Best Utility: David Lowe Pootpoot 67-D Manchester Street San Francisco, CA 94110 USA http://pootpoot.com/ Judges' Comments: To build: make dlowe To use: ./dlowe < anyfile > pootfile Why is this entry would be considered a utility? Well because it is able to convert content-free web pages into useful web pages. To see why, try using an online version, modified for use as a CGI program: http://pootpoot.com/poot/pootify?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com We are sure that you will find that new web page to make a much more consistent level of quality. :-) A CGI script such as: #!/bin/sh # pootify - a sample CGI pootifier # POOT="/usr/local/bin/dlowe" LYNX="/usr/local/bin/lynx" ECHO="/usr/bin/echo" EXPR="/usr/bin/expr" ${ECHO} "Content-type: text/html" ${ECHO} if [ -z "${QUERY_STRING}" ]; then ${ECHO} "QUERY_STRING not found" else URL=`${EXPR} "$QUERY_STRING" : '[Uu][Rr][Ll]=\(.*\)'` if [ -z "${URL}" ]; then ${ECHO} "No URL given in QUERY_STRING" elif [ X`${EXPR} "${URL}" : '[Ff][Ii][Ll][Ee]:'` != X0 ]; then ${ECHO} "file: based URLs are not allowed" else ${LYNX} -restrictions=all -source "${URL}" | ${POOT} fi fi can be used to pootify web pages. For further information see: http://pootpoot.com/poot/pootify?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ioccc.org NOTE: The original entry was just a text based pootifier. To build that version try: make dlowe.orig ./dlowe.orig < anyfile > pootfile Selected Author's Comments: This program is a text filter, it reads stdin and outputs the "corrected" text to stdout. It is obfuscated in that the code is painful to look at and its purpose and mode of operation are not terribly obvious. More importantly, it is a tool for further obfuscation, in that it can take any text and render it unintelligible. Suggested uses: add to your MANROFFSEQ environment variable for man page enjoyment; use it to turn the GPL into the PPL; see what happens when you run perl4 programs after they've been run through it; "encrypt" sensitive (but unnecessary) documents...