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\majorheading{MIMENCODE(1)    Bellcore Prototype (Release 1) 
   MIMENCODE(1)

}


}\indent1{\tempindentneg1{NAME 

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


(Same program also installed as "mmencode".) 

\tempindentneg1{
SYNOPSIS 

}\bold{mimencode}	[-u] [-b] [-q] [-p] [file name] 

\tempindentneg1{
DESCRIPTION 

}The \italic{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 \italic{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. 

\tempindentneg1{
RATIONALE 

}\italic{Mimencode }is intended to be a replacement for \italic{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 
characters 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. 

\tempindentneg1{
SEE ALSO 

}metamail(1), mailto(1) 

\tempindentneg1{
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".) 

\tempindentneg1{
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 pertaining to 
this material without the specific, prior written permission of an 
authorized representative of Bellcore. BELLCORE MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS 
ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF THIS MATERIAL FOR ANY PURPOSE. IT IS 
PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES. 

\tempindentneg1{
AUTHOR 

}Nathaniel S. Borenstein 







































































































































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