Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!apple!ntg!dplatt
From: dplatt@ntg.uucp (Dave Platt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: StuffIt Deluxe and Classic!
Message-ID: <21@goblin.ntg.uucp>
Date: 14 Mar 91 18:52:20 GMT
References: <1991Mar13.135539.13953@mack.uit.no>
Reply-To: dplatt@ntg.UUCP (Dave Platt)
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.apps
Organization: New Technologies Group, Inc.  Palo Alto CA
Lines: 35

In article <1991Mar13.135539.13953@mack.uit.no> ole@forit.forut.no (Ole Jorgen Maland) writes:

>Some days ago I received a program from a friend of mine in the US. It was
>packed with Stiffit Deluxe a program which I am not the happy owner of. So 
>I tried to download it from several FTP-sites. But when I try to convert it 
>with Binhex (I use Binhex5) it goes on working for a while and then I get an
>error message that says: "CRC ($68F6) error". What is this, and what is wrong?

I believe that this is probably due to a bug in the un-BinHex'ing
routines in BinHex 4.0 and BinHex 5.0.  If the file that was originally
encoded has a name which was longer than 26 characters, both BinHex 4.0
and BinHex 5.0 will report a CRC error, and the decoded file will be
damaged.  The error is reported at the end of the decoding process.

I recently sent a BinHex'ed version of the UnStuffIt Deluxe(tm)
Installer application to a friend, and he was unable to decode the
binhexing because the original file's name was 27 characters long.  I
was able to reproduce the problem quite reliably on my machine.  I've
found that the un-BinHex'ing command in StuffIt 1.5.1, and the
Unix-based "mcvert" program, could decode the file without difficulty.

I remember hearing (several years ago) that the author of BinHex 4.0 had
acknowledged the bug.  As far as I know, it has never been fixed.

Another reason that this error can pop up is if you fail to remove the
email/netnews headers from the beginning of the file... BinHex 4.0
doesn't know to skip over these headers.  StuffIt 1.5.1 and mcvert will
both skip over the headers and look for the "(This file..." line.



-- 
Dave Platt                                                VOICE: (415) 813-8917
                    UUCP: ...apple!ntg!dplatt
 USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303