742 lines
22 KiB
Groff
742 lines
22 KiB
Groff
.\" $File: file.man,v 1.144 2021/02/05 22:08:31 christos Exp $
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.Dd February 5, 2021
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.Dt FILE __CSECTION__
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm file
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.Nd determine file type
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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.Nm
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.Bk -words
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.Op Fl bcdEhiklLNnprsSvzZ0
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.Op Fl Fl apple
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.Op Fl Fl exclude-quiet
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.Op Fl Fl extension
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.Op Fl Fl mime-encoding
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.Op Fl Fl mime-type
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.Op Fl e Ar testname
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.Op Fl F Ar separator
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.Op Fl f Ar namefile
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.Op Fl m Ar magicfiles
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.Op Fl P Ar name=value
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.Ar
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.Ek
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.Nm
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.Fl C
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.Op Fl m Ar magicfiles
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.Nm
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.Op Fl Fl help
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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This manual page documents version __VERSION__ of the
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.Nm
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command.
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.Pp
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.Nm
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tests each argument in an attempt to classify it.
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There are three sets of tests, performed in this order:
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filesystem tests, magic tests, and language tests.
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The
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.Em first
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test that succeeds causes the file type to be printed.
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.Pp
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The type printed will usually contain one of the words
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.Em text
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(the file contains only
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printing characters and a few common control
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characters and is probably safe to read on an
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.Dv ASCII
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terminal),
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.Em executable
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(the file contains the result of compiling a program
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in a form understandable to some
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.Tn UNIX
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kernel or another),
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or
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.Em data
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meaning anything else (data is usually
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.Dq binary
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or non-printable).
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Exceptions are well-known file formats (core files, tar archives)
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that are known to contain binary data.
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When modifying magic files or the program itself, make sure to
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.Em preserve these keywords .
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Users depend on knowing that all the readable files in a directory
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have the word
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.Dq text
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printed.
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Don't do as Berkeley did and change
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.Dq shell commands text
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to
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.Dq shell script .
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.Pp
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The filesystem tests are based on examining the return from a
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.Xr stat 2
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system call.
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The program checks to see if the file is empty,
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or if it's some sort of special file.
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Any known file types appropriate to the system you are running on
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(sockets, symbolic links, or named pipes (FIFOs) on those systems that
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implement them)
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are intuited if they are defined in the system header file
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.In sys/stat.h .
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.Pp
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The magic tests are used to check for files with data in
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particular fixed formats.
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The canonical example of this is a binary executable (compiled program)
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.Dv a.out
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file, whose format is defined in
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.In elf.h ,
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.In a.out.h
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and possibly
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.In exec.h
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in the standard include directory.
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These files have a
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.Dq magic number
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stored in a particular place
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near the beginning of the file that tells the
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.Tn UNIX
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operating system
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that the file is a binary executable, and which of several types thereof.
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The concept of a
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.Dq magic number
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has been applied by extension to data files.
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Any file with some invariant identifier at a small fixed
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offset into the file can usually be described in this way.
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The information identifying these files is read from the compiled
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magic file
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.Pa __MAGIC__.mgc ,
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or the files in the directory
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.Pa __MAGIC__
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if the compiled file does not exist.
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In addition, if
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.Pa $HOME/.magic.mgc
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or
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.Pa $HOME/.magic
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exists, it will be used in preference to the system magic files.
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.Pp
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If a file does not match any of the entries in the magic file,
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it is examined to see if it seems to be a text file.
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ASCII, ISO-8859-x, non-ISO 8-bit extended-ASCII character sets
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(such as those used on Macintosh and IBM PC systems),
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UTF-8-encoded Unicode, UTF-16-encoded Unicode, and EBCDIC
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character sets can be distinguished by the different
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ranges and sequences of bytes that constitute printable text
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in each set.
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If a file passes any of these tests, its character set is reported.
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ASCII, ISO-8859-x, UTF-8, and extended-ASCII files are identified
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as
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.Dq text
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because they will be mostly readable on nearly any terminal;
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UTF-16 and EBCDIC are only
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.Dq character data
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because, while
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they contain text, it is text that will require translation
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before it can be read.
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In addition,
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.Nm
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will attempt to determine other characteristics of text-type files.
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If the lines of a file are terminated by CR, CRLF, or NEL, instead
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of the Unix-standard LF, this will be reported.
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Files that contain embedded escape sequences or overstriking
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will also be identified.
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.Pp
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Once
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.Nm
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has determined the character set used in a text-type file,
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it will
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attempt to determine in what language the file is written.
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The language tests look for particular strings (cf.
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.In names.h )
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that can appear anywhere in the first few blocks of a file.
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For example, the keyword
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.Em .br
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indicates that the file is most likely a
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.Xr troff 1
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input file, just as the keyword
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.Em struct
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indicates a C program.
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These tests are less reliable than the previous
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two groups, so they are performed last.
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The language test routines also test for some miscellany
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(such as
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.Xr tar 1
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archives, JSON files).
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.Pp
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Any file that cannot be identified as having been written
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in any of the character sets listed above is simply said to be
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.Dq data .
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.Sh OPTIONS
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.Bl -tag -width indent
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.It Fl Fl apple
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Causes the
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.Nm
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command to output the file type and creator code as
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used by older MacOS versions.
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The code consists of eight letters,
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the first describing the file type, the latter the creator.
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This option works properly only for file formats that have the
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apple-style output defined.
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.It Fl b , Fl Fl brief
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Do not prepend filenames to output lines (brief mode).
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.It Fl C , Fl Fl compile
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Write a
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.Pa magic.mgc
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output file that contains a pre-parsed version of the magic file or directory.
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.It Fl c , Fl Fl checking-printout
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Cause a checking printout of the parsed form of the magic file.
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This is usually used in conjunction with the
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.Fl m
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option to debug a new magic file before installing it.
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.It Fl d
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Prints internal debugging information to stderr.
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.It Fl E
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On filesystem errors (file not found etc), instead of handling the error
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as regular output as POSIX mandates and keep going, issue an error message
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and exit.
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.It Fl e , Fl Fl exclude Ar testname
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Exclude the test named in
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.Ar testname
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from the list of tests made to determine the file type.
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Valid test names are:
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.Bl -tag -width compress
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.It apptype
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.Dv EMX
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application type (only on EMX).
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.It ascii
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Various types of text files (this test will try to guess the text
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encoding, irrespective of the setting of the
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.Sq encoding
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option).
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.It encoding
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Different text encodings for soft magic tests.
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.It tokens
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Ignored for backwards compatibility.
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.It cdf
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Prints details of Compound Document Files.
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.It compress
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Checks for, and looks inside, compressed files.
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.It csv
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Checks Comma Separated Value files.
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.It elf
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Prints ELF file details, provided soft magic tests are enabled and the
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elf magic is found.
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.It json
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Examines JSON (RFC-7159) files by parsing them for compliance.
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.It soft
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Consults magic files.
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.It tar
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Examines tar files by verifying the checksum of the 512 byte tar header.
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Excluding this test can provide more detailed content description by using
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the soft magic method.
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.It text
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A synonym for
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.Sq ascii .
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.El
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.It Fl Fl exclude-quiet
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Like
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.Fl Fl exclude
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but ignore tests that
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.Nm
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does not know about.
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This is intended for compatibility with older versions of
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.Nm .
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.It Fl Fl extension
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Print a slash-separated list of valid extensions for the file type found.
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|
.It Fl F , Fl Fl separator Ar separator
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Use the specified string as the separator between the filename and the
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file result returned.
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|
Defaults to
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.Sq \&: .
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.It Fl f , Fl Fl files-from Ar namefile
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Read the names of the files to be examined from
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.Ar namefile
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(one per line)
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before the argument list.
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Either
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.Ar namefile
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or at least one filename argument must be present;
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|
to test the standard input, use
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.Sq -
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|
as a filename argument.
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Please note that
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.Ar namefile
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is unwrapped and the enclosed filenames are processed when this option is
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encountered and before any further options processing is done.
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This allows one to process multiple lists of files with different command line
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arguments on the same
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.Nm
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invocation.
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Thus if you want to set the delimiter, you need to do it before you specify
|
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the list of files, like:
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.Dq Fl F Ar @ Fl f Ar namefile ,
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|
instead of:
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|
.Dq Fl f Ar namefile Fl F Ar @ .
|
|
.It Fl h , Fl Fl no-dereference
|
|
This option causes symlinks not to be followed
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|
(on systems that support symbolic links).
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|
This is the default if the environment variable
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.Dv POSIXLY_CORRECT
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is not defined.
|
|
.It Fl i , Fl Fl mime
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Causes the
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.Nm
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|
command to output mime type strings rather than the more
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|
traditional human readable ones.
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|
Thus it may say
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.Sq text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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|
rather than
|
|
.Dq ASCII text .
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|
.It Fl Fl mime-type , Fl Fl mime-encoding
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|
Like
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|
.Fl i ,
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|
but print only the specified element(s).
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|
.It Fl k , Fl Fl keep-going
|
|
Don't stop at the first match, keep going.
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|
Subsequent matches will be
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have the string
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.Sq "\[rs]012\- "
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prepended.
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(If you want a newline, see the
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.Fl r
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option.)
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The magic pattern with the highest strength (see the
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.Fl l
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option) comes first.
|
|
.It Fl l , Fl Fl list
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|
Shows a list of patterns and their strength sorted descending by
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|
.Xr magic __FSECTION__
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strength
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|
which is used for the matching (see also the
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.Fl k
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option).
|
|
.It Fl L , Fl Fl dereference
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|
This option causes symlinks to be followed, as the like-named option in
|
|
.Xr ls 1
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|
(on systems that support symbolic links).
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|
This is the default if the environment variable
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.Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
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is defined.
|
|
.It Fl m , Fl Fl magic-file Ar magicfiles
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|
Specify an alternate list of files and directories containing magic.
|
|
This can be a single item, or a colon-separated list.
|
|
If a compiled magic file is found alongside a file or directory,
|
|
it will be used instead.
|
|
.It Fl N , Fl Fl no-pad
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|
Don't pad filenames so that they align in the output.
|
|
.It Fl n , Fl Fl no-buffer
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|
Force stdout to be flushed after checking each file.
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|
This is only useful if checking a list of files.
|
|
It is intended to be used by programs that want filetype output from a pipe.
|
|
.It Fl p , Fl Fl preserve-date
|
|
On systems that support
|
|
.Xr utime 3
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|
or
|
|
.Xr utimes 2 ,
|
|
attempt to preserve the access time of files analyzed, to pretend that
|
|
.Nm
|
|
never read them.
|
|
.It Fl P , Fl Fl parameter Ar name=value
|
|
Set various parameter limits.
|
|
.Bl -column "elf_phnum" "Default" "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent
|
|
.It Sy "Name" Ta Sy "Default" Ta Sy "Explanation"
|
|
.It Li bytes Ta 1048576 Ta max number of bytes to read from file
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|
.It Li elf_notes Ta 256 Ta max ELF notes processed
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|
.It Li elf_phnum Ta 2048 Ta max ELF program sections processed
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|
.It Li elf_shnum Ta 32768 Ta max ELF sections processed
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|
.It Li encoding Ta 65536 Ta max number of bytes to scan for encoding evaluation
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|
.It Li indir Ta 50 Ta recursion limit for indirect magic
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|
.It Li name Ta 50 Ta use count limit for name/use magic
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|
.It Li regex Ta 8192 Ta length limit for regex searches
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|
.El
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|
.It Fl r , Fl Fl raw
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|
Don't translate unprintable characters to \eooo.
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|
Normally
|
|
.Nm
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|
translates unprintable characters to their octal representation.
|
|
.It Fl s , Fl Fl special-files
|
|
Normally,
|
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.Nm
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|
only attempts to read and determine the type of argument files which
|
|
.Xr stat 2
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reports are ordinary files.
|
|
This prevents problems, because reading special files may have peculiar
|
|
consequences.
|
|
Specifying the
|
|
.Fl s
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|
option causes
|
|
.Nm
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|
to also read argument files which are block or character special files.
|
|
This is useful for determining the filesystem types of the data in raw
|
|
disk partitions, which are block special files.
|
|
This option also causes
|
|
.Nm
|
|
to disregard the file size as reported by
|
|
.Xr stat 2
|
|
since on some systems it reports a zero size for raw disk partitions.
|
|
.It Fl S , Fl Fl no-sandbox
|
|
On systems where libseccomp
|
|
.Pa ( https://github.com/seccomp/libseccomp )
|
|
is available, the
|
|
.Fl S
|
|
option disables sandboxing which is enabled by default.
|
|
This option is needed for
|
|
.Nm
|
|
to execute external decompressing programs,
|
|
i.e. when the
|
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.Fl z
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|
option is specified and the built-in decompressors are not available.
|
|
On systems where sandboxing is not available, this option has no effect.
|
|
.It Fl v , Fl Fl version
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|
Print the version of the program and exit.
|
|
.It Fl z , Fl Fl uncompress
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|
Try to look inside compressed files.
|
|
.It Fl Z , Fl Fl uncompress-noreport
|
|
Try to look inside compressed files, but report information about the contents
|
|
only not the compression.
|
|
.It Fl 0 , Fl Fl print0
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|
Output a null character
|
|
.Sq \e0
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|
after the end of the filename.
|
|
Nice to
|
|
.Xr cut 1
|
|
the output.
|
|
This does not affect the separator, which is still printed.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
If this option is repeated more than once, then
|
|
.Nm
|
|
prints just the filename followed by a NUL followed by the description
|
|
(or ERROR: text) followed by a second NUL for each entry.
|
|
.It Fl -help
|
|
Print a help message and exit.
|
|
.El
|
|
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
|
|
The environment variable
|
|
.Ev MAGIC
|
|
can be used to set the default magic file name.
|
|
If that variable is set, then
|
|
.Nm
|
|
will not attempt to open
|
|
.Pa $HOME/.magic .
|
|
.Nm
|
|
adds
|
|
.Dq Pa .mgc
|
|
to the value of this variable as appropriate.
|
|
The environment variable
|
|
.Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
|
|
controls (on systems that support symbolic links), whether
|
|
.Nm
|
|
will attempt to follow symlinks or not.
|
|
If set, then
|
|
.Nm
|
|
follows symlink, otherwise it does not.
|
|
This is also controlled by the
|
|
.Fl L
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|
and
|
|
.Fl h
|
|
options.
|
|
.Sh FILES
|
|
.Bl -tag -width __MAGIC__.mgc -compact
|
|
.It Pa __MAGIC__.mgc
|
|
Default compiled list of magic.
|
|
.It Pa __MAGIC__
|
|
Directory containing default magic files.
|
|
.El
|
|
.Sh EXIT STATUS
|
|
.Nm
|
|
will exit with
|
|
.Dv 0
|
|
if the operation was successful or
|
|
.Dv >0
|
|
if an error was encountered.
|
|
The following errors cause diagnostic messages, but don't affect the program
|
|
exit code (as POSIX requires), unless
|
|
.Fl E
|
|
is specified:
|
|
.Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
|
|
.It
|
|
A file cannot be found
|
|
.It
|
|
There is no permission to read a file
|
|
.It
|
|
The file type cannot be determined
|
|
.El
|
|
.Sh EXAMPLES
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
$ file file.c file /dev/{wd0a,hda}
|
|
file.c: C program text
|
|
file: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV),
|
|
dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
|
|
/dev/wd0a: block special (0/0)
|
|
/dev/hda: block special (3/0)
|
|
|
|
$ file -s /dev/wd0{b,d}
|
|
/dev/wd0b: data
|
|
/dev/wd0d: x86 boot sector
|
|
|
|
$ file -s /dev/hda{,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}
|
|
/dev/hda: x86 boot sector
|
|
/dev/hda1: Linux/i386 ext2 filesystem
|
|
/dev/hda2: x86 boot sector
|
|
/dev/hda3: x86 boot sector, extended partition table
|
|
/dev/hda4: Linux/i386 ext2 filesystem
|
|
/dev/hda5: Linux/i386 swap file
|
|
/dev/hda6: Linux/i386 swap file
|
|
/dev/hda7: Linux/i386 swap file
|
|
/dev/hda8: Linux/i386 swap file
|
|
/dev/hda9: empty
|
|
/dev/hda10: empty
|
|
|
|
$ file -i file.c file /dev/{wd0a,hda}
|
|
file.c: text/x-c
|
|
file: application/x-executable
|
|
/dev/hda: application/x-not-regular-file
|
|
/dev/wd0a: application/x-not-regular-file
|
|
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Sh SEE ALSO
|
|
.Xr hexdump 1 ,
|
|
.Xr od 1 ,
|
|
.Xr strings 1 ,
|
|
.Xr magic __FSECTION__ ,
|
|
.Xr fstyp 8
|
|
.Sh STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
|
|
This program is believed to exceed the System V Interface Definition
|
|
of FILE(CMD), as near as one can determine from the vague language
|
|
contained therein.
|
|
Its behavior is mostly compatible with the System V program of the same name.
|
|
This version knows more magic, however, so it will produce
|
|
different (albeit more accurate) output in many cases.
|
|
.\" URL: http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/file.html
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The one significant difference
|
|
between this version and System V
|
|
is that this version treats any white space
|
|
as a delimiter, so that spaces in pattern strings must be escaped.
|
|
For example,
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
\*[Gt]10 string language impress\ (imPRESS data)
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Pp
|
|
in an existing magic file would have to be changed to
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
\*[Gt]10 string language\e impress (imPRESS data)
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Pp
|
|
In addition, in this version, if a pattern string contains a backslash,
|
|
it must be escaped.
|
|
For example
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
0 string \ebegindata Andrew Toolkit document
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Pp
|
|
in an existing magic file would have to be changed to
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
0 string \e\ebegindata Andrew Toolkit document
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Pp
|
|
SunOS releases 3.2 and later from Sun Microsystems include a
|
|
.Nm
|
|
command derived from the System V one, but with some extensions.
|
|
This version differs from Sun's only in minor ways.
|
|
It includes the extension of the
|
|
.Sq \*[Am]
|
|
operator, used as,
|
|
for example,
|
|
.Bd -literal -offset indent
|
|
\*[Gt]16 long\*[Am]0x7fffffff \*[Gt]0 not stripped
|
|
.Ed
|
|
.Sh SECURITY
|
|
On systems where libseccomp
|
|
.Pa ( https://github.com/seccomp/libseccomp )
|
|
is available,
|
|
.Nm
|
|
is enforces limiting system calls to only the ones necessary for the
|
|
operation of the program.
|
|
This enforcement does not provide any security benefit when
|
|
.Nm
|
|
is asked to decompress input files running external programs with
|
|
the
|
|
.Fl z
|
|
option.
|
|
To enable execution of external decompressors, one needs to disable
|
|
sandboxing using the
|
|
.Fl S
|
|
option.
|
|
.Sh MAGIC DIRECTORY
|
|
The magic file entries have been collected from various sources,
|
|
mainly USENET, and contributed by various authors.
|
|
Christos Zoulas (address below) will collect additional
|
|
or corrected magic file entries.
|
|
A consolidation of magic file entries
|
|
will be distributed periodically.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The order of entries in the magic file is significant.
|
|
Depending on what system you are using, the order that
|
|
they are put together may be incorrect.
|
|
If your old
|
|
.Nm
|
|
command uses a magic file,
|
|
keep the old magic file around for comparison purposes
|
|
(rename it to
|
|
.Pa __MAGIC__.orig ) .
|
|
.Sh HISTORY
|
|
There has been a
|
|
.Nm
|
|
command in every
|
|
.Dv UNIX since at least Research Version 4
|
|
(man page dated November, 1973).
|
|
The System V version introduced one significant major change:
|
|
the external list of magic types.
|
|
This slowed the program down slightly but made it a lot more flexible.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
This program, based on the System V version,
|
|
was written by Ian Darwin
|
|
.Aq ian@darwinsys.com
|
|
without looking at anybody else's source code.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
John Gilmore revised the code extensively, making it better than
|
|
the first version.
|
|
Geoff Collyer found several inadequacies
|
|
and provided some magic file entries.
|
|
Contributions of the
|
|
.Sq \*[Am]
|
|
operator by Rob McMahon,
|
|
.Aq cudcv@warwick.ac.uk ,
|
|
1989.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Guy Harris,
|
|
.Aq guy@netapp.com ,
|
|
made many changes from 1993 to the present.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Primary development and maintenance from 1990 to the present by
|
|
Christos Zoulas
|
|
.Aq christos@astron.com .
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Altered by Chris Lowth
|
|
.Aq chris@lowth.com ,
|
|
2000: handle the
|
|
.Fl i
|
|
option to output mime type strings, using an alternative
|
|
magic file and internal logic.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Altered by Eric Fischer
|
|
.Aq enf@pobox.com ,
|
|
July, 2000,
|
|
to identify character codes and attempt to identify the languages
|
|
of non-ASCII files.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Altered by Reuben Thomas
|
|
.Aq rrt@sc3d.org ,
|
|
2007-2011, to improve MIME support, merge MIME and non-MIME magic,
|
|
support directories as well as files of magic, apply many bug fixes,
|
|
update and fix a lot of magic, improve the build system, improve the
|
|
documentation, and rewrite the Python bindings in pure Python.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The list of contributors to the
|
|
.Sq magic
|
|
directory (magic files)
|
|
is too long to include here.
|
|
You know who you are; thank you.
|
|
Many contributors are listed in the source files.
|
|
.Sh LEGAL NOTICE
|
|
Copyright (c) Ian F. Darwin, Toronto, Canada, 1986-1999.
|
|
Covered by the standard Berkeley Software Distribution copyright; see the file
|
|
COPYING in the source distribution.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The files
|
|
.Pa tar.h
|
|
and
|
|
.Pa is_tar.c
|
|
were written by John Gilmore from his public-domain
|
|
.Xr tar 1
|
|
program, and are not covered by the above license.
|
|
.Sh BUGS
|
|
Please report bugs and send patches to the bug tracker at
|
|
.Pa https://bugs.astron.com/
|
|
or the mailing list at
|
|
.Aq file@astron.com
|
|
(visit
|
|
.Pa https://mailman.astron.com/mailman/listinfo/file
|
|
first to subscribe).
|
|
.Sh TODO
|
|
Fix output so that tests for MIME and APPLE flags are not needed all
|
|
over the place, and actual output is only done in one place.
|
|
This needs a design.
|
|
Suggestion: push possible outputs on to a list, then pick the
|
|
last-pushed (most specific, one hopes) value at the end, or
|
|
use a default if the list is empty.
|
|
This should not slow down evaluation.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The handling of
|
|
.Dv MAGIC_CONTINUE
|
|
and printing \e012- between entries is clumsy and complicated; refactor
|
|
and centralize.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Some of the encoding logic is hard-coded in encoding.c and can be moved
|
|
to the magic files if we had a !:charset annotation.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Continue to squash all magic bugs.
|
|
See Debian BTS for a good source.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Store arbitrarily long strings, for example for %s patterns, so that
|
|
they can be printed out.
|
|
Fixes Debian bug #271672.
|
|
This can be done by allocating strings in a string pool, storing the
|
|
string pool at the end of the magic file and converting all the string
|
|
pointers to relative offsets from the string pool.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Add syntax for relative offsets after current level (Debian bug #466037).
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Make file -ki work, i.e. give multiple MIME types.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Add a zip library so we can peek inside Office2007 documents to
|
|
print more details about their contents.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Add an option to print URLs for the sources of the file descriptions.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Combine script searches and add a way to map executable names to MIME
|
|
types (e.g. have a magic value for !:mime which causes the resulting
|
|
string to be looked up in a table).
|
|
This would avoid adding the same magic repeatedly for each new
|
|
hash-bang interpreter.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
When a file descriptor is available, we can skip and adjust the buffer
|
|
instead of the hacky buffer management we do now.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Fix
|
|
.Dq name
|
|
and
|
|
.Dq use
|
|
to check for consistency at compile time (duplicate
|
|
.Dq name ,
|
|
.Dq use
|
|
pointing to undefined
|
|
.Dq name
|
|
).
|
|
Make
|
|
.Dq name
|
|
/
|
|
.Dq use
|
|
more efficient by keeping a sorted list of names.
|
|
Special-case ^ to flip endianness in the parser so that it does not
|
|
have to be escaped, and document it.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
If the offsets specified internally in the file exceed the buffer size
|
|
(
|
|
.Dv HOWMANY
|
|
variable in file.h), then we don't seek to that offset, but we give up.
|
|
It would be better if buffer managements was done when the file descriptor
|
|
is available so we can seek around the file.
|
|
One must be careful though because this has performance and thus security
|
|
considerations, because one can slow down things by repeateadly seeking.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
There is support now for keeping separate buffers and having offsets from
|
|
the end of the file, but the internal buffer management still needs an
|
|
overhaul.
|
|
.Sh AVAILABILITY
|
|
You can obtain the original author's latest version by anonymous FTP
|
|
on
|
|
.Pa ftp.astron.com
|
|
in the directory
|
|
.Pa /pub/file/file-X.YZ.tar.gz .
|