--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/README Tue Jan 02 20:30:17 2007 -0500 @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +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.