NAME

       Convert::ASCII::Armour - Convert binary octets into ASCII armoured messages.

SYNOPSIS

           my $converter = new Convert::ASCII::Armour;

           my $message   = $converter->armour(
                               Object   => "FOO RECORD",
                               Headers  => {
                                             Table   => "FooBar",
                                             Version => "1.23",
                                           },
                               Content  => {
                                             Key  => "0x8738FA7382",
                                             Name => "Zoya Hall",
                                             Pic  => "....",  # gif
                                           },
                               Compress => 1,
                           );

           print $message;

           -----BEGIN COMPRESSED FOO RECORD-----
           Version: 1.23
           Table: FooBar

           eJwzZzA0Z/BNLS5OTE8NycgsVgCiRIVciIAJg6EJg0tiSaqhsYJvYlFy...
           XnpOZl5qYlJySmpaekZmVnZObl5+QWFRcUlpWXlFZRWXAk7g6OTs4urm...
           Fh4VGaWAR5ehkbGJqZm5hSUeNXWKDsoGcWpaGpq68bba0dWxtTVmDOYM...
           NzuZ
           =MxpZvjkrv5XyhkVCuXmsBQ==

           -----END COMPRESSED FOO RECORD-----
           my $decoded   = $converter->unarmour( $message )
                            || die $converter->errstr();

DESCRIPTION

       This module converts hashes of binary octets into ASCII messages suitable for transfer over 6-bit clean
       transport channels. The encoded ASCII resembles PGP's armoured messages, but are in no way compatible
       with PGP.

METHODS

   new()
       Constructor.

   armour()
       Converts a hash of binary octets into an ASCII encoded message. The encoded message has 4 parts: head and
       tail strings that act as identifiers and delimiters, a cluster of headers at top of the message, Base64
       encoded message body and a Base64 encoded MD5 digest of the message body. armour() takes a hash as
       argument with following keys:

       Object
           An identification string embedded in head and tail strings.

       Content
           Content  is  a  hashref  that  contains  the  binary  octets  to be encoded. This hash is serialized,
           compressed (if specified) and encoded into ASCII with MIME::Base64.  The result is the  body  of  the
           encoded message.

       Headers
           Headers  is  a  hashref  that  contains  ASCII headers that are placed at top of the encoded message.
           Headers are encoded as RFC822 headers.

       Compress
           A boolean parameter that forces armour() to compress the message body.

   unarmour()
       Decodes an armoured ASCII message into the hash provided as  argument  to  armour().  The  hash  contains
       Content,  Object,  and  Headers.   unarmour()  performs several consistency checks and returns a non-true
       value on failure.

   errstr()
       Returns the error message set by unarmour() on failure.

AUTHOR

       Vipul Ved Prakash, <mail@vipul.net>

LICENSE

       Copyright (c) 2001, Vipul Ved Prakash.  All  rights  reserved.  This  code  is  free  software;  you  can
       redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

       MIME::Base64(3), Compress::Zlib(3), Digest::MD5(3)

perl v5.10.1                                       2001-03-19                        Convert::ASCII::Armour(3pm)