Hexomatic is Shareware ($35). Please register your copy, or discard Hexomatic after 30 days! Thanks!
What is Hexomatic?
Hexomatic adds BinHex transfer capability to your Web server!
Here's how it works. Suppose you have a file "mystuff.sit" that you are serving. Simply create a URL that points to "mystuff.sit.hqx" and the user will receive a BinHexed file! You do NOT need to create the BinHexed file, Hexomatic does it automatically!
Are you still using an FTP server to distribute software? Forget it! HTTP is a reliable protocol for file transfers, and now with Hexomatic, it's even easier to serve Macintosh files from your web server.
Note: Other alternatives, such a StarNine's AutoBinHex, binhex the entire file before sending anything, and saves it to the hard drive.This causes a long delay, and wastes a LOT of hard drive space. Hexomatic binhexes the file as it sends it, without wasting any hard drive space and with no initial delay. Hexomatic is very fast, and highly optimized, so there is no performance hit. It was also out long before any other competing products, and has withstood the test of time!
New in 1.2.3
• Bug fixes and minor updates
System Requirements?
Hexomatic is a WebStar Plugin, compatible with WebStar, WebStar SSL, and Quid Pro Quo. Other servers that support WebStar plugins should work as well. Please send compatibility information to brad@pliner.com, if you can get it to work with other servers, or if you are unable to get it to work with a server that supports WebStar plugins. There is not an ACGI version of Hexomatic.
What do I gain?
•Save LOTS of hard drive space! Files are about 140% larger when they are BinHexed! If your site provides BinHex AND MacBinary transfers, you will be able to reclaim about 58% of the total space used by files! Hexomatic allows a single file to be downloaded as a Binary file OR as a BinHexed file. (This is NOT the case with competing products)
•Save LOTS of time! Want to serve a stuffit file? Put it on your site, and that's it! You no longer need to maintain Stuffed and BinHexed files. Just set the URL appropriately.
•Hexomatic is fast! It has been optimized to provide fast transfers, without slowing down your server at all! Hexomatic will work fine with multiple asynchronous transfers. It works on all 680x0 and PowerPC Macs.
• Advanced Feature: You can make a directory and all of its subdirectories accessable by Hexomatic by putting a ".messages" directory into the directory. This is unlike the ".message" file (without the 's'), which does not include subdirectories. This refers to web directories, not physical directories. Putting a ".messages" file in your WebStar directory, although not recommended, will completely unrestrict the files available to Hexomatic.
What about security issues?
Hexomatic works with files whose name end with .sit, .cpt, .sea, and .dd. Please note, it will work with ANY file with this extension, not just Compact Pro, Stuffit, and Self-Expanding files. Hexomatic will also work for ALL files in a directory containing a file called ".message". The contents of this file are not important. A ".messages" (note the 's') includes all files in subdirectories as well!
What if I'm already serving BinHexed files?
If a file already exists with the .hqx extension, Hexomatic will serve that file instead. It is up to you to make sure it is a valid Binhexed file. Only the data fork will be sent, just as WebStar would have sent it. This will help make the transition for those of you who are already serving BinHexed files.
How do I install and use it?
1. Quit your web server.
2. Remove old versions of Hexomatic. Remove conflicting products, such as WebStar's Auto Binhex.
3. Drag Hexomatic into the plugins folder.
4. Restart your web server.
5. If you have an existing file "mystuff.sit", create a URL to "mystuff.sit.hqx". That's it! Users will receive a binhexed file!
