# $Id: README,v 1.24 2002/09/07 12:45:36 stef Exp $

If you are are reading this file because you found it through
a search engine, get the software here: http://www.iguana.be/~stef/

This is base-224 encoder / decoder for linux

Original code by by Luc Van Der Veken.

En/decoder logic (optimized and non optimized) contributed by
Luc Verhaegen.

bnews-fetch.pl was written by Carl Declerck

Original Licensing for all of the above: GPL

Licensing for this adaptation: GPL

ydec is derived from the original YDEC.C by Juergen Helbing and
is in the public domain (both original and adapted)

This distribution also includes a standalone yenc decoder called "ydec"
If you are using the rpm based version, ydec is packaged separately.

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Building:

make sure you select the "right" optimisation for your CPU.  Building
without it on a 486 can cost you a *LOT*. configure should always select
-Osomething, so not really an issue anymore.

We use autoconf now. I recommend you use the rpm -ta option to build
the package and install it afterwards. (spec file is included)

Same goes for debian..

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Decoder:

Usage: bnews-decoder -i "input file"

Will decode to the file in the BPST header.

The most handy command line ever:
for i in *bn ; do bnews-decoder -uvi "$i" ; done

This will decode all *.bn files, and delete them if they were
decoded correctly.

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Encoder: 

Usage: bnews-encoder < "input file" > "output file"

Will encode without a BPST header. Used by bnews-poster.pl
If you need more options for the encoder, please mail me.

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bnews-poster.pl / bnews-fetch.pl

rc files are kept in $HOME/.bnews-utils/
They are called postrc and fetchrc.

Use the bnews-poster.pl script to post to a newsgroup.
Use the bnews-fetch.pl script to fetch from a newsgroup.

Be sure to mkdir $HOME/.bnews-utils/ if you use the queue function.

If you get weird errors about not being able to find Net/NNTP.pm,
install the perl libnet module.

Watch the output and enjoy!
Thanks to carl for hacking up bnews-fetch.pl!

Use the --help option if you get lost.
bnews-fetch supports both yenc and BN files. Use --decode or --pipe-to=AUTO,
if you use the rpm version, make sure you install the ydec rpm too!

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ydec

Usage:
for full debugging output:
ydec -a files*

for normal output
ydec -v files*

for no debugging output:
ydec files*

ydec is in the public domain, the original author is Juergen Helbing. My
changes are also in the public domain.  See www.yenc.org for more info.

One change from the original decoder: this version of ydec will unlink
the ".tmp" file when a file is complete, so you don't have to clean them
up yourselves.

How do you use ydec ? (getting the input files)
I tag all of the yenc parts in tin, and then choose "save articles",
"Tagged only". 

The current versions of pan (0.11.3 and 0.12) include native yenc
support for downloading. Don't bother with this version of ydec if you
use Pan.

This version of ydec is modified to read from stdin if you specify
"-" as the filename
If you are interested in an yenc-poster/encoder, have a look at
http://yencee.sourceforge.net by Thore Harald Hoye.

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Comments & Suggestions to stef@iguana DOT be

Currently only compiles on linux/{ia32,alpha}, Solaris/sparc, MacOSX
and cygwin.
Let me know if it works on your "exotic" architecture.
