A mechanism for sharing files, and sets of related files, or packages of files, in a multi-host, multi-platform environment is provided. A public package client handles user requests to perform operations on a software package. Additionally, information about the package and the files contained therein may be obtained. A server, responsive to the client, performs the operations on the package. Data about the files is set in a data structure which may be stored in an archive along with the files themselves. In particular, this data may identify each file as either a text or binary file and as an executable file. A client may access the aforementioned data to determine if the file or files require further processing to adapt the file to the operating system on the client. Such processing may, for example, include linefeed/carriage return translation and codepage translation, or setting file attributes.