[comp.sys.mac] BinHex4 vs. StuffIt

richard@perle.UUCP (Richard Outerbridge) (02/25/89)

The CRC error that occurs when BinHex4 is used to decode files with
names of 26, 27 or 28 characters that have been encoded by StuffIt
results from a long-standing bug in the decoding side of BinHex4.
The author of BinHex4, Yves Lempereur, wrote to Raymond Lau yesterday
and confirmed that long file names sometimes get BinHex4 confused,
even when BinHex4 is used for encoding as well as decoding.  The
strange thing about the recent "Sample MandelZot Data .sit" file
was that BinHex4 could decode the file if it had been BinHex4 encoded.

Yves says he's unlikely to fix the bug, but since the sources are
publicly available that shouldn't be too much of a problem for anyone
with a compiler.  To avoid any problems just avoid using Mac file
names 26, 27 or 28 characters long if BinHex4 will be used for decoding.

[Thanks to Steve Bollinger (billkatt) for predicting what the problem
would turn out to be!]

-- 
Richard Outerbridge  <uunet!mnetor!perle!richard>  (416)-299-4999
GEnie/DELPHI/MacNET: OUTER  CI$: [71755,204] Home: (416)-961-4757
  -- just an eccentric soul with a curiosity for the bizarre --