1XDEVIEW(1) General Commands Manual XDEVIEW(1)
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6 xdeview - a powerful decoder for binary files
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9 xdeview [Xt options] [-- options] [file(s)]
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12 XDeview is a smart decoder for attachments that you have received in
13 encoded form via electronic mail or from the usenet. It is similar to
14 the standard uudecode(1) command, yet with more comfort and flexibil‐
15 ity. XDeview supports the uuencoding, xxencoding, Base64 and BinHex
16 encoding methods, and is able to handle split-files (which have been
17 sent in multiple parts) as well as multiple files at once, thus greatly
18 simplifying the decoding process. Usually, you will not have to manu‐
19 ally edit files to prepare them for decoding.
20 If you don't really need a graphical frontend for these kinds of jobs,
22 have a look at uudeview(1) and uuenview(1).
23 After invoking the program, it will scan all the given files for
25 encoded data. If any of them were directories, they will be recursively
26 dived into. You don't need to give files on the command line; you can
27 also select files later from within the program. After completing the
28 initial scan, you will be presented with a list of files that seem like
29 they can be decoded properly. You can then pick files individually for
30 decoding.
31
33 There's no real need to set options on the command line; they can also
34 be set from within the program. Note that options must be preceded by a
35 double-hyphen '--', otherwise they might be mistaken for display
36 options.
37 -d Sets the program into desperate mode. It will then offer you to
39 decode incomplete files. This is useful if you are missing the
40 last part of a 50-parts posting, but in most cases the desper‐
41 ately-decoded files will simply be corrupt and unusable. The
42 degree of usefulness of an incomplete file depends on the file
43 type.
44 -f Uses fast mode for file scanning. The program assumes that each
46 input file holds at most one part, which is usually true for
47 files in a news spool directory. This option breaks decoding of
48 input files with multiple articles. Also, certain sanity checks
49 are disabled, probably causing erroneous files to be presented
50 for decoding. Sometimes you'll get error messages when decod‐
51 ing, sometimes you'll just receive invalid files. Don't use -f
52 if you can't live with these problems.
53 -o Gives the OK to overwrite files already there on decoding. The
55 default is to prompt the user whether to overwrite, rename or
56 skip the file.
57 -v Disables verbosity. Normally, the program prints some status
59 messages while reading the input files, which can be very help‐
60 ful if something should go wrong. Use if these messages disturb
61 you.
62 -p path
64 Sets the path where decoded files shall be written to. This must
65 be a valid pathname, or you'll get errors when trying to decode
66 anything. Defaults to the current working directory.
67 -b This changes xdeview's policy of finding a part number on a sub‐
69 ject line and may only be needed in some rare cases when part
70 numbers are found in () parentheses as well as in [] brackets,
71 for example in a series of multi-part postings. By default,
72 xdeview uses the numbers found in () parentheses first. But if
73 this number indicates the file's number in the series and the
74 part number is given in [] brackets, use this parameters to make
75 the program read the other number first. This does not affect
76 decoding of files with only one or neither type of brackets. If
77 you prefer, you can also use the option as -b[]
78 -s Read "minus smartness". This option turns off automatic part
80 number detection from the subject line. Try this option if xde‐
81 view fails to parse the subject line correctly and makes errors
82 at guessing part numbers, resulting in incorrect ordering of the
83 parts. With this option, parts are always put together sequen‐
84 tially (so the parts must be correctly ordered in the input
85 file). Note: The correct part number found in proper MIME files
86 is still evaluated.
87 -t Use plaintext messages. Usually, XDeview only presents encoded
89 data for decoding. With this option set, text parts from MIME
90 messages and non-encoded messages are also offered. Plaintext
91 messages frequently don't have an associated filename, so
92 they're assigned a unique name from a sequential four-digit num‐
93 ber.
94
96 The main window of xdeview is composed of six main elements. At the top
97 is the Menu Bar. Centered is the File List, which lists all the files
98 that have been detected in the encoded data and are ready for decoding.
99 Left of the File List is the Status List, which describes the status of
100 each file. Usually, this list will show "OK" for all files, as display
101 of erroneous files is normally suppressed. On the right is a bunch of
102 short-cut buttons with the most heavily-used functions. At the bottom
103 of the window is the Save Path entry field, and the status bar. Each of
104 these items will be described individually in the following text.
105
107 File Menu
108 Load ...
110 Loads encoded files. These files are then scanned for
111 encoded data and files; these files are added to the File
112 List. You can also select directories, which are then
113 recursively descended into
114 Encode Encode file(s), storing the encoded data on disk, sending
116 them via email, or posting them to newsgroups. See below.
117 Helpers
119 Xdeview reads information from your .mailcap and
120 .mime.types to perform the appropriate default action
121 when you hit the "Execute" button. In this dialogue, you
122 can configure the locations of these files.
123 Save Setup
125 Saves all current options, the input and output file
126 paths etc. into the .xdeviewrc file in your home direc‐
127 tory. This file is automatically read upon startup, so
128 the saved settings will be set by default in future ses‐
129 sions. The resource file is actually a Tcl script which
130 you can edit with any editor.
131 Quit Exits the program.
133 Options
135 Set various options that modify the behaviour of the program.
136 Note that most options only catch for files read afterwards.
137 Fast Scanning
139 Sets fast scanning mode. The program will then assume
140 that all input files contain at most one encoded part (as
141 it is true with files from a news spool). The scanning
142 engine will be sped up because it does not have to read
143 each input file completely but stops scanning after
144 encoded data has been found.
145 The decoder has to disable some safety options in fast mode, so
147 certain problems with the file will only be detected when
148 finally decoding the file.
149 Automatic Overwrite
151 When decoding a file which is already present in the tar‐
152 get directory, the user will be asked whether the file
153 shall be overwritten. By enabling this option, target
154 files will be overwritten without asking.
155 Desperate Mode
157 Usually, you will only be presented files to which all
158 parts have been found. Enabling Desperate Mode, you'll
159 also get to see the other files as well, with an appro‐
160 priate description of the problem in the Status List. In
161 desperate mode, the decoder will also try to detect short
162 Base64 files outside of MIME messages. This is normally
163 disabled, because these desperate tries to find Base64
164 encoding may cause misdetection of encoded data, again
165 resulting in invalid files.
166 Verbose Mode
168 Opens a separate text box to which additional messages
169 will be written while scanning the input files. These
170 messages are extremely helpful for finding out what went
171 wrong if files cannot be decoded properly.
172 Alternate Bracket Policy
174 Changes the heuristics by which the decoder tries to
175 extract a part number from the subject line. The algo‐
176 rithm usually gives numbers in braces () higher priority
177 than numbers in brackets []. If both kinds of brackets
178 are present, and their use is conflicting (for example if
179 both the part number and a series number are given), then
180 you may have to explicitely select the bracket policy. If
181 this option is false (default), then the "part number" is
182 taken from the braces (), otherwise from the brackets [].
183 Dumb Mode
185 Disables automatic part number detection by parsing the
186 subject line. Use if xdeview fails to pick up the cor‐
187 rect part numbers. Note that with the option set, the
188 parts must be correctly ordered in the input files. Also,
189 missing parts will not be detected this way.
190 Handle Text Files
192 Usually, XDeview only presents encoded data for decoding.
193 With this option set, text parts from MIME messages and
194 non-encoded messages are also offered. Plaintext messages
195 frequently don't have an associated filename, so they're
196 assigned a unique name from a sequential four-digit num‐
197 ber.
198 Auto Info
200 Opens up the information window whenever you click on a
201 file in the File List.
202 Remove Input Files
204 With this option set, input files are removed if any file
205 was successfully decoded from them. Use with care! UUDe‐
206 view only checks if any data was decoded from an input
207 file, but does not care about any other contents of that
208 input file, or whether a file also held an incomplete
209 attachment.
210 MIME Compliance
212 Be more strict when reading MIME input files.
213 Actions
215 Decode Decode the selected file(s).
217 Rename Rename the selected file(s), for example if the filename
219 conflicts with existing files, or if the name doesn't
220 meet system limitations.
221 Decode All
223 Decode all files currently visible in the File List.
224 Info Displays available info on the currently selected file
226 (if more than one file is selected, only info for the
227 first will be displayed). This is the zeroeth part of a
228 file, if available, or the header of the first part up to
229 the beginning of encoded data.
230 Execute
232 Runs an external program with the currently selected
233 file. A program is selected by first looking at the Con‐
234 tent-Type of the message, if available, then by checking
235 the file's extension. The appropriate information is
236 read from your .mailcap and .mime.types files (although
237 the handling of information in .mailcap files is cur‐
238 rently incomplete). If no matching type is found, a dia‐
239 log box pops up where you can enter any command.
240 List Text File
242 This is for the rare cases when a text file has been sent
243 through the net in encoded form. Use this action only
244 when you know the file in question is in fact a text
245 file, otherwise you'll get a load of trash on the screen.
246 Help
248 About A short message from the Author.
250 License
252 Displays the license under which xdeview is distributed,
253 the GPL. Read it, or you'll hear from my lawyers.
254
256 The File List is a list box displaying all the files that have been
257 picked up while scanning the encoded data. These files are ready for
258 decoding, previewing or anything. The list can be scrolled using the
259 scrollbar on the right of the list.
260 Individual files can be selected simply by clicking on them. Multiple
262 files can be selected by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on the
263 individual files.
264
266 The Status Lists notes the corresponding status for each file in the
267 File List, Usually, you'll just see "OK" here; otherwise, an error mes‐
268 sage is shown describing why the file cannot be decoded properly. There
269 are the following states:
270 OK All parts of the file have been found, and the encoded data
272 looks correct on first sight. There are certain problems that
273 might only appear when decoding the file, but usually everything
274 is fine.
275 Incomplete
277 This file is missing one or more parts. If you decode this file,
278 the output data will be corrupt and usually unusable.
279 No Begin
281 The file doesn't have a beginning. The decoded file will be most
282 certainly corrupt and unusable.
283 No End No end was found on the file. This usually means that one or
285 more parts at the end are missing. The degree of usefulness of a
286 decoded file depends on the file type.
287 Error A previous attempt to decode the file has failed.
289
291 The buttons on the right side of the window are short-cuts for the menu
292 items. Read the discussion of the Main Menu items above for an explana‐
293 tion.
294
296 This is the path where decoded files will be written to.
297
299 A short message what the program is currently doing or what it expects
300 you to do.
301
303 When encoding files ("Encode" from the "File" menu), a large dialog box
304 opens where you can set various options for the file. If you selected
305 multiple files for encoding, a status line at the top displays the num‐
306 ber of files left. The dialog itself stays open until all files have
307 been handled.
308 Filename
310 The current file to encode. You cannot edit this field.
311 Send As
313 The file name by which the file will be sent. Defaults to the
314 filename stripped of all directory information.
315 Use Subject
317 When mailing or posting, this text will be used as subject. The
318 filename and part numbers are added automatically, so you can
319 choose to leave this line empty.
320 Lines per File
322 Sets the number of encoded lines per part. Bigger files will be
323 automatically split into multiple parts. Use if you are posting
324 files to a newsgroup, or if the recipient's system cannot handle
325 large files. A good splitting size is 1000 lines. "0" lines
326 means not to split.
327 ... Encoding
329 Selects the encoding method to use. If you wonder which one's
330 the best, you might find a clue in my article "Introduction to
331 Decoding".
332 File In (Path)
334 Sets a directory where to encode the file to. The encoding will
335 go to files with the same base name as the original file, but
336 with extensions of .001, .002 (depending on the number of neces‐
337 sary parts as enforced by the "Lines per File" setting).
338 Email To
340 Give a comma-separated list of email addresses. This option
341 might be disabled if your system does not allow sending of
342 emails.
343 Post To
345 Here you can enter a comma-separated list of newsgroups to which
346 the file should be posted. This option might be disabled if your
347 system does not support posting news.
348 NNTP Server
350 This field only appears on some systems, in the case that a news
351 host is needed, but none was configured at compile-time. If this
352 field does appear, you must enter a valid host name here in
353 order for posting to work. If you don't want to post the file
354 anyway, don't worry about it.
355 OK Performs the selected action(s) on this file and skips to the
357 next one.
358 OK to All
360 Uses these settings for each file in question (does not prompt
361 you for the other files), thus sending all files at once.
362 Next Does not encode the file and skips to the next one (sorry,
364 there's no button to skip backwards).
365 Cancel Cancels encoding and returns to the main menu.
367
369 If it exists, the file .xdeviewrc in your home directory will be exe‐
370 cuted in the Tcl interpreter during program initialization. It must be
371 a valid Tcl program, which you can use to set certain options by
372 default. For the Tcl-illaterate: variables can be set using the follow‐
373 ing syntax:
374 set var_name value
375 The following variables (options) can be set (look at the text above
376 for an explanation of what they're doing)
377 OptionFast
379 If set to 1, use fast scanning mode.
380 OptionBracket
382 If set to 1, use the alternate bracket policy.
383 OptionOverwrite
385 If set to 1, assume it's Ok to overwrite files without asking.
386 OptionDesperate
388 If set to 1, switch into desperate mode.
389 OptionVerbose
391 If set to 1, print progress messages.
392 SaveFilePath
394 This is a string variable with the default Save Path, where you
395 want decoded files to go.
396 EncodeMaxLines
398 Maximum number of lines per file for encoding. "0" for unlim‐
399 ited.
400 EncodeEncoding
402 Default encoding to use. "0" for UUencoding, "1" for XXencoding
403 and "2" for Base64 encoding.
404 NNTPServer
406 The address of your NNTP server (only needed on some systems).
407 Can also be set (preferredly) in your environment variable
408 NNTPSERVER.
409
411 If you have enabled verbose mode, progress messages will appear in an
412 own text window titled Runtime Messages. The messages generated during
413 the scanning phase are extremely helpful in tracing what the program
414 does, and can be used to figure out the reason why files cannot be
415 decoded, if you understand them. This section explains how to interpret
416 them. Understanding this section is not necessary to operate the pro‐
417 gram.
418 First, there are "Loading" messages, which begin with the string
420 "Loaded". Each line should feature the following items:
421 Source File
423 The first item is the source file from which a part was loaded.
424 Many parts can be detected within a single file.
425 Subject Line
427 The complete subject is reproduced in single quotes.
428 Identifier
430 The program derives a unique identification for this thread from
431 the subject line, for grouping articles that look like they
432 belong to the same file. The result of this algorithm is pre‐
433 sented in braces.
434 Filename
436 If a filename was detected on the subject line or within the
437 data (for example, on a begin line, or as part of the Content-
438 Type information).
439 Part Number
441 The part number derived from the subject line, or, in the case
442 of properly MIME-formatted messages, from the "part" informa‐
443 tion.
444 Begin/End
446 If a "begin" or "end" token was detected, it is printed here.
447 Encoding Type
449 If encoded data was detected within this part, either "UUdata",
450 "Base64", "XXdata" or "Binhex" is printed here.
451 More messages are printed after scanning has completed. A single line
453 will be printed for each group of articles. The contents of this line
454 are best understood by looking at an example. Here is one:
455 Found 'mailfile.gz' State 16 UUData Parts begin 1 2 3 4 5 end 6 OK
457 This indicates that the file mailfile.gz has been found. The file was
459 uuencoded ("UUData") and consists of 6 parts. The "begin" token was
460 found in the first part, and the "end" token was found in the sixth
461 part. Because it looks like everything's there, this file is tagged as
462 being "OK". The State is a set of bits, where the following values may
463 be or'ed:
464 1 Missing Part
466 2 No Begin
468 4 No End
470 8 No encoded data found.
472 16 File looks Ok
474 32 An error occured during decoding of the file.
476 64 File was successfully decoded.
478
480 If you cannot execute xdeview, and it reports something like "command
481 not found", but are sure that the file itself can be found, check the
482 reference to the main file uuwish at the top of the file.
483
485 uudeview(1), uuenview(1), uudecode(1), uuencode(1),
486 The uudeview homepage on the Web,
487 http://www.fpx.de/fp/Software/UUDeview/
488 June 1996 XDEVIEW(1)