DwarvenArchive

A fast, minimal GTK4 archive manager. Part of the DwarvenSuite.

Spiritual successor to ROX Archive. Same one-click workflow, pure GTK4, no legacy dependencies.

What it does

Pass DwarvenArchive a file or folder -- it opens, you pick a destination and format, click Save. Done. Pass it an archive -- pick a destination, click Save. Done. No second dialog. No hunting through menus. One window, one click.

Works via right-click in any file manager that supports Open With or custom actions.

Each launch is fully independent -- multiple concurrent archive and extraction operations work without interference, just like ROX Archive.

If an operation fails, a dialog shows the error -- including the exact command, exit code, and tool output -- so you know what went wrong.

Supported formats

Create archives (from a folder, file, or multiple files/folders): ZIP (password), Tar+gzip, Tar+bzip2, Tar+xz, Tar+lzma, Tar, 7-Zip (password), JAR (password), LHA

Compress single files: gzip, bzip2, xz, lzma, UUencode

Extract: ZIP, TGZ, TAR.BZ2, TAR.Z, TLZ, TXZ, RAR, ACE, TAR, RPM, CPIO, DEB, JAR, LHA, 7Z

Password-protected extraction: ZIP, JAR, 7Z

Formats requiring tools that are not installed simply do not appear in the format list.

Installation

pip install dwarvenarchive

On first launch, DwarvenArchive automatically installs its icon and desktop file. No manual setup required.

Usage

dwarvenarchive /path/to/folder           # Archive a directory
dwarvenarchive file1.txt file2.png dir/  # Archive multiple files/folders together
dwarvenarchive /path/to/archive.tgz     # Extract an archive
dwarvenarchive -                         # Read from stdin

When launched with a directory or file -- presents the archive/extraction dialog. When launched with multiple paths -- presents archive creation dialog for all of them combined, using the first filename as the output name. When launched with no arguments -- shows the launch window. From there you can drag and drop one or more files, folders, or archives directly onto the window. Files accumulate as you drop them; the operation starts automatically once drops stop arriving.

Drag and drop is compatible with GTK2, GTK3, and GTK4 file managers (tested with ROXFiler and Thunar).

Dependencies

Required: Python 3.9+, GTK 4.0, PyGObject (python3-gi)

Optional (enables additional formats): gzip, bzip2, xz, lzma, tar (usually pre-installed), zip/unzip, 7z (p7zip-full), unrar, unace, lha (lhasa), rpm2cpio

Part of DwarvenSuite

All tools follow the same philosophy: small, fast, correct, as few dependencies as possible!

Author

thedwarf -- gitdwarf

Support / Tip Jar

If you find DwarvenArchive useful, you can support the project:

License

GPL-2.0-or-later -- same as ROX Archive, whose workflow inspired this tool.