[ILUG] semding binary files using mail

[Brian Foster]

  > From: "Kieran OSullivan" <kieran.osullivan at ireland.com>
  > Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 17:38:21 +0800
  > Subject: [ILUG] semding binary files using mail
  > 
  > I want to send binary files using mail program.  Bascially I want to
  > send CV's to a lot of people at once (non interactively).  My problem
  > is that while
  >  $ mail someone at someserver.com < CV.txt
  > works fine but try sending a binary doc and all the sender gets is crap.
  > There is nothing in the man or info pages about attaching files using mail.

hi!

 as others have suggested, you could use uuencode(1), but your recipient
 had better be both tech-savvy and (probably) using an *ix system, or else
 it will still be c**p.   Big Bad Bill does not "earn" royalties from
 uuencode, so support for it on Windoze games consoles is non-existent.

 better, as yet others have suggested, is to use a so-called "MIME
 e-mail attachment".  all(?) modern MUA's support MIME, albeit just
 how to send same depends on which MUA you use.  but as you want to
 do it non-interactively, that will probably restrict your choice of
 MUA.  re-RTFM, looking for info on MIME attachments.   and _test_ by
 sending to yourself first as MIME can be a bit tricky ....  ;-\ 
 in this case, you want to insure both the attachment's "Content-Type"
 is correct, and for a suitable "Content-Transfer-Encoding" to be
 used.  most(?) MUAs handle one or both of those details automagically.

 two other points --- 1st, an issue I'm currently struggling with
 myself, when I e-mail my CV ---  many recipients insist on having
 M$-Word (or RTF) format; do not know what to do with PostScript;
 and seem to use obsolete versions of Acrobat Reader (v3 or earlier!),
 making PDF problematic.  and, much worse, not all will accept simple
 (US-)ASCII text as a substitute!  ;-(

 2nd, some e-mail "spam" filters auto-reject all e-mail with MIME
 attachments.  in this case, if you cannot use ASCII text and/or
 uuencode, you are probably f**ked.

cheers!
	-blf-
--
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