Description

   PMDF DECODE and ENCODE have been, for the most part, made
   obsolete by PMDF MAIL. If you use PMDF MAIL, then files which
   you send with the SEND command will be encoded automatically,
   if necessary. Encoded messages which you receive will be decoded
   automatically, if necessary, and can simply be extracted to a
   file with the EXTRACT command. If, however, you do not use PMDF
   MAIL, then read on.

   The ENCODE and DECODE utilities are provided with PMDF as a means
   of transmitting OpenVMS binary files via MAIL. With ENCODE,
   a file can be encoded in a format which uses short records
   containing only printable characters. Such files can then be
   transmitted through most any mail system without being altered
   (e.g., lines wrapped, characters removed or replaced, etc.).
   ENCODE preserves all file contents and all file attributes
   when encoding a file. The contents and attributes are properly
   restored when decoded with DECODE. Absolutely any type of OpenVMS
   file can be transmitted with these two utilities - even indexed
   files with multiple keys and files with extended semantics such
   as DDIF files.

   Encoded files have two parts. The first part is a conventional
   RFC 822 message header. Header lines are used to describe the
   file format; this information includes a conventional OpenVMS
   FDL (file description language) description of the file and
   a description of the encoding used to convert the file into a
   printable form for transfer. ENCODE creates this header; DECODE
   reads it and uses the information it contains to reconstruct the
   file.

                                  NOTE

      Many encoded messages received with PMDF are automatically
      decoded for you, thus obviating the need to use PMDF DECODE
      at all. This is especially true when you use PMDF MAIL whose
      EXTRACT command will extract any MIME encoded message or
      message body part. If you use VMS MAIL, however, you can
      occasionally receive an encoded message which PMDF could not
      deliver in its decoded form to VMS MAIL owing to limitations
      of VMS MAIL itself.