LumberJack v1.0
                               By Adam Dawes
                             25th August 1994



What is Lumberjack?
===================


Lumberjack is a small utility that allows you to automatically cut down
your log files. (Yes, I know it's a very bad pun but I liked it. :)

It's good to insert in a script file for utilities that generate continuous
log files, so that when they finish working, the beginning of the file is
trimmed.

Lumberjack can be told to cut the log file to any size you like, and it
will start to cut at a complete line of text (so if you ask it to keep
20000 bytes, it may only keep, say, 19987 bytes so as to avoid chopping a
line of text in half).

Lumberjack will actually chop /any/ file to a specified length, but I
strongly recommend you only use it on text files!




System Requirements.
====================


Lumberjack should operate on any Amiga, running any kickstart system.

Please contact me if this is not the case and I will attempt to fix it!




Usage.
======


Lumberjack may only be executed from the command line (or, obviously, from
within a script).

The command should be entered as follows:


    Lumberjack <Inputfile> <Outputfile> [<Outputsize>]


 <Inputfile> is the filename of the log file to be trimmed

 <Outputfile> is the filename to write the trimmed log file to

 <Outputsize> is the amount of the source file to keep. The resulting
              output file may not be exactly this size, as that Lumberjack
              ensures that a line of text is not split in half.


If the outputsize is not specified, a default value of 20000 bytes will be
used. If the outputsize is greater than the size of the entire file, no
data will be lost from the file.




Legal stuff.
============


The usual stuff applies: I won't be held responsible for any damage done to
your computer system or anyone else's computer system as a result -- direct
or indirect -- of using Lumberjack.

If you do experience any problems with this program then please let me know
so that I can attempt to sort it out!

Lumberjack may be distributed freely, as long as no unreasonable charge is
imposed for its distribution.




Contacting the author.
======================


First of all, a plea to anyone who uses this utility: please send me some
mail and tell me what you think! Yes, I know it's 14k and it's written in a
crap language, but it's only an experimental version of the program to see
if anyone actually has any use for it. If it seems you all /do/ find it
useful then I'll rewrite it in assembler and release a new version.

I can be contacted at the following addresses:

  InterNet:
         Adam@darkside.demon.co.uk

  FidoNet:
        Adam Dawes @ 2:254/524.50

  Snail Mail (don't expect any fast replies!!):

        Adam Dawes
        47 Friar Road
        Brighton
        BN1 6NH
        England


If you feel like sending cash or presents (who'm I kidding?) then feel free
to send them to the above address. :)