This is FIPS v1.1 
 
FIPS is a program for non-destructive splitting of harddisk partitions. 
 
IMPORTANT: 
Please _carefully_ read the file FIPS.DOC for instructions on the use of 
FIPS. FIPS is _not_ self documenting. 
One frequent problem people encounter is that their defragmentation program 
leaves unmovable sectors at the end of the partition. It is addressed in 
detail in FIPS.DOC. 
If you use OS/2 or a disk compressor, please absolutely read the relevant 
sections in FIPS.DOC. 
 
The changes from the previous version are listed in the file HISTORY.TXT 
 
FIPS is free under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL). See the file COPYING. 
You may freely redistribute FIPS under the condition that you include all of 
the files listed below without changes. If you modify it, you must follow 
the conditions of the GPL. 
 
FIPS has been in public beta test for some time. It has been used by several 
people on the Internet successfully. No serious bugs have been reported. 
Nevertheless one can never be sure one hundred percent. FIPS reads and writes 
the essential harddisk sectors, so an undiscovered bug may still corrupt your 
harddisk. Use at your own risk! 
If you want to make sure not to lose any data, make a complete backup before 
using it (in this case you at least save yourself the time needed for re- 
storing if it works). 
 
However, every effort has been made to provide a maximum of safety. When 
there is anything suspicious with the hard disk, the program will typically 
exit with an error message, even if DOS doesn't complain. 
If an error occurs, an error message is displayed together with a short 
explanation. If you don't know what to make of it, contact me. 
 
If you are sure your hard disk is ok or if you can't resolve the problem, 
please make a transcript of your session using the -d switch and send it to 
me at schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de. I will usually answer imme- 
diately after receiving your mail. 
 
You may also drop me a line if FIPS works on your disk, along with a short 
description of your configuration (type of drive, the information shown by 
FIPS and the OS version), so I know on which configs it works. 
 
If you happen to know something about hard disk structures or if you want to 
know how FIPS works, please read the file 'techinfo.txt'. I have made some 
assumptions that need not necessarily apply to all hard disks, so if anybody 
can confirm or correct this, please let me know. 
 
As of release 0.3 FIPS is written in C++. The old C sources are still avai- 
lable (contact me at schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de), but I will 
probably not keep them up to date with the C++ version. The latest version 
of the C-sources is 0.2.3 which is functionally identical to 0.3. 
 
I hold the copyright of FIPS. If you want to use parts of the source code in 
your programs, you may do so under the conditions of the GPL. Of course I 
would like to hear about it. If you want to use the code in a program that 
is not covered by the GPL (shareware or commercial), I will probably agree 
also, but you must ask me first. 
 
You should have received the following files in this archive: 
 
CALCULAT.CPP    - calculation of the new root-/bootsector 
CHECK.CPP       - checking of the root-/bootsector 
CMDL_ARG.CPP    - evaluation of commandline arguments 
DISK_IO.CPP     - low level disk io 
FAT.CPP         - some operations on the FAT 
GLOBAL.CPP      - global procedures 
HDSTRUCT.CPP    - harddisk specific code 
FIPSSPEC.CPP    - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes 
INPUT.CPP       - User input 
LOGDR_ST.CPP    - operations on logical drive 
MAIN.CPP        - main() 
SAVE.CPP        - saving root- and bootsector 
HOST_OS.CPP	- OS detection 
DISK_IO.H       - low level disk io classes 
FAT.H           - FAT classes 
GLOBAL.H        - global definitions 
HDSTRUCT.H      - harddisk specific classes 
FIPSSPEC.H      - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes 
INPUT.H         - user input prototypes 
LOGDR_ST.H      - logical drive classes 
TYPES.H         - global type definitions 
HOST_OS.H	- The class host_os 
 
RTYPES.H	- type definitions for RESTORRB 
RESTORRB.C      - a program that restores root and boot sector 
FIPS.EXE        - the executable of FIPS 
RESTORRB.EXE    - the executable of RESTORRB 
COPYING         - the GNU general public license 
README.1ST      - this file 
FIPS.DOC        - the documentation of FIPS 
TECHINFO.TXT    - technical info on FIPS 
ERRORS.TXT      - a brief explanation of FIPS' error messages 
HISTORY.TXT     - the revision history 
 
If you lack any of these files, try to get the original archive. If you can't 
find it, contact me. 
 
 
Arno Schaefer 
schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de