[comp.databases] FoxBase HEEEEELLLLPPPPPP!!!!!

shevett@euclid.math.temple.edu (Dave Shevett) (12/23/89)

My apologies if this is a duplicate message, but my 3b1 seems to be
having a hard time posting to the world...

Well, the worst has happened to me...  I have a fairly large Foxbase
application on my Unix system at work (SCO Xenix, actually, Foxbase
2.1.1.) I had a MINOR mishap a week or so ago, and managed to wipe my
root partition.  (No problem, right?  Pop in the tape and restore,
right?  Wrong.  Guess who only backs up their /u partition...)

ANYWAY, the /u partition has the running version of my system (called
STS).  The .fox files, .dbf's, and .idx's are all there just peachy.
BUT I DONT HAVE THE SOURCE CODE!!!!!  The files were compiled with just
joe foxpcomp (no -e option), and I can 'strings' the .fox file, and all
my variables are still intact.

The question is ---  Can I turn my .fox files back into normal .prg
files?  I know all my comments (Ha!) will be gone, and my indenting will
be shot to hell, but the only version of this code I have is 3 months
out of date.  Ever try writing code back up to a running system?  It
can't be done by any sane human being.

Sooooo, I'm in a real rut.  ANY pointers, aside from figuring out what
all the tokens in the file are, and writing a decompiler, would be
GREATLY appreciated.  Please mail back ...  (if you post, could you wing
off a mail message also?  I dunno how dependable my home newsfeed is...)
If there is enough interest, I'll post a summary...

  Dave Shevett
  Labyrinth II BBS
  shevett@labii.UUCP .or.
  shevett@euclid.math.temple.edu