xqxdecode

xqxdecode [OPTIONS] [INPUT_FILE [OUTPUT_FILE]]

INPUT_FILE
    Specifies the input file containing XQX-encoded data. If omitted, xqxdecode typically reads from standard input (stdin).

OUTPUT_FILE
    Specifies the output file where the decoded binary data will be written. If omitted, xqxdecode typically writes to standard output (stdout).

-o OUTPUT_FILE
    An alternative way to specify the output file. Some decoding utilities might use an explicit option for output rather than a positional argument.

-i INPUT_FILE
    An alternative way to specify the input file. Similar to -o, some utilities prefer an explicit option for input.

-h, --help
    Displays a brief help message and exits. This is a common option for most command-line utilities.

-v, --version
    Shows version information about the xqxdecode utility and exits. Another common diagnostic option.

xqxdecode is an extremely obscure and non-standard Linux command designed to decode data that has been encoded using the XQX encoding scheme. The XQX encoding is a proprietary or custom binary-to-text encoding, likely developed in the early days of personal computing and networking. Its primary purpose was to transmit 8-bit binary data over communication channels that were primarily designed for 7-bit ASCII characters, such as early fax modems or specific terminal protocols.

Similar to other binary-to-text encodings like UUEncode or Base64, its function was to "clean" binary data by converting it into a printable ASCII representation, preventing issues like control characters corrupting data streams or being misinterpreted by intermediary systems. The xqxdecode command would reverse this process, taking the ASCII-encoded stream and converting it back into its original binary form. Due to its highly specialized and possibly proprietary nature, xqxdecode is not part of standard Unix or Linux distributions and its documentation is virtually non-existent in common repositories. Its usage is extremely rare in modern systems, confined potentially to legacy systems or historical data recovery contexts.

The xqxdecode command is extremely obscure and not part of standard Linux distributions. Specific documentation, including a definitive list of command-line options and behaviors, is very scarce. The parameters listed are based on common conventions for similar decoding utilities rather than explicit official documentation for xqxdecode. It may not be available on most modern systems without manual compilation from historical sources.

The xqxdecode utility, along with its XQX encoding counterpart, appears to originate from specialized or custom software packages developed in the early to mid-1990s. It was likely used in contexts requiring the transmission of binary data over '7-bit clean' channels, such as early fax software or specific modem communication protocols, where standard binary data could cause issues. Its development and usage are intrinsically tied to the challenges of data transmission in the pre-broadband internet era.

uudecode(1), atob(1), base64(1)