6. The computer program product of claim 5 further comprising: instructions for determining a list of constituent files in each archive file in the set of archive files; and instructions for performing the specified information operation with respect to each constituent file in each archive file in the set of archive files.
5. A computer program product stored in a computer readable medium for use in a data processing system for processing information from a set of archive files, the computer program product comprising: instructions for receiving a request to obtain information derived from a set of archive files; instructions for identifying a container with which the set of archive files are associated in response to receiving the request; instructions for determining an information operation specified by the request: instructions for performing the specified information operation with respect to each archive file in the set of archive files, wherein the specified information operation is selected from the group consisting of searching, indexing, and comparing; and instructions for generating a response to the request comprising information derived from the set of archive files and an identifier for an archive file and a constituent file therein which is associated with each information entry in the response to indicate an origin for the information entry.