Annotation of src/usr.bin/file/README, Revision 1.5
1.1 deraadt 1: ** README for file(1) Command **
1.5 ! chl 2: @(#) $OpenBSD: README,v 1.4 2008/05/08 01:40:56 chl Exp $
! 3:
! 4: E-mail: christos@astron.com
! 5: Mailing List: file@mx.gw.com
! 6:
! 7: Phone: Do not even think of telephoning me about this program. Send cash first!
1.1 deraadt 8:
1.3 ian 9: This is Release 4.x of Ian Darwin's (copyright but distributable)
10: file(1) command. This version is the standard "file" command for Linux,
11: *BSD, and other systems. (See "patchlevel.h" for the exact release number).
12:
13: The major feature of 4.x is the refactoring of the code into a library,
14: and the re-write of the file command in terms of that library. The library
15: itself, libmagic can be used by 3rd party programs that wish to identify
16: file types without having to fork() and exec() file. The prime contributor
17: for 4.0 was M\xe5ns Rullg\xe5rd.
1.1 deraadt 18:
19: UNIX is a trademark of UNIX System Laboratories.
20:
21: The prime contributor to Release 3.8 was Guy Harris, who put in megachanges
1.3 ian 22: including byte-order independence.
1.1 deraadt 23:
24: The prime contributor to Release 3.0 was Christos Zoulas, who put
25: in hundreds of lines of source code changes, including his own
26: ANSIfication of the code (I liked my own ANSIfication better, but
27: his (__P()) is the "Berkeley standard" way of doing it, and I wanted UCB
28: to include the code...), his HP-like "indirection" (a feature of
29: the HP file command, I think), and his mods that finally got the
30: uncompress (-z) mode finished and working.
31:
32: This release has compiled in numerous environments; see PORTING
33: for a list and problems.
34:
35: This fine freeware file(1) follows the USG (System V) model of the file
36: command, rather than the Research (V7) version or the V7-derived 4.[23]
37: Berkeley one. That is, the file /etc/magic contains much of the ritual
38: information that is the source of this program's power. My version
39: knows a little more magic (including tar archives) than System V; the
40: /etc/magic parsing seems to be compatible with the (poorly documented)
41: System V /etc/magic format (with one exception; see the man page).
42:
43: In addition, the /etc/magic file is built from a subdirectory
44: for easier(?) maintenance. I will act as a clearinghouse for
45: magic numbers assigned to all sorts of data files that
46: are in reasonable circulation. Send your magic numbers,
1.3 ian 47: in magic(5) format please, to the maintainer, Christos Zoulas.
1.1 deraadt 48:
49: LEGAL.NOTICE - read this first.
50: README - read this second (you are currently reading this file).
51: PORTING - read this only if the program won't compile.
52: Makefile - read this next, adapt it as needed (particularly
53: the location of the old existing file command and
54: the man page layouts), type "make" to compile,
55: "make try" to try it out against your old version.
56: Expect some diffs, particularly since your original
1.3 ian 57: file(1) may not grok the embedded-space ("\ ") in
1.1 deraadt 58: the current magic file, or may even not use the
59: magic file.
60: apprentice.c - parses /etc/magic to learn magic
61: ascmagic.c - third & last set of tests, based on hardwired assumptions.
62: core - not included in distribution due to mailer limitations.
63: debug.c - includes -c printout routine
64: file.1 - man page for the command
65: magic.4 - man page for the magic file, courtesy Guy Harris.
66: Install as magic.4 on USG and magic.5 on V7 or Berkeley; cf Makefile.
67: file.c - main program
68: file.h - header file
69: fsmagic.c - first set of tests the program runs, based on filesystem info
1.3 ian 70: is_tar.c, tar.h - knows about tarchives (courtesy John Gilmore).
1.1 deraadt 71: magdir - directory of /etc/magic pieces
72: magdir/Makefile - ADJUST THIS FOR YOUR CONFIGURATION
73: names.h - header file for ascmagic.c
74: softmagic.c - 2nd set of tests, based on /etc/magic
1.3 ian 75: readelf.[ch] - Stand-alone elf parsing code.
76: compress.c - on-the-fly decompression.
77: print.c - print results, errors, warnings.
78:
1.5 ! chl 79: You can download the latest version of file from:
! 80:
! 81: ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/
! 82:
1.3 ian 83: If your gzip sometimes fails to decompress things complaining about a short
84: file, apply this patch [which is going to be in the next version of gzip]:
85: *** - Tue Oct 29 02:06:35 1996
86: --- util.c Sun Jul 21 21:51:38 1996
87: *** 106,111 ****
88: --- 108,114 ----
89:
90: if (insize == 0) {
91: if (eof_ok) return EOF;
92: + flush_window();
93: read_error();
94: }
95: bytes_in += (ulg)insize;
1.1 deraadt 96:
1.4 chl 97: Parts of this software were developed at SoftQuad Inc., developers
98: of SGML/HTML/XML publishing software, in Toronto, Canada.
99: SoftQuad was swallowed up by Corel in 2002
100: and does not exist any longer.
1.1 deraadt 101:
1.4 chl 102: From: Kees Zeelenberg
103:
104: An MS-Windows (Win32) port of File-4.17 is available from
105: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/
106:
107: File is an implementation of the Unix File(1) command.
108: It knows the 'magic number' of several thousands of file types.
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