===============================================================================
ReadMe.txt                 Fast File Validator 0.46                 27-Jan-2007
===============================================================================
                                         Copyright 2000-6 Christopher J. Madsen
CONTENTS
========
  [1] About Fast File Validator
  [2] System Requirements
  [3] Installation
  [4] Removal
  [5] License
  [6] History
  [7] Author

[1] About Fast File Validator
-----------------------------
Fast File Validator (FFV) is a program for verifying files against a
checksum file and for creating such checksum files.  (I'm using
checksum in the generic sense.  Technically, neither CRC32 nor MD5 is
really a checksum.)

FFV supports both SFV files (which use the CRC32 algorithm) and MD5
files.  Actually, it can handle both types of checksum in the same
file, although you don't normally see this, and I don't recommend
creating such files.

FFV is fast, because it's written directly to the Win32 API to avoid
unnecessary overhead and it uses a multi-threaded design, so it can
calculate the CRC while reading the file.  (Note: In my limited tests,
it's about 40% faster under NT 4.0 than under Windows 98, reading the
same files off the same hard drive.)


[2] System Requirements
-----------------------
Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, or later
  or
A POSIX-compatible system that supports asynchronous I/O (eg, Linux)

I've heard it works on Solaris, but I only use Linux myself.

[3] Installation
----------------
Copy FFV.exe to a folder on your path.  If you don't know what a path
is, you can put it in your C:\Windows directory.  Then read FFV.txt to
find out how to use it.


[4] Removal
-----------
To remove FFV, just delete it.  It makes no registry changes or INI
files.

The following files are included with FFV (and should be deleted):
  ReadMe.txt	This file
  AUTHORS.txt   Credits
  COPYING.txt   The GNU General Public License
  FFV.exe	The main program
  FFV.txt	The documentation
  Source.zip    The source code for FFV


[5] License
-----------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

The GNU General Public License can be found in the file COPYING.txt.


[6] History
-----------

* 27 Jan 2007    FFV 0.46

  Make FFV's exit status reflect the comparison results

*  9 Oct 2006    FFV 0.45

  Added the --relative option

* 30 Aug 2006    FFV 0.44

  Implemented the --allow-errors option for the POSIX version
  Minor bug fixes
  Now includes a test suite (tests require Perl & Inline::C)
    Use "make check" on POSIX, "perl tools/testFFV.pl" on Win32.

* 19 Aug 2006    FFV 0.43

  Fixed the POSIX version to not require GNU libc
    (Unfortunately, if your libc does not support the GNU FTW_ACTIONRETVAL
    extension, FFV won't ignore hidden directories properly.  Linux
    systems normally use GNU libc.)

*  5 Oct 2005    FFV 0.42

  FFV now has a POSIX-compatible version (eg, Linux)
  Added the --allow-errors option (Win32 only)

* 25 Dec 2001    FFV 0.37

  Added the --no-verify option
  Can now read (but cannot create) checksum files generated by md5sum
  Prints a warning if an invalid line is found in a checksum file

* 15 Dec 2001    FFV 0.34

  Added the --hidden and --license options

* 17 Oct 2001    FFV 0.32

  Added the --allow-writing option
  Skip files that can't be opened when creating a checksum file
  Explain why files can't be opened when verifying a checksum file

* 29 Jun 2001    FFV 0.29

  Fixed the progress meter to work properly with files 4GB or larger

* 31 Dec 2000    FFV 0.28

  First public release of FFV


[7] Author
----------
Christopher J. Madsen           cjm .at. pobox.com
1113 Abrams Rd. Apt. 296
Richardson, TX  75081-5573

FFV Home Page:
http://www.pobox.com/~cjm/ffv/
