Packaging files having automatic conversion across platforms

Abstract

A client receives a response to a request from a client to a server to extract files from a software package. The reply includes an archive file of the files and attribute information for the files. The files and the attribute information are extracted from the archive file. The client determines that at least one of the files is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client. With the attribute information, the client determines that the at least one of the files is not a binary file. The client translates the at least one file from the first encoding to the second encoding.

1 . A method for a client to extract files from a software package, the method comprising:
 receiving a reply in response to a request sent from the client to a server to extract files from a software package, wherein the reply comprises an archive file of the files and attribute information for the files;   extracting the files and the attribute information from the archive file;   determining that at least one of the files is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client;   determining, with the attribute information, that the at least one of the files is not a binary file; and   translating the at least one file from the first encoding to the second encoding.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising extracting package information about the software package from the archive file. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said determining that the at least one of the files is associated with the first encoding different than the second encoding of the client comprises determining, with the package information, that a first operating system associated with the at least one file is different than a second operating system of the client. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said translating the at least one file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises translating newline encodings of the first operating system in the at least one file into newline encodings of the second operating system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said translating newline representations of the first operating system in the at least one file into newline representations of the second operating system comprises one of:
 removing carriage returns from carriage return line feed pairs in the at least one file; and   inserting a carriage return before each line feed in the at least one file.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said determining that at least one of the files is associated with the first encoding different than the second encoding of the client comprises determining, with the attribute information, that the at least one file is associated with a first code page and the client is associated with a second code page. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said translating the at least one file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises performing codepage translation of the at least one file based on the first codepage and the second codepage. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining whether the at least one file is an executable file; 
 marking the at least one file as executable if the at least one file is an executable file; and 
 restoring read/write flags of the files. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first encoding corresponds to a platform of a second client that originated the at least one file with respect to the software package. 
     
     
         10 . A computer program product for extracting files from a software package in a distributed environment, the computer program product comprising:
 a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising a computer usable program code configured to:   receive a reply in response to a request from a client to a server to extract files from a software package, wherein the reply comprises an archive file of the files and attribute information for the files;   extract the files and the attribute information from the archive file; and   for each of the files,
 determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client; 
 determine, with the attribute information, whether the file is a binary file; and 
 translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding. 
   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 10  further comprising computer usable program code configured to extract package information about the software package from the archive file. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the computer usable program code configured to determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client comprises the computer usable program code configured to determine, with the package information, whether the file is associated with a different operating system than the client operating system. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 12 , wherein the computer usable program code configured to translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises the computer usable program code configured to translate newline encodings of the operating system associated with the file into newline encodings of the client operating system. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 13 , wherein the computer usable program code configured to translate newline encodings of the operating system associated with the file into newline encodings of the client operating system comprises the computer usable program configured to:
 remove carriage returns from carriage return line feed pairs in the file; or insert a carriage return before each line feed in the file.   
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the computer usable program code configured to determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client comprises the computer usable program code configured to determine, with the attribute information, whether the file is associated with a codepage different than a codepage of the client. 
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the computer usable program code configured to translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises the computer usable program code configured to perform codepage translation of the file based on the codepage associated with the file and the codepage of the client. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 10  further comprising computer usable program code configured to:
 determine whether each of the files determined not to be binary is an executable file; 
 marking those of the filed determined to be executable as executable; and 
 restore read/write flags of the files. 
 
     
     
         18 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor;   a communications adapter; and   a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising a computer usable program code configured to:   receive a reply in response to a request from a client to a server to extract files from a software package, wherein the reply comprises an archive file of the files and attribute information for the files;   extract the files and the attribute information from the archive file; and   for each of the files,
 determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client; 
 determine, with the attribute information, whether the file is a binary file; and 
 translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding. 
   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  further comprising computer usable program code configured to:
 extract package information about the software package from the archive file; 
 wherein the computer usable program code configured to determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client comprises the computer usable program code configured to determine, with the package information, whether the file is associated with a different operating system than the client operating system; 
 wherein the computer usable program code configured to translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises the computer usable program code configured to translate newline encodings of the operating system associated with the file into newline encodings of the client operating system. 
 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 ,
 wherein the computer usable program code configured to determine whether the file is associated with a first encoding different than a second encoding of the client comprises the computer usable program code configured to determine, with the attribute information, whether the file is associated with a codepage different than a codepage of the client;   wherein the computer usable program code configured to translate the file from the first encoding to the second encoding comprises the computer usable program code configured to perform codepage translation of the file based on the codepage associated with the file and the codepage of the client.