Re: baseN: new program suggestion (various 'base' encoding)

[Assaf Gordon]

Hello,

On 2018-11-23 2:26 p.m., Pádraig Brady wrote:
> On 22/11/18 15:26, Assaf Gordon wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I recently needed some less common binary encoding,
> > and decided to try and implement it based on base64.c .

> A single program is definitely the way to go if we're considering adding more 
> encodings.
[...]
> I'd probably change to source file from base64.c to basenc.c
[...]
> Given the complexity this adds and the disparity
> to the proposed alternatives, it seems useful enough to add.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

Attached improved patches.
The first renames base64.c to basenc.c.
The second implements basenc.

Major changes:
1. Program is now called "basenc".
(I initially wanted to call it "basex", but sadly that name is already
used in debian).

2. Removed "base85" encoding (aka "ascii85") - there's already an
existing utility with similar interface to base64, which is readily
available: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/ruby-ascii85 .
Also, the encoding is variable length, which does not neatly fit in the 
current base64 implementation.

3. Added base2lsbf/msbf (least or most significant bit first) encoding.

4. Added test suite with high coverage.

5. Added man page and texinfo documentation with few examples.

Comments welcomed,
 - assaf

basenc-2018-12-21.patch.gz
Description: application/gzip