Hi Everyone!

I am pleased to announce version 1.9.0 of cookfs.
Homepage and downloads are on github: https://github.com/chpock/cookfs

Please fill free to check/build/use it. Any feedback is welcome!

=====================================================================

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.

Major changes since the last public release:

1. Improved deduplication. When adding a new file that is exactly the
same as an already added file, the new file will not take up space in
the archive, but will use the bytes of the previous file.

2. Added a fileset feature. File sets are the ability to have different
sets of files in the same archive and to switch between them. File sets
can have either arbitrary names or automatic names that correspond to
the current platform and/or current version of Tcl. In the latter case,
when the archive is mounted, the file set that corresponds to the
current platform and/or version of Tcl will be selected.

This makes it possible to create archives that, for example, when
mounted on Windows platform with the Tcl8.6 interpreter, will have one
set of files, and when mounted on Linux platform with the Tcl9.0
interpreter, will have a different set.

This feature will be used in the future to provide universal and
cross-platform packages (archives) that will contain files (including
loadable modules) suitable for multiple platforms and/or versions of
Tcl.

3. Added the ability to link the package directly to zlib (without zlib
functions in the Tcl C API), and to link the package to the mbedTLS
library for cryptographic functions. This will allow zlib and mbedTLS
to be used directly if cookfs is not used as a separate package, but as
part of an application that is already linked to these libraries.

In the case of zlib, this allows for faster and more memory-efficient
zlib compression, because with the Tcl C API it is necessary to convert
compressed/uncompressed memory areas into a Tcl object. In the case of
mbedTLS, this allows to use the same code for SHA256 and AES encryption
cryptographic functions, rather than duplicating it with yet another
implementation.

4. Added support for attributes for VFS root, files and directories.
Using attributes, it is possible to manage the file system, or to get
information and explore it. For example, using attributes, it is
possible to change the current compression method, set a password,
enable write-to-memory mode, get information about compression of
existing files (compression method, size before and after compression),
and much more.

5. The values for the pagesize/smallfilesize/smallfilebuffer mount
parameters are now retained and the previous values will be used for
subsequent mounts.

6. Added ::cookfs::sha256 command to get SHA256 hash for certain data.
This command is only available if the package is built with
cryptographic features enabled (they are enabled by default).

--
Best regards,
Konstantin Kushnir

Konstantin,

I really appreciate your great work.
For me, it is crucial, to have long term support. So, having features in
the core TCL would be highly appreciated.

I can understand that the barer is high and the potential bashing bar is
present.

So if I can support to get any of the features to the core - I would
appreciate. Christian Werner is also working on a cacheing mechanism to
increase glob speed on (bundled) zip files.

Thank you for all,
Harald

Am 20.10.2024 um 22:47 schrieb Konstantin Kushnir:
> Hi Everyone!
>
> I am pleased to announce version 1.9.0 of cookfs.
> Homepage and downloads are on github: https://github.com/chpock/cookfs
>
> Please fill free to check/build/use it. Any feedback is welcome!
>
> =====================================================================
>
> 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.
>
> Major changes since the last public release:
>
> 1. Improved deduplication. When adding a new file that is exactly the
> same as an already added file, the new file will not take up space in
> the archive, but will use the bytes of the previous file.
>
> 2. Added a fileset feature. File sets are the ability to have different
> sets of files in the same archive and to switch between them. File sets
> can have either arbitrary names or automatic names that correspond to
> the current platform and/or current version of Tcl. In the latter case,
> when the archive is mounted, the file set that corresponds to the
> current platform and/or version of Tcl will be selected.
>
> This makes it possible to create archives that, for example, when
> mounted on Windows platform with the Tcl8.6 interpreter, will have one
> set of files, and when mounted on Linux platform with the Tcl9.0
> interpreter, will have a different set.
>
> This feature will be used in the future to provide universal and
> cross-platform packages (archives) that will contain files (including
> loadable modules) suitable for multiple platforms and/or versions of
> Tcl.
>
> 3. Added the ability to link the package directly to zlib (without zlib
> functions in the Tcl C API), and to link the package to the mbedTLS
> library for cryptographic functions. This will allow zlib and mbedTLS
> to be used directly if cookfs is not used as a separate package, but as
> part of an application that is already linked to these libraries.
>
> In the case of zlib, this allows for faster and more memory-efficient
> zlib compression, because with the Tcl C API it is necessary to convert
> compressed/uncompressed memory areas into a Tcl object. In the case of
> mbedTLS, this allows to use the same code for SHA256 and AES encryption
> cryptographic functions, rather than duplicating it with yet another
> implementation.
>
> 4. Added support for attributes for VFS root, files and directories.
> Using attributes, it is possible to manage the file system, or to get
> information and explore it. For example, using attributes, it is
> possible to change the current compression method, set a password,
> enable write-to-memory mode, get information about compression of
> existing files (compression method, size before and after compression),
> and much more.
>
> 5. The values for the pagesize/smallfilesize/smallfilebuffer mount
> parameters are now retained and the previous values will be used for
> subsequent mounts.
>
> 6. Added ::cookfs::sha256 command to get SHA256 hash for certain data.
> This command is only available if the package is built with
> cryptographic features enabled (they are enabled by default).
>