README for REC2NZB v0.3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a simple utility that I wrote for fun, but that might be useful to others
when trying to debug problems with Newsbin 5.   Basically it takes the Newsbin 5
.REC file format (as used for storing headers) and converts it a more readable format
by outputting it as a .NZB file.  Such a .NZB file can be loaded into a tool such as 
a text editor or Internet Explorer to examine it further.  It can also be used
to transfer headers to Newsbin 4.3x series.

Installation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
  - No SETUP.EXE program is supplied.  It is expected that users of a utility
    such as this will be capable of doing amanual isntall!
  - The REC2NZB program makes use of the freely available ZLIB compression library.
    The file ZLIB1.DLL from this library (a copy of which is supplied) needs to be
    on the search path when REC2NZB is run.  I put it into C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 but
    the location is up to you.
  - The REC2NZB.EXE program can be put anywhere you want.  It is convenient if it
    is on the search path but that is up to you.

Using REC2NZB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is used from a DOS command window using a command of the form:

    REC2NZB  [-s] [sourcefile(s)/sourcedirectory] [targetfile]

    -s if present indicates strict NZB compatibility, so Newsbin extensions omitted
       if not present then same format as used by Newsbin 4.3x series.
    If sourcefile is omitted, then all the .REC files are processed.
    Sourcefile can contain wildcard characters
    If targetfile is omitted, then the target filename is made up of
    the current foldername (i.e. group name) with a .NZB extension added. 

Developer Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  - The program is written in C using Visual Studio 6.
  - The ZLIB libraries are used to handle the .REC file compression.
  - The ZLIB package (available from www.zlib.net) needs to be installed if you
    intend to recompile the program to provide the encessary headers and libraries.
  - No checks are made (at the moment anyway) against the .REC file being corrupt
  - Any error handling is very rudimentary
  - The option to omit the target filename parameter has not yet been implemented

Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
No guarantee is made as to the functionality of this program, so use it at your own risk!
Having said that as it is non-destructive in that it does not amend the input file in
any way any risk should be very low.


Change History
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12/12/2005      v0.3    Fixed: Escaping of non-ASCII characters
                        Added: 'textdate' attribute
                        Added: <group> tags derived from folder name
                        Added: Option to omit output filename and derive it from folder name
                        Added: Option to use wild cards in source name.

23/11/2005      v0.2    Added: Option to output text version of flags field

18/11/2005      v0.1    First Version.