MUNPACK(1)                                             MUNPACK(1)

NAME
       munpack - unpack messages in MIME or split-uuencode format

SYNOPSIS
       munpack [ -f ] [ -q ] [ -t ] [ -C directory ]  [  filename
       ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
       The  munpack  program  reads each RFC-822 message filename
       and writes all  non-text  MIME  parts  or  split-uuencoded
       files as files.  If no filename argument is given, munpack
       reads from standard input.

       If the message suggests a file name to use for the  imbed-
       ded  part, that name is cleaned of potential problem char-
       acters and used for the output  file.   If  the  suggested
       filename  includes subdirectories, they will be created as
       necessary.  If the message does not suggest a  file  name,
       the names "part1", "part2", etc are used in sequence.

       If  the  imbedded  part was preceded with textual informa-
       tion, that information is also written  to  a  file.   The
       file  is  named  the  same  as the imbedded part, with any
       filename extension replaced with ".desc".

OPTIONS
       -f     Force overwriting of existing files.  If a  message
              suggests  a file name of an existing file, the file
              will be overwritten.  Without  this  flag,  munpack
              appends ".1", ".2", etc to find a nonexistent file.

       -q     Be quiet.  Supresses messages about saving  partial
              messages  and  about  messages  with no interesting
              information.

       -t     Also write the text MIME parts  of  multipart  mes-
              sages as files.  By default, text parts that do not
              have a filename  parameter  do  not  get  unpacked.
              This  option  effectively disables the ".desc" file
              feature for MIME messages.

       -C directory
              Change the current directory  to  directory  before
              reading  any  files.   This is useful when invoking
              munpack from a mail or news reader.

DECODING MIME
       To decode a MIME message, first save it to  a  text  file.
       If  possible,  save it with all headers included.  Munpack
       can decode some MIME files when the headers are missing or
       incomplete,  other  files  it cannot decode without having
       the information in  the  headers.   In  general,  messages
       which  have  a statement at the beginning that they are in
       MIME format can be decoded without the headers.   Messages
       which  have  been  split  into  multiple  parts  generally
       require  all  headers  in  order  to  be  reassembled  and
       decoded.

       Some  LAN-based  mail  systems  and  some  mail  providers
       (including America Online, as of the writing of this docu-
       ment) place the mail headers at the bottom of the message,
       instead of at the top of the message.  If you  are  having
       problems  decoding  a  MIME  message on such a system, you
       need to convert the mail back into the standard format  by
       removing  the  system's nonstandard headers and moving the
       standard Internet headers at the top of the message (sepa-
       rated from the message body with a blank line).

       There  must be exactly one message per file.  Munpack can-
       not deal with multiple  messages  in  a  single  file,  to
       decode things correctly it must know when one message ends
       and the next one begins.

       To decode a message, run the command:

              munpack file

       where "file" is the name of the file containing  the  mes-
       sage.   More  than  one filename may be specified, munpack
       will try to decode the message in  each  file.   For  more
       information  on  ways  to  run  munpack,  see  the section
       "OPTIONS" above.

ENVIRONMENT
       TMPDIR Directory to store  temporary  files.   Default  is
              /tmp.

FILES
       $TMPDIR/m-prts-$USER/
              Directory  used  to store partial messages awaiting
              reassembly.

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