emv@umix.UUCP (Edward Vielmetti) (08/15/86)
Bill Crews <947@cyb-eng.UUCP> asks: >Question: How many versions of uuencode/uudecode are there? ARC seems not >to have very many, but I would still recommend using uuencode/uudecode if >that code is maintained fairly consistently by most of the system >administrators on the net. Version history has always been something I've liked.... Here's the best I can do from a largely ms-dos background.: sq/usq: There is one "sq" standard which generates .?q? files. There's another "sq2" format that's been squashed (I hope). The canonical sq/usq programs for dos are by Rand, Homchick & Sharp. lbr: There are several incompatible .lbr formats, but the canonical 'lu' programs handle them all. These are lue, luu, and several others by Vern Buerg. luu creates files in the usq format (above). arc: There have been two important downward-incompatible releases of ARC (Thom Henderson, System Enhancement Associates), v4 and v5. ARC51.COM is the released version, and the best utilities to handle them are arce, arca, and arcv by Vern Buerg. James Turner recently posted a bsd version on net.sources. uuencode/uudecode: At this instant, I don't have a PC version of uuen/decode that's as fast or reliable as usq, lue, or arce. I've seen implementations in Turbo & C, but none in assembler. From my perspective, uuencode/uudecode files are to be avoided. (Please someone convince me I'm wrong and lead me to an .asm version.) compress: At this instant, I don't have a PC version of compress that will handle the .z files it produces. I understand that some exist, but it's a non-issue for me since I haven't seen one yet. Again I'd like to see an .asm version compatible with .z files. tar: I have a tar reader from Drew.Perkins@te.cc.cmu.edu. It works on the files he sent, but I haven't tested it generally. It would be nice to have a tar writer for DOS too, especially if there's one format. binhex: I've seen Mac Pascal sources for BinHex, but no dos implementation yet. The usefulness of this is mostly dependent on your need for Macpaint or Macdraw files in native format. There were a score of bootstrap versions of binhex, but that stabilized fast enough (thank god for mac owners). packit: This is a file packager like lbr for macs, but without compression. There was recently an unpit program posted that handled v1 and v2 Packit files. Haven't seen any for other systems, and I really don't need one. That's all I could come up with. I'd be happy to collect more info, especially in other universes. Edward Vielmetti CC Microgroup ihnp4!umich!umix!emv or emv%Umich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.arpa
bc@cyb-eng.UUCP (Bill Crews) (08/16/86)
> Version history has always been something I've liked.... > Here's the best I can do from a largely ms-dos background.: > > sq/usq: > lbr: > arc: > uuencode/uudecode: > compress: > tar: > binhex: > packit: > > That's all I could come up with. > > Edward Vielmetti An article this informative should get a public thanks, so here it is. Now, if I only knew how to get ahold of all the authors/publishers Edward referred to... By the way, upon rereading it, I realized that my original posting might have been misleading. The purpose of uuencode is not to compress, but to make unprintable/unsendable files sendable, I believe. Thus, compressed/squeezed ASCII needs to be uuencoded. But this increases the size of the file, negating much of the benefit of the compression. This is all over and above the mashing that usq/arc and compress do against each other, again negating the beneficial effects of the squeezing. I just don't think it makes sense to do it. -- bc Bill Crews @ NetCor Data International ..!{seismo,gatech,ihnp4}!ut-sally!cyb-eng!bc (512) 835-2937