.Dd November 16, 1996
.Dt BASE64 1
.Os NetBSD 1.2BETA
.Sh NAME
.Nm base64
.Nd MIME base64 encoding/decoding utility
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Fl d | e
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a small tool that understands the MIME BASE64 (see RFC-1521)
encoding, capable of performing both encoding arbitrary octet streams
into BAS64 form and decoding of BASE64 data streams into the octet
streams they code for.
.Pp
The
.Fl e
flag specifies encoding, accepting an arbitrary octet stream on
standard input and generating a BASE64 data stream on standard output;
.Fl d
specifies the converse, accepting a BASE64 data stream on standard
input and generating the decoded data stream on standard output.
.Pp
When encoding, a single newline is generated for a line break, not a
CR-LF pair.  Encoding line breaks as CR-LF pairs is assumed to be done
by some other layer.  When decoding, CR-LF pairs are simply treated as
two ignorable characters; newlines are ignored similarly.
.Pp
.Nm
does not deal with any other aspects of MIME, such as generating or
interpreting part boundaries, headers like Content-Transfer-Encoding:,
or anything else besides bare data stream encoding and decoding.
.Sh AUTHOR
der Mouse,
.Aq mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca .