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)