PhysicsFS is a library to provide abstract access to
various archives. The programmer defines a "write
directory" on the physical filesystem. No file writing
done through the PhysicsFS API can leave that
write directory, for security. For file reading, the
programmer lists directories and archives that form
a "search path". Once the search path is defined, it
becomes a single, transparent, hierarchical
filesystem. This makes for easy access to ZIP files
in the same way as you access a file directly on
the disk, and it makes it easy to ship a new archive
that will override a previous archive on a per-file
basis. Symbolic links can be disabled, for added
safety. Finally, PhysicsFS gives you a platform-
abstracted means to determine if CD-ROMs are
available, the user's home directory, where in the
real filesystem your program is running, etc.
