Single-file UC2 v3 archives are now fully backward compatible with the
original UC2 Pro — listing and extraction verified in automated DOSBox-X
test. SFX extraction timeout increased to 600s with 22-file completeness
check (incomplete extraction caused false test results throughout the
earlier investigation). Direction 1 (UC2 v3 -> original) test added.
Root cause: the original UC2 Pro expects csize=0 in the cdir COMPRESS
record (it ignores the field entirely). UC2 v3 was writing the actual
compressed size, which confused the original's archive reader.
Additional changes:
- Use default Huffman tree for all blocks (ensures tree encoding compat)
- Write method=compression_level in cdir COMPRESS (was hardcoded to 1)
- Add tests/scripts/bitdump.py for bit-level bitstream analysis
Single-file UC2 v3 archives are now fully readable by the original UC2
Pro (listing and extraction verified in DOSBox-X). Multi-file archives
still hang — the cdir bitstream decodes correctly in our Python analyzer
but fails in the original's ASM decompressor kernel. Investigation
continues; the bitdump.py tool enables targeted comparison.
Port the original TreeGen/RepairLengths/CodeGen algorithms faithfully
from TREEGEN.CPP for bitstream compatibility with the 1992 UC2 Pro:
- treegen() now accepts max_code_bits parameter (13 for main trees,
7 for tree-encoding meta-tree)
- Heap uses >= for child comparison (prefer right child on ties),
matching original Reheap()
- BuildCodeTree uses extract-one-then-combine pattern
- RepairLengths uses sorted linked lists with cascading space-fill
- Single/zero symbol cases assign length 1 to two symbols
- tree_enc RLE: trigger at run > 6 (not >= 6), max 20 per chunk,
single RepeatCode per run
- First block uses default tree (tree-changed=0) matching original
behavior for small blocks
Full backward compatibility with original UC2 Pro archives (Direction 2)
is maintained. Forward compatibility (UC2 v3 -> original, Direction 1)
remains in progress — the original still hangs, likely due to residual
bitstream-level differences in the ASM decompressor kernel.
Automated test that runs the original 1992 UC2 Pro (UC.EXE) in DOSBox-X
headlessly to create archives from the test corpus, then extracts with
UC2 v3 and verifies byte-for-byte file identity.
Key findings during development:
- uc2pro.exe is a UCEXE self-extracting archive, not the tool itself;
the actual archiver is UC.EXE inside the distribution
- UC.EXE must be run from its own directory (needs DOS.SEA overlay)
- DOSBox-X flatpak requires work dirs under $HOME (filesystem=home)
- The reverse direction (UC2 v3 → original) does not work: the original
UC2 Pro hangs reading UC2 v3 archives due to compression bitstream
differences (added as a roadmap item)
Also fixes create_archives.sh to use the same two-session DOSBox pattern
(extract SFX first, then use UC.EXE).
Recursive directory scanning with parent/child ID tracking, directory
entries in the central directory (OSMETA + DIRMETA + EXTMETA long name
tags), and a CLI round-trip test verifying nested directory hierarchies.
Content-fingerprint grouping via FNV-1a hash of file headers: files
sharing identical first 4096 bytes are assigned a custom master block
built from the largest file in the group. Masters are compressed with
SuperMaster and written as MASMETA records in the central directory.
Files below 1 KB or without a group continue using the SuperMaster.
Includes CLI integration test and documentation updates (format spec,
usage, roadmap).
Implement a compressor that produces bitstreams compatible with the
existing Bobrowski decompressor. The engine uses LZ77 sliding-window
match finding with hash chains, Huffman entropy coding, and delta-coded
tree serialization matching the original UC2 format exactly.
New files:
- lib/src/compress.c: LZ77+Huffman compressor (~950 lines)
- lib/src/uc2_internal.h: shared constants, types, checksums
- lib/src/uc2_tables.c: vval/ivval delta tables, default Huffman tree
- tests/src/test_roundtrip.c: compress→archive→decompress→verify tests
Key details:
- 4 compression levels (Fast/Normal/Tight/Ultra) with tunable search
- Lazy evaluation for better match selection at higher levels
- Delta-coded Huffman tree serialization with RLE
- Fletcher/XOR checksum computation
- Round-trip test covers 8 patterns × 4 levels (32 test cases)
Fixed 28 errors in the hand-computed ivval inverse delta table (rows
9-13) that caused the decompressor to reconstruct wrong Huffman trees
from compressor output.
Test corpus (empty, text, binary, compressible, incompressible) with
reference archives created by original UC2 v2.3 in DOSBox. Two CTest
tests: test_identify (magic detection) and test_extract (full
extraction pipeline verified byte-for-byte against corpus).
Eremey Valetov