Subject: How to extract files from c.b.i.p.

6. *****
 Q: How do I extract from comp.binaries.ibm.pc and other binary
    postings?

 A: 1) One handy trick to download multi-part postings from the
binaries to your Unix host is the following. Use rn (read news) to
store the postings in ~/News/Comp.binaries.ibm.pc. It must be empty
when you commence. Store in the correct order as indicated in the
subject header n/N. Then apply automatic combining and uudecoding:
   combine Comp.binaries.ibm.pc
You will end up with the .zip package on your Unix host.
 2) If you don't already have the combine program, you can create it
yourself. Write the following two lines to a file with any editor
and name the file combine.
   #! /bin/sh
   cat $* | sed '/^END--/,/^BEGIN--/d' | uudecode
Make this script executable by applying
   chmod u+x combine
   or
   chmod 700 combine
For a more generalized combine get ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/unix/ts/
combine.
 3) After you have the (.zip or whatever) package on your Unix host,
the rest is what should be familiar routine. Transfer the package to
your PC remembering to use the binary option in the transfer (this
goes at least for Kermit and Zmodem). Then extract the files from
the package by using PKUNZIP.EXE or UNZIP.EXE for PCs. If you are
not familiar with these steps or programs, and have problems,
contact a knowledgeable PC friend near you. (My PD2ANS.TXT
instructions file in this same package has some more information.)
 4) This intermediate step is not mandatory, but for your
information. When you have the .zip package at your Unix host, you
can check it using unzip -t FileName assuming that you have the
unzip program at your Unix host. Naturally you can perform the same
test at your PC.
---
A note from Otto J. Makela (otto@jyu.fi) concerning item 2:
A simpler version is:
   sed '/END--/,/BEGIN--/d' $* | uudecode
---
There also is the more generic combine Bourne shell script available
as ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/unix/ts/combine.

 A2: Alternatively, stand by until the periodic posting of the
Usenet CBIP Starter's Kit in comp.binaries.ibm.pc. The kit (release
2.0 31-Jan-94) contained:
   1) Instructions
   2) Text source for UUDECODE
   3) UNZIP 5.0p1, ZIP file extractor, in UUENCODE form
The kit is also available as ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/doc-net/
cbipstar.txt
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