ARK (executable library)
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
ARK is a self-modifying executable library tool for DOS, developed by K. Heidenstrom. It lets you convert multiple .COM files into a single .EXE "library" file, and select the one to run using a command-line argument.
ARK is comparable to XEQ, but uses EXE instead of COM format for the library file.
Discussion
To create an ARK library, make a directory containing only a possibly-renamed copy of the original "stub" ARK.EXE file, and the COM files to be added to it. Then run the EXE file with the -R
option.
To list the contained files, use the -L
option.
To recover a contained file, use the -E
option.
Identification
Uncertain, but for instance, ARK libraries probably always have "ARK V
" at offset 38 (and start with "MZ
").