1268515Sdelphij## README for file(1) Command ## 268349Sobrien 3300899Sdelphij @(#) $File: README,v 1.50 2016/04/16 22:40:54 christos Exp $ 4268515Sdelphij 5268515SdelphijMailing List: file@mx.gw.com 6268515SdelphijMailing List archives: http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/ 7268515SdelphijBug tracker: http://bugs.gw.com/ 8186691SobrienE-mail: christos@astron.com 9186691Sobrien 10268515Sdelphij[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/file/file.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/file/file) 11268515Sdelphij 12186691SobrienPhone: Do not even think of telephoning me about this program. Send cash first! 13186691Sobrien 14192350SdelphijThis is Release 5.x of Ian Darwin's (copyright but distributable) 15234449Sobrienfile(1) command, an implementation of the Unix File(1) command. 16234449SobrienIt knows the 'magic number' of several thousands of file types. 17234449SobrienThis version is the standard "file" command for Linux, 1868349Sobrien*BSD, and other systems. (See "patchlevel.h" for the exact release number). 1968349Sobrien 20268515SdelphijYou can download the latest version of the original sources for file from: 21234449Sobrien 22234449Sobrien ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/ 23234449Sobrien 24268515SdelphijA public read-only git repository of the same sources is available at: 25234449Sobrien 26268515Sdelphij https://github.com/file/file 27234449Sobrien 28277592SdelphijThe major changes for 5.x are CDF file parsing, indirect magic, name/use 29277592Sdelphij(recursion) and overhaul in mime and ascii encoding handling. 30192350Sdelphij 31133359SobrienThe major feature of 4.x is the refactoring of the code into a library, 32133359Sobrienand the re-write of the file command in terms of that library. The library 33133359Sobrienitself, libmagic can be used by 3rd party programs that wish to identify 34133359Sobrienfile types without having to fork() and exec() file. The prime contributor 35268515Sdelphijfor 4.0 was Mans Rullgard. 36133359Sobrien 3768349SobrienUNIX is a trademark of UNIX System Laboratories. 3868349Sobrien 3968349SobrienThe prime contributor to Release 3.8 was Guy Harris, who put in megachanges 40103373Sobrienincluding byte-order independence. 4168349Sobrien 4268349SobrienThe prime contributor to Release 3.0 was Christos Zoulas, who put 4368349Sobrienin hundreds of lines of source code changes, including his own 4468349SobrienANSIfication of the code (I liked my own ANSIfication better, but 4568349Sobrienhis (__P()) is the "Berkeley standard" way of doing it, and I wanted UCB 4668349Sobriento include the code...), his HP-like "indirection" (a feature of 4768349Sobrienthe HP file command, I think), and his mods that finally got the 4868349Sobrienuncompress (-z) mode finished and working. 4968349Sobrien 5068349SobrienThis release has compiled in numerous environments; see PORTING 5168349Sobrienfor a list and problems. 5268349Sobrien 5368349SobrienThis fine freeware file(1) follows the USG (System V) model of the file 5468349Sobriencommand, rather than the Research (V7) version or the V7-derived 4.[23] 5568349SobrienBerkeley one. That is, the file /etc/magic contains much of the ritual 5668349Sobrieninformation that is the source of this program's power. My version 5768349Sobrienknows a little more magic (including tar archives) than System V; the 5868349Sobrien/etc/magic parsing seems to be compatible with the (poorly documented) 5968349SobrienSystem V /etc/magic format (with one exception; see the man page). 6068349Sobrien 6168349SobrienIn addition, the /etc/magic file is built from a subdirectory 6268349Sobrienfor easier(?) maintenance. I will act as a clearinghouse for 6368349Sobrienmagic numbers assigned to all sorts of data files that 6468349Sobrienare in reasonable circulation. Send your magic numbers, 65133359Sobrienin magic(5) format please, to the maintainer, Christos Zoulas. 6668349Sobrien 67268515SdelphijCOPYING - read this first. 68268515SdelphijREADME - read this second (you are currently reading this file). 69191771SobrienINSTALL - read on how to install 70300899Sdelphijsrc/localtime_r.c 71300899Sdelphijsrc/magic.c 72300899Sdelphijsrc/magic.h 73300899Sdelphijsrc/mygetopt.h 74300899Sdelphijsrc/newtest2.c 75300899Sdelphijsrc/newtest3.c 76300899Sdelphijsrc/pread.c 77300899Sdelphijsrc/print.c 78300899Sdelphijsrc/readcdf.c 79300899Sdelphijsrc/readelf.c 80300899Sdelphijsrc/readelf.h 81300899Sdelphijsrc/regex.c 82300899Sdelphijsrc/regex2.c 83300899Sdelphijsrc/softmagic.c 84300899Sdelphijsrc/strcasestr.c 85300899Sdelphijsrc/strlcat.c 86300899Sdelphijsrc/strlcpy.c 87300899Sdelphijsrc/strndup.c 88300899Sdelphijsrc/tar.h 89300899Sdelphijsrc/teststrchr.c 90300899Sdelphijsrc/vasprintf.c 91300899Sdelphijsrc/x.c 92268515Sdelphijsrc/apprentice.c - parses /etc/magic to learn magic 93268515Sdelphijsrc/apptype.c - used for OS/2 specific application type magic 94268515Sdelphijsrc/ascmagic.c - third & last set of tests, based on hardwired assumptions. 95277592Sdelphijsrc/asctime_r.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 96277592Sdelphijsrc/asprintf.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 97300899Sdelphijsrc/asctime_r.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 98300899Sdelphijsrc/asprintf.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 99277592Sdelphijsrc/cdf.[ch] - parser for Microsoft Compound Document Files 100268515Sdelphijsrc/cdf_time.c - time converter for CDF. 101268515Sdelphijsrc/compress.c - handles decompressing files to look inside. 102277592Sdelphijsrc/ctime_r.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 103300899Sdelphijsrc/der.[ch] - parser for Distinguished Encoding Rules 104300899Sdelphijsrc/dprintf.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 105277592Sdelphijsrc/elfclass.h - common code for elf 32/64. 106268515Sdelphijsrc/encoding.c - handles unicode encodings 107268515Sdelphijsrc/file.c - the main program 108268515Sdelphijsrc/file.h - header file 109277592Sdelphijsrc/file_opts.h - list of options 110277592Sdelphijsrc/fmtcheck.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 111268515Sdelphijsrc/fsmagic.c - first set of tests the program runs, based on filesystem info 112268515Sdelphijsrc/funcs.c - utilility functions 113277592Sdelphijsrc/getline.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 114277592Sdelphijsrc/getopt_long.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 115300899Sdelphijsrc/gmtime_r.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 116300899Sdelphijsrc/is_tar.c, tar.h - knows about Tape ARchive format (courtesy John Gilmore). 117300899Sdelphijsrc/localtime_r.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 118277592Sdelphijsrc/magic.h.in - source file for magic.h 119300899Sdelphijsrc/mygetopt.h - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 120268515Sdelphijsrc/magic.c - the libmagic api 121300899Sdelphijsrc/names.h - header file for ascmagic.c 122277592Sdelphijsrc/pread.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 123268515Sdelphijsrc/print.c - print results, errors, warnings. 124268515Sdelphijsrc/readcdf.c - CDF wrapper. 125268515Sdelphijsrc/readelf.[ch] - Stand-alone elf parsing code. 126268515Sdelphijsrc/softmagic.c - 2nd set of tests, based on /etc/magic 127277592Sdelphijsrc/mygetopt.h - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 128277592Sdelphijsrc/strcasestr.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 129277592Sdelphijsrc/strlcat.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 130277592Sdelphijsrc/strlcpy.c - replacement for OS's that don't have it. 131277592Sdelphijsrc/tar.h - tar file definitions 132268515Sdelphijsrc/vasprintf.c - for systems that don't have it. 133268515Sdelphijdoc/file.man - man page for the command 134268515Sdelphijdoc/magic.man - man page for the magic file, courtesy Guy Harris. 13568349Sobrien Install as magic.4 on USG and magic.5 on V7 or Berkeley; cf Makefile. 136268515Sdelphij 137191771SobrienMagdir - directory of /etc/magic pieces 138186691Sobrien------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 139186691Sobrien 140186691SobrienIf you submit a new magic entry please make sure you read the following 141186691Sobrienguidelines: 142186691Sobrien 143186691Sobrien- Initial match is preferably at least 32 bits long, and is a _unique_ match 144186691Sobrien- If this is not feasible, use additional check 145186691Sobrien- Match of <= 16 bits are not accepted 146186691Sobrien- Delay printing string as much as possible, don't print output too early 147186691Sobrien- Avoid printf arbitrary byte as string, which can be a source of 148186691Sobrien crash and buffer overflow 149186691Sobrien 150186691Sobrien- Provide complete information with entry: 151186691Sobrien * One line short summary 152186691Sobrien * Optional long description 153186691Sobrien * File extension, if applicable 154186691Sobrien * Full name and contact method (for discussion when entry has problem) 155186691Sobrien * Further reference, such as documentation of format 156186691Sobrien 157186691Sobrien------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 158186691Sobrien 159133359SobrienParts of this software were developed at SoftQuad Inc., developers 160133359Sobrienof SGML/HTML/XML publishing software, in Toronto, Canada. 161234449SobrienSoftQuad was swallowed up by Corel in 2002 and does not exist any longer. 162