Retro68/hfsutils/BLURB

hfsutils - tools for reading and writing Macintosh HFS volumes
Copyright (C) 1996-1998 Robert Leslie

$Id: BLURB,v 1.1 1998/04/11 08:26:52 rob Exp $

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What is this?

  HFS is the "Hierarchical File System" used on modern Macintosh computers.
  With this package, you can read and write Macintosh-formatted media such as
  floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and SCSI hard disks on most UNIX platforms. You can
  also format raw media into an HFS volume.

  This package contains a number of different tools:

    * Several command-line programs (hmount, hls, hcopy, et al.)
    * A Tk-based front-end for browsing and copying files through a
        variety of transfer modes (MacBinary, BinHex, text, etc.)
    * A Tcl package and interface for scriptable access to volumes
    * A C library for low-level access to volumes

How is this different from other HFS packages?

  This package attempts to provide a portable, free implementation of
  routines for accessing HFS volumes. It is implemented as a set of user-level
  tools to provide maximum portability.

  The command-line programs are intended to be used in the same vein as the
  Mtools command-line programs used to access MS-DOS filesystems.

  The graphical front-end provides point-and-click access to Macintosh
  volumes, which is often more convenient than the command line.

  The Tcl interface offers a scriptable HFS "shell" that is more efficient
  than the external command-line programs and allows for greater
  extensibility.

  The C library can be linked with other programs wanting to manipulate
  Macintosh files in their native format. For example, an implementation of
  the Macintosh Resource Manager could be built on top of this library to
  provide seamless access to data objects contained within the resource forks
  of Macintosh files.

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