55 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
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What is cole?
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*************
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cole is a free C OLE library.
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cole is distributed under the terms of the `GNU General Public License' (GPL)
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to give an impulse to the Free Software. cole distribution license is
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compatible with the `Open Source' definition.
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Using cole, you can access Microsoft' `Structured Storage' files.
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The most popular Microsoft's programs generate `Structured Storage' files,
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incluiding the Microsoft' suite for offices. StarDivision' suite (StarOffice)
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generate `Structured Storage' files too. FlashPix file format is
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`Structured Storage' too.
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What is a `Structured Storage' file?
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************************************
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Inside a `Structured Storage' file there is a filesystem, with directories
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and files, which Microsoft calls `containers' and `streams'. Using cole you
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can travel through such filesystem and access the files.
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cole doesn't know about internal structure of a `stream', it only reads the
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raw data. You can use the Microsoft's documentation available at
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<http://msdn.microsoft.com/> or the information available at
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<http://www.wotsit.org/> to know the binary file format of the streams. If you
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know anything in the side of StarDivision email me. FlashPix file format is
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well documented.
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cole was developed using the information available at
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<http://wwwwbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~schwartz/pmh/guide.html> and the OLE::Storage
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Perl module from the same site, and no information from any other source
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(incluiding Microsoft) has been used.
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Compile
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*******
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See the file `INSTALL' to know how to compile and install cole (a standard
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`configure' script is provided).
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Documentation
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*************
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The documentation is autogenerated from the source code, and it can be found in
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the directory `doc/cole-manual' of the source code.
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The current maintainer.
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(see the file `AUTHORS')
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