SHAR(1)			    General Commands Manual		       SHAR(1)



NAME
       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".  Ar-
       chives may be "vanilla" or comprehensive.

OPTIONS
       Options have a one letter version starting with -  or  a	 long  version
       starting	 with  --.   The exception is --help, --version, --no-i18n and
       --print-text-domain-dir which does not have short versions.   Mandatory
       arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.  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.

   Giving feedback:
       --help Print a help summary on standard output, then immediately exits.

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

       -q --quiet --silent
	      Do  not  output  verbose messages locally when producing the ar-
	      chive.

   Selecting files:
       -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.

       -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 /somewhere/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 sepa-
	      rate from filenames).  The maximum number of lines  of  standard
	      input, file names and options, may not exceed 1024.

   Splitting output:
       -o XXX  --output-prefix=XXX
	      Save  the archive to files XXX.01 thru XXX.nn instead of sending
	      it to 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	neces-
	      sary.   The  archive  parts  created  with  this	option must be
	      unpacked in correct order.

   Controlling the shar headers:
       -n name	--archive-name=name
	      Name of archive to be included in the header of the shar	files.
	      See the -a switch.

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

       -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`.

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

       -t  --translate
	      Translate	 messages  in  the  script.   If you have set the LANG
	      environment variable, messages printed by shar will  be  in  the
	      specified	 language.   The produced script will still be emitted
	      using messages in the lingua franca of the computer world:  Eng-
	      lish.   This  option will cause the script messages to appear in
	      the languages specified by the  LANG  environment	 variable  set
	      when the script is produced.

   Selecting how files are stocked:
       -M  --mixed-uuencode
	      Mixed  mode.   Determine if the files are text or binary and ar-
	      chive correctly (default).  Files found to be binary  are	 uude-
	      coded  prior  to	packing (USE OF UUENCODE IS NOT APPRECIATED BY
	      MANY ON THE NET).

       -T  --text-files
	      Treat all files as text.

       -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  APPRECI-
	      ATED BY MANY ON THE NET).

       -z  --gzip
	      Gzip  and	 uuencode  all	files prior to packing.	 The recipient
	      must have uudecode and gzip in order to unpack (USE OF  UUENCODE
	      AND GZIP IS NOT APPRECIATED BY MANY ON THE NET).

       -g LEVEL	 --level-for-gzip=LEVEL
	      When  doing  compression,	 use  '-LEVEL' as a parameter to gzip.
	      Default is 9.  The -g option turns on the -z option by default.

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

       -b BITS	--bits-per-code=BITS
	      When doing compression, use '-bBITS' as a parameter to compress.
	      The -B option turns on the -Z option by default.	Default	 value
	      is 12.

   Protecting against transmission errors:
       -w  --no-character-count
	      Do  NOT  check each file with 'wc -c' after unpack.  The default
	      is to check.

       -D  --no-md5-digest
	      Do NOT use 'md5sum' digest to verify  the	 unpacked  files.  The
	      default is to check.

       -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.

       -d XXX  --here-delimiter=XXX
	      Use XXX to delimit the files in the shar	instead	 of  SHAR_EOF.
	      This is for those who want to personalize their shar files.

   Producing different kinds of shars:
       -V  --vanilla-operation
	      Produce  "vanilla"  shars	 which rely only upon the existence of
	      sed and echo in the unsharing  environment.   In	addition,  "if
	      test"  must also be supported unless 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 specified with -B,
	      -z, -Z, -p or -M (any of which does or might  require  uudecode,
	      gzip or compress in the unsharing environment).

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

       -x  --no-check-existing
	      Overwrite existing files without checking.  If neither -x nor -X
	      is specified, the unpack will check for and not overwrite exist-
	      ing  files  when	unpacking  the	archive.  If -c is passed as a
	      parameter to the script when unpacking:

		 sh archive -c

	      then existing files will be overwritten unconditionally.

       -X  --query-user
	      When unpacking, interactively ask the user if  files  should  be
	      overwritten.  (DO NOT USE FOR SHARS SUBMITTED TO THE NET).

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

       -Q  --quiet-unshar
	      Verbose OFF.  Disables the inclusion of comments	to  be	output
	      when the archive is unpacked.

       -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 directories, or another directory.	Note that if a
	      directory name is passed	to  shar,  the	substructure  of  that
	      directory will be restored whether -f is specified or not.

   Internationalization:
       --no-i18n
	      Do  not  produce	internationalized  shell archives, use default
	      english messages.	 By default, shar produces archives that  will
	      try  to  output messages in the unpackers preferred language (as
	      determined by the LANG/LC_MESSAGES environmental variables) when
	      they  are	 unpacked.   If no message file for the unpackers lan-
	      guage is found at unpack time, messages will be in english.

       --print-text-domain-dir
	      Prints the directory shar looks in to find  messages  files  for
	      different languages, then immediately exits.

EXAMPLES
       shar *.c > cprog.shar		    # all C prog sources
       shar -Q *.[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 created when
       unpacking.  Thus, if a directory is given to shar, the  protection  and
       modification  dates  of	corresponding unpacked directory may not match
       those of 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 particularly careful when a
       directory is passed to shar that the  output  files  are	 not  in  that
       directory (or a subdirectory 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 fail-
       ure.

AUTHORS
       The  shar  and  unshar programs is the collective work of many authors.
       Many people  contributed	 by  reporting	problems,  suggesting  various
       improvements  or	 submitting actual code.  A list of these people is in
       the THANKS file in the sharutils distribution.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>.	Please put sharutils or	 uuen-
       code in the subject line.  It helps to spot the message.



				 July 1, 2005			       SHAR(1)