mmencode man page on SuSE

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MIMENCODE(1)							  MIMENCODE(1)

NAME
       mimencode - Translate to and from mail-oriented encoding formats

       (Same program also installed as "mmencode".)

SYNOPSIS
       mimencode[-u] [-b] [-q] [-p] [file name] [-o outputfile]

DESCRIPTION
       The  mimencode  program	simply converts a byte stream into (or out of)
       one of the standard mail encoding formats defined by MIME, the proposed
       standard	 for  internet	multimedia  mail formats.  Such an encoding is
       necessary because binary data cannot be sent  through  the  mail.   The
       encodings  understood  by  mimencode  are  preferable to the use of the
       uuencode/uudecode programs, for use in mail, in several	respects  that
       were important to the authors of MIME.

       By  default,  mimencode	reads  standard	 input,	 and  sends a "base64"
       encoded version of the input to standard output.

       The (really not necessary) "-b"	option	tells  mimencode  to  use  the
       "base64" encoding.

       The  "-q" option tells mimencode to use the "quoted-printable" encoding
       instead of base64.

       The "-u" option tells mimencode to decode  the  standard	 input	rather
       than encode it.

       The  "-p"  option  tells	 mimencode to translate decoded CRLF sequences
       into the local newline convention during decoding and to do the reverse
       during  encoding.   This	 option	 is  only  meaningful when  -b (base64
       encoding) is in effect.

       If a file name argument is given, input is read from that  file	rather
       than from standard input.

       The "-o" option, which must be followed by a file name, sends output to
       the named file rather than to standard output.

RATIONALE
       Mimencode is intended to be a replacement for  uuencode	for  mail  and
       news  use.  The reason is simple:  uuencode doesn't work very well in a
       number of circumstances and ways.  In particular, uuencode uses charac‐
       ters  that  don't translate well across all mail gateways (particularly
       ASCII <-> EBCDIC gateways).  Also, uuencode is not  standard  --	 there
       are  several  variants floating around, encoding and decoding things in
       different and incompatible ways, with no "standard" on which to base an
       implementation.	 Finally,  uuencode  does not generally work well in a
       pipe, although some variants have been modified to  do  so.   Mimencode
       implements  the	encodings  which  were	defined	 for  MIME as uuencode
       replacements, and should be considerably more robust for email use.

SEE ALSO
       metamail(1), mailto(1)

BUGS
       This program was originally distributed as "mmencode".  That name turns
       out  to	conflict  with	a program of the same name that is part of the
       Slate software from BBN, but totally changing  the  name	 to  mimencode
       would  create other problems (notably with portability to systems where
       the left half of file names is limited to 8 characters).	 Currently, it
       is  being distributed with links under BOTH names.  The programs in the
       distribution that call the program all call it as "mimencode",  so  the
       "mmencode"  version  may be deleted at sites where it causes a problem.
       (The source files are still named "mmencode" rather than "mimencode".)

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1991 Bell Communications Research, Inc. (Bellcore)

       Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this material  for  any
       purpose	and  without  fee  is  hereby granted, provided that the above
       copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all  copies,  and
       that  the name of Bellcore not be used in advertising or publicity per‐
       taining to this material without the specific, prior written permission
       of  an authorized representative of Bellcore.  BELLCORE MAKES NO REPRE‐
       SENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF THIS MATERIAL  FOR  ANY
       PURPOSE.	  IT  IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WAR‐
       RANTIES.

AUTHOR
       Nathaniel S. Borenstein

Bellcore Prototype		   Release 1			  MIMENCODE(1)
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