Rusty Compress

A modern, cross-platform desktop archive manager built with Tauri (Rust backend) and React (frontend). Rusty Compress provides a unified, efficient interface for browsing, extracting, and managing various archive formats including ZIP, TAR, and RAR archives.

Features

• Multi-Format Support: Handle ZIP, JAR, APK, XAPK, IPA, TAR, TAR.GZ, TGZ, TAR.BZ2, TBZ2, and RAR archives
• Unified Interface: Browse both filesystem directories and archive contents seamlessly
• File Extraction: Extract individual files or entire archives with progress tracking
• Preview Capabilities: View images directly from archives without full extraction
• Checksum Verification: Compute MD5, SHA1, SHA256, and SHA512 checksums with real-time progress
• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• System Integration: Automatic file associations for supported archive types
• Efficient Performance: Rust backend for fast archive operations

Screenshots

Main Interface Archive Browsing Extraction Progress

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v16 or higher) - Download
• npm or yarn - Comes with Node.js
• Rust (latest stable) - Install via rustup
• System Dependencies:
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
  • Linux: Build essentials and libwebkit2gtk (see Tauri prerequisites)
  • Windows: Microsoft C++ Build Tools and WebView2

Installation

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/vanhonit/rusty-compress.git
cd rusty-compress

Install Dependencies

npm install

Development

Start Development Server

Run the full Tauri development environment (recommended):

npm run tauri dev

This will:

• Build the Rust backend
• Start the Vite development server (port 1420)
• Launch the application window with hot-reload enabled

Frontend-Only Development

For frontend-only changes:

npm run dev

This starts the Vite dev server on port 1420 with HMR on port 1421.

Backend Development

Build and test the Rust backend:

cd src-tauri
cargo build
cargo test
cargo clippy

Building for Production

Build React Frontend

npm run build

Build Complete Application

npm run tauri build

This creates platform-specific installers in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/:

• macOS: .dmg installer
• Windows: .exe installer and .msi
• Linux: .AppImage, .deb, and .rpm packages

Project Structure

rusty-compress/
├── src/                          # React frontend
│   ├── components/               # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── Tab.jsx              # Tab component for file/archive views
│   │   └── TabBar.jsx           # Tab bar management
│   ├── modules/                 # Feature modules
│   │   ├── FileManager/         # Main file browsing interface
│   │   ├── Extract/             # Extraction progress window
│   │   └── Checksum/            # Checksum computation modal
│   ├── index.css                # Global styles
│   └── main.jsx                 # React entry point
├── src-tauri/                   # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs              # Main Tauri entry point
│   │   ├── data_type.rs        # Shared data structures
│   │   ├── utils.rs            # Archive type detection
│   │   ├── file_manager.rs     # Filesystem operations
│   │   ├── zip.rs              # ZIP archive handler
│   │   ├── tar.rs              # TAR archive handler
│   │   └── rar.rs              # RAR archive handler
│   ├── Cargo.toml              # Rust dependencies
│   └── tauri.conf.json         # Tauri configuration
├── package.json                 # Node.js dependencies
└── CLAUDE.md                   # Project documentation

Usage

Opening Archives

1. File Association: Double-click any supported archive file in your file manager
2. In-App: Use the file browser to navigate to archives and open them

Extracting Files

1. Browse to an archive and select files you want to extract
2. Click the "Extract" button in the toolbar
3. Choose destination directory
4. Monitor progress in the extraction window

Computing Checksums

1. Select a file or multiple files
2. Click the "Checksum" button
3. Choose your preferred algorithm (MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512)
4. View real-time progress and results

Previewing Images

• Double-click image files within archives to preview them
• Images are extracted temporarily and displayed in your system viewer

Tauri Commands

The backend exposes these commands to the frontend:

Command	Description
read_directory(path)	List files in a filesystem directory
open_file(path)	Open a file with the system default application
archive_file_details(archive_path, file_path, state)	Get contents of an archive, optionally filtered by subdirectory
extract_files(app_handle, archive_path, output_path, selected_files)	Extract files from archive to destination
view_file_in_archive(archive_path, file_name, state)	View a specific file from archive in system viewer
get_image_preview(archive_path, file_path)	Get image preview from archive (returns data URL)
compute_checksum(app_handle, file_path, algorithm)	Compute checksum with progress reporting

Development Notes

Architecture

• Frontend: React 18 with Vite, Tailwind CSS for styling
• Backend: Rust with Tauri 2.x for native desktop capabilities
• Communication: Tauri commands expose Rust functions to React
• State Management: React hooks for frontend, Tauri State for backend

Key Patterns

• Async Operations: Long-running tasks use tauri::async_runtime::spawn_blocking
• Progress Reporting: Events emitted via app_handle.emit()
• Temporary Files: Managed with tempfile::TempDir, auto-cleanup on window close
• File Associations: Configured in tauri.conf.json

Testing

# Frontend tests (if configured)
npm test

# Backend tests
cd src-tauri
cargo test

Code Quality

# Rust linter
cd src-tauri
cargo clippy

# Frontend linter (if configured)
npm run lint

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests and linting
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow existing code style and patterns
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Ensure all tests pass before submitting PR

File Type Support

ZIP-based Formats

• .zip - Standard ZIP archives
• .jar - Java archives
• .apk - Android application packages
• .xapk - Android expanded app packages
• .ipa - iOS application packages

TAR-based Formats

• .tar - Tar archives
• .tar.gz, .tgz - Gzipped tar archives
• .tar.bz2, .tbz2 - Bzip2 compressed tar archives

RAR Format

• .rar - RAR archives

Troubleshooting

Build Issues

Rust compilation fails:

rustup update
cargo clean
cargo build

Frontend dependencies fail:

rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

Runtime Issues

Archive not opening:

• Ensure file format is supported
• Check file permissions
• Verify file is not corrupted

Extraction fails:

• Check disk space
• Verify write permissions to destination
• Ensure archive is password-free (encrypted archives not yet supported)

Roadmap

• Support for encrypted archives (password-protected ZIP, RAR)
• Archive creation and compression
• Split archive handling
• Batch extraction from multiple archives
• Archive search functionality
• Custom themes and UI customization

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Tauri - Framework for building desktop apps
• React - UI library
• Vite - Build tool
• Rust - Backend language

Contact

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Discussions: Ask questions and share ideas

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Built with ❤️ using Tauri and React