How to specify which zip version to compress with

archive-utilityzip

I am trying to create a .imscc file, a common cartridge file used for interoperability between different Course Management Systems. It is essentially just a bunch of folders and XML files zipped up and labeled .imscc. However simply unzipping and rezipping with the standard archiving utility is somehow breaking the file and Canvas, the system I'm trying to import to, does not accept the file. Using zipinfo I discovered that the files generated by Canvas were zipped with version 5.2 while the standard zip utility uses version 2.1 and I'm hoping this is the source of the issue. It's definitely something with the zipping since the file sizes are different once I've unzipped and rezipped. (No hidden resource fork files I could find, for the record) I've tried the Canvas forums to no avail so I'm hoping someone here might know a way to zip a folder with a specific zip version.

Any ideas?

Best Answer

Years later, but in case someone else comes across this, Canvas has written a very useful guide to .imscc files. It discusses why they're problematic on OS X:

It won't work on a Mac, because the Mac adds junk hidden files to the zip file that cause the cartridge to not be recognized. There might be a work-around for getting zip files without extra junk on the Mac, but I don't know it, so we just used Windows instead.

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Use zipsplit to split a zip file in to multiple smaller zipfiles. Use the -n switch to set the size of the splits.

[1] http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/zip.1.html

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