Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!tekecs!bradn From: bradn@tekecs.UUCP (Brad Needham) Newsgroups: net.sources Subject: uuencode, backslashes, and mail Message-ID: <1719@tekecs.UUCP> Date: Sun, 24-Jul-83 18:24:15 EDT Article-I.D.: tekecs.1719 Posted: Sun Jul 24 18:24:15 1983 Date-Received: Sun, 24-Jul-83 22:09:51 EDT Lines: 14 When the problem of mailers converting a pair of backslashes into a single backslash first showed up, many people suggested using uuencode(1) to avoid the problem. Unfortunately, given the appropriate (printable) input, uuencode can generate a pair of backslashes! As a hack to get my lex file onto the net, I translated all the backslashes into '@' (a character not used in C) and arranged to have the receiving site convert them back into backslashes. I *thought* that one of the advantages of a computer network was the ability to share source -- to reliably send arbitrary data from one site to another. It looks like it'll be awhile before this mess becomes a real network. Brad Needham