NU123952@VM1.NoDak.EDU (Mark A. Ordal) (02/19/91)
One more point that can be added to the ->ASC vs uuencode debate concerns
the characters used in the encoded file. UUENCODE uses characters that
other systems (notably IBM mainframes) like to ignore and change to spaces!
I've had this problem brought to my attention by a colleague trying to
get a TeX "dvi" (DeVice Independent file) through BITNET from a Brazilian
collaborator. They've since switched to BOO format. The BOO format seems
to have been developed by the folks at Columbia who did Kermit. It's their
answer to the problem of distributing executable files through the mail
on "foreign" systems. The BOO format restricts the encoding to the 52
upper and lower case letters of the alphabet and the 10 digits (and I think
that's it -- I only looked at one BOO format file).
Anyway, ASC is doing pretty much the same thing as BOO -- that is, sticking
with "ordinary" characters that won't get messed with by ftp, BITNET, etc.
(And like ASC, BOO uses a checksum of some kind.)
Dr. Mark A. Ordal
Physics Department
North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND 58105
NU123952@NDSUVM1