diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7a435476..4f0de2bd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 /.idea
 /tools/archive/**
+__pycache__
diff --git a/docs/data.json b/docs/data.json
index 49256f0c..2df4245c 100644
--- a/docs/data.json
+++ b/docs/data.json
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
   [
    "Alien Assault Traders (<a href=\"http://www.aatraders.com/\">home</a>, <a href=\"https://github.com/Trilarion/opensourcegames/blob/master/games/strategy/alien_assault_traders.md\">entry</a>)",
    "Alien Assault Traders is an online, web-based, turn-based..",
-   "<a href=\"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.4x/\">Link</a>",
+   "<a href=\"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/\">Link</a>",
    "Strategy",
    "beta / inactive since 2009",
    "online",
diff --git a/games/rpg/linleys_dungeon_crawl.md b/games/rpg/linleys_dungeon_crawl.md
index a5fd23f4..6cab0830 100644
--- a/games/rpg/linleys_dungeon_crawl.md
+++ b/games/rpg/linleys_dungeon_crawl.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ _Roguelike molded in the tradition of the early greats of the genre: Rogue, Hack
 
 - Home: http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/
 - Media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linley%27s_Dungeon_Crawl, http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Linley%27s_Dungeon_Crawl
-- Download: http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/?d, ftp://ftp.dungeoncrawl.org/
+- Download: http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/?d (ftp://ftp.dungeoncrawl.org/)
 - State: mature, inactive since 2006
 - Keywords: roguelike
 - Code repository: https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/dungeoncrawl.git (snapshot of source releases)
diff --git a/games/statistics.md b/games/statistics.md
index 080e5635..edf5d3d0 100644
--- a/games/statistics.md
+++ b/games/statistics.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [comment]: # (autogenerated content, do not edit)
 # Statistics
 
-analyzed 403 entries on 2018-06-28 10:38:05
+analyzed 403 entries on 2018-06-28 14:38:52
 
 ## State
 
diff --git a/games/strategy/alien_assault_traders.md b/games/strategy/alien_assault_traders.md
index 11880e95..e6a592fe 100644
--- a/games/strategy/alien_assault_traders.md
+++ b/games/strategy/alien_assault_traders.md
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 _Alien Assault Traders is an online, web-based, turn-based strategy space trading game forked off the source of both Black Nova Traders and Nova Game Systems software and inspired by the popular BBS game of TradeWars._
 
 - Home: http://www.aatraders.com/, https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/
-- Download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.4x/
+- Download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/
 - State: beta, inactive since 2009
 - Keywords: online
-- Code repository: https://github.com/tarnus/aatraders
+- Code repository: https://github.com/tarnus/aatraders, https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/aatraders.git (+)
 - Code language: PHP
 - Code license: GPL-2.0
 
diff --git a/tools/archive/README.txt b/tools/README.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/archive/README.txt
rename to tools/README.txt
diff --git a/tools/aatraders.json b/tools/aatraders.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a7ea4d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aatraders.json
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+["https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.4x/aatrade_0.40_re-release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.4x/aatrade_0.40.0_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.3x/Alien%20Assault%20Traders%200.31.0/aatrade_0.31.0_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.3x/Alien%20Assault%20Traders%200.30.3/aatrade_0.30.3_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.3x/Alien%20Assault%20Traders%200.30.2/aatrade_0.30.2_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.3x/Alien%20Assault%20Traders%200.30.1/aatrade_0.30.1_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.3x/Alien%20Assault%20Traders%200.30/aatrade_0.30_release.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.2x%20Final/AAtraders%200.21a%20Final%20Patch/AATRade_0.21a_final.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.2x%20Final/AATraders%200.21%20Release/aatrade-0.21.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.2x%20Final/AATrade%200.20%20Release/aatrade-0.20.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Release%200.14.1%20w_Profiles/aatrade-0.14.1.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Release%200.14%20w_Profiles/aatrade-0.14.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Release%20v0.13/aatrade-0.13.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Recommended%20Release%20v0.12/aatrade-0.12.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Release%20v0.11/aatrade-0.11.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/AATraders%200.1x%20Final/Initial%20Release%20v0.10/aatrade-0.10.tar.gz/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/OldFiles/aatrade0.21final.zip/download",
+"https://sourceforge.net/projects/aatrade/files/OldFiles/aatrade0.21patched.zip/download"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tools/aatraders_source_release_to_git.py b/tools/aatraders_source_release_to_git.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c1694528
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aatraders_source_release_to_git.py
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+"""
+    Downloads source releases from Sourceforge and puts them into a git repository
+"""
+
+import json
+import datetime
+from utils.utils import *
+
+def special_aatrade_package_extraction(source):
+    """
+    Unpacks "aatrade_packages".
+    """
+    files = os.listdir(source)
+    if any([x.startswith('aatrade_package') for x in files]):
+        # we got the special case
+        print('aatrade package extraction of {}'.format(source))
+
+        # first delete all, that do not begin with the package name
+        for file in files:
+            if not file.startswith('aatrade_package'):
+                os.remove(os.path.join(source, file))
+
+        # second extract all those with are left, removing them too
+        files = os.listdir(source)
+        for file in files:
+            try:
+                extract_archive(os.path.join(source, file), source, 'tar')
+            except:
+                extract_archive(os.path.join(source, file), source, 'zip')
+            os.remove(os.path.join(source, file))
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+
+    # base path is the directory containing this file
+    base_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+    print('base path={}'.format(base_path))
+
+    # recreate archive path
+    archive_path = os.path.join(base_path, 'downloads')
+    if not os.path.exists(archive_path):
+        os.mkdir(archive_path)
+
+    # load source releases urls
+    with open(os.path.join(base_path, 'aatraders.json'), 'r') as f:
+        urls = json.load(f)
+    print('will process {} urls'.format(len(urls)))
+    if len(urls) != len(set(urls)):
+        raise RuntimeError("urls list contains duplicates")
+
+    # determine file archives from urls
+    archives = [x.split('/')[-2] for x in urls]
+    if len(archives) != len(set(archives)):
+        raise RuntimeError("files with duplicate archives, cannot deal with that")
+
+    # determine version from file name
+    versions = [determine_archive_version_generic(x, leading_terms=['aatrade_', 'aatrade-', 'aatrade'], trailing_terms=['.zip', '.tar.gz', '_release']) for x in archives]
+    for version in versions:
+        print(version)
+
+    # extend archives to full paths
+    archives = [os.path.join(archive_path, x) for x in archives]
+
+    # download them
+    print('download source releases')
+    for url, destination in zip(urls, archives):
+        # only if not yet existing
+        if os.path.exists(destination):
+            continue
+        # download
+        print('  download {}'.format(os.path.basename(destination)))
+        download_url(url, destination)
+
+    # extract them
+    print('extract downloaded archives')
+    extracted_archives = [x + '-extracted' for x in archives]
+    for archive, extracted_archive in zip(archives, extracted_archives):
+        print('  extract {}'.format(os.path.basename(archive)))
+        # only if not yet existing
+        if os.path.exists(extracted_archive):
+            continue
+        os.mkdir(extracted_archive)
+        # extract
+        extract_archive(archive, extracted_archive, detect_archive_type(archive))
+
+    # go up in unzipped archives until the very first non-empty folder
+    extracted_archives = [strip_wrapped_folders(x) for x in extracted_archives]
+
+    # special 'aatrade_packageX' treatment
+    for extracted_archive in extracted_archives:
+        special_aatrade_package_extraction(extracted_archive)
+
+    # calculate size of folder
+    sizes = [folder_size(x) for x in extracted_archives]
+
+    # determine date
+    dates = [determine_latest_last_modified_date(x) for x in extracted_archives]
+    dates_strings = [datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(x).strftime('%Y-%m-%d') for x in dates]
+    # if len(dates_strings) != len(set(dates_strings)):
+    #     raise RuntimeError("Some on the same day, cannot cope with that")
+
+    # gather all important stuff in one list and sort by dates and throw those out where size is not in range
+    db = list(zip(urls, extracted_archives, versions, dates, dates_strings, sizes))
+    db.sort(key=lambda x:x[3])
+
+    size_range = [5e6, float("inf")] # set to None if not desired
+    if size_range:
+        db = [x for x in db if size_range[0] <= x[5] <= size_range[1]]
+
+    print('proposed order')
+    for url, _, version, _, date, size in db:
+        print('  date={} version={} size={}'.format(date, version, size))
+
+    # git init
+    git_path = os.path.join(base_path, 'aatrade')
+    if os.path.exists(git_path):
+        shutil.rmtree(git_path)
+    os.mkdir(git_path)
+    os.chdir(git_path)
+    subprocess_run(['git', 'init'])
+    subprocess_run(['git', 'config', 'user.name', 'Trilarion'])
+    subprocess_run(['git', 'config', 'user.email', 'Trilarion@users.noreply.gitlab.com'])
+
+    # now process revision by revision
+    print('process revisions')
+    git_author = 'akapanamajack, tarnus <akapanamajack_tarnus@user.sourceforge.net>'
+    for url, archive_path, version, _, date, _ in db:
+        print('  process version={}'.format(version))
+
+        # clear git path without deleting .git
+        print('    clear git')
+        for item in os.listdir(git_path):
+            # ignore '.git
+            if item == '.git':
+                continue
+            item = os.path.join(git_path, item)
+            if os.path.isdir(item):
+                shutil.rmtree(item)
+            else:
+                os.remove(item)
+
+        # copy unpacked source files to git path
+        print('copy to git')
+        copy_tree(archive_path, git_path)
+
+        # update the git index (add unstaged, remove deleted, ...)
+        print('git add')
+        os.chdir(git_path)
+        subprocess_run(['git', 'add', '--all'])
+
+        # perform the commit
+        print('git commit')
+        os.chdir(git_path)
+        message = 'version {} ({}) on {}'.format(version, url, date)
+        print('  message "{}"'.format(message))
+        subprocess_run(['git', 'commit', '--message={}'.format(message), '--author={}'.format(git_author), '--date={}'.format(date)])
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tools/archive/archives.json b/tools/archives.json
similarity index 99%
rename from tools/archive/archives.json
rename to tools/archives.json
index 37acbb4b..9efb225a 100644
--- a/tools/archive/archives.json
+++ b/tools/archives.json
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@
   "https://github.com/xesf/twin-e.git",
   "https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos.git",
   "https://github.com/zaki/irrlicht.git",
+  "https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/aatraders.git",
   "https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/antichess.git",
   "https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/aplanetsrevenge.git",
   "https://gitlab.com/Trilarion/attal.git",
diff --git a/tools/maintenance.py b/tools/maintenance.py
index 4c021caa..d8ed7679 100644
--- a/tools/maintenance.py
+++ b/tools/maintenance.py
@@ -15,36 +15,11 @@ import http.client
 import datetime
 import json
 import textwrap
+from utils.utils import *
 
 TOC = '_toc.md'
 
 
-def read_text(file):
-    """
-    Reads a whole text file (UTF-8 encoded).
-    """
-    with open(file, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        text = f.read()
-    return text
-
-
-def read_first_line(file):
-    """
-    Convenience function because we only need the first line of a category overview really.
-    """
-    with open(file, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        line = f.readline()
-    return line
-
-
-def write_text(file, text):
-    """
-    Writes a whole text file (UTF-8 encoded).
-    """
-    with open(file, mode='w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        f.write(text)
-
-
 def get_category_paths():
     """
     Returns all sub folders of the games path.
diff --git a/tools/phaos_source_release_to_git.py b/tools/phaos_source_release_to_git.py
index 4ab86557..e663463d 100644
--- a/tools/phaos_source_release_to_git.py
+++ b/tools/phaos_source_release_to_git.py
@@ -1,90 +1,10 @@
 """
-    Downloads source releases from Sourceforge and puts them into a git repository
+Downloads source releases from Sourceforge and puts them into a git repository
 """
 
-import os
-import shutil
-import urllib.request
 import json
-import time
-import zipfile
-import subprocess
 import datetime
-import distutils.dir_util
-import sys
-
-
-def determine_version(name):
-    # to lower case
-    name = name.lower()
-    # cut leading terms
-    terms = ['phaos-', 'phaos', 'pv']
-    for t in terms:
-        if name.startswith(t):
-            name = name[len(t):]
-    # cut trailing '.zip'
-    t = '.zip'
-    if name.endswith(t):
-        name = name[:-len(t)]
-    return name
-
-
-def determine_last_modified_date(folder):
-    latest_last_modified = 0
-    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(folder):
-        for filename in filenames:
-            filepath = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
-            lastmodified = os.path.getmtime(filepath)
-            if lastmodified > latest_last_modified:
-                latest_last_modified = lastmodified
-    return latest_last_modified
-
-
-def unzip_keep_last_modified(archive, destination):
-    """
-        Assuming that destination is a directory and already existing.
-    """
-    with zipfile.ZipFile(archive, 'r') as zip:
-        # zip.extractall(destination)
-        for zip_entry in zip.infolist():
-            name, date_time = zip_entry.filename, zip_entry.date_time
-            date_time = time.mktime(date_time + (0, 0, -1))
-            zip.extract(zip_entry, destination)
-            os.utime(os.path.join(destination, name), (date_time, date_time))
-
-def strip_wrapping(folder):
-    names = os.listdir(folder)
-    while len(names) == 1:
-        folder = os.path.join(folder, names[0])
-        names = os.listdir(folder)
-    return folder
-
-def copy_tree(source, destination):
-    # this gave an FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '' on Windows
-    # distutils.dir_util.copy_tree(archive_path, git_path)
-    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(source):
-        # first create all the directory on destination
-        directories_to_be_created = [os.path.join(destination, os.path.relpath(os.path.join(dirpath, x), source)) for x in dirnames]
-        for directory in directories_to_be_created:
-            os.makedirs(directory, exist_ok=True)
-        # second copy all the files
-        filepaths_source = [os.path.join(dirpath, x) for x in filenames]
-        filepaths_destination = [os.path.join(destination, os.path.relpath(x, source)) for x in filepaths_source]
-        for src, dst in zip(filepaths_source, filepaths_destination):
-            shutil.copyfile(src, dst)
-
-
-def subprocess_run(cmd):
-    """
-
-    """
-    result = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    if result.returncode:
-        print("error {} in call {}".format(result.returncode, cmd))
-        print(result.stderr.decode('ascii'))
-        sys.exit(-1)
-    else:
-        print('  output: {}'.format(result.stdout.decode('ascii')))
+from utils.utils import *
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
@@ -113,7 +33,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         raise RuntimeError("files with duplicate archives, cannot deal with that")
 
     # determine version from file name
-    versions = [determine_version(x) for x in archives]
+    versions = [determine_archive_version_generic(x, leading_terms=['phaos-', 'phaos', 'pv'], trailing_terms=['zip']) for x in archives]
     # for version in versions:
     #     print(version)
 
@@ -146,10 +66,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         unzip_keep_last_modified(archive, unzipped_archive)
 
     # go up in unzipped archives until the very first non-empty folder
-    unzipped_archives = [strip_wrapping(x) for x in unzipped_archives]
+    unzipped_archives = [strip_wrapped_folders(x) for x in unzipped_archives]
 
     # determine date
-    dates = [determine_last_modified_date(x) for x in unzipped_archives]
+    dates = [determine_latest_last_modified_date(x) for x in unzipped_archives]
     dates_strings = [datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(x).strftime('%Y-%m-%d') for x in dates]
     # if len(dates_strings) != len(set(dates_strings)):
     #     raise RuntimeError("Some on the same day, cannot cope with that")
@@ -168,6 +88,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     os.mkdir(git_path)
     os.chdir(git_path)
     subprocess_run(['git', 'init'])
+    subprocess_run(['git', 'config', 'user.name', 'Trilarion'])
+    subprocess_run(['git', 'config', 'user.email', 'Trilarion@users.noreply.gitlab.com'])
 
     # now process revision by revision
     print('process revisions')
diff --git a/tools/archive/update.py b/tools/update.py
similarity index 71%
rename from tools/archive/update.py
rename to tools/update.py
index 61cf7fac..562e60e2 100644
--- a/tools/archive/update.py
+++ b/tools/update.py
@@ -1,30 +1,20 @@
 """
-    Clones and/or pulls all the gits listed in archives.json
+Clones and/or pulls all the gits listed in archives.json
 
-    Requires: git executable in the path
+Requires: git executable in the path
 
-    Warning: This may take a long time on the first run and may need a lot of storage space!
+Warning: This may take a long time on the first run and may need a lot of storage space!
 
-    TODO are really all existing branches cloned and pulled? (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67699/how-to-clone-all-remote-branches-in-git)
-    TODO Sourceforge git clone may not work all the time (restart the script helps..)
+TODO are really all existing branches cloned and pulled? (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67699/how-to-clone-all-remote-branches-in-git)
+TODO Sourceforge git clone may not work all the time (restart the script helps..)
 
-    Note: May need to set http.postBuffer (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17683295/git-bash-error-rpc-failed-result-18-htp-code-200b-1kib-s)
+Note: May need to set http.postBuffer (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17683295/git-bash-error-rpc-failed-result-18-htp-code-200b-1kib-s)
 """
 
-import os
 import json
-import subprocess
-import time
+from utils.utils import *
 
 
-def read_text(file):
-    """
-    Reads a whole text file (UTF-8 encoded).
-    """
-    with open(file, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        text = f.read()
-    return text
-
 def derive_folder_name(url, replaces):
     sanitize = lambda x: x.replace('/', '.')
     for service in replaces:
@@ -52,16 +42,12 @@ def git_folder_name(url):
 
 
 def git_clone(url, folder):
-    result = subprocess.run(["git", "clone", "--mirror", url, folder])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(["git", "clone", "--mirror", url, folder])
 
 
 def git_update(folder):
     os.chdir(folder)
-    result = subprocess.run(["git", "fetch", "--all"])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(["git", "fetch", "--all"])
 
 
 def svn_folder_name(url):
@@ -72,15 +58,12 @@ def svn_folder_name(url):
 
 
 def svn_clone(url, folder):
-    result = subprocess.run(["svn", "checkout", url, folder])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(["svn", "checkout", url, folder])
+
 
 def svn_update(folder):
     os.chdir(folder)
-    result = subprocess.run(["svn", "update"])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(["svn", "update"])
 
 
 def hg_folder_name(url):
@@ -93,16 +76,12 @@ def hg_folder_name(url):
 
 
 def hg_clone(url, folder):
-    result = subprocess.run(["hg", "clone", url, folder])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(["hg", "clone", url, folder])
 
 
 def hg_update(folder):
     os.chdir(folder)
-    result = subprocess.run(['hg', 'pull', '-u'])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(['hg', 'pull', '-u'])
 
 
 def bzr_folder_name(url):
@@ -113,21 +92,17 @@ def bzr_folder_name(url):
 
 
 def bzr_clone(url, folder):
-    result = subprocess.run(['bzr', 'branch', url, folder])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(['bzr', 'branch', url, folder])
 
 
 def bzr_update(folder):
     os.chdir(folder)
-    result = subprocess.run(['bzr', 'pull'])
-    if result.returncode:
-        print(result)
+    subprocess_run(['bzr', 'pull'])
 
 
 def run(type, urls):
     print('update {} {} archives'.format(len(urls), type))
-    base_folder = os.path.join(root_folder, type)
+    base_folder = os.path.join(archive_folder, type)
     if not os.path.exists(base_folder):
         os.mkdir(base_folder)
 
@@ -192,6 +167,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     # get this folder
     root_folder = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+    archive_folder = os.path.join(root_folder, 'archive')
 
     # read archives.json
     text = read_text(os.path.join(root_folder, 'archives.json'))
diff --git a/tools/utils/__init__.py b/tools/utils/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tools/utils/utils.py b/tools/utils/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8a2ac214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/utils/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+"""
+Utilities for the tools.
+"""
+
+import sys
+import os
+import time
+import zipfile
+import tarfile
+import subprocess
+import shutil
+import urllib.request
+
+
+def read_text(file):
+    """
+    Reads a whole text file (UTF-8 encoded).
+    """
+    with open(file, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        text = f.read()
+    return text
+
+
+def read_first_line(file):
+    """
+    Convenience function because we only need the first line of a category overview really.
+    """
+    with open(file, mode='r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        line = f.readline()
+    return line
+
+
+def write_text(file, text):
+    """
+    Writes a whole text file (UTF-8 encoded).
+    """
+    with open(file, mode='w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        f.write(text)
+
+
+def determine_archive_version_generic(name, leading_terms, trailing_terms):
+    """
+    Given an archive file name, tries to get version information. Generic version that can cut off leading and trailing
+    terms and converts to lower case. Give the most special terms first in the list. As many cut offs as possible are
+    performed.
+    """
+    # to lower case
+    name = name.lower()
+
+    # cut leading terms
+    for t in leading_terms:
+        if name.startswith(t):
+            name = name[len(t):]
+
+    # cut trailing terms
+    for t in trailing_terms:
+        if name.endswith(t):
+            name = name[:-len(t)]
+    return name
+
+
+def unzip_keep_last_modified(archive, destination):
+    """
+    Unzips content of a zip file archive into the destination directory keeping the last modified file property as
+    it was in the zip archive.
+
+    Assumes that destination is an existing directory path.
+    """
+    with zipfile.ZipFile(archive, 'r') as zip:
+        # zip.extractall(destination)  # does not keep the last modified property
+        for zip_entry in zip.infolist():
+            name, date_time = zip_entry.filename, zip_entry.date_time
+            date_time = time.mktime(date_time + (0, 0, -1))
+            zip.extract(zip_entry, destination)
+            os.utime(os.path.join(destination, name), (date_time, date_time))
+
+
+def detect_archive_type(name):
+    """
+    Tries to guess which type an archive is.
+    """
+    # test for tar
+    tar_endings = ['.tbz2', '.tar.gz']
+    for ending in tar_endings:
+        if name.endswith(ending):
+            return 'tar'
+
+    # test for zip
+    zip_endings = ['.zip', '.jar']
+    for ending in zip_endings:
+        if name.endswith(ending):
+            return 'zip'
+
+    # unknown
+    return None
+
+
+def folder_size(path):
+    size = 0
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(path):
+        for file in filenames:
+            size += os.path.getsize(os.path.join(dirpath, file))
+    return size
+
+
+def extract_archive(source, destination, type):
+    """
+    Extracts a zip, tar, ... to a destination path.
+
+    Type may result from detect_archive_type().
+    """
+    if type == 'tar':
+        tar = tarfile.open(source, 'r')
+        tar.extractall(destination)
+    elif type == 'zip':
+        unzip_keep_last_modified(source, destination)
+
+
+def strip_wrapped_folders(folder):
+    """
+    If a folder only contains a single sub-folder and nothing else, descends this way as much as possible.
+
+    Assumes folder is a directory.
+    """
+    while True:
+        entries = list(os.scandir(folder))
+        if len(entries) == 1 and entries[0].is_dir():
+            folder = entries[0].path
+        else:
+            break
+    return folder
+
+
+def determine_latest_last_modified_date(folder):
+    """
+    Given a folder, recursively searches all files in this folder and all sub-folders and memorizes the latest
+    "last modified" date of all these files.
+    """
+    latest_last_modified = 0
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(folder):
+        for filename in filenames:
+            filepath = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
+            lastmodified = os.path.getmtime(filepath)
+            if lastmodified > latest_last_modified:
+                latest_last_modified = lastmodified
+    return latest_last_modified
+
+
+def subprocess_run(cmd):
+    """
+    Runs a cmd via subprocess and displays the std output in case of success or the std error output in case of failure
+    where it also stops execution.
+    """
+    result = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    if result.returncode:
+        print("error {} in call {}".format(result.returncode, cmd))
+        print(result.stderr.decode('ascii'))
+        sys.exit(-1)
+    else:
+        print('  output: {}'.format(result.stdout.decode('ascii')))
+
+
+def copy_tree(source, destination):
+    """
+    Copies the full content of one directory into another avoiding the use of distutils.di_util.copy_tree because that
+    can give unwanted errors on Windows (probably related to symlinks).
+    """
+    # this gave an FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '' on Windows
+    # distutils.dir_util.copy_tree(archive_path, git_path)
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(source):
+        # first create all the directory on destination
+        directories_to_be_created = [os.path.join(destination, os.path.relpath(os.path.join(dirpath, x), source)) for x in dirnames]
+        for directory in directories_to_be_created:
+            os.makedirs(directory, exist_ok=True)
+        # second copy all the files
+        filepaths_source = [os.path.join(dirpath, x) for x in filenames]
+        filepaths_destination = [os.path.join(destination, os.path.relpath(x, source)) for x in filepaths_source]
+        for src, dst in zip(filepaths_source, filepaths_destination):
+            shutil.copyfile(src, dst)
+
+
+def download_url(url, destination):
+    """
+    Using urllib.request downloads from an url to a destination. Destination will be a file.
+
+    Waits one second before, trying to be nice.
+    """
+    time.sleep(1)  # we are nice
+    with urllib.request.urlopen(url) as response:
+        with open(destination, 'wb') as f:
+            shutil.copyfileobj(response, f)