[Python-Dev] Add a -z interpreter flag to execute a zip file

[David Gowers]

On 7/24/07, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> On 7/12/07, Daniel Stutzbach <daniel at stutzbachenterprises.com> wrote:
> > On 7/11/07, Andy C <andychup at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > The good thing about this is that it's extremely simple -- basically
> > > 20 lines of C code to add a -z flag that calls a 3-line Python
> > > function in the runpy module.
> >
> > Instead of requiring a -z flag, why not have the interpreter peak at
> > the file to see if it starts with one of the ZIP magic numbers?
> >
> > That way it Just Works.
>
> I guess you wouldn't recognize a zip file if it hits you in the face.
> Literally. :-)
>
> Zip files don't start with a magic number.

ZIP files *do* start with a magic number; either PK\03\04 (non-empty
archive) or PK\05\06 (empty archive). This is rather easy to notice,
as I did in the bad old days of DOS, and i recently doubly verified it
('zip'+'khexedit', and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_%28file_format%29; I tried the
infozip website too, but it seems to be down.)