README

dtrx - Intelligent archive extraction
=====================================

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

dtrx extracts archives in a number of different formats; it currently
supports tar, zip, cpio, rpm, deb, gem, 7z, and cab files.  It can also
decompress files compressed with gzip, bzip2, lzma, or compress.

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

Requirements
------------

If you have Python 2.4, this should work out of the box.  If you're stuck
on Python 2.3, you can use this if you install the `subprocess module`_.
You'll need the usual tools for the archive types you want to extract: for
example, if you're extracting zip files, you'll need zipinfo and unzip.

.. _`subprocess module`: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~astrand/popen5/

Installation
------------

You can just put scripts/dtrx wherever is convenient for you, but if you
want to install the program system-wide, you can also run::

   # python setup.py install

Running dtrx
------------

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

   $ dtrx coreutils-5.*.tar.gz

dtrx supports a number of options to mandate specific behavior:

-r, --recursive
   With this option, dtrx 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, dtrx will avoid extracting into a directory that already exists,
   and instead try to find an alternative name to use.  If this option is
   listed, dtrx 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.

-n, --noninteractive
   dtrx will normally ask the user how to handle certain corner cases, such
   as how to handle an archive that only contains one file.  This option
   suppresses those questions; dtrx will instead use sane, conservative
   defaults.

-l, -t, --list, --table
   Don't extract the archives; just list their contents on standard output.

-m, --metadata
   Extract the metadata from .deb and .gem archives, instead of their normal
   contents.

-q, --quiet
   Suppress warning messages.  Listing this option twice will cause the
   dtrx 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
------------------------

dtrx 5.0 is copyright (c) 2006, 2007 `Brett Smith`_.  Feel free to send
comments, bug reports, patches, and so on.  You can find the latest version
of dtrx on `its home page`_.

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

dtrx 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 3 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.