One of the "building blocks" added to the next version of LISTSERV is an internal command called X-B64 which a future version could use to pass binary DISTRIBUTE jobs over mail gateways. Before you ask, I haven't got any serious plan, schedule or time frame for supporting LISTSERV on non-BITNET systems; I am adding this now because it happened to fit with what I have been coding recently and I know it would take me twice the time to add it in 6 months. Furthermore it will make testing easier to have this feature already available on a number of servers when writing the code for non-BITNET hosts. I then realized that there is no reason to restrict this function to server-to-server interactions, since users without BITNET connectivity could greatly benefit from a simple but robust encoding system for their list and file management requests. So I made the command public and wrote a sample C program for unix users. Currently only LISTSERV@SEARN has support for this format, but the comments in the program explain how to reach any server through one that supports X-B64. The program is available from LISTSERV@SEARN via 'GET LB64.C'. The LISTSERV code to support this format adds up to 815kb and a bunch of files once all the pre-reqs are included so I don't want to package it as a FIX file, there have been a number of massive "global changes" which have never been tested outside SEARN. If you really want it I can supply CARD decks similar to those used for beta-testing, and with the same disclaimers as for beta-testing. Eric