Provided by: sharutils_4.15.2-9_amd64 
NAME
shar - create a shell archive
SYNOPSIS
shar [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]] [<file>...]
If no files are specified, the list of input files is read from standard input. Standard input must not
be a terminal.
DESCRIPTION
shar creates "shell archives" (or shar files) which are in text format and can be emailed. 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 flexibility in manufacturing
shars and in specifying shar "smartness". Archives may be fairly simple (--vanilla-operation) or
essentially a mailable tar archive.
Options may be specified in any order until a file argument is recognized. If the --intermix-type option
has been specified, more compression and encoding options will be recognized between the file arguments.
Though this program supports uuencode-d files, they are deprecated. If you are emailing files, please
consider mime-encoded files. If you do uuencode, base64 is the preferred encoding method.
OPTIONS
Specifying compression
-p, --intermix-type specify compression for input files. This option must not appear in combination with
any of the following options: vanilla-operation.
Allow positional parameter options. The compression method and encoding method options may be intermixed
with file names. Files named after these options will be processed in the specified way.
-C program, --compactor=program specify compaction (compression) program. This option may appear an
unlimited number of times. This option must not appear in combination with any of the following options:
vanilla-operation.
The gzip, bzip2 and compress compactor commands may be specified by the program name as the option name,
e.g. --gzip. Those options, however, are being deprecated. There is also the xz compactor now. Specify
xz with -C xz or --compactor=xz.
Specifying the compactor "none" will disable file compression. Compressed files are never
processed as plain text. They are always uuencoded and the recipient must have uudecode to unpack them.
Specifying the compactor compress is deprecated.
-g level, --level-of-compression=level pass LEVEL for compression. This option takes an integer number
as its argument. The value of level is constrained to being:
in the range 1 through 9
The default level for this option is:
9
Some compression programs allow for a level of compression. The default is 9, but this option allows you
to specify something else. This value is used by gzip, bzip2 and xz, but not compress.
-j, --bzip2 bzip2 and uuencode files. This option may appear an unlimited number of times.
bzip2 compress and uuencode all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode bzip2 in order
to unpack.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
-z, --gzip gzip and uuencode files. This option may appear an unlimited number of times.
gzip compress and uuencode all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode and gzip in
order to unpack.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
-Z, --compress compress and uuencode files. This option may appear an unlimited number of times.
compress and uuencode all files prior to packing. The recipient must have uudecode and compress in order
to unpack.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
--level-for-gzip This is an alias for the --level-of-compression option.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
-b bits, --bits-per-code=bits pass bits (default 12) to compress. The default bits for this option is:
12
This is the compression factor used by the compress program.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
Specifying file encoding methodology
Files may be stored in the shar either as plain text or uuencoded. By default, the program selects which
by examining the file. You may force the selection for all files. In intermixed option/file mode, this
setting may be changed during processing.
-M, --mixed-uuencode decide uuencoding for each file. This option is a member of the mixed-uuencode
class of options.
Automatically determine if the files are text or binary and archive correctly. Files found to be binary
are uuencoded prior to packing. This is the default behavior for shar.
For a file to be considered a text file instead of a binary file, all the following should be true:
The file does not contain any ASCII control character besides BS (backspace), HT (horizontal tab), LF
(new line) or FF (form feed).
The file contains no character with its eighth-bit set.
The file contains no line beginning with the five letters "from ", capitalized or not. (Mail handling
programs will often gratuitously insert a > character before it.)
The file is either empty or ends with a LF (newline) byte.
No line in the file contains more than 200 characters. For counting purpose, lines are separated by a LF
(newline).
-B, --uuencode treat all files as binary. This option is a member of the mixed-uuencode class of
options.
Use uuencode prior to packing all files. This increases the size of the archive. The recipient must
have uudecode in order to unpack. Compressed files are always encoded.
-T, --text-files treat all files as text. This option is a member of the mixed-uuencode class of
options.
If you have files with non-ascii bytes or text that some mail handling programs do not like, you may find
difficulties. However, if you are using FTP or SSH/SCP, the non-conforming text files should be okay.
Specifying file selection and output modes
-o prefix, --output-prefix=prefix print output to file PREFIX.nn.
Save the archive to files prefix.01 thru prefix.nn instead of sending all output to standard out. Must
be specified when the --whole-size-limit or --split-size-limit options are specified.
When prefix contains a % character, prefix is then interpreted as a sprintf format, which should be able
to display a single decimal number. When prefix does not contain such a % character, the string .%02d is
internally appended.
-l size, --whole-size-limit=size split archive, not files, to size. This option is a member of the
whole-size-limit class of options. This option must appear in combination with the following options:
output-prefix. This option takes an integer number as its argument. The value of size is constrained to
being:
in the range 8 through 1023, or
in the range 8192 through 4194304
Limit the output file size to size bytes, but don't split input files. If size is less than 1024, then
it will be multiplied by 1024. The value may also be specified with a k, K, m or M suffix. The number
is then multiplied by 1000, 1024, 1000000, or 1048576, respectively. 4M (4194304) is the maximum
allowed.
Unlike the split-size-limit option, this allows the recipient of the shar files to unpack them in any
order.
-L size, --split-size-limit=size split archive or files to size. This option is a member of the whole-
size-limit class of options. This option must appear in combination with the following options: output-
prefix. This option takes an integer number as its argument. The value of size is constrained to being:
in the range 8 through 1023, or
in the range 8192 through 4194304
Limit output file size to size bytes, splitting files if necessary. The allowed values are specified as
with the --whole-size-limit option.
The archive parts created with this option must be unpacked in the correct order. If the recipient of
the shell archives wants to put all of them in a single email folder (file), they will have to be saved
in the correct order for unshar to unpack them all at once (using one of the split archive options).
see: unshar Invocation.
-I file, --input-file-list=file read file list from a file.
This option causes file to be reopened as standard input. If no files are found on the input line, then
standard input is read for input file names. Use of this option will prohibit input files from being
listed on the command line.
Input must be in a form similar to that generated by find, one filename per line. This switch is
especially useful when the command line will not hold the list of files to be archived.
If the --intermix-type option is specified on the command line, then the compression options may be
included in the standard input on lines by themselves and no file name may begin with a hyphen.
For example:
{ echo --compact xz
find . -type f -print | sort
} | shar -S -p -L50K -o /somewhere/big
-S, --stdin-file-list read file list from standard input.
This option is actually a no-op. It is a wrapper for --input-file-list=-.
NOTE: THIS OPTION IS DEPRECATED
Controlling the shar headers
-n name, --archive-name=name use name to document the archive.
Name of archive to be included in the subject header of the shar files. See the --net-headers option.
-s who@where, --submitter=who@where override the submitter name.
shar will normally determine the submitter name by querying the system. Use this option if it is being
done on behalf of another.
-a, --net-headers output Submitted-by: & Archive-name: headers. This option must appear in combination
with the following options: archive-name.
Adds specialized email headers:
Submitted-by: who@@where
Archive-name: name/part##
The who@@where is normally derived, but can be specified with the --submitter option. The name must be
provided with the --archive-name option. If the archive name includes a slash (/) character, then the
/part## is omitted. Thus -n xyzzy produces:
xyzzy/part01
xyzzy/part02
while -n xyzzy/patch produces:
xyzzy/patch01
xyzzy/patch02
and -n xyzzy/patch01. produces:
xyzzy/patch01.01
xyzzy/patch01.02
-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.
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: English. This option will cause the script messages to appear in
the languages specified by the LANG environment variable set when the script is produced.
Protecting against transmission issues
--no-character-count do not use `wc -c' to check size.
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.
Do not use md5sum digest to verify the unpacked files. The default is to check.
-F, --force-prefix apply the prefix character on every line.
Forces the prefix character to be prepended to every line, even if not required. This option may
slightly increase the size of the archive, especially if --uuencode or a compression option is used.
-d delim, --here-delimiter=delim use delim to delimit the files. The default delim for this option is:
SHAR_EOF
Use DELIM to delimit the files in the shar instead of SHAR_EOF. This is for those who want to
personalize their shar files. The delimiter will always be prefixed and suffixed with underscores.
Producing different kinds of shars
-V, --vanilla-operation produce very simple shars.
This option produces vanilla shars which rely only upon the existence of echo, test and sed in the
unpacking environment.
It changes the default behavior from mixed mode (--mixed-uuencode) to text mode (--text-files). Warnings
are produced if options are specified that will require decompression or decoding in the unpacking
environment.
-P, --no-piping use temporary files between programs.
In the shar file, use a temporary file to hold file contents between unpacking stages instead of using
pipes. This option is mandatory when you know the unpacking will happen on systems that do not support
pipes.
-x, --no-check-existing blindly overwrite existing files.
Create the archive so that when processed it will overwrite existing files without checking first. If
neither this option nor the --query-user option is specified, the unpack will not overwrite pre-existing
files. In all cases, however, if --cut-mark is passed as a parameter to the script when unpacking, then
existing files will be overwritten unconditionally.
sh shar-archive-file -c
-X, --query-user ask user before overwriting files. This option must not appear in combination with any
of the following options: vanilla-operation.
When unpacking, interactively ask the user if files should be overwritten. Do not use for shars
submitted to the net.
Use of this option produces shars which will cause problems with some unshar-style procedures,
particularly when used together with vanilla mode (--vanilla-operation). Use this feature mainly for
archives to be passed among agreeable parties. Certainly, -X is not for shell archives which are to be
submitted to Usenet or other public networks.
The problem is that unshar programs or procedures often feed /bin/sh from its standard input, thus
putting /bin/sh and the shell archive script in competition for input lines. As an attempt to alleviate
this problem, shar will try to detect if /dev/tty exists at the receiving site and will use it to read
user replies. But this does not work in all cases, it may happen that the receiving user will have to
avoid using unshar programs or procedures, and call /bin/sh directly. In vanilla mode, using /dev/tty is
not even attempted.
-m, --no-timestamp do not restore modification times.
Avoid generating 'touch' commands to restore the file modification dates when unpacking files from the
archive.
When file modification times are not preserved, project build programs like "make" will see built files
older than the files they get built from. This is why, when this option is not used, a special effort is
made to restore timestamps.
-Q, --quiet-unshar avoid verbose messages at unshar time.
Verbose OFF. Disables the inclusion of comments to be output when the archive is unpacked.
-f, --basename restore in one directory, despite hierarchy.
Restore by the base file name 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 this option
is specified or not.
Internationalization options
--no-i18n do not internationalize.
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
language is found at unpack time, messages will be in English.
--print-text-domain-dir print directory with shar messages.
Prints the directory shar looks in to find messages files for different languages, then immediately
exits.
User feedback/entertainment
-q, --quiet do not output verbose messages.
omit progress messages.
--silent This is an alias for the --quiet option.
-h, --help Display usage information and exit.
-!, --more-help Pass the extended usage information through a pager.
-R [cfgfile], --save-opts [=cfgfile] Save the option state to cfgfile. The default is the last
configuration file listed in the OPTION PRESETS section, below. The command will exit after updating the
config file.
-r cfgfile, --load-opts=cfgfile, --no-load-opts Load options from cfgfile. The no-load-opts form will
disable the loading of earlier config/rc/ini files. --no-load-opts is handled early, out of order.
-v [{v|c|n --version [{v|c|n}]}] Output version of program and exit. The default mode is `v', a simple
version. The `c' mode will print copyright information and `n' will print the full copyright notice.
OPTION PRESETS
Any option that is not marked as not presettable may be preset by loading values from
configuration ("RC" or ".INI") file(s). The file "$HOME/.sharrc" will be used, if present.
WARNINGS
No attempt is made to restore the protection and modification dates for directories, even if this is done
by default for files. 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, to conserve memory. Therefore, do
not change the directory contents 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 it.
Use of the compression and encoding options will slow the archive process, perhaps considerably.
Use of the --query-user produces shars which will cause problems with many unshar procedures. Use this
feature only for archives to be passed among agreeable parties. Certainly, query-user is NOT for shell
archives which are to be distributed across the net. The use of compression in net shars will cause you
to be flamed off the earth. Not using the --no-timestamp or --force-prefix options may also get you
occasional complaints. Put these options into your ~/.sharrc file.
FILES
See OPTION PRESETS for configuration files.
EXAMPLES
The first shows how to make a shell archive out of all C program sources. The second produces a shell
archive with all .c and .h files, which unpacks silently. The third gives a shell archive of all
uuencoded .arc files, into numbered files starting from arc.sh.01. The last example gives a shell
archive which will use only the file names at unpack time.
shar *.c > cprog.shar
shar -Q *.[ch] > cprog.shar
shar -B -l28 -oarc.sh *.arc
shar -f /lcl/src/u*.c > u.sh
EXIT STATUS
One of the following exit values will be returned:
0 (EXIT_SUCCESS) Successful program execution.
1 (EXIT_OPTION_ERROR) The command options were misconfigured.
2 (EXIT_FILE_NOT_FOUND) a specified input could not be found
3 (EXIT_CANNOT_OPENDIR) open/close of specified directory failed
4 (EXIT_FAILED) Resource limit/miscelleaneous shar command failure
63 (EXIT_BUG) There is a shar command bug. Please report it.
66 (EX_NOINPUT) A specified configuration file could not be loaded.
70 (EX_SOFTWARE) libopts had an internal operational error. Please report it to autogen-
users@lists.sourceforge.net. Thank you.
SEE ALSO
unshar(1)
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.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1994-2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. all rights reserved. This program is released
under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later.
BUGS
Please put sharutils in the subject line for emailed bug reports. It helps to spot the message.
Please send bug reports to: bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org
NOTES
This manual page was AutoGen-erated from the shar option definitions.
GNU sharutils (4.15.2) 30 May 2015 shar(1)