shc(1) shc Version 2.4 shc(1) Nov 20, 1991 NAME shc - Generic shell script compiler SYNOPSIS shc [ -e date ] [ -m addr ] [ -i iopt ] [ -x cmnd ] [ -l lopt ] [ -vCAh ] -f script DESCRIPTION shc obtains a stripped binary executable version of the script specified at command line. Binary version will be named with .x extension, and will usually be shorter than ascii one. If you specify an expiration date with -e, binary will refuse to be executed later. If you specify an email contact direction with -m a message will be displayed saying Contact with me@myhost.mydomain. You can compile whatever interpreted script, but you must supply valid -i, -x and -l options. If you look it closer you will find that shc really not makes an independent executable because it remains needing /bin/sh. It performs compression and random sort of the script, and on execution uncompress and sh'xcutes itself with the -c option adding the date expire capability. Perhaps you think it is not a compiler, but it "compiles" a script, and it behaves exactly like the original script. Unfortunatelly it will not give you any speed improvement (perhaps a smaller size). Its main utility is to protect your sh scripts from modification or inspection. You can use it if you wish to distribute your scripts but not wants to be readable. Of course it is not absolutelly safe but it will. OPTIONS The command line options are: -e date Expiration date in mm/dd/yy format [NO] -m email_dir e-Mail address to contact with at expiration [your provider] -f script_name File name of the script to compile -i inline_option Inline option for this interpreter i.e: -e - 1 - Formatted: November 14, 2024 shc(1) shc Version 2.4 shc(1) Nov 20, 1991 -x comand eXec command, as a printf format i.e: exec(\\'%s\\',@ARGV); -l last_option Last option i.e: -- -v Verbose -C Copying -A Abstract -h Help BUGS The maximum size of the script that could be compiled is limited by the operating system configuration parameter _SC_ARG_MAX (see sysconf(2)) AUTHOR Francisco Rosales <frosal@fi.upm.es> REPORT BUGS TO the author. - 2 - Formatted: November 14, 2024