xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/uuencode/uuencode.1 (revision aaf4ece63a859a04e37cf3a7229b5fab0157cc06)
1.\"	$NetBSD: uuencode.1,v 1.14 2003/08/07 11:16:58 agc Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8.\" are met:
9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
13.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
15.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
16.\"    without specific prior written permission.
17.\"
18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
28.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
29.\"
30.\"     @(#)uuencode.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd March 19, 1999
33.Dt UUENCODE 1
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm uuencode ,
37.Nm uudecode
38.Nd encode/decode a binary file
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Nm
41.Op Ar file
42.Ar name
43.Nm uudecode
44.Op Fl p
45.Op Ar file ...
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Nm
48and
49.Nm uudecode
50are used to transmit binary files over transmission mediums
51that do not support other than simple
52.Tn ASCII
53data.
54.Pp
55.Nm
56reads
57.Ar file
58(or by default the standard input) and writes an encoded version
59to the standard output.
60The encoding uses only printing
61.Tn ASCII
62characters and includes the
63mode of the file and the operand
64.Ar name
65for use by
66.Nm uudecode .
67.Pp
68.Nm uudecode
69transforms
70.Em uuencoded
71files (or by default, the standard input) into the original form.
72The resulting file is named
73.Ar name
74and will have the mode of the original file except that setuid
75and execute bits are not retained; if the
76.Fl p
77option is specified, the data will be written to the standard output.
78.Nm uudecode
79ignores any leading and trailing lines.
80.Sh EXIT STATUS
81The
82.Nm uudecode
83and
84.Nm
85utilities exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
86.Sh EXAMPLES
87The following example packages up a source tree, compresses it,
88uuencodes it and mails it to a user on another system.
89When
90.Nm uudecode
91is run on the target system, the file ``src_tree.tar.Z'' will be
92created which may then be uncompressed and extracted into the original
93tree.
94.Pp
95.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
96tar cf \- src_tree \&| compress \&|
97uuencode src_tree.tar.Z \&| mail sys1!sys2!user
98.Ed
99.Sh SEE ALSO
100.Xr compress 1 ,
101.Xr mail 1 ,
102.Xr uucp 1 ,
103.Xr uuencode 5
104.Sh STANDARDS
105The
106.Nm uudecode
107and
108.Nm
109utilities conform to
110.St -p1003.2-92 .
111.Sh HISTORY
112The
113.Nm uudecode
114and
115.Nm
116utilities appeared in
117.Bx 4.0 .
118.Sh BUGS
119The encoded form of the file is expanded by 35% (3 bytes become 4 plus
120control information).
121