What is the difference between 7zip's 7z.sfx a

Question

I can't figure out what the difference is between the 7z.sfx file available with 7zip and the downloadable 7zsd.sfx from the developer's site, which is not bundled with 7zip. The 7z.sfx appears not to honor my request to include the config.txt file I created for it, but the 7zsd.sfx inclusion method works perfectly.

7zip comes with 7z.sfx bundled. The application history.txt in the program files directory shows that 7zsd.sfx used to be bundled with 7zip back in 2005. 7z.sfx is referred to as "uncompressed SFX" in the history.txt file as well.

This is the config used:

;!@Install@!UTF-8!
InstallPath="C:\\ProgramData\\IT"
GUIMode="2"
;!@InstallEnd@!

This is the syntax I'm using and the responding behavior:

C:\Users\<me>\Desktop\Updater\Recorder>copy /b 7z.sfx + config.txt + "RecorderVer0.0.0.4".7z "RecorderVer0.0.0.4".exe
7z.sfx
config.txt
RecorderVer0.0.0.4.7z
        1 file(s) copied.

The same response occurs with the use of 7zsd.sfx indicating that indeed the config file included is being utilized. However, when executing the 7z.sfx created RecorderVer0.0.0.4".exe the prompt for where to install the contents of the 7z archive is prompted for. Using the 7zsd.sfx created RecorderVer0.0.0.4.exe version directs files to the config set location without any prompting as desired.

To my knowledge 7z.sfx is not downloadable via the developer's site, but I may be wrong. His official page is no longer available, but the information provided from the Internet Archive should be adequate.

Answer 1

Just in case anybody stumbles across this post looking for the 7zS.sfx and 7zSD.sfx, you can find the 7z_extra files for the (currently) latest version at http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/files/7-Zip/9.22/7z922_extra.7z/download.

Answer 2

I had this previously posted as a comment to my own question.

I found the answer to my question in 7-Zip documentation of all places! :) Looks like there are a total of 4 sfx modules and these are the differences:

SFX_Module : Description

• 7z.sfx : Windows version.
• 7zCon.sfx : Console version.
• 7zS.sfx : Windows version for installers.

• 7zSD.sfx : Windows version for installers (uses MSVCRT.dll).

  Source: http://sevenzip.sourceforge.jp/chm/cmdline/switches/sfx.htm