UUXX UU/XX Encoding/Decoding Utility for Personal Computers (MS-DOS/DR-DOS) VERSION 2.0 JUNE 1994 TSCNET SOFTWARE DESIGNS TSCNET INC P.O. Box 3686 Silverdale, WA 98383-3686 Voice: (206)-613-0708 Data : (206)-692-2388 ---- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- INTRODUCTION Contact Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disclaimer and License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Shareware Notice and Distributation. . . . . . . . .3 Program Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 INSTALLATION Installing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 PROGRAM OPERATION Another Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 UUXX Command Line Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 UUXX Command Line Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 UUXX Exit Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 UUXX Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 TROUBLESHOOTING Using Analyze to determine the encoding type . . . .10 Reporting Bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 ------ Page 1 CONTACT INFORMATION ------------------- UUXX was written by Mike Jackson of TSCNET Software Designs, TSCNET Inc. TSCNET runs a 22 Line PCBoard Online Service located in Silverdale, Wa. To Register UUXX, please use the form (or a close approximation of it) that is contained the the file REGISTER.DOC and send it and and check or money order for $10.00 to: TSCNET Software Designs TSCNET Inc. P.O. Box 3686 Silverdale, Wa 98383-3686 Voice: (206)-613-0708 You can also register the software on-line or contact the author with comments by calling the TSCNET BBS at: (206)-692-2388 Login using your real name, complete the new user registration, and once you are at the Main Board Prompt... Type: UUXX (We accept VISA and MASTERCARD) --------------------------------------------------------------- To Contact the Author: Log on to TSCNET and leave E-Mail to MIKE JACKSON Send Internet E-Mail to: mhjack@tscnet.eskimo.com --------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Page 2 DISCLAIMER ---------- TSCNET INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPERSS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER TSCNET INC. NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVLOVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF TSCNET INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL TSCNET INC.'S LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE CLAIM. THE PERSON OR COMPANY USING THIS SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Washington and shall inure to the benefit of TSCNET Inc. and any successors, administrators, heirs, and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Kitsap County, Washington. The parties hereby consent to in persona jurisdiction of said courts. LICENSE ------- The UUXX utility is sold as shareware and is the copyrighted property of TSCNET Inc. TSCNET grants you a limited, non-exclusive license to use UUXX for a 30 day evaluation period. The software is not crippled in any way and you get nothing more by registering the software. However, if you continue to use this program past the 30 day evaluation period, you are breaking the law. If you find this program useful, PLEASE register it and help support the development of other useful software. Registered users will be notified of new releases. ----- Page 3 WHAT IS SHAREWARE? ------------------ The user supported software concept (also known as "Shareware") is an attempt to provide quality software at low cost. Both the user and author benefit from this plan. The user will benefit by being able to "test drive" software thoroughly before purchasing it. The author benefits by being able to enter the commercial software market while avoiding the high cost of commercial distribution. This concept helps many independent authors and small companies that otherwise would be discouraged from developing and promoting their ideas. It can only work with your support. If you obtain a user supported program from a friend and are still using it after a few weeks, then it is obviously worth something to you, and a registration fee should be paid. This software is distributed under the user supported software concept. although UUXX is copyrighted, you are encouraged to copy and distribute this program to others. You are granted a 30-day limited license to test drive UUXX. After the 30 day trial period a registration fee is required for continued use of UUXX or else you must stop using UUXX and remove it from your system. DISTRIBUTION ------------ This package may be made available on your BBS or uploaded to any BBS that you call provided that the contents of this archive are NOT in any way changed, either by adding or deleting files to the archive. You may not specifically charge anyone for this software. ------- Page 4 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION ------------------- UUXX is actually several programs in one. Unix systems typically have a series of programs that will take a binary file (a binary file may be an executable or any other binary data file) and encode it so that it may be sent from one person to another via E-mail. On a Unix system, the programs UUENCODE and UUDECODE are usually available. These programs take the characters in a text or binary file and encode them so that they take up more space. At first this sound like a questionable practice, until you realize that you can't usually send binary files or any other file that contains special control character through an E-Mail system. By encoding the file, now it can be sent as part of a message via an E-mail channel. This can be via a BBS message or across the Internet. UUENCODED files are quite common in USENET. UUENCODING takes the 8-bit characters in a file and takes three of them (24-bits) and makes them into four 6-bit characters (also 24-bits) and then re-maps the 64 possible 6-bit characters into the printable (and 'mailable') characters within the standard 8-bit ASCII character set. There are two variations of UUENCODING. The first variation uses the space (ASCII 32) character to represent 0 and the second uses the open left quote (ASCII 96) character to represent 0. The second method was developed because if a space was at the end of a line, some mail systems would remove it. Another set of encoding programs that may be available on a Unix system is XXENCODE and XXDECODE. This operates in the same manner, but uses a different set of 8-bit characters to represent the 64 possible 6-bit characters. UUXX will perform uuencoding (using both methods), uudecoding (using both methods), xxencoding, and xxdecoding. In addition, UUXX has an analyze mode that will analyze a file and determine what type of encoding was used. ------ Page 5 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- UUXX will run on any MS-DOS, PC-DOS, or DR-DOS based system. The DOS version required is 3.31 or above. The program should run in as little as 256K of memory. INSTALLATION ------------ 1. Unzip the files somewhere and then move the UUXX.EXE file and the batch (*.BAT) files to any subdirectory that is in your path. You an place the files in their own subdirectory, and then edit the PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 2. The files: UUENCODE.BAT, UUDECODE.BAT, XXENCODE.BAT, XXDECODE.BAT are provided for your convince. They are useful if you are used to typing those names, but they are not necessary, and can be deleted. 3. The file UUXX.MAN is a Unix style MAN page for UUXX. 4. Read the REGISTER.DOC file for information on registering. 5. Type: UUXX -dx picture.txt This will decode the example file and you will then have a picture.gif file which you can then look it. 6. If you look it picture.txt, you will get a good feel for what a XXENCODED file looks like. -------- Page 6 ANOTHER EXAMPLE --------------- This is an example of a file that was encoded using uuxx: (This block was encoded using the UUquote method [uuxx -dq]) begin 600 TEST.TXT M#0I4:&ES(&ES(&$@=&5S="XN+@T*#0I4:&ES(&9I;&4@=V%S('5U96YC;V1E M9"!U'@@+65Q('1E