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From: c60a-1cu@web-1a.berkeley.edu (Drew Dean)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: binhex5 : thanks and info
Message-ID: <16619@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 7 Nov 88 20:16:36 GMT
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The whole point of MacBinary protocol is that the host doesn't need to know
that there's anything special about the file.  There's (for MacBinary I,
which I implemented on a non-Macintosh, so I do know what I'm saying)
a 128 byte header at the beginning of the file, that contains among other
things the file name, type and creator, dates of creation and modification,
Finder flags, and the DATA fork length, and the RESOURCE fork length....
(For more info see _The Complete MacTutor_ Volume 2.)
If a Macintosh is running a MacBinary capable program, it senses this header
block and interprets the information.  But if any other system is running
a standard file transfer, this is just 128 bytes, with nothing special....
[Note that this is why you can run a Mac BBS on a PC, and file transfer works
fine:  I upload in MacBinary, the PC just stores the header, and someone
comes along with another Mac, downloads the file, and it says "Oh, this file
is in MacBinary format....I know what to do with that..."]
So everyone, just crank up your favorite file transfer protocol, and blaze
away, it's actually going to be much easier now, if you just let everything
work like it's supposed to.....



Drew Dean
Internet: c60a-1cu@web.berkeley.edu
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