Editing FILE ID.DIZ

{{Short description|Plain-text file describing the archive to which it belongs}}
{{Redirect|DIZ|other uses|Diz (disambiguation){{!}}Diz}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:FILE_ID.DIZ}}
[[File:FILE_ID_DIZ.png|thumb]]
'''FILE_ID.DIZ''' is a [[plain-text]] file containing a brief description of the content of the [[archive formats|archive]] to which it belongs.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Fong | first1 = B. C. | last2 = Doyle | first2 = D. J. | doi = 10.1016/0020-7101(95)01126-Y | title = Renal function tests for windows — a model for the development and distribution of medical software on the Internet | journal = International Journal of Bio-Medical Computing | volume = 40 | issue = 1 | pages = 69–75 | year = 1995 | pmid =  8557407}} "Short ANSI text file (31 characters wide) often automatically extracted by Bulletin Board Service  programs."</ref>
Such files were originally used in archives distributed through [[bulletin board system]]s (BBSes) and is still used in the [[warez scene]]. {{mono|FILE_ID}} stands for "file identification". {{mono|DIZ}} stands for "description in [[zipfile]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=Ron |date=July 2001 |title=Mystery Files |journal=Ziff Davis Smart Business |volume=14 |issue=7 |page=100 |issn=1535-9891 |quote=DIZ stands for Description in Zip.
}}</ref>

Traditionally, a FILE_ID.DIZ should be "up to 10 lines of text, each line being no more than 45 characters long", according to v.1.9 of the specification.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.textfiles.com/computers/fileid.txt |title=FILEID.TXT v1.9|first=Richard |last=Holler |date=1994-05-17}}</ref> The concept of .DIZ files was to allow for a concise description of uploaded files to be automatically applied.

==History==
Bulletin boards commonly accept uploaded files from their users. The BBS software would prompt the user to supply a description for the uploaded file, but these descriptions were often less than useful. BBS system operators spent many hours going over the upload descriptions correcting and editing the descriptions. The {{mono|FILE_ID.DIZ}} inclusion in archives was designed to address this problem.

[[Clark Development]] and the [[Association of Shareware Professionals]] (ASP) supported the idea of this becoming a standard for file descriptions. Clark rewrote the PCBDescribe program and included it with their [[PCBoard]] BBS software. The ASP urged their members to use this description file format in their distributions. Michael Leavitt, an employee of Clark Development, released the file specification and his PCBDescribe program source code to the public domain and urged other BBS software companies to support the DIZ file.

SysOps could add a common third-party script written in PPL, called "DIZ/2-PCB"<ref>{{Cite web |title=DIZ/2-PCB PPE script for PCBoard, ULBYE100.ZIP |last=Reimerdes |first=Shawn |url=http://annex.retroarchive.org/cdrom/pier-04/004/ULBYE100/index.html}}</ref> that would process, rewrite, verify, and format DIZ files from archives as they were uploaded to a BBS. The software would extract the archive, examine the contents, compile a report, import the DIZ description file and then format it according to your liking. During this time, it was usual practice to add additional lines to the description, such as ads exclaiming the source of the uploaded BBS.

Even since the decline of the [[dial-up]] [[bulletin board system]], FILE_ID.DIZ files are still utilized by the [[warez scene]] in their releases of [[warez|unlicensed software]]. They are commonly bundled as part of the complete packaging by pirate groups, and indicate the number of disks, and other basic information. Along with the [[.nfo|NFO]] file, it is essential to the release.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Craig |first1=P. |last2=Honick |first2=R. |last3=Burnett |first3=M. |year=2005 |chapter=The Release |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/softwarepiracyex0000crai/page/95 |title=Software Piracy Exposed |page=[https://archive.org/details/softwarepiracyex0000crai/page/95 95] |doi=10.1016/B978-193226698-6/50030-1 |isbn=978-1-93-226698-6}}</ref>

==Formal structure==
While real-world use among BBSs varied, with the [[software piracy|NPD]] world and even different BBS brands coming up with expanded versions, the official format is:

Plain, 7-bit ASCII text, each line no more than 45 characters wide.

# '''Program/file name:''' Ideally, all uppercase and followed by one space. Carriage returns are ignored in this file.
# '''Version number:''' In the format "v1.123", followed by a space.
# '''ASP number:''' Only if an actual ASP member, otherwise ignored.
# '''Description separator:''' A single short hyphen "-".
# '''Description:''' The description of the file. The first two lines should be the short summary, as older boards cut off the rest. Anything beyond that should be extended description, for up to eight lines, the official cut-off size. Additional text could be included beyond that but might not be included by the board.

Many archives would stick strictly to the 45-character plain ASCII format for the first 8 lines, then contain an appended 80-character wide 8-bit ASCII or [[ANSI graphic]] page with better-formatted documentation after that.<ref>[http://pcmicro.com/getdiz/file_id.html Copy of official FILE_ID.DIZ documentation].</ref>

==See also==
* [[.nfo]] &mdash; another standard for description files
* [[README]]
* [[Portable Application Description]] &mdash; a newer and more verbose alternative
* [[Standard (warez)]]
* [[Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions|SAUCE]] &mdash; an architecture or protocol created in 1994 for attaching metadata or comments to files. In use today as the de facto standard within the [[ANSI art]] community.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acid.org/info/sauce/sauce.htm |title=Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions |author=Olivier "Tasmaniac" Reubens |date=2013-11-12 |work=ACiD}}</ref>
* {{anchor|DESC.SDI}}[[DESC.SDI]] &mdash; a similar filename that had fairly wide support, including [[PCBoard]]. It tended to be limited to a single line (smaller than a FILE_ID.DIZ file).
* {{anchor|DESCRIPT.ION}}[[DESCRIPT.ION]] &mdash; a text file containing line by line [[file descriptions|file (and directory) descriptions]] (and optional [[meta data]]), originally introduced by [[JP Software]] in 1989<ref name="JP_1989_DESC"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="JP_1989_DESC">{{cite web |title=Technical Note -- Using DESCRIPT.ION |date=1989 |publisher=[[JP Software Inc.]] |location=Chestertown, Maryland, USA |url=https://jpsoft.com/ascii/descfile.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318122322/https://jpsoft.com/ascii/descfile.txt |archive-date=2016-03-18}} (NB. Known IDs include <code>0x10</code> for general metadata in [[Extensible Metadata Platform|XMP]] format<!-- Specification: http://www.optimasc.com/products/fileid/4dos-descext.pdf -->, <code>0x23</code> ('#') as used by various utilities written by Matthias R. Paul for space-separated lists of text [[key=value pair]]s holding file properties as [[extended attribute]]s like CP (codepages), PC (language codes), CW (bit-width), XS (page width), YS (page length), XO (print x-offset), YO (print y-offset), CR (copyright), URL (source link), etc.<!-- Examples: https://web.archive.org/web/20210227002211/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/print/cpi/NECPI208.ZIP https://web.archive.org/web/20160420065252/http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/MatthiasPaulCPI.zip https://web.archive.org/web/20190601152204/https://www.sac.sk/download/text/mpdostip.zip -->, <code>0x25</code> ('%') being used by programs using CUI_LIB to store [[pseudo-environment variable]]s, <code>0xED</code> being reserved for [[Digital Research]]/[[Novell]]/[[Caldera (company)|Caldera]], <code>0xC2</code> used by [[Total Commander]] for multiline file descriptions<!-- https://stackoverflow.com/a/15808848/2576070 -->, and <code>0xFD</code> reserved for [[FreeDOS]].)</ref>
}}
<!-- possible sources?
Utilities for keeping track of time and disks.(Shareware Shop)(Column)(Evaluation) 
Computer Shopper, July, 1995, Vol.15(7), p.614(2)
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17072880.html

<a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Computer+Associates+Advises+of+New+'Simpsons'+Highly+Destructive...-a063019079">Computer Associates Advises of New 'Simpsons' Highly Destructive Trojan Horse; New Threat Has Potential to Delete All User Files.</a>

Leben in Szenen: Formen juveniler Vergemeinschaftung heute
Hitzler, Ronald ;  Niederbacher, Arne ISBN 978-3-531-15743-6; E-ISBN 978-3-531-92532-5; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-531-92532-5
-->

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |url=https://l33t.codes/retro-standards-part-1-file-descriptors/ |title=Retro Standards - Part 1: File Descriptors |date=2020-12-09 |first=Bryan |last=Ashby}}

==External links==
* [http://www.textfiles.com/computers/fileid.txt FILE_ID.DIZ Specification] v1.9 by Richard Holler.
* [http://www.theisonews.com/forums/index.php/topic,66101.0.html Public Service Announcement: file_id.diz]

[[Category:Bulletin board systems]]
[[Category:Filenames]]
[[Category:Third-party DOS files]]
[[Category:Warez]]
[[Category:Articles with underscores in the title]]