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README
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UUdeview Readme
***************
The Problem
===========
You can't post (or email) binary files to newsgroups as binary files, since
binary files contain lots of unprintable characters. Therefore, files must be
coded into printable characters. There are a couple of methods available,
like the macintosh binhex. The most popular encoding method is
uuencoding, which first became standard in the unix world.
Unfortunately, there is another limitation to mailing or news-posting coded
programs, since many mail or news gateways have an upper file size limit.
Therefore, files must also be split into multiple parts to allow these
gateways to handle them.
But the standard decoder programs aren't built to handle this. They can
only work unsplit files. Concatenating the individual mails/postings does not
help, since they contain lots of headers that confuse the decoder. The only
help is to manually delete the headers from the mails/postings with a text
editor. And, some of the bigger files come in more than 50 parts. You don't
want to sit down and edit 50 files only to see a single animation, do you?
And still we're not through yet. Although the files are usually posted in the
right order, they don't necessarily arrive correctly ordered. So you must
also manually put them in order.
I hope I have you convinced by now that you do not want to have to do this
stuff. By now, you should think "Well, there must be something to simplify
decoding". And you're right. This is where UUdeview steps in.
The Idea
========
The Idea was to create a program that does all the work for you. You
should not have to manually strip headers, and you shouldn't be troubled
by the order of the files. And, the program should be able to process
multiple files at once.
Now combine all this with a simple and friendly user-interface, and you
have UUdeview!
Featuring ...
=============
Some of the highlights include:
o Shoot'em'up interface. You fire up the program will all input files on
the command line, and uudeview will then present you all
decodeable files.
o Basically is a smart multi-file multi-part decoder, but also feels at
home dumbly with single-file single-part input.
o Features the encoding schemes "UUencode", "XXencode" and
"Base64" (aka MIME); these schemes are auto-detected for
each email/article.
o Ports exist for Unix, DOS and Windows, so if you frequently change
your operating system, UUdeview will migrate with you.
o The unique SPMS(r) technology sometimes allows to recover from
errors in the original postings' subject line. If you have parts 1,2 and
4 of 'test' and part 3 of 'toast', the program will try to guess these
parts belong together.
o The Unix and DOS versions allow file previews without decoding
the file (well, in fact it is decoded, but you won't notice)
o Usually asks before decoding each file, but can as well be
configured for batch-decoding.
o The Windows version includes the UUdeview Launcher, allowing
for drag-and-drop decoding, and selection of options by
mouseclick
The Philosophy
==============
UUdeview's philosophy is "to work". Thus it is programmed for to be smart
and will decode files that other programs don't, or decode incorrectly. On
the other hand, it is not designed for maximum fanciness; compared to
other decoders it may look anachronistic. But you can decide on your own
whether you want maximum operatability or maximum fanciness. And
then there is another feature in favour of UUdeview, distinguishing it from
other, similar utilities: It is free. I have found that most other decoders fit into
one of two categories. Either they are not too bright (most get confused by
parts that are not ordered), or they are not free.
Behind the Frontend
===================
UUdeview evaluates the 'subject:' line. From the subject line, it tries to
derive the name of the file and the part number. It looks for a filename of the
kind string.suffix (also accepting more than one suffix). This file name must
then appear on all subject lines containing other parts from this file (if it
doesn't, hope for SPMS). If there's nothing on the subject that looks like a
file name, don't worry, then UUdeview will find something else. And this
subject-line file name isn't used for anything else than subject-line
matching, anyway. For the actual file, the filename from the 'begin' line is
used.
The program is also quite tolerant with part numbers. First, it looks for
numbers in brackets (16/22) or (16 of 22) or simply (16). Secondly, it looks
for the same kind of information in square brackets. Then it looks for the
string "Part 16" or "Part #16" or something similar. As long as there
actually is a part number, chances are that it will be found.
Will there ever be a version 1.0?
=================================
UUdeview was originally developed for Unix only, and it was planned to
feature a full-screen curses menu-driven interface. Then I thought about
it some more, discovered the above philosophy and found it not necessary
for a program such simple to have a bombastic interface -- which would
only make it more incompatible. Because this interface was planned for
1.0, and I have now decided not to include such an interface, it is unlikely
that there will ever be version 1.0. But hey, the version is only a number that
really doesn't tell anything.
Known Bugs
==========
o UUdeview only accepts Base64 (MIME) data that has a line length
of a multiple of four. The MIME standard does not enforce a
particular length. So far, no file with a non-multiple-of-four line
length has been found.
o In its desperate attempts to merge file parts, SPMS might
infrequently produce a junk file (consisting partially of an AU file
and partially of an MPEG, for example). Again, this has yet to
happen to me.
Famous last words
=================
Although the program is free, donations are always gladly accepted
<grin>, be it postcards, email, hardware or anything else. I will conquer the
last step in the evolution of UUdeview, the Macintosh port, as soon as
someone donates me a Mac.
For you lawyers out there:
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft.
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple.
UUdeview and SPMS are unregistered trademarks of Frank Pilhofer
Projects (FPP)
Frank Pilhofer <fp@informatik.uni-frankfurt.de> Back to the Homepage
Last modified: Fri Feb 3 09:30:21 1995