corrected
by synchronizing on an ACTION_FLUSH packet. Found the same issue with
Titanics later, so this is another reason for using Cranker now.
0.31
Mac OS X version and Makefile included, supplied by Bonefish. Thanks!
0.3
Added options CDATA, DDATA, MAXOVH, MERGE, renamed EXTDECR to
EXTHEAD. Removed former hardcoded limit of 64 bytes maximum overhead.
0.21
Fixed a bug in the decrunch header when a load error occurred
0.2
Added options for displaying text and to avoid poking to the bgcolor
register. Incompressible hunks are being stored now. The source of
the decrunch header is now included and a custom header can be
specified in the command line. This way you can use Cranker as a
loader system, show a progress bar, or disable crunching in the
commandline and just exploit async I/O to show an effect while
loading.
0.1
initial release
## Contents of util/pack/cranker-mos.lha
PERMISSION UID GID PACKED SIZE RATIO METHOD CRC STAMP NAME
---------- ----------- ------- ------- ------ ---------- ------------ ----------
[generic] 99783 216348 46.1% -lh5- 07ca Mar 5 00:29 cranker-0.66/cranker
[generic] 1072 3741 28.7% -lh5- 7693 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/decruncher.asm
[generic] 4888 11440 42.7% -lh5- 93bc Sep 13 2021 cranker-0.66/README
[generic] 293 465 63.0% -lh5- 2da6 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/bin/bin2lua.lua
[generic] 2117 6376 33.2% -lh5- 6954 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/bin/compiler.lua
[generic] 2382 5383 44.3% -lh5- 08d3 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/bit.c
[generic] 26715 118095 22.6% -lh5- 61a7 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/classlib.c
[generic] 7856 28827 27.3% -lh5- 52fe Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/cranker.lua
[generic] 8085 32230 25.1% -lh5- 0d06 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/decranker.asm
[generic] 978 2405 40.7% -lh5- 3c82 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/INSTALL
[generic] 582 1616 36.0% -lh5- 925b Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/llibs.c
[generic] 5348 22773 23.5% -lh5- 0a03 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lapi.c
[generic] 209 262 79.8% -lh5- d78b Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lapi.h
[generic] 4953 17417 28.4% -lh5- 6374 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lauxlib.c
[generic] 1584 5777 27.4% -lh5- 4e41 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lauxlib.h
[generic] 4842 17045 28.4% -lh5- 7072 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lbaselib.c
[generic] 5714 21551 26.5% -lh5- aecc Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lcode.c
[generic] 910 2750 33.1% -lh5- ff1f Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lcode.h
[generic] 2833 10092 28.1% -lh5- 9a3e Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldblib.c
[generic] 5141 16920 30.4% -lh5- ad89 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldebug.c
[generic] 446 1061 42.0% -lh5- 30dd Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldebug.h
[generic] 4776 15012 31.8% -lh5- 03a6 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldo.c
[generic] 741 1897 39.1% -lh5- 0508 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldo.h
[generic] 1406 3882 36.2% -lh5- a768 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ldump.c
[generic] 1571 4718 33.3% -lh5- 82a1 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lfunc.c
[generic] 431 1125 38.3% -lh5- c699 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lfunc.h
[generic] 6018 20177 29.8% -lh5- 8041 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lgc.c
[generic] 1133 3159 35.9% -lh5- 2263 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lgc.h
[generic] 501 1005 49.9% -lh5- 9b57 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/linit.c
[generic] 3951 13590 29.1% -lh5- bf07 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/liolib.c
[generic] 3632 12581 28.9% -lh5- 95a8 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/llex.c
[generic] 980 2177 45.0% -lh5- d9d6 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/llex.h
[generic] 1090 2349 46.4% -lh5- 2202 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/llimits.h
[generic] 1412 5832 24.2% -lh5- 72dd Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lmathlib.c
[generic] 987 2202 44.8% -lh5- 5ca8 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lmem.c
[generic] 598 1494 40.0% -lh5- 2bea Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lmem.h
[generic] 5314 19365 27.4% -lh5- 09df Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/loadlib.c
[generic] 1946 5584 34.8% -lh5- fd73 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lobject.c
[generic] 2642 8507 31.1% -lh5- 0cb9 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lobject.h
[generic] 713 2884 24.7% -lh5- 957c Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lopcodes.c
[generic] 2768 8086 34.2% -lh5- faa5 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lopcodes.h
[generic] 2086 6140 34.0% -lh5- 1d0d Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/loslib.c
[generic] 10416 36706 28.4% -lh5- a016 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lparser.c
[generic] 972 2261 43.0% -lh5- b42d Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lparser.h
[generic] 2017 5694 35.4% -lh5- cc38 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lstate.c
[generic] 1939 5011 38.7% -lh5- b593 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lstate.h
[generic] 1316 3140 41.9% -lh5- c2dc Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lstring.c
[generic] 411 814 50.5% -lh5- 9858 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lstring.h
[generic] 6632 23640 28.1% -lh5- b2bb Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lstrlib.c
[generic] 5285 16458 32.1% -lh5- 805b Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ltable.c
[generic] 454 1186 38.3% -lh5- f638 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ltable.h
[generic] 2369 7343 32.3% -lh5- 8128 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ltablib.c
[generic] 822 1680 48.9% -lh5- 4557 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ltm.c
[generic] 552 1018 54.2% -lh5- bd80 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/ltm.h
[generic] 3353 10163 33.0% -lh5- 2839 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lua.c
[generic] 3475 11699 29.7% -lh5- 1cf7 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lua.h
[generic] 1835 4661 39.4% -lh5- 8250 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/luac.c
[generic] 7827 23376 33.5% -lh5- f27a Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/luaconf.h
[generic] 401 1026 39.1% -lh5- 68e3 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lualib.h
[generic] 1894 5322 35.6% -lh5- 0556 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lundump.c
[generic] 445 890 50.0% -lh5- 6c9a Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lundump.h
[generic] 6398 23396 27.3% -lh5- d56c Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lvm.c
[generic] 446 1159 38.5% -lh5- 97c4 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lvm.h
[generic] 720 1678 42.9% -lh5- 3ef2 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lzio.c
[generic] 664 1556 42.7% -lh5- 5fa9 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lua/lzio.h
[generic] 2023 5255 38.5% -lh5- 3712 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/luamain.c
[generic] 1086 2675 40.6% -lh5- 6f58 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/config1x.h
[generic] 1370 5869 23.3% -lh5- 84d8 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo1x.h
[generic] 5388 24242 22.2% -lh5- aae9 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo1x_9x.c
[generic] 2751 12748 21.6% -lh5- 4bf3 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo1x_d.ch
[generic] 846 2392 35.4% -lh5- 7ae3 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo1x_d2.c
[generic] 1412 4482 31.5% -lh5- efd2 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo1_d.ch
[generic] 4263 15597 27.3% -lh5- 1bfe Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzoconf.h
[generic] 17391 116578 14.9% -lh5- ac5e Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzodefs.h
[generic] 3096 10314 30.0% -lh5- 2ea2 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_conf.h
[generic] 884 1675 52.8% -lh5- 5519 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_dll.ch
[generic] 3560 19666 18.1% -lh5- 3ffd Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_func.h
[generic] 2184 6800 32.1% -lh5- f5b0 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_init.c
[generic] 1758 5132 34.3% -lh5- 8ecc Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_mchw.ch
[generic] 1435 3578 40.1% -lh5- 9ad1 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_ptr.h
[generic] 21697 118060 18.4% -lh5- 10f1 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_supp.h
[generic] 4473 17035 26.3% -lh5- bec7 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/lzo/lzo_swd.ch
[generic] 789 1668 47.3% -lh5- 1562 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/main.lua
[generic] 884 2453 36.0% -lh5- 1b0b Sep 13 2021 cranker-0.66/src/Makefile
[generic] 103 294 35.0% -lh5- 3bed Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/MODLIST
[generic] 388 634 61.2% -lh5- 3d2c Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/smakefile
[generic] 1587 5830 27.2% -lh5- ee32 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/tek/class.lua
[generic] 3720 13623 27.3% -lh5- 9e5f Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/tek/lib/args.lua
[generic] 1683 4938 34.1% -lh5- 1c34 Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/tek/lib/compress.c
[generic] 436 1105 39.5% -lh5- 3dca Jan 22 2021 cranker-0.66/src/tek/lib/tek_lua.h
---------- ----------- ------- ------- ------ ---------- ------------ ----------
Total 90 files 377277 1276860 29.5% Mar 5 03:47
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