Hey Jame!   
      
   I forgot to mention that I am getting ascii2binary from;   
      
   http://www.billposer.org/Software/Downloads/ascii2binary-2.14.tar.bz2   
      
   I build it using;   
      
   ./configure --prefix=/usr --build=$MACHTYPE   
      
   where MACHTYPE is obtained from bash and in my case is;   
      
   # echo $MACHTYPE   
   x86_64-core2-linux-gnu   
      
   For the record here is the current specs on both ascii2binary and   
   binary2ascii;   
      
   ----------------------------------------------------------------   
   # ls -al /usr/bin/{ascii2binary,binary2ascii}   
   -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15448 Jun 11 16:52 /usr/bin/ascii2binary   
   -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 17704 Jun 11 16:52 /usr/bin/binary2ascii   
      
   # file /usr/bin/{ascii2binary,binary2ascii}   
   /usr/bin/ascii2binary: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1   
   (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.24,   
   stripped   
   /usr/bin/binary2ascii: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1   
   (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.24,   
   stripped   
      
   # ldd /usr/bin/{ascii2binary,binary2ascii}   
   /usr/bin/ascii2binary:   
           linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007fffc83d6000)   
           libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f18bdecd000)   
           /lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f18be274000)   
   /usr/bin/binary2ascii:   
           linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007fff7c9f6000)   
           libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007fd5eacc2000)   
           /lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fd5eb069000)   
   ----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   As shown above the resulting runtimes combined are far less bloated then   
   supplying the perl package if all that was required is the {,un}pack   
   functions which the above can and does provide.  Not that I have   
   anything against perl - I do require it - but for the purpose of   
   creating binary headers just for Fidonet messaging then I see nothing   
   wrong with this strategy for use in a bash script.  Probably a fairer   
   comparison would be to a current tosser employed for this purpose.  In   
   my particular case there is no real competition and ascii2binary would   
   win in the 'lean and mean' category.  No doubt about it.   
      
   Life is good,   
   Maurice   
      
   --- WeBeBashing with VIM - Vi IMproved 7.3   
    * Origin: Pointy Stick Society (1:261/38.9)