Shar

Under the UNIX operating system there are so-called shell archives. They are created by the program shar and usually contain pure text files. For extraction the Bourne Shell, /bin/sh, is used. This is of course not possible on the Atari ST under TOS. So I hacked together (not more than that) a shar program for the ST that also has an ``unshar'' component. For this I used two already existing versions of shar: one I found on a local UNIX machine and one available for the Atari ST. The former one did not have an unshar component, and the latter did not have a good directory support. So I built my own one and adopted Arcgsh to it.

This shar version is not included in the Arcgsh distribution but you should be able to get it through the same channel you got Arcgsh. If you already have a UNIX compatible shar running on your ST you should at least be able to create shar archives — extracting is another matter.

The shar dialog box pops up if you select the ``Shar ...'' menu item from the ``File'' menu. You will see the following fields:

``Archive'':

The name of the shar archive is specified here. Default extension is .SH but you may change it.

``Create'', ``extract'', ``overwrite'':

Select whether you want to create a new shar archive (this is the default) or extract an existing one. Overwrite is the same as extract but with overwriting already existing files.

``Filename'':

Filenames to be included in the shar archive may be specified here or in the file selection handler. Directory names may also be given, but must not have a backslash (`` \'') at the end.

``more files ...'':

A click at this button invokes the file selection handler. The specification of a working directory is essential upon extraction. Files without an absolute path are written to this directory.

``clear ...'':

Clears all entries in the file selection handler.

``Shar options'':

shar options may be selected here. Refer to the documentation of your shar.