shar - create shell archives


SYNOPSIS

       shar [ options ] file ...
       shar -S [ options ]


DESCRIPTION

       Shar creates "shell archives" (or shar files) which are in
       text format and can be mailed. These files may be unpacked
       later  by  executing  them  with  /bin/sh.  The  resulting
       archive is sent to standard out unless the  -o  option  is
       given.   A wide range of features provide extensive flexi-
       bility in  manufacturing  shars  and  in  specifying  shar
       "smartness."   Archives may be "vanilla" or comprehensive.
       This manual page reflects shar version 4.0.


OPTIONS

       Options have a one letter version starting  with  -  or  a
       long version starting with --. The exception is --help and
       --version which does not have a  short  version.   Options
       can  be  given  in  any order. Some options depend on each
       other:
            The -o option is required if the -l or -L option is used.
            The -n option is required if the -a option is used.
            See -V below.

       --version
              Print the version number of the program on standard
              output, then immediately exits.

       --help Print a help summary on standard output, then imme-
              diately exits.

       -V  --vanilla-operation
              Produce "vanilla" shars which rely  only  upon  the
              existence of sed and echo in the unsharing environ-
              ment.  In addition, "if test"  must  also  be  sup-
              ported  if  the -X option is used.  The -V silently
              disables options offensive to the "network cop" (or
              "brown  shirt"),  but does warn you if it is speci-
              fied with -B, -z, -Z, -p or -M (any of  which  does
              or  might require uudecode, gzip or compress in the
              unsharing environment).

       -v  --no-verbose
              Verbose OFF. Disables the inclusion of comments  to
              be output when the archive is unpacked.

       -w  --no-character-count
              Do NOT check with 'wc -c' after unpack. The default
              is to check.

              Name of archive to be included in the header of the
              shar files.  See the -a switch.

       -a  --net-headers
              Allows automatic generation of headers:
                   Submitted-by: who@where
                   Archive-name: <name>/part##
              The  <name>  must  be given with the -n switch.  If
              name includes a '/' "/part" isn't used. Thus:
                 -n xyzzy                      produces:
                                               xyzzy/part01
                                               xyzzy/part02

                 -n xyzzy/patch                produces:
                                               xyzzy/patch01
                                               xyzzy/patch02

                 -n xyzzy/patch01.             produces:
                                               xyzzy/patch01.01
                                               xyzzy/patch01.02

              The who@where can be explicitly stated with the  -s
              switch if the default isn't appropriate.  Who@where
              is essentially built as `whoami`@`uname`.

       -s who@where  --submitter=who@where
              Override automatically determined submitter name.

       -x  --no-check-existing
              Overwrite existing files without checking.  If nei-
              ther  -x nor -X is specified, the unpack will check
              for and not overwrite existing files when unpacking
              the  archive  (unless '-c' is passed as a parameter
              to the script when unpacking).

       -X  --query-user
              Interactively overwrite existing files (DO NOT  USE
              FOR SHARS SUBMITTED TO THE NET).

       -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).

       -T  --text-files
              Treat all files as text (default).

       -z  --gzip
              Gzip  and  uuencode all files prior to packing. The
              recipient must have uudecode and  gzip  (used  with

       -Z  --compress
              Compress and uuencode all files prior  to  packing.
              The recipient must have uudecode and compress (used
              with -d) in order to unpack (USE  OF  UUENCODE  AND
              COMPRESS  IS  NOT  APPRECIATED BY MANY ON THE NET).
              Option -C is synonymous to -Z, but is being  depre-
              cated.

       -m  --no-timestamp
              Avoid  generating  'touch'  commands to restore the
              file modification dates when unpacking  files  from
              the archive.

       -p  --intermix-type
              Allow  positional  parameter  options.  The options
              "-B", "-T", "-z" and  "-Z"  may  be  embedded,  and
              files  to the right of the option will be processed
              in the specified mode.

       -g X  --level-for-gzip=X
              When doing compression, use '-X' as a parameter  to
              gzip.   The  -g  option  turns  on the -z option by
              default.

       -b X  --bits-per-code=X
              When doing compression, use '-bX' as a parameter to
              compress.   The -B option turns on the -Z option by
              default.

       -M  --mixed-uuencode
              Mixed mode.  Determine if the  files  are  text  or
              binary  and  archive  correctly.  Files found to be
              binary are uudecoded prior to packing (USE OF UUEN-
              CODE IS NOT APPRECIATED BY MANY ON THE NET).

       -P  --no-piping
              Use  temporary  files  instead of pipes in the shar
              file.

       -c  --cut-mark
              Start the shar with a cut line. A line saying  'Cut
              here' is placed at the start of each output file.

       -f  --basename
              Restore  by  filename  only, rather than path. This
              option causes only file names to be used, which  is
              useful  when  building a shar from several directo-
              ries, or another directory.  Note that if a  direc-
              tory  name  is  passed to shar, the substructure of
              that directory will be restored whether -f is spec-
              ified or not.
              Use XXX to delimit the files in the shar instead of
              SHAR_EOF.  This is for those who want to  personal-
              ize their shar files.

       -F  --force-prefix
              Forces  the  prefix  character (normally 'X' unless
              the parameter to the -d option starts with 'X')  to
              be  prepended  to  every line even if not required.
              This option may slightly increase the size  of  the
              archive, especially if -B or -Z is used.

       -o XXX  --output-prefix=XXX
              Save  the  archive  to  files  XXX.01  thru  XXX.nn
              instead of standard out.  Must be used when the  -l
              or the -L switches are used

       -l XX  --whole-size-limit=XX
              Limit  the  output file size to XXk bytes but don't
              split input files.

       -L XX  --split-size-limit=XX
              Limit output file size to XXk bytes and split files
              if necessary. The archives created with this option
              must be unpacked in correct order.

       -S  --stdin-file-list
              Read list of files to be packed from  the  standard
              input  rather  than  from  the command line.  Input
              must be in a form similar to that generated by  the
              find  command,  one filename per line.  This switch
              is especially useful when the command line will not
              hold the list of files to be packed. For example:

              find . -type f -print | sort | shar -S -Z -L50 -o /tmp/big

              If  -p  is  specified on the command line, then the
              options "-B", "-T", "-z" and "-Z" may  be  included
              in  the  standard  input  (on  a line separate from
              filenames).  The maximum number of lines  of  stan-
              dard  input, file names and options, may not exceed
              1024.


EXAMPLES

       shar *.c > cprog.shar                # all C prog sources
       shar -v *.[ch] > cprog.shar          # non-verbose, .c and .h files
       shar -B -l28 -oarc.sh *.arc          # all binary .arc files, into
                                            # files arc.sh.01 thru arc.sh.NN
       shar -f /lcl/src/u*.c > u.sh         # use only the filenames


WARNINGS

       No chmod or touch is ever generated for  directories  cre-
       ated  when  unpacking.   Thus,  if a directory is given to
       the original.

       If a directory is passed to shar, it may be  scanned  more
       than  once.   Therefore,  one should be careful not change
       the directory while shar is running.

       Be careful that the output file(s) are not included in the
       inputs  or shar may loop until the disk fills up.  Be par-
       ticularly careful when a directory is passed to shar  that
       the output files are not in that directory (or a subdirec-
       tory of that directory).

       Use of the -B, -z or -Z, and especially -M, may  slow  the
       archive  process  considerably, depending on the number of
       files.

       Use of -X produces shars which WILL  cause  problems  with
       many   unshar  procedures.   Use  this  feature  only  for
       archives to be passed among agreeable parties.  Certainly,
       -X  is NOT for shell archives which are to be submitted to
       Usenet.  Usage of -B, -z or -Z in net shars will cause you
       to  be flamed off the earth.  Not using -m or not using -F
       may also get you occasional complaints.


SEE ALSO

       unshar(1)


DIAGNOSTICS

       Error messages for illegal or  incompatible  options,  for
       non-regular,   missing   or   inaccessible  files  or  for
       (unlikely) memory allocation failure.


AUTHORS

       shar3 is a derived work based on the efforts of:
       decvax!microsof!uw-beave!jim (James Gosling at CMU)
       Michael A. Thompson, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada
       davidsen@sixhub (Bill Davidsen)
       rhg@CPS.COM (Richard H. Gumpertz)
       colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo)
       bill@netagw.com (Bill Aten)
       dennis%nanovx@gatech.edu (Dennis Boylan)
       wht%n4hgf@gatech.edu (Warren Tucker)
       (other anonymous persons)

       man pages:
       jhd@irfu.se (Jan Dj{rv)







Release 1.1d7 of the Be OS


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