Chris Putnam

Chris Putnam is an independent software publisher whose work is distributed through GitHub, with a catalog centered on a single specialized utility for disc image preservation. The publisher's flagship product, binmerge, is a command-line tool designed to merge multiple bin/cue track files into a single unified bin/cue pair. This addresses a common challenge in the retro gaming and disc preservation communities, where CD-ROM images are often stored as one file per track, creating cluttered and fragmented archives. By consolidating these tracks, binmerge produces output that aligns closely with the conventions used by redump, the widely respected disc image preservation project, making it particularly valuable for collectors, archivists, and emulation enthusiasts who maintain libraries of classic console games from systems such as the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast. The tool falls into the broader software category of disk image utilities and file conversion tools, a niche that supports data preservation, compatibility, and storage organization. Typical use cases include preparing disc image collections for long-term archival, ensuring compatibility with emulators and optical drive emulators that prefer single-track formats, and cleaning up collections sourced from mixed or inconsistent rips. As an open-source project hosted on GitHub, binmerge reflects a practical, community-oriented development approach, allowing users to inspect the source code, contribute improvements, and integrate the tool into their own preservation workflows. While the publisher's portfolio is small, it serves a well-defined need within the disc preservation ecosystem with a focused and purposeful solution.