palemoon-dev/platform/other-licenses/7zstub/README.mcp

This directory contains the LZMA SDK code used in building the self-extracting
Windows installer.

The src/ directory contains an almost-unmodified copy of the 7-zip source code
version 18.05, as downloaded from https://www.7-zip.org/a/lzma1805.7z (linked
from https://www.7-zip.org/sdk.html). As stated in DOC/lzma-sdk.txt and on the
web page, this code is in the public domain. A few modifications have been
made to this copy of the source code. Those modifications are contained in
customizations.diff, which should be found in the same directory as this file.

The uxp/ directory contains 7zSD.sfx, a 32-bit Windows executable built from
the Visual C++ 6 project found in the src/CPP/7zip/Bundles/SFXSetup/
directory with customizations. The "ReleaseD" configuration was used.
The uxp/ version contains generic vendor information and can be used for any
UXP application's installer with minimal confusion for the user.

The ReleaseD/ directory contains 7zSD.sfx.exe, which is an unmodified binary
from that build process, ready to be customized for any target application
with a resource hacker (ResHacker, PE explorer, etc.).
Including a compiled binary in the source tree is certainly not preferred, but
is necessary in this case because the code does not build cleanly under more
recent compilers. Using an older toolchain also allows us to keep this
executable running on older Windows versions which are no longer supported by
the build system used for the main application; that means we can show an error
message specifically informing users that their OS is too old, instead of the
generic "not a valid Win32 application" error that Windows would generate if we
used the newer toolchain and that isn't very helpful to most users.
Using a precompiled binary also allows the installer build procedure to work
without a compiler toolchain being configured.

The uxp/ directory also contains a manifest which was edited into 7zSD.sfx's
resources after build time. The manifest had to be added this way because the
older resource compiler does not support manifests (and the 7-zip build files
do not try to use any).

The version info in the compiled binary was also edited after build time. There
isn't a technical reason why the version info changes couldn't be included at
build time, but since the goal is just to avoid confusing users about the origin
of the installer, not to appear to be making the claim that we wrote the
LZMA SDK, a more targeted change is appropriate.

** BUILDING 7zSD.sfx yourself **

Step-by-step instructions for generating 7zSD.sfx:
1) Install Microsoft Visual C++ 6 Professional or Enterprise edition (the
   Standard edition does not include the optimizing compiler, so it should
   not be used). You'll likely want a virtual machine running Windows XP SP3,
   because running VC6 under more modern Windows versions is tricky, to say
   the least. Some people have reported success running it on Vista or Win 7,
   but please just save yourself the headache!
   Once installed, make sure to launch the Visual C++ 6.0 IDE at least once.
2) Install an appropriate Windows SDK version. The Windows XP Service Pack 2 SDK
   is known to work well, but that particular version appears to only be
   available from archive.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080209175723/http://www.microsoft.com:80/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/XPSP2FULLInstall.htm
   Follow the instructions on that archived page to install the SDK.
3) Run the tool included with the SDK that configures Visual C++ to use it.
   Start > All Programs > Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows XP SP2 >
     Visual Studio Registration > Register PSDK Directories with Visual Studio
4) If using a fresh copy of the LZMA SDK sources, apply the patch in
   customizations.diff. The copy in the UXP source tree already has these
   changes applied.
5) Open the workspace file at src\CPP\7zip\Bundles\SFXSetup\SFXSetup.dsw and
   build it using the "SFXSetup - Win32 ReleaseD" configuration. The output
   executable should be at the path ReleaseD\7zSD.sfx relative to SFXSetup.dsw.
6) Use Resource Hacker (available from http://angusj.com/resourcehacker/) to
   (if desired) replace the existing icon on 7zSD.sfx and to add the manifest
   as a new resource. Also edit the version info resource to replace CompanyName
   and LegalCopyright with an appropriate vendor name and FileDescription and
   ProductName with an appropriate product name.
   Be sure to recompile the resources using the green "play" button in the
   toolbar (or by pressing F5) before saving the edited binary file.