.TH EAR "1" "August 2012" "ear" "Ecere SDK/eC Compiling Tools"
.SH NAME
ear \- Ecere Archiver
.SH SYNOPSIS
ear \fIcommand\fR[\fIcommand\-options\fR] \fIarchive\fR \fIrequired\-parameters\fR
.SS "Extraction Commands:"
\fBv\fR (View)         \fIarchive\fR [\fIarchive\-paths...\fR]
.RS 0
\fBx\fR (Extract All)  \fIarchive\fR [\fIoutput\-directory\fR]
.RS 0
\fBe\fR (Extract)      \fIarchive\fR \fIarchive\-paths...\fR
.RS 0
\fBew\fR(Extract Where)\fIarchive\fR \fIarchive\-paths...\fR \fIoutput\-directory\fR
.SS "Archiving/Cleanup Commands:"
.RS 0
\fBa\fR (Add)          \fIarchive\fR \fIinput\-paths...\fR
.RS 0
\fBr\fR (Refresh)      \fIarchive\fR \fIinput\-paths...\fR
.RS 0
\fBu\fR (Update)       \fIarchive\fR \fIinput\-paths...\fR
 Add \fBw\fR (e.g. \fBaw\fR) for specifying an \fIarchive\-dest\-path\fR at the end
 Add \fBf\fR (e.g. \fBaf\fR) for packing the contents of folders \fIinput\-paths\fR at the root of the archive
.RS 0
\fBm\fR (Move)         \fIarchive\fR \fIarchive\-src\-paths...\fR \fIarchive\-dest\-path\fR
.RS 0
\fBn\fR (Rename)       \fIarchive\fR \fIarchive\-path\fR \fInew\-name\fR
.RS 0
\fBd\fR (Delete)       \fIarchive\fR \fIarchive\-paths...\fR
.RS 0
\fBc\fR (Clear)        \fIarchive\fR
.RS 0
\fBs\fR (Self Extract) \fIarchive\fR \fIself\-extractable\fR
   Create a self\-extractable archive out of an existing archive
.RS 0
\fBsa\fR(Self\-Ext/Add) \fIarchive\fR \fIinput\-paths...\fR
   Create a new self\-extractable archive and add files
.SH DESCRIPTION
ear is an archiving tool for manipulating Ecere Archives.
.P
Compression is currently provided by \fBZLib\fR. We hope to add support for other compression algorithms and archive formats (e.g. .zip, .7z, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2) in the future to both the Ecere runtime library and ear.
.P
ear can pack files at the end of existing files (e.g. binaries), which is the basis for the Ecere resources functionality.
The Ecere runtime library supports accessing such resources from the executable as well as imported modules (shared libraries).
.P
The Ecere File manipulation API (which is used by all APIs taking in a file path) understands resources paths with the general format: "<\fIarchive\fR>\fIpath/to/file\fR".
.P
Resources from imported modules can be accessed as: "<:\fImodule\-name\fR>\fIpath/to/file\fR".
.P
Resources embedded within the application itself can be accessed as: "<:>\fIpath/to/file\fR" or simply ":\fIpath/to/file\fR"
.P
Resources can be emdedded inside applications and modules from the Project View's Resources node in the Ecere IDE.

.SH OPTIONS
.RS 0
.SS Compression Options (Add, Refresh and Update)
.RS 0
\fB0\fR  No Compression
.RS 0
\fB1\fR ... \fB9\fR  Fastest Compression ... Best Compression (default = \fB9\fR)
.RS 0
.SS Miscellaneous Options
.RS 0
\fBq\fR  Quiet mode (Add, Refresh, Update, Extract and Extract All)