2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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sharchive
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/sharki:v/ , n. [Unix and Usenet; from /bin/sh archive] A flatten ed
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representation of a set of one or more files, with the unique property that
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it can be unflattened (the original files restored) by feeding it through a
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standard Unix shell; thus, a sharchive can be distributed to anyone running
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Unix, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are also
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intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script
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that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking
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scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. Sharchives are also commonly
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referred to as shar files after the name of the most common program for
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generating them. The downsides of sharchives are that they are an ideal
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venue for Trojan horse attacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no
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simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of
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arbitrarily-powerful shell features. For these reasons, this technique has
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largely fallen out of use since the mid-1990s.
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