On Mon, 28  Sep 1992 00:46:29 CDT "(David  E Boyes)" <[log in to unmask]>
said:
 
>Is the output  of this program compatible with the  base64 encoding used
>in the MIME multimedia extensions package for Internet mail?
 
There does not exist such a thing  as a MIME file transfer encoding. What
MIME describes is  a base64 encoding system which translates  a stream of
binary  characters into  a stream  of printable  characters that  survive
gateways, and LB64/LISTSERV  use exactly that encoding (so  that the code
can be reused to provide support for outgoing MIME mail at a later date).
But  MIME falls  short of  describing the  *contents* of  this stream  of
binaries in enough details  to be usable for what I have  to do. It hints
at the fact  that one should not  forget to encode the  CRLF's when using
base64, but what  if I want to  transfer binary data? What if  I am using
EBCDIC?
 
>As a futures thing, is LISTSERV support for MIME in the works?
 
I haven't  yet figured out exactly  how it can be  used (beyond replacing
UUENCODE et al). MIME  does not seem to be a  working replacement for FTP
or the various BITNET file formats. The  only thing that is clear is that
a file (I  mean a "real" file, with binaries  and non-default file system
parameter    requirements)   is    to   be    sent   as    "Content-Type:
application/octet-stream". Yeah, and  you still need the  good old BITNET
style file  formatter to  encode and  decode the thing,  I'm sorry  but I
don't call that progress.
 
>It'd really be neat  to have the ability to have my  mail reader be able
>to receive files and  text messages in the same message  and not have to
>worry about figuring out what  utility I need to receive/decode/assemble
>various kinds of files.
 
You mean  RECEIVE actually  asks you  what format the  file is  in before
receiving it, and you didn't report the bug to IBM? :-)
 
>One of  the PIPES-phreaks  here has written  a replacement  for SENDFILE
>that employs MIME to encapsulate files that might be interesting to look
>at. We've  successfully used  it to  move some  pretty large  text files
>around -- it might be an interesting base to work from.
 
You said  it - text files.  Not indexed word processor  dictionary files.
MIME supports "files" in the unix/PC sense only - stream of bytes.
 
  Eric