a tar or a zip?
Phar File Format
Phar File Format
Phar File Format
The phar file format is literally laid out as
stub/manifest/contents/signature, and stores the crucial
information of what is included in the phar archive in its
manifest.
The Phar manifest is a highly optimized format that
allows per-file specification of file compression, file
permissions, and even user-defined meta-data such as file user or
group. All values greater than 1 byte are stored in little-endian
byte order, with the exception of the API version, which for
historical reasons is stored as 3 nibbles in big-endian order.
All unused flags are reserved for future use, and
must not be used to store custom information. Use the per-file
meta-data facility to store customized information about particular
files.
The basic file format of a Phar archive manifest is
as follows:
| Size in bytes | Description |
|---|---|
| 4 bytes | Length of manifest in bytes (1 MB limit) |
| 4 bytes | Number of files in the Phar |
| 2 bytes | API version of the Phar manifest (currently 1.0.0) |
| 4 bytes | Global Phar bitmapped flags |
| 4 bytes | Length of Phar alias |
| ?? | Phar alias (length based on previous) |
| 4 bytes | Length of Phar metadata (0 for none) |
| ?? | Serialized Phar Meta-data, stored in serialize() format |
| at least 24 * number of entries bytes | entries for each file |