Re: Release of version 4.15.2 of sharutils

Bob Proulx wrote on 05/31/2015 01:14 AM:
> Hello Gary,
>
> [email protected] wrote:
>> I'm a Free Software noobie and probably have no idea what this is, but
>> it seems legit! :D Do you think you could explain it to me in like
>> layman's terms? :)
>
> Welcome to the world of free(dom) software.  Bruce put a very short
> summary that answers your question in his announcement message.
>
>> Bruce Korb wrote:
>>> GNU sharutils consists of two pairs of utilities: shar and unshar, and
>>> uuencode and uudecode.  "shar" makes so-called shell archives out of
>>> many files, preparing them for transmission by electronic mail
>>> services (converting binary data to ascii representations, breaking
>>> the text into multiple shar scripts, etc.).  "unshar" is the safe way
>>> to extract and reassemble the original files.  It will automatically
>>> strip off the mail headers and other introductory text.
>
> Even though email isn't a file transfer protocol and really shouldn't
> be used as such just the same we have all used email to send files
> anyway.  (We shouldn't use 'cat file' to view a file either but we do
> that all of the time too and accept the consequences if the file isn't
> small enough or if it contains nasty escape sequences that kill our
> terminal.)  If the total size is small enough to go through email then
> it works.  But email has traditionally had 7-bit data character
> limitations.  And mailers will munge the content.  It is hard to send
> verbatim files through the email.
>
> The shar program makes a "shell-archive" of 8-bit binary data into a
> 7-bit cleanly wrapped text file.  This file can then be viewed with
> text browsers and emailed through text mail.  Traditionally we would
> take a binary file, shar it, then email it to another who would unshar
> it to receive the original binary file.
>
> A shell archive is a shell script program.  It is a self-extracting
> script program that extracts itself into the files that were archived
> within it.  It is portable across many different Unix-like systems.
> It's pretty cool!
>
>>> "uuencode" and "uudecode" are programs that convert binary files into
>>> ascii text so that the original data can pass through the email system
>>> without having intermediate hosts "fixing" the files en route.
>
> The "uu" parts of those names show they were associated with the uucp
> unix-unix-copy programs.  In the old days before networking the only
> communication path was by modem line.  One computer would call up
> another computer.  You could uucp a file from one computer to another
> associated computer.  The uucp program worked great for connected
> systems.  But what about email across several systems?  That was where
> uuencode and uudecode came into use.  They are similar to shar and
> unshar but more specific.  When posting binary files to newsgroups it
> was at one time typical to uuencode the binary file and post the
> uuencoded version to news.  The newsgroups then copied the files from
> system to system using uucp.  If you don't know what they are then you
> probably don't need them.
>
> These days perhaps the most active use of uudecode is to unpack old
> archived postings to usenet that are still available.  Or to unpack
> other archived file.  Files uuencoded are easily identified by the
> uuencode header line in the file and the files are always viewable
> because they are text files.
>
> These days for the most part all data transfer is done 8-bit clean and
> therefore does not need any of this wrapping and encoding.  We would
> simply use http or ftp or rsync or other binary transfer protocol and
> simply copy the file around directly.
>
> Email still needs it for its own use however.  Email uses 'base64'
> encoding.  Base64 encoding is slightly different from the encoding
> used by shar.  It is incrementally more compact.  But the MIME encoded
> base64 encoding is very similar in use and concept.
>
>>> This is a bug fix release for version 4.15 of sharutils
>
> Even though these are venerable old tools and perhaps see less use
> these days the programs are useful to have for the specific cases
> where they are still used.  Operating systems and environments change
> slightly.  It is useful to update the build environment for them.
> Other small changes.  Bruce has been maintaining these for years and
> we thank him for doing so.  I am still happily using sharutils.  I
> used them recently to unpack an archive of nettrek just the other day.
>
> Bob
>
>
>

Programmers and programs still going strong, I see, I use, I conquer.
Well said and hear hear.

bjd