Can we get UPX packed TC ?

[MaxX]

Can we get UPX packed 32 and 64 bit versions, please?
I have tried to make it myself, but TC shows an error and exits immediately.

[Sir_SiLvA]

32bit will be avail at https://totalcommander.ch/win/tcmd1103_upxpacked.exe once
Chris comes around to doing it.
(see https://www.ghisler.com/packed_download/)
sadly he doesnt do 64bit upx'ing

[ghisler(Author)]

once Chris comes around to doing it.

What do you mean? It has been available since the release of Total Commander 11.03.

I remember having troubles making a 64-bit UPXed version (crashes).

[beb]

2MaxX
Out of curiosity, why do you need that?
What effects do you expect to get that overbid the price you have to pay for that?

[Sir_SiLvA]

once Chris comes around to doing it.

What do you mean? It has been available since the release of Total Commander 11.03.

https://www.ghisler.com/packed_download/ only shows the upxed exe for 11.02
So how would anyone know that https://totalcommander.ch/win/tcmd1103_upxpacked.exe is available?

What effects do you expect to get that overbid the price you have to pay for that?

Smaller Executables ofc. There is no price to pay for it:?:

[Dalai]

There is no price to pay for it:?:

Yes, there is. UPX packed files are much more likely to be (falsely) detected as malicious. And since they're packed, they need to be unpacked in memory which adds overhead and also means that the OS can't share the same parts between multiple copies of the same program/process. In short, the memory usage will increase and so will CPU usage during unpacking.
Here are some (external) resouces where you can read more about it:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/353634/are-there-any-downsides-to-using-upx-to-compress-a-windows-executable
viewtopic.php?t=7808
Ghisler also had reasons to stop distributing packed executables by default which are explained in %COMMANDER_PATH%\Size!.txt.

Regards
Dalai

[Sir_SiLvA]

There is no price to pay for it:?:

Yes, there is. UPX packed files are much more likely to be (falsely) detected as malicious. And since they're packed, they need to be unpacked in memory which adds overhead and also means that the OS can't share the same parts between multiple copies of the same program/process. In short, the memory usage will increase and so will CPU usage during unpacking.

Its not Chris problem if people use snake oil.
People these days have 32GB and more RAM (and growing) so sorry that point doesnt count.

[Dalai]

Its not Chris problem if people use snake oil.

It was - obviously - his problem so he made the decision to stop using it by default. And I can see why: If you have to deal with people complaining that your software is detected by some anti-virus software on a regular basis and you can't convince the user that it's the anti-virus software falsely detecting something, there comes a time you decide to spend your time on the things that matter instead: developing the software and proper support for it.

Furthermore, not everyone has a choice or even a say in which anti-virus software is used like in corporate, school or government environments for example. Put another way: Don't reduce TC to running in home environments.

NB: One other drawback I've just remembered is that resources like icons etc. are usually packed as well. This can make it difficult to see all embedded icons in a resource viewer/editor and it also might make it impossible to properly refer to all of these icons in things like shell links (LNK) or for internal purposes like TC's button bar.

People these days have 32GB and more RAM (and growing) so sorry that point doesnt count.

I hope you're aware that there are a lot of users not having big money to spend on hardware, so I strongly disagree with your statement. Secondly please keep in mind that not everyone around the world has the privilege to live in a developed country like you and me. Software usually is designed to work on computers world-wide - and TC certainly is.

[Sir_SiLvA]

one other drawback I've just remembered is that resources like icons etc. are usually packed as well. This can make it difficult to see all embedded icons in a resource viewer/editor and it also might make it impossible to properly refer to all of these icons in things like shell links (LNK) or for internal purposes like TC's button bar.

Upx can pack the executable without packing the resources.

but let's get back to the main points:
1. https://www.ghisler.com/packed_download/ only shows the download link for 11.02 upxed Exe
(11.03 is avail under the link I posted)
2. That it would be nice to have a 64bit upxed Exe for people who want to use them.

@Dalei: the upxed Exe was always an optional download so if people download it and then complain because their system uses snake oil it's not Chris responsibility IMHO.

[Dalai]

Upx can pack the executable without packing the resources.

While this is true it doesn't help when the developer decides to compress these resources and digitally signs the resulting executable. So users can't influence if and how a program is packed, especially if it has an internal validity check like TC does or even a tamper protection. Digital signatures will get invalid as soon as the file contents are changed, and AFAIK signatures can't be compressed by UPX.

@Dalei: the upxed Exe was always an optional download so if people download it and then complain because their system uses snake oil it's not Chris responsibility IMHO.

The file "Size!.txt" exists for a reason, don't you think? The UPX packed executable wasn't always an optional download. TC versions up to and including 7.04a were shipped with a UPX packed executable. Starting with 7.50 the executable is uncompressed.

[beb]

2Dalai
By the way, SIZE!.TXT was eliminated from the installer package since 11.03 RC 2.

Code: Select all

23.01.24 Release Total Commander 11.03 release candidate 2
19.01.24 Fixed: Removed SIZE!.TXT from the installer (32/64)

Thus, the information there on the packed version existence has lost its meaning and is no longer considered relevant for the new Total Commander users.

[Dalai]

2beb
I'm aware of this change. I mentioned the file to prove a point, that's all.

[Sir_SiLvA]

The file "Size!.txt" exists for a reason, don't you think? The UPX packed executable wasn't always an optional download. TC versions up to and including 7.04a were shipped with a UPX packed executable. Starting with 7.50 the executable is uncompressed.

Since 7.50 the upxed exe is available as a sepperate download -> https://www.ghisler.com/packed_download/

[Sir_SiLvA]

While this is true it doesn't help when the developer decides to compress these resources and digitally signs the resulting executable.

Why are you derrailing with WHAT IFs? TCs Icons are (except the exe icon) stored in Wcmicon*.dll

[petermad]

TCs Icons are (except the exe icon) stored in Wcmicon*.dll

No - there are 59 Icons/icon overlays stored in totalcmd64.exe. and totalcmd.exe