.pa 1 .he 'ARCHIVE (V)'3/15/72'ARCHIVE (V)' .ti 0 NAME archive (library) file format .sp .ti 0 DESCRIPTION The archive command ar__ is used to combine several files into one. Archives are used mainly as libraries to be searched by the link-editor ld__. A file produced by ar__ has a "magic number" at the start, followed by the constituent files, each preceded by a file header. The magic number is 177555(8) (it was chosen to be unlikely to occur anywhere else). The header of each file is 16 bytes long: .in +5 .ti -3 0-7 .br file name, null padded on the right .ti -3 8-11 .br Modification time of the file .ti -3 12 .br User ID of file owner .ti -3 13 .br file mode .ti -3 14-15 .br file size .in -5 If the file is an odd number of bytes long, it is padded with a null byte, but the size in the header is correct. Notice there is no provision for empty areas in an archive file. .sp .ti 0 SEE ALSO ar__, ld__