2.1.4 Selecting how files are stocked

-T

--text-files

Treat all files as text, regardless of their contents.

-B

--uuencode

Treat all files as binary, use uuencode prior to packing. This increases the size of the archive. The recipient must have uudecode in order to unpack.

Use of uuencode is not appreciated by many on the net, because people like to readily see, by mere inspection of a shell archive, what it is about.

-M

--mixed-uuencode

Mixed mode. Automatically determine if the files are text or binary and archive correctly. Files found to be binary are uuencoded prior to packing. This option is selected by default.

For a file is considered to be a text file, instead of a binary file, all the following should be true simultaneously:

1. The file does not contain any ASCII control character besides BS (backspace), HT (horizontal tab), LF (new line) or FF (form feed).
2. The file does not contains a DEL (delete).
3. The file contains no character with its eighth-bit set.
4. The file, unless totally empty, terminates with a LF (newline).
5. No line in the file contains more than 200 characters. For counting purpose, lines are separated by a LF (newline).

-z

--gzip

Use gzip and uuencode on all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode and gzip (used with -d) in order to unpack.

Usage of -z in net shars will cause you to be flamed off the earth.

-g level

--level-for-gzip=level

When doing compression, use -level as a parameter to gzip. The -g option turns on the -z option by default. The default value is 9, that is, maximum compression.

-j

--bzip2

Use bzip2 and uuencode on all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode and bzip2 (used with -d) in order to unpack.

Usage of -j in net shars will cause you to be flamed off to hell.

-Z

--compress

Use compress and uuencode on all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode and compress (used with -d) in order to unpack. Option -C is a synonymous for -Z, but is deprecated.

Usage of -Z in net shars will cause you to be flamed off the earth.

-b bits

--bits-per-code=bits

When doing compression, use -bx as a parameter to compress. The -b option turns on the -Z option by default. The default value is 12, foreseeing the memory limitations of some compress programs on smallish systems, at unshar time.

This document was generated by Bruce Korb on June, 3 2006 using texi2html 1.76.