Date: 28 Nov 1994 02:31:33 GMT From: carpenterv@vms.csd.mu.edu (CBIP Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc Subject: Beginner's Guide to Binaries V1.5 (part 01/01) checksum: 1551014491 (Verify with "brik -cv") Submitted-by: carpenterv@vms.csd.mu.edu Posting-number: Volume 27, Issue inf02 Archive-name: admin/bin.man [Date of last change 29-Nov-94] HOW TO USE BINARIES SENT VIA NEWS AND E-MAIL (c) Copyright 1994 Brian O'Neill. Permission to distrbute this file freely is granted, so long as it remains unmodified. One of the more troubling things to new users is using programs posted to groups like comp.binaries.ibm.pc. This is in part due to the fact that different utilties are needed to decode these files into something more familiar to them. This manual explains how to retrieve binary files posted to UseNet, and also received by e-mail. This manual is divided into several sections, each dealing with a different aspect of what is needed. Here is the basic setup: I. Formats and Standards II. Minimum utilities, and how to get them III. Using UNIX to do the work IV. Using MS-DOS to do the work V. Handling archived files VI. Downloading files from UNIX to MSDOS I. FORMATS AND STANDARDS UseNet, and other networks, user groups, and BBS's, all work on some set of standards for sharing files between a diverse arangement of systems. For PC's, the most common standard for files is the archive. This is a binary file which allows a user to place several files into one, while compressing them to save space. Several utilities exist for making and extracting files from archives. The most common are ZOO from Rahul Dhesi, and PKZIP from PKWare. The ZIP standard has been adopted for use in the UseNet newsgroup comp.binaries.ibm.pc for the distribution. Some BBS systems use ZIP, and others use ARC, another format from System Enhancement Associates which is slowly becoming obsolete, and is generally avoided due to recent litigation in court (which I will not discuss here). You will need the appropriate extraction program for the particular format you are dealing with, which usually can be told by the extension name on the file (.ZOO, .ZIP, or .ARC). UseNet and e-mail are based on ASCII text. In other words, they are only able to transmit ASCII files. In order to transmit binary files, they are transformed into ASCII files first. This is accomplished using a program called 'uuencode', another fairly common standard. The file can then be decoded back into binary form using 'uudecode'. These programs are fairly common among UNIX systems, and are increasingly available for MS-DOS. Once again, you will need a version of uudecode to properly handle these files. II. MINIMUM UTILITIES, AND HOW TO GET THEM You will need some form of uudecode, either UNIX or MS-DOS, to decode the binaries. If you do not have it for either of these, you must secure a copy of the source code. If you have FTP access, you can get MS-DOS source code from oak.oakland.edu (File pub/msdos/starter/uudecode.pas). If not, you will have to get it from someone else. Also, you need an archive extractor. Small extract-only programs are available, such as BOOZ by Rahul Dhesi. It will be assumed you can secure one of these without problem, as with uudecode. Also available is the CBIP Starter's Kit, which contains a small version of uudecode and a uuencoded version of UNZIP (ZIP file extractor), and instructions on how to make use of these files. This is enough to get you started in dealing with the comp.binaries.ibm.pc newsgroup on UseNet. III. USING UNIX TO DO THE WORK UseNet is a network comprising mostly of UNIX-based machines, so therefor it is quite common to use the system connected to UseNet to do most of the work, rather than downloading from that system and doing all the work on a PC. To do this, you will need the following basic utilities: uudecode editor (vi, emacs, etc.) cat (not necessary, but useful) combine (Also not necessary, but makes everything easy) The first thing you must do is use your news reader program to save the articles to files. If the uuencoded file spans more than one article, save then to different articles. Check your manual pages for the news reader you have for details. If you are using 'rn', do the following: From within the article, or at the end of the article, type 'w filename'. Answer 'n' to the mailbox format question, and then continue. 's filename' could also be used, but it saves additional header information that is not needed, and would have to be edited out anyway. For one single file, things are easy. Use your favorite editor and delete all lines before the 'begin' line, and all lines after the 'end' line. Then you can give the command 'uudecode file', and the new file will be created for you. Download the new file to your PC. For multiple files, you must edit each file. For the first file, delete all lines before the 'begin', and go to the end of the file. A line of uuencoded text looks like this: M'YV01N2\:0-BSAPV: You should then end up with the program you went through all the trouble for. V. HANDLING ARCHIVE FILES An archive is simply a file containing several other files. Usually these other files are compressed in some fashion, in order to save disk space. These files are used generally for easier handling of several files. There are many types currently in existence, such as .ARC, .ZOO, and .ZIP. The instructions below can be used for most any type of archive, using the appropriate programs. To extract files from an ZIP file, you must have some sort of extractor. Info-ZIP's UNZIP (to be included in Starter's Kit) is an extract-only program for dealing with ZIP files. To unpack an entire archive, simply type the following: unzip This will unpack the entire contents into the current directory. You need not specify the .ZIP extension. To extract particular files, simply specify the filename after the archive name. VI. DOWNLOADING FILES FROM UNIX TO MSDOS To download the files, you will need the following: 1) A file transfer protocol on your UNIX system (i.e. Kermit, Xmodem, Zmodem, etc.) 2) A PC communications package that supports the same protocol Due to the large amount of protocols and communications packages available, it would be next to impossible to describe all of them. choosing the proper set up often depends on your situation. Some protocols are much faster than others, yet cannot be used over some networks. For the purposes of examples, I will use Kermit as the protocol (specifically C-Kermit), and ProComm as the communications package, as they are in wide use and very reliable over most networks. A more generic method for downloading follows afterwards, but you must read the manuals to all programs to operate them properly. First off is to determine what type of file you are downloading, whether it is binary or ASCII. Usually, if you can read it, it's ASCII. Files with extensions EXE, COM, and archive files such as ZIP are almost always binary. On UNIX, you can say: file this will usually tell you what type of file it is. Downloading ASCII text is easy. On UNIX type: kermit -s the "-s" puts C-Kermit into "send" mode. You then instruct your terminal program to receive a Kermit transfer. On ProComm, you would hit PgDn, and then select Kermit off the menu, selection 2. ProComm will take care of the rest, and you can watch it's progress. When it's done, ProComm will return you to UNIX. Downloading binary files are a little more difficult. If you can dial in to a UNIX host using 8-bit communications (such as 8-N-1), do so. Sometimes the Login: prompt may look weird, but once the host knows, it will fix itself. If you cannot use 8-bit settings (the host insists on 7 bits to be readable), you may wish to transform the binary file into ASCII, using the uuencode program, downloading as above for normally ASCII files, and uudecoding the file on the PC. If you are able to use 8 bits, on UNIX type: kermit -is the "-is" puts C-Kermit into "send, image" mode. Basically, "tell it like it is". As above, hit PgDn, then 2 and ProComm will do the rest. For a more generic explanation of what to do, here is a step-by-step version of the above, without specifics: 1) Determine what type the file is (ASCII or binary) 2) Initiate transfer on UNIX end. Usually accomplished by executing a program and giving the filename of what you wish to download. If it is a binary file, specify 'binary' or 'image' mode, usually as a switch on the command line. 3) Escape back to the PC, and set for receiving a file using the same protocol as being sent with. Often done by hitting some Hot Key (usually Pg-Dn), and then specifying the protocol you are using. You really should read the manuals to any programs you wish to use for downloading files. Programs change, and they are not all used the same way. If you can't seem to get a program to work, consult someone using the same programs, and see what it might be that you do differently. -- Vinit S. Carpenter Marquette University carpenterv@vms.csd.mu.edu Author of the INTERNET-MENU for OpenVMS and LEARN C/C++ TODAY List * Email me for details * My Personal Linux Web Server