Hi Everyone!

I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.

This is an attempt to revive this amazing project. Its original
homepage in only available via webarchive:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150619084055/http://www.endorser.org/en/blog/tcl/cookfs
and the last public release 1.3.1 was in 2011 at
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cookit/files/cookfs/

Original description:

Cookfs is a Tcl virtual filesystem using a compressed archive format to
allow embedding multiple files in an archive that Tcl scripts can
access directly.

It is optimized for storing Tcl packages (allowing around 10%-20%
smaller sizes ratio than mk4vfs while still using zlib compression),
small, fast and integrated with Tcl.

It is designed only for use as Tcl VFS and provides multiple
optimizations especially for delivering Tcl based standalone
applications.

Supported compression methods are: none, zlib, bzip2 (not enabled by
default), lzma2(xz)

Also, there are 2 versions for almost all features: C code or Tcl code.

Major changes since the last public release 1.3.1:
* Add support for xz(lzma2) compression and use it by default
* Add a smart cache feature
* Bugfixes

Homepage and downloads are on github: https://github.com/chpock/cookfs

--
Best regards,
Konstantin Kushnir

Am 04.05.2024 um 23:52 schrieb Konstantin Kushnir:
> Hi Everyone!
>
> I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.
>
> This is an attempt to revive this amazing project. Its original
> homepage in only available via webarchive:
> http://web.archive.org/web/20150619084055/http://www.endorser.org/en/blog/tcl/cookfs
> and the last public release 1.3.1 was in 2011 at
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/cookit/files/cookfs/
>
> Original description:
>
> Cookfs is a Tcl virtual filesystem using a compressed archive format to
> allow embedding multiple files in an archive that Tcl scripts can
> access directly.
>
> It is optimized for storing Tcl packages (allowing around 10%-20%
> smaller sizes ratio than mk4vfs while still using zlib compression),
> small, fast and integrated with Tcl.
>
> It is designed only for use as Tcl VFS and provides multiple
> optimizations especially for delivering Tcl based standalone
> applications.
>
> Supported compression methods are: none, zlib, bzip2 (not enabled by
> default), lzma2(xz)
>
> Also, there are 2 versions for almost all features: C code or Tcl code.
>
> Major changes since the last public release 1.3.1:
> * Add support for xz(lzma2) compression and use it by default
> * Add a smart cache feature
> * Bugfixes
>
> Homepage and downloads are on github: https://github.com/chpock/cookfs
>

Great work ! Cookfs was authored by my TCL network shooting star
Wojciech Kocjan. This book is just great:
https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/BOOK+Tcl+8%2E5+Network+Programming

Just to double check. Are you aware that zip virtual file system is now
included in TCL 9.0?
Is there anything in cookfs, what is not included in TCL 9 core ?
Then, we may port it to TCL ...

Take care,
Harald

On Sun, 5 May 2024 11:22:52 +0200
Harald Oehlmann <wortkarg3@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Am 04.05.2024 um 23:52 schrieb Konstantin Kushnir:
> > I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.
> Just to double check. Are you aware that zip virtual file system is now
> included in TCL 9.0?

Thank you for the headup! I saw this information briefly, but have
already forgotten.

Unfortunatelly, I need better compression and lzma is the best choice
in 2024. Cookfs also offers the option to further improve compression
by using the solid achive mode. And it is not just a solid mode, but
a compromise between solid archive benefits and random data access
within archive.

Another killer feature of Cookfs is the parameters (compression, page
size, etc.) for different parts of file. The ability to use your own
commands for compression/decompression also adds flexibility.

I haven't dug into asynchronous mode enough yet, where further pages
are decompressed in the background and the application doesn't have to
wait for new data to be decompressed when it needs it. It seems that
this mode is now not working as the developers had planned. It will be
a nice performance boost if it works.

Thus, zipfs in core is a nice feature for combining multiple files into
a single file with a small compression bonus. But it can't be
considered a true compressed archive when other formats like
lzma/zstd/bzip2 available, and the zip format is more about portability
but not flexibility.

> Is there anything in cookfs, what is not included in TCL 9 core ?
> Then, we may port it to TCL ...

I am not sure about this. A feature of combining multiple files into
one is not something that many scripts require. Zipfs looks like a
sufficient tool to fulfill some basic possible requests, such as
creating a data package.

Cookfs contains advanced features for creating and working with data
packages. This is more interesting for specialized applications such as
tclkit systems. Thus, it is better to be as a module, rather than
taking up space in all the built interpreters.

--
Best regards,
Konstantin Kushnir

Am 05.05.2024 um 20:03 schrieb Konstantin Kushnir:
> On Sun, 5 May 2024 11:22:52 +0200
> Harald Oehlmann <wortkarg3@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Am 04.05.2024 um 23:52 schrieb Konstantin Kushnir:
>>> I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.
>> Just to double check. Are you aware that zip virtual file system is now
>> included in TCL 9.0?
>
> Thank you for the headup! I saw this information briefly, but have
> already forgotten.
>
> Unfortunatelly, I need better compression and lzma is the best choice
> in 2024. Cookfs also offers the option to further improve compression
> by using the solid achive mode. And it is not just a solid mode, but
> a compromise between solid archive benefits and random data access
> within archive.
>
> Another killer feature of Cookfs is the parameters (compression, page
> size, etc.) for different parts of file. The ability to use your own
> commands for compression/decompression also adds flexibility.
>
> I haven't dug into asynchronous mode enough yet, where further pages
> are decompressed in the background and the application doesn't have to
> wait for new data to be decompressed when it needs it. It seems that
> this mode is now not working as the developers had planned. It will be
> a nice performance boost if it works.
>
> Thus, zipfs in core is a nice feature for combining multiple files into
> a single file with a small compression bonus. But it can't be
> considered a true compressed archive when other formats like
> lzma/zstd/bzip2 available, and the zip format is more about portability
> but not flexibility.
>
>> Is there anything in cookfs, what is not included in TCL 9 core ?
>> Then, we may port it to TCL ...
>
> I am not sure about this. A feature of combining multiple files into
> one is not something that many scripts require. Zipfs looks like a
> sufficient tool to fulfill some basic possible requests, such as
> creating a data package.
>
> Cookfs contains advanced features for creating and working with data
> packages. This is more interesting for specialized applications such as
> tclkit systems. Thus, it is better to be as a module, rather than
> taking up space in all the built interpreters.
>

Konstantin,
don't get me wrong. cookfs is great. In my 25 years of experience with
TCL, I have seen great projects coming and going. The "going" part is
the problem.
The best way to preserve something great is to get it into the core.
There are many compromises required.
But I invite you as a wizard to look what may be moved to the core, even
if it is a small piece.
Wizards normally tend to do their thing and that is ok. But if the core
may get a small piece, welcome !
Take care,
Harald

Konstantin Kushnir wrote:

> Hi Everyone!
>
> I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.
>
> This is an attempt to revive this amazing project. Its original
> homepage in only available via webarchive:
>
http://web.archive.org/web/20150619084055/http://www.endorser.org/en/blog/tcl/cookfs
> and the last public release 1.3.1 was in 2011 at
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/cookit/files/cookfs/
>
> Original description:
>
> Cookfs is a Tcl virtual filesystem using a compressed archive format to
> allow embedding multiple files in an archive that Tcl scripts can
> access directly.
>
> It is optimized for storing Tcl packages (allowing around 10%-20%
> smaller sizes ratio than mk4vfs while still using zlib compression),
> small, fast and integrated with Tcl.
>
> It is designed only for use as Tcl VFS and provides multiple
> optimizations especially for delivering Tcl based standalone
> applications.
>
> Supported compression methods are: none, zlib, bzip2 (not enabled by
> default), lzma2(xz)
>
> Also, there are 2 versions for almost all features: C code or Tcl code.
>
> Major changes since the last public release 1.3.1:
> * Add support for xz(lzma2) compression and use it by default
> * Add a smart cache feature
> * Bugfixes
>
> Homepage and downloads are on github: https://github.com/chpock/cookfs
>

Hi Konstantin,

would it be possible to add password encryption to cookfs ?

in tclexecomp is currently zvfs used to have an encrypted zip-archive with
some code protection.

greetings,
Michael

On Tue, 14 May 2024 00:20:44 +0200
Michael Niehren <michael@niehren.de> wrote:

> Konstantin Kushnir wrote:
> > I am pleased to announce version 1.5.0 of cookfs.
> would it be possible to add password encryption to cookfs ?
>
> in tclexecomp is currently zvfs used to have an encrypted zip-archive with
> some code protection.

Yes. I have plans to add support for password protected archives.

However, at the moment I am removing dependency on tclvfs and rewriting
some Tcl parts in C. This should make it easier to build and use,
significantly improving performance.

--
Best regards,
Konstantin Kushnir