PKlib

Overview

PKlib contains x86 16-bit Assembly sources for the PKWARE-style data compression library (Implode/Explode) and example programs demonstrating how to call the compression/decompression routines from assembly. These are historical sources (circa early 1990s) intended as reference or for educational use.

Requirements

• Turbo Assembler (tasm) and Turbo Linker (tlink) as used by the supplied build script ASM.BAT.
• A DOS/16-bit development environment (or an emulator like DOSBox) to assemble and run the examples.

Build

From the src/ directory run the provided batch file to assemble and link the example programs:

cd src
ASM.BAT

ASM.BAT calls tasm/tlink to assemble EXAMPLE0.ASM/EXAMPLE1.ASM and IMPLODE.ASM and link the executables.

Usage

• The examples read TEST.IN, compress it to TEST.CMP using Implode, then decompress to TEST.EXT using Explode.
• To run the examples, place a test input file named TEST.IN in src/ and run the produced EXE(s) in a DOS environment or emulator.

Key files

• src/IMPLODE.ASM - compression implementation (main library source).
• src/EXAMPLE1.ASM - example program that calls Implode and Explode (shows how to supply read/write callbacks).
• src/ASM.BAT - build script using tasm and tlink.
• src/TEST.IN, src/TEST0.BAT, src/TEST1.BAT - test inputs and helper scripts.

License & Copyright

These sources include code labeled as "PKWARE Data Compression Library" (copyright notices present in the example sources). The repository does not add or change licensing information. Before using or redistributing this code, confirm copyright and licensing with the original owner (PKWARE) or ensure your use complies with applicable laws.

Contributing

If you want help modernizing, porting, or documenting these sources (for example porting to a modern assembler or extracting the algorithm), open an issue or a PR describing the intended change and target environment (DOSBox, cross-compile, etc.).

Contact / Next steps

If you'd like, I can:

• Add a short BUILD.md with exact tasm/tlink flags used by ASM.BAT.
• Create a small DOSBox run script to assemble and test automatically.
• Extract a concise API reference showing the Implode/Explode stack parameters.

Choose one and I'll proceed.