=======================
                                 ascii2ebcdic
                           =======================


          This package is available for download from my web site at

                  http://sb.fluomedia.org/download/


What does it do:
----------------

This package contains a pair of complementary filters for converting
from ASCII to EBCDIC and vice-versa in a REVERSIBLE way WITHOUT LOSS
of information. The package supports different EBCDIC code pages,
e.g. for OS/390 and BS2000.

Input comes from standard input, output goes to standard output.

Both can be redirected to/from files using the corresponding redirection
operators (">", ">>" and "<", respectively).

These filters can therefore be used on any platform that provides a standard
ANSI C compiler and where redirection of standard input/output is possible.

Available command line options are:

    -v     reverse the conversion (use inverse translation table)
    -o     use the EBCDIC code page for OS/390 (DEFAULT)
    -b     use the EBCDIC code page for BS2000
    -n     "neutral" or "no operation" - simply pass through all
           characters (overrides "-v", "-o" and "-b")

    -vo    use OS/390 EBCDIC code page, reverse conversion
    -ov    use OS/390 EBCDIC code page, reverse conversion
    -vb    use BS2000 EBCDIC code page, reverse conversion
    -bv    use BS2000 EBCDIC code page, reverse conversion

    -rev   reverse the conversion
    -os3   use OS/390 EBCDIC code page (DEFAULT)
    -bs2   use BS2000 EBCDIC code page
    -nop   simply pass through all characters

    -dump  dump the internal translation table (can be combined
           with "-v" or "-rev" to dump the inverse translation
           table) instead of performing any conversion (override)
    -init  initialize the translation table first before dumping
           it (this option has no effect if "-dump" is not present)

The last options on the command line take precedence over the first ones,
where applicable.

"-v" and "-rev" are toggle switches, i.e., specifying this option twice
is the same as not specifying it at all.


How to build and install:
-------------------------

Just compile the two "*.c" files in this package with your favourite
ANSI C compiler, for instance:

            > gcc -ansi -O2 -o ascii2ebcdic ascii2ebcdic.c
            > gcc -ansi -O2 -o ebcdic2ascii ebcdic2ascii.c

Then copy the resulting binaries to some directory in your search path
("/usr/local/bin" or "C:\DOS", for example).

If you don't want to type so many options, you can also use

            > perl compile.pl ascii2ebcdic    (all platforms)
            > perl compile.pl ascii2ebcdic    (all platforms)

            > ./compile.sh ascii2ebcdic       (UNIX)
            > ./compile.sh ebcdic2ascii       (UNIX)

            > compile ascii2ebcdic            (DOS/WinNT/95)
            > compile ebcdic2ascii            (DOS/WinNT/95)

instead for compiling these two source files.

Note that "compile.sh" assumes "gcc" to be your ANSI C compiler and
"compile.bat" assumes "cl", whereas "compile.pl" uses the same compiler
that Perl itself has been compiled with.


Legal issues:
-------------

This package with all its parts is

Copyright (c) 2000 by Steffen Beyer.
All rights reserved.

This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the "GNU General Public License".

Please refer to the file "GNU_GPL.txt" in this distribution
for details!


Author's note:
--------------

I hope you will find this package beneficial!

Share and enjoy!

Yours,
--
  Steffen Beyer <sb@fluomedia.org> http://sb.fluomedia.org/
       "There is enough for the need of everyone in this world,
         but not for the greed of everyone." - Mahatma Gandhi