Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!jetson.uh.edu!honp9 From: honp9@jetson.uh.edu (Jason Tibbitts/The Blob Shop) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Puttrax doesn't work. (Padding problem) Summary: Something is end-padding the files Message-ID: <6541.269619f7@jetson.uh.edu> Date: 7 Jul 90 22:20:55 GMT References: Followup-To: poster Organization: Blob Shop Programmers Lines: 43 In article , matthew@cs.ua.oz.au (Matthew Donaldson) writes: > [Problems with Puttrax not working] >> >> 2.) Puttrax is not an executable module for whatever reason (probably >> corrupt). >> >> Does someone have a clue? > > I also have this problem occasionally. A file I anon-ftp'd from xanth > turns out to not be executable. This has happened with the 0NEWSFLASH > disk. Most of the executables in the prog directory, including cebit and coma > are not executable. Examination of their file structure (using the "whatis" > program) reveleals that hunk 0 of these progris valid, and is generally > a code segment, buf after that there seems to be quite a lot of garbage. > Has anyone else come across this sort of thing? Does ftp guarantee error-free > transfer? > I would assume that Internet has some form of transmission error detection, but that does not seem to be the source of the problem. It seems that somewhere in the path from the original senders machine and your machine something pads the file to occupy an integer number of blocks. I believe the culprit here is the VAX I use to access the Internet. The quick and dirty solution I use is to find the size of the file on Xanth using an ls -l (quick note: does anyone have the full documantation of the ls command when used through FTP?) Then, once the file is on my home machine, I load up TxED and delete all of those ASCII zeros from the end of the file until the total length equals that of the original file on Xanth. Crazy, but it works for me. Is there an easier way? (Of course, the problem will not happen with a compressed file. Most compressors don't care about end padding.) > Matthew Donaldson -- \/ Jason L. Tibbitts III // | THEnet: {George|Jane|Elroy|Judy}::HONP9 /\/"Blob Shop Programmers: // | SesquiNet, Telnet, etc: HONP9@JETSON.uh.edu \/ Because We're Bored!" \X/ | CREN (BitNet): HONP9@UHVAX1 "Ewige /\ . DISCLAIMER ." Whose opinions did you think there were?" ; Blumenkraft"