by: Helge, published: Oct 21, 2009, updated: Oct 28, 2010, in

On the Usefulness of self-extracting Archives

I just found out that the new firmware version 2.1 for my digital camera Panasonic Lumix LX3 has been published. Very nice, especially the speed improvements.

So I downloaded the firmware, a self-extracting archive, started the executable and had it uncompress the actual firmware file (a .bin file). Interestingly, the “compressed” .exe file is larger than the uncompressed .bin file:

So why, o gods of common sense, make the file available as an executable, which might even be blocked by company policy or virus scanners?

About the Author

Helge Klein (ex CTP, MVP, and vExpert) worked as a consultant and developer before founding vast limits, the uberAgent company, which was acquired by the Citrix business unit of Cloud Software Group in late 2023. Previously, Helge applied his extensive knowledge in IT infrastructure projects and architected a user profile management product, the successor of which is now available as Citrix Profile Management. Helge is the author of the popular tools Delprof2 and SetACL. He has presented at Citrix Synergy, BriForum, E2EVC, Splunk .conf, and many other events.

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