Glossary
Purpose
Definitions of terms used in Excavate documentation.
Terms
Archive
A single file containing one or more files with metadata. Archives may be compressed to reduce size.
CAB
Microsoft Cabinet format. A Windows archive format commonly used for software distribution and system files.
Compound Archive
An archive that combines multiple formats, such as .tar.gz (TAR archived then GZIP compressed).
Compression
The process of reducing file size using algorithms. Common algorithms include Deflate, LZMA, and LZX.
CPIO
Copy In/Out format. A Unix archive format used in RPM packages and macOS installer payloads.
The process of decompressing and writing archive contents to disk.
A class that handles extraction for a specific archive format.
Facade
A design pattern providing a simplified interface to complex subsystems. Excavate::Archive is a facade.
Filter
A glob pattern used to select files for extraction.
The process of identifying an archive’s format by extension or content.
GZIP
GNU ZIP compression format. Often used with TAR for .tar.gz files.
Magic Bytes
Byte sequences at the beginning of a file that identify its format.
MSI
Microsoft Installer format. A Windows installer package format that contains embedded CAB archives.
Nested Archive
An archive contained within another archive. Common in MSI and PKG formats.
OLE
Object Linking and Embedding. A Microsoft compound document format used by MSI files.
PKG
macOS installer package format. An XAR archive containing CPIO payloads.
Pure Ruby
Implemented entirely in Ruby without native extensions or compiled code.
Automatically extracting archives within archives.
RPM
Red Hat Package Manager format. A Linux package format containing compressed CPIO payloads.
TAR
Tape Archive format. A Unix archive format that preserves file metadata.
XAR
eXtensible ARchive format. Used by macOS for .pkg installer packages.
XZ
High-compression format using LZMA algorithm. Often used with TAR for .tar.xz files.
ZIP
Standard cross-platform archive format using Deflate compression.