Unrar

Unrar is the name of two different command-line applications for extracting RAR archives.

Free software UnRAR

This version of Unrar [http://home.gna.org/unrar/] is free software, licenced under the GPL. It uses the GPL'd UniquE RAR Library "unrarlib" [http://www.unrarlib.org/] by Christian Scheurer and Johannes Winkelmann, which is in turn based on an old version of RARLAB's UnRAR, with permission from author Eugene Roshal. [http://www.unrarlib.org/faq.html#LICENSE1 - Unrarlib FAQ, License]

This application has been pushed to obsolescence due to the implementation of RAR3 format by RARLAB in their WinRAR archiver. The "unrarlib" library only supports RAR and RAR2 formats. [http://www.unrarlib.org/faq.html - Unrarlib FAQ]

Overview

This program is a simple command-line front-end to this library, and can list and extract RAR archives. It does not rival the non-free unrar in terms of features, but special care has been taken to ensure it meets most user's needs. It was designed as a back-end for GUI archivers such as GNOME file-roller and KDE ark.

Freeware UnRAR

This UnRAR is distributed by RARLAB, the makers of the commercial WinRAR archivers. The source code as well as the binaries for a few dozen platforms are available for download on their website. [http://www.rarlab.com/rar_add.htm - RARLAB's UnRAR sources and binaries download] The source code is not licenced under a free software license. It can extract newer RAR 3.x archives not supported by the free software Unrar.

ee also

* [http://www.unrarlib.org/ unrarlib] – a library for decoding RAR (version 2) archives based on the Roshal's code, is GPL compatible
* [http://home.gna.org/unrar/ Official Free Software Unrar home page]
* [http://www.rarlab.com/rar_add.htm RARLAB's UnRAR] - source and binaries

References