Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!kamath From: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: uuencode/uudecode anyone? (was: GS Programs. . . Please!) Message-ID: <9233@reed.UUCP> Date: 7 May 88 22:27:25 GMT References: <9165@reed.UUCP> <537@n8emr.UUCP> <9621@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <790@trwcsed.trwrb.UUCP> Reply-To: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath) Organization: Reed College, Portland OR Lines: 61 Keywords: keywords In article <790@trwcsed.trwrb.UUCP> arenberg@trwcsed.UUCP (Jeff Arenberg) writes: > The code is very short and >pretty simple, but it uses Unix file commands, so rewriting it to use prodos >and presumably the Basic interface would take a little work. I'm curious >is anyone would like to see this as a utility. I haven't had any problems >with Executioner. If anyone has any real good reasons why uuencoded >material is better, please speak up. > >Jeff Arenberg The heart of the UU(en/de)CODE routine is: #define ENC(c) ((c) ? ((c) & 077) + ' ': '`') What this does is basically a three to four byte conversion, or six bit packing. It does not try to do anything funky, it just makes *every* byte readable as ascii. No, using uu(en/de)code is nice, but it still puts out all the nasty characters that BITNET bites on. Really. No, as for why I know all about this...I'm writing a program I am calling apencode. It will do A) self-execing files B) do try UNIX UU(en/.de)CODE from a file, and C) Ziff whatever packing used by .GIF and compress on our vax. . . Now, as for when this is going to appear. I already have a very simple routine that does A) under dos 3.3 I will start with DOS 3.3 for my own reasons. . . The last thing I will do with bee the Zwhatever compression, as I don't have an "reasonable" docs on how to do it. . . Just a bunch 'o undocumented C code. . . I expect to have something to post n a few weeks. . . To give you an idea about how I will pack files. . . They will all be packed with 6 bit packing, withh all characters being mapped to something I hope is readable. . . This means just about no characters other than A-Za-z. I do need about 16 chars, which I will use 0-9 and some other chars, and I am hoping to get back from Larry a list of death chars, so that I can avoid them. When I add packing, I will pack the file first, then encode it. Depending on how hard it is to do this, I may break it into two separate steps. . . When I move it to ProDOS, it will run virtually the same, but when you try to exec the packed file under the wrong dos, it will laugh at you. . .Well, OK, it'll cry. If *anyone* has anything to say about how this is going to work, please e-mail me a note, do not post it. I am doing it entirely in assembly, but if someone wants me to download the C code and put it on the apple (for uu(en/de)code) I will, and I'm sure it will work just fine, as Aztec does things right, unlike APW C. Sean Kamath -- UUCP: {decvax allegra ucbcad ucbvax hplabs ihnp4}!tektronix!reed!kamath CSNET: reed!kamath@Tektronix.CSNET || BITNET: reed!kamath@PSUVAX1.BITNET ARPA: reed!kamath@PSUVAX1.CS.PSU.EDU US Snail: 3934 SE Boise, Portland, OR 97202-3126 (I hate 4 line .sigs!)