README

x - Intelligent archive extraction
==================================

Introduction
------------

x extracts archives in a number of different formats; it currently supports
tar, zip, cpio, rpm, and deb.  It can also decompress files compressed with
gzip, bzip2, or compress.

In addition to providing one command to handle many different archive
types, x also aids the user by extracting contents consistently.  By
default, everything will be written to a dedicated directory that's named
after the archive.  x will also change the permissions to ensure that the
owner can read and write all those files.

Running x
---------

To run x, simply call it with the archive(s) you wish to extract as
arguments.  For example::

   x coreutils-5.*.tar.gz

x supports a number of options to mandate specific behavior:

-r, --recursive
   With this option, x will search inside the archives you specify to see
   if any of the contents are themselves archives, and extract those as
   well.

-o, --overwrite
   Normally, x will avoid extracting into a directory that already exists,
   and instead try to find an alternative name to use.  If this option is
   listed, x will use the default directory name no matter what.

-f, --flat
   Extract archive contents into the current directory, instead of their
   own dedicated directory.  This is handy if you have multiple archive
   files which all need to be extracted into the same directory structure.
   Note that existing files may be overwritten with this option.

-q, --quiet
   Suppress warning messages.  Listing this option twice will cause the
   x to be silent if at all possible.

-v, --verbose
   Print more information about x's behavior.  You can list this option up
   to three times for more information.

--help
   Display basic help.

--version
   Display x's version, copyright, and license information.

Other Useful Information
------------------------

x 3.0 is copyright (c) 2006 `Brett Smith`_.  Feel free to send comments,
bug reports, patches, and so on.  You can find the latest version of x on
`its home page`_.

.. _`Brett Smith`: mailto:brettcsmith@brettcsmith.org
.. _`its home page`: http://www.brettcsmith.org/2006/x/

x is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51
Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA, 02111.