Porting UnRar library to Xbox/XBMC

damien7579 · 2004-02-22, 01:30

hello developers,

this is my first post, tho i have been lurking around the scene for a wee while - so hello everyone

i am a big xbox/xbmc fan and user.

i am in the process of porting the latest unrar source code (see http://www.rarlab.com/rar/unrarsrc-3.3.6.tar.gz). the license seems quite relaxed and couldnt see a problem with porting it as a lib...

my main goal is to add support for rar/zip browsing in xbmc with the ability to auto extract a file when selected to a local folder on the xbox hdd which will then be opened as per normal. the unrar lib can also be used to extract subs which is a current todo feature.

before i get to into this, is anyone else already working on something like this and if not and it proves to be a useful addition, how should i submit my efforts in the xbmc cvs tree?

feedback, ideas/advice and so on would be greatly appreciated.

/damien

thebeast · 2004-02-22, 02:33

try messaging, for one, butcher. also see this thread http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....29;st=0

**Gamester17** · 2004-02-22, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by (damien7579 @ feb. 21 2004,23:30)

feedback, ideas/advice and so on would be greatly appreciated.

i think the major hurdle to overcome will be on-the-fly parsing so xbmc don't have to extract the whole file(s) to harddrive or memory first to read the uncompressed file, but instead being able to extract parcial data from exampel rared vobsubs or other archives. i'm not a programmer myself so i don't know how that is possible to do but complex tools does it and we got this source code (link) from them, noone on the xbmc team has yet had time to look at it so be great it you give it a go.

damien7579 · 2004-02-22, 16:20

thanks for the replies thebeast and gamester17. i will look at the complex rar code and see what can be done.
in respect to partial extraction - it is possible to extract from a rar to memory but depending on the rar settings, some files
will require all the compressed data before them to be decompressed so that the stream can be read - so even if this is all done in temp memory it could be slow - but as long as the files are small this should not be a problem - which is fine for most rar'd subs.

regards,

/damien

damien7579 · 2004-02-23, 18:52

the complex unrar source is based on an oldish distro of the rarlabs unrar source code - but the changes required to port to the xbox are pretty small so i have continued working on the current unrar release. since this is my first attempt at xbox development i have quickly come to realise how important it is to be able to do real time debugging

- so tonights exercise is to convert my retail box to a debug dev one before continuing. so wish me luck... muhahahahahaaaaaaaa.

/damien

Frodo · 2004-02-24, 11:51

sounds good
you're gonna make ppl happy with this:-)
frodo

damien7579 · 2004-02-25, 17:05

frodo: yeah i noticed all the posting's for rar support.

in repsect to rar browsing, how difficult would it be to to add support to the smb/local directory classes to allow a rar file to be navigated ? i have yet to look to deep into that but i cant seeing it being a major issue...

anyhoo, thanks for the support

/damien

erpi99 · 2004-02-25, 18:47

can you make the unrar also avaible for extracting files into xbox hard drive? it will be very convenient for the upgrade of xbmc. it takes much less time to ftp one tar file into xbox and untar the file in the xbox then ftp thousands of files untared in pc to the xbox.

damien7579 · 2004-02-25, 20:34

the unrar source only supports rars (obviously

but is there also need for zip support or even other formats?

**Gamester17** · 2004-02-25, 22:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by (damien7579 @ feb. 25 2004,18:34)

is there also need for zip support or even other formats?

i think butcher said he would look into porting zlib (for unzipping) to xbmc, but not sure how fully he plans to implement it

2004-02-24, 11:51	#6
Frodo Team MediaPortal Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 509	sounds good you're gonna make ppl happy with this:-) frodo __________________ XBMC Project Founder (Retired), now head programmer of MediaPortal

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2004-02-22, 01:30	#1
damien7579 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8	hello developers, this is my first post, tho i have been lurking around the scene for a wee while - so hello everyone i am a big xbox/xbmc fan and user. i am in the process of porting the latest unrar source code (see http://www.rarlab.com/rar/unrarsrc-3.3.6.tar.gz). the license seems quite relaxed and couldnt see a problem with porting it as a lib... my main goal is to add support for rar/zip browsing in xbmc with the ability to auto extract a file when selected to a local folder on the xbox hdd which will then be opened as per normal. the unrar lib can also be used to extract subs which is a current todo feature. before i get to into this, is anyone else already working on something like this and if not and it proves to be a useful addition, how should i submit my efforts in the xbmc cvs tree? feedback, ideas/advice and so on would be greatly appreciated. /damien

2004-02-22, 02:33	#2
thebeast Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: EU, Denmark, Copenhagen Posts: 194	try messaging, for one, butcher. also see this thread http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....29;st=0

2004-02-22, 16:20	#4
damien7579 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8	thanks for the replies thebeast and gamester17. i will look at the complex rar code and see what can be done. in respect to partial extraction - it is possible to extract from a rar to memory but depending on the rar settings, some files will require all the compressed data before them to be decompressed so that the stream can be read - so even if this is all done in temp memory it could be slow - but as long as the files are small this should not be a problem - which is fine for most rar'd subs. regards, /damien

2004-02-23, 18:52	#5
damien7579 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8	the complex unrar source is based on an oldish distro of the rarlabs unrar source code - but the changes required to port to the xbox are pretty small so i have continued working on the current unrar release. since this is my first attempt at xbox development i have quickly come to realise how important it is to be able to do real time debugging - so tonights exercise is to convert my retail box to a debug dev one before continuing. so wish me luck... muhahahahahaaaaaaaa. /damien

2004-02-25, 17:05	#7
damien7579 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8	frodo: yeah i noticed all the posting's for rar support. in repsect to rar browsing, how difficult would it be to to add support to the smb/local directory classes to allow a rar file to be navigated ? i have yet to look to deep into that but i cant seeing it being a major issue... anyhoo, thanks for the support /damien

2004-02-25, 18:47	#8
erpi99 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 137	can you make the unrar also avaible for extracting files into xbox hard drive? it will be very convenient for the upgrade of xbmc. it takes much less time to ftp one tar file into xbox and untar the file in the xbox then ftp thousands of files untared in pc to the xbox.

2004-02-25, 20:34	#9
damien7579 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 8	the unrar source only supports rars (obviously but is there also need for zip support or even other formats?

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