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ReadMe152
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1996-10-17
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mpack/munpack 1.5.2 public beta (beta 4)
This is a public beta release. It would be a full release except that I've
recently been sent the development sources for the next cross-platform
version. So I've tidied up the loose ends in this version and released it
"unofficially". Please reports any bugs/comments, as othwerwise they are
likely to be present in the next official release.
The current Wimp interface to !Mpack is very crude. The development sources
have a new, more flexible library for creating MIME messages, so (provided
I have time) !Mpack's GUI should be greatly improved.
If you prefer to use command line tools, you'll find the executables mpack
and munpack inside !Mpack and !Munpack respectively. These work pretty
much as they used to -- I've added a "-w" switch to each which if specified
starts up the wimp frontend.
Changes since 1.5.2 beta 3:
* !Munpack and !Mpack now respond to Message_DataSave so files dragged from
other apps get processed (rather than ignored).
Changes since 1.5.2 beta 2:
* Added dialog box to !Munpack to allow options to be changed during run, and
also menu options to load/save choices.
* Added code to create unpack directory if it doesn't exist (one level only
at present).
* Added wimp interface to mpack. Currently it's lacking in many ways --
output filename is fixed, message subject is fixed, etc.
* Mpack now uses RISC OS filetype in helping choose a MIME "Content-Type:".
* Code to create store directory for multiparts now chooses DOSFS-friendly
names.
* "^" is more carefully checked for in output filenames. Before it couldn't
be sneaked in to produce output in a higher level directory, but in some
circumstances it could get into leafnames producing illegal filenames.
* File-suffix counter is now reset after each file (change copied back from
development sources for next cross-platform release).
* Warning box given if application with !Boot is unpacked.
Changes since 1.5.2 beta 1:
* Fixed munpack bug: unpacking a !Marcel directory structure, then a normal
attachment gave error due to internal state not being reset.
* Tidied up error reporting.
Changes since 1.5:
* Wimp front-end to munpack. Quick help: drag message to icon to decode,
click SELECT on icon to view munpack scrap directory. !Munpack.munpack
can still be used in command line mode if you want.
* Rewritten to not use UnixLib, which means the executables are noticeably
smaller and probably a bit faster.
* Fixed a number of filename handling bugs (e.g. FOO.GIF would only unpack
as file GIF in directory FOO before). Should truncate names if necessary,
but shouldn't if the filing system supports long names (or if LongFiles
or similar is running).
* Added auto-filetyping by extension and/or content-type.
Bug reports and other comments are greatly appreciated.
Olly
P.S. Here's the readme from 1.5 which is still mostly correct:
===========================================================================
mpack/munpack version 1.5 for archimedes
Mpack and munpack are utilities for encoding and decoding
(respectively) binary files in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions) format mail messages. For compatibility with older forms
of transferring binary files, the munpack program can also decode
messages in split-uuencoded format. The Macintosh version can also
decode messages in split-BinHex format.
The Archimedes port interworks with Marcel (ANT's RISC OS MIME-compliant
MUA) to preserve filetypes, timestamps and access permissions. munpack
should correctly unpack any Marcel message. At present, mpack doesn't
include the filetype, etc. information. This may be implemented in a
future release.
Versions are included for unix, pc, os2, mac, amiga and archimedes
systems. The canonical FTP site for this software is
ftp.andrew.cmu.edu:pub/mpack/
This MIME implementation is intended to be as simple and portable as
possible. For a slightly more sophisticated MIME implementation, see
the program MetaMail, available via anonymous FTP to
thumper.bellcore.com, in directory pub/nsb
Decoding MIME messages:
To decode a MIME message, first save it to a text file. If possible,
save it with all headers included. Munpack can decode some MIME files
when the headers are missing or incomplete, other files it cannot
decode without having the information in the headers. In general,
messages which have a statement at the beginning that they are in MIME
format can be decoded without the headers. Messages which have been
split into multiple parts generally require all headers in order to be
reassembled and decoded.
Some LAN-based mail systems and some mail providers (including America
Online, as of the writing of this document) place the mail headers at
the bottom of the message, instead of at the top of the message. If
you are having problems decoding a MIME message on such a system, you
need to convert the mail back into the standard format by removing the
system's nonstandard headers and moving the standard Internet headers
to the top of the message (separated from the message body with a
blank line).
There must be exactly one message per file. Munpack cannot deal with
multiple messages in a single file, to decode things correctly it must
know when one message ends and the next one begins.
To decode a message, run the command:
munpack file
where "file" is the name of the file containing the message. More than
one filename may be specified, munpack will try to decode the message in
each file. For more information on ways to run munpack, see the section
"Using munpack" below.
Reporting bugs:
Bugs and comments should be reported to mpack-bugs@andrew.cmu.edu.
When reporting bugs or other problems, please include the following
information:
* The version number of Mpack
* The platform (Unix, PC, OS/2, Mac, Amiga, Archimedes)
* The EXACT output of any unsuccessful attempts.
* If having a problem decoding, the first couple of lines
of the input file.
Compilation:
The RISC OS sources have been compiled with Acorn C version 4.0 and
UnixLib 3.6e (ftp-able from micros.hensa.ac.uk).
Using mpack:
Mpack is used to encode a file into one or more MIME format messages.
The program is invoked with:
mpack [options] -o outputfile file
Where "[options]" is one or more optional switches described below.
"-o outputfile" is also described below. "file" is the name of the
file to encode.
The possible options are:
-s subject
Set the Subject header field to Subject. By default,
mpack will prompt for the contents of the subject
header.
-d descriptionfile
Include the contents of the file descriptionfile in an
introductory section at the beginning of the first
generated message.
-m maxsize
Split the message (if necessary) into partial messages,
each not exceeding maxsize characters. The default
limit is the value of the SPLITSIZE environment
variable, or no limit if the environment variable
does not exist. Specifying a maxsize of 0 means there
is no limit to the size of the generated message.
-c content-type
Label the included file as being of MIME type
content-type, which must be a subtype of application,
audio, image, or video. If this switch is not given,
mpack examines the file to determine its type.
-o outputfile
Write the generated message to the file outputfile. If
the message has to be split, the partial messages will
instead be written to the files outputfile/01,
outputfile/02, etc.
The environment variables which control mpack's behavior are:
SPLITSIZE
Default value of the -m switch. Default "0".
HOSTNAME
Fully qualified domain name to use in generated message-ids.
Default "random-arc".
Using munpack:
Munpack is used to decode one or more messages in MIME or
split-uuencoded format and extract the embedded files. The program is
invoked with:
munpack [options] filename...
which reads the m