NAME

       hishrink- translating ASCII HINT files to binary files

SYNOPSIS

       hishrink [options] [file]

DESCRIPTION

       Shrinking  converts  an  ASCII HINT file, usually with the extension .hint, into a binary HINT file, with
       the extension .hnt.

       The ASCII based HINT file format - also called `long' format - is optimized for readability.  It  can  be
       edited  using a text editor. Hence it allows simple modifications that would be difficult to achieve when
       using the binary format. It is also convenient when debugging.

       The binary HINT file format - also called `short' format - is optimized for displaying HINT files. It can
       be parsed equally well in forward and backward direction to enable fast forward or backward navigation in
       the file.

       The binary HINT file format is designed for on-screen reading of  documents.   Using  a  HINT  viewer  to
       display  a  HINT  file,  its  content  will dynamically adapt to the available display area. For complete
       information on the HINT file format and programs to view HINT files, see https://hint.userweb.mwn.de.

OPTIONS

       This version of hishrink understands the following command line options:

       -a     Use only the localized names for auxiliary files as explained in the FILES section below.

              If you know that the auxiliary files can be found using the localized  names,  for  example  after
              creating them with histretch using the -a option, you can use hishrink with the -a option to limit
              the  search  for  the auxiliar files.  If you are unsure, you should use neither the -a nor the -g
              option.  hishrink will then search for auxiliar files first using the  localized  path  names  and
              then using the path names as given.

       -c     Enable  the  use  of  compression  for  the  HINT  file.  Compressed files are smaller but require
              decompression when viewing. Use only for large files if the file size matters.

       -d bitmask
              Sets HINT file debugging flags according to the bitmask.  Use the --help option for details.

       -g     Do not use the localized names for auxiliary files as explained in the FILES section below.

              You may use this option if you know that all auxiliar files are at the locations described by  the
              path  names  stored in the HINT file.  If you are unsure, you should use neither the -g nor the -a
              option.  hishrink will then search for auxiliar files first using the  localized  path  names  and
              then using the path names as given.

       --help Print help message and exit.

       -l     Redirect  standard  error  to a log file. The name of the log file is derived from the name of the
              input file replacing the extension .hint by the extension .log.

       -o name
              Use name for the output file instead of deriving it from the name of the input file.   Append  the
              extension .hnt if the name does not already has that extension.

       --version
              Print version information and exit.

FILES

       Binary  HINT  files  must contain all resources necessary to display the file, for example font and image
       files.  These files are called auxiliary files.  ASCII HINT files contain only the path  names  of  these
       files.

       When creating a binary HINT file from an ASCII HINT file, it is necessary to find these files, read them,
       and include them in the binary output file.  When creating an ASCII HINT file from a binary HINT file, it
       is  convenient  if  these  files  can  be  extracted and written to the file system.  To avoid clobbering
       arbitrary directories with files when extracting auxiliary files, it is possible to map the path names as
       stored in the HINT file to localized path names before writing or reading auxiliar files.

       When computing a localized path name from a given  path  name,  a  distinction  is  made  between  global
       resources,  like fonts, that are referenced by an absolute path name, and local resources, for example an
       image, that are referenced by a relative path name. The directory that starts the localized path name  of
       the former has the extension .abs and for the latter the extension .rel is used.  To keep auxiliary files
       in  these  subdirectories even if their path contains links to a parent directory, parent links `..'  are
       replaced by `__' links to subdirectories.

       For example, given an input file paper.hint, the global resources are stored in the  paper.abs  directory
       and  local  resources  are stored in paper.rel.  An absolute path like /usr/share/fonts/ will then map to
       the localized path paper.abs/usr/share/fonts/ and a relative path like ../image/img1.jpg will then map to
       the localized path paper.rel/__/image/img1.jpg.

NOTES

       This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documentation can be found in the HINT: The
       file format.  This document is available as a book or in electronic form from the HINT project home  page
       at  https://hint.userweb.mwn.de.   There  you find additional software, most importantly viewers for HINT
       files, and further information.

AVAILABILITY

       hishrink should compile on a large variety of machine architectures and operating systems.  It is part of
       the TeX Live distribution.

SEE ALSO

       histretch(1), hitex(1),

AUTHORS

       Martin Ruckert

Version 1.3                                     11 November 2021                                     HISHRINK(1)