Create a self-extracting archive

Posted 02-16-2012 at 05:45 AM by rainbowsally
Updated 05-20-2015 at 04:56 AM by rainbowsally (obsolete)

Note: This is pretty much obsolete at this point.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...version-36555/ is a simpler, faster, more elegant C version of the same.

CHANGELOG Feb 22, 2012
Changed the temp dir from /tmp to $HOME/tmp so everyone has write and execute perms in it. Added more cleanups including removal of the temp dir unless the user already had it and was using it.

Features:

Embedding binary data in a shell script.
Writing a program with a program.
Various useful snippets even if the app doesn't turn you on.

Requires:

base64 (encoder in core utils)
tar (core utils)
xz (lzma stuff, real old linux may not have it)

What this does is creates a self extracting archive, probably smaller than tar.gz that runs when you execute it on the commandline.

Create it and type new.sfxz --help for more info.

If you try to run a *.sfxz file by clicking on it, it will issue an error msg. xmessage is funky, but ubiquitous and at least functional.

file: new.sfxz (executable)
purpose: snippet collection if nothing else

Code:

#!/bin/sh
# base64 encoded xz-lzma compressed self extracting 
# file creator
# requires tar, xz (lzma) compression

############################
# usage check

if [ "$1" == "" ] || [ "$1" == "--help" ]; then
echo "
  Usage new.sfxz <filename | dirname>
  Creates self-extracting file named <filename>.sfxz
  Requires xz (lzma) at both ends of operation.

  Uses tar so expect similar path issues.

  If a post extraction script named 'post.sh' exists
  it will be run at extraction time.  It should assume the 
  extracted file(s) are in $HOME/tmp/sfxz when it runs.

  The default post extraction action is to move the 
  extracted file or dir from the $HOME/tmp/sfxz directory 
  to the current working directory.
 "
exit
fi

filename=`basename $1`
srcdir=`dirname $1`
post="post-extract"


############################
# compress xz

if ! tar -caf $filename.xz $srcdir/$filename >/dev/null; then
  echo "
  Can't convert '$srcdir/$filename' to self extractor"
  exit 1
fi


############################
# write output file header

cat << _EOF > $filename.sfxz
#!/bin/sh
# base64 self extractor
# file: $filename

filename=$filename

# don't allow user to click on the file
if ! tty >/dev/null; then
  xmessage -center "
  \$(basename \$0)
  must be run in a terminal 
  "
  exit
fi

# create and/or clear out tmp dir
mkdir -p \$HOME/tmp/sfxz
rm -rf \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/*
base64 -d << _BEOF >\$HOME/tmp/sfxz/\$filename.xz
_EOF


############################
# write output file footer
# with renamed post extraction
# script

base64 $filename.xz >> $filename.sfxz
echo "_BEOF

(cd \$HOME/tmp/sfxz && tar -xaf $filename.xz)
rm -f \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/$filename.xz
 " >> $filename.sfxz

if [ -e post.sh ]; then
  cp post.sh $post
else
cat << _EOF > $post
#!/bin/sh

is_yes() # returns OK if first char is Y or y
{
  local key=\`echo \$1 | cut -b1 | sed 's/y/Y/; /Y/!d'\`
  [ "\$key" == 'Y' ] && return 0 # true
  return 1 # false
}

if [ -e $filename ]; then
  printf "
  Overwrite existing file(s)? [N/y]:"
  read key
  if ! is_yes \$key ;then
  echo "Aborting.."
    exit 0
  fi
fi

mv \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/$filename .
_EOF
fi


echo "cat << _BEOF > \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/$post" >> $filename.sfxz
cat $post >> $filename.sfxz
echo "_BEOF

sh \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/$post
rm -rf \$HOME/tmp/sfxz/*
rmdir \$HOME/tmp/sfxz 2>/dev/null || true
rmdir \$HOME/tmp 2>/dev/null || true
 " >> $filename.sfxz


############################
# cleanup

rm -f $filename.xz
rm -f $post

############################
# make executable

chmod +x $filename.sfxz

Much of this code is counterintuitive. It will make more sense after you have created one self-extractor. You can open a self-extracting archive in an editor and see where the innards came from and why the code in the extractor creator looks a little... "odd", shall we say?

The problem with this self extractor is that it's not a stand-alone app because some of its dependencies are not standard on every linux.

A gzipping self extractor would be though. But compression gains would be reduced by the base64 compression scheme which increases the size of the binary data by about 30% in conversion to printable data.

See early blog posts (like page 1 or 2) for how and why to put this stuff in a 'sandbox'. These things in the entries for "kde utils", but most of them are not dependent on kde. In fact kde has done a great job of trying to break them -- but they all work again (at least in openSUSE 11.4).

:-)

Create a self-extracting archive

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