---------------------------------------------- README FILE FOR uuENCODE and uuDECODE FOR OS/2 ---------------------------------------------- The programs UUENCODE and UUDECODE were ported to OS/2 by me, from some Public Domain Turbo Pascal (for DOS) source code. The DOS source had been hacked before I obtained it, and was totally un-commented. I have changed the user interface to make the programs a bit more user friendly, and I have also added UNIX file compatibility to both the encoder and the decoder. The UNIX compatibility may or may not have bugs. If you discover any bugs, please mail me, and I will try to fix it. The programs were ported to OS/2 using Clarion's TopSpeed Pascal for OS/2. I think that the compiler produces 16 bit OS/2 applications, but the code has been optimized for the 80386 processor. Optimization for the 80486 processor produced no noticeable performance boost, so I have decided to leave the programs optimized the '386 chip. The programs can run in a full screen, or windowed OS/2 session. Please see below for further information. The encode and decode algorithms seem to be rather slow and in-efficient. But thanks to the excellent optimizations in the TopSpeed Pascal compiler for OS/2, the OS/2 versions run at least 1000% faster than the DOS versions produced by Turbo Pascal 6.0. They are however still slower than other implementations that I have seen. For those Pascal programmers out there, porting your DOS Pascal programs to (text mode) OS/2 is largely painless, using TopSpeed Pascal. Included in the TopSpeed language is a utility for "converting" Turbo Pascal code to TopSpeed syntax. In many cases, the converted code compiles without alteration. Please NOTE THIS DISCLAIMER *************************** THESE PROGRAMS WERE PORTED TO OS/2 AS A SERVICE TO THE OS/2 USER COMMUNITY. THEY ARE SUPPLIED "AS IS", AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER. I DO NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE, PHYSICAL, FINANCIAL, MENTAL, SOCIAL, MARITAL, OR OTHERWISE, THAT RESULTS FROM THE USE OR THE PURPORTED USE OF UUENCODE OR UUDECODE FOR OS/2. If these terms are not acceptable to you, then please DELETE the program files from your disks IMMEDIATELY. *********************************** * Dr. Abimbola Olowofoyeku * * School of Law * * Keele Univeristy * * Keele, Staffs ST5 5BG * * England. * * * * Email: laa12@seq1.keele.ac.uk * *********************************** -------- UUENCODE -------- This program is for the purpose of converting binary files into printable characters (this is useful for transmission by E-mail, etc.). The program defaults to producing encoded files in the DOS format. However, it can also produce encoded files in UNIX format. The difference between the DOS and UNIX file formats lies only in the way each line is terminated - everything else is the same. The syntax is: UUENCODE [-U] [] The "-U" switch is to cause the program to produce a UNIX format encoded file. It is optional, and if it is not used, then the program produces a DOS format encoded file by default. If no output file name is supplied, the encoded file name is the name of the input file, with the extension ".UUE" added to it. Examples: UUENCODE MYFILE.ZIP (produces MYFILE.UUE in DOS file format) UUENCODE -U MYFILE.ZIP (produces MYFILE.UUE in UNIX file format) UUENCODE MYFILE.ZIP ME.UUE (produces ME.UUE in DOS file format) -------- UUDECODE -------- This program is for the purpose of converting UUencoded printable files back into their original format. The program assumes by default that the encoded files are in the DOS format. However, it can also decode files which have been encoded in UNIX format. The program can determine automatically whether a file is in UNIX or DOS format. The syntax is: UUDECODE [] The auto-checking mechanism for UNIX the file format is usually sufficient, but please note that this auto-checking is a recent development, so if you discover any bugs here, please e-mail me. If no output file name is supplied, the name of the target file is extracted from input (encoded) file. Examples: UUDECODE MYFILE.UUE (decodes MYFILE.UUE to a filename obtained from inside MYFILE.UUE) UUDECODE MYFILE.UUE TEST.ZIP (decodes MYFILE.UUE, to an output file named TEST.ZIP) --------------------- A.A.O. 30 August 1993 ---------------------