UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a unix script that compresses a .txt file using gzip command and then sends it by mail using uuencode.
This has been working fine for some time, but lately I've been experiencing some problems, as when I open the mail generated, I don't see the attachment, but instead I get a large amount of characters such as "begin 644 test.dat.gz
M'XL(".XO%T0 V-I<V9I0C$W,#%S+F1A= #LG<MZVSB6Q_?]%%A6?9VH<"7!
M)431,MT4J2(E5<4[5^+N]GR)79/+8MZAGVC>:!:SFA>8<P!2HBU1@M*JBASC
M+!R&^HL"0! _'EP.+B?9.%]49)+760K_9B5)EUFY,&1LRM34N2%/K;Y]^_#Q" parsed in the body of the mail.
Any ideas?

Yes I have an idea... but first put your script here so I can see what's going on.

It goes something like this...

gzip test.dat
uuencode test.dat.gz test.dat.gz | mailx -s "Uuencode Test file" mymail@hotmail.com

coderetour=$?

if [ $coderetour -ne 0 ]
....

Your script looks fine to me and works on my side. What is your mail server? A Windows box or your Unix box? Try to send that mail to another Unix account to see if it has something to do with mail going out?

As I said before, the same script has been working fine for quite some time.
The only evident difference I can think of is that it's growing in size. Nowadays it's measuring more than 3MB.
Can this have something to do? Should this be a problem?

That is why I am asking what your mail server is. It may not be your script if that script hasn't changed. But it could be something to do with your mail sever not accepting mail with attachment bigger that 2 MB. Check your mail server too. Are you positive that they were no change to your mail server?

You can test your SMTP server by telneting to port 25 and entering the EHLO command.

Code:

 $ telnet yourSMTPhost 25
Trying...
Connected to yourSMTPhost.yourdomain.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 message showing your mail service and version 
ehlo somedomain <== You type this in 
250-yourSMTPhost.yourdomain.com Hello [IP ADDRESS]
... some parameters ...
250-SIZE 2097152 <== This is what you are looking for (2 MB limit)
... some more parameters ...
250 OK
QUIT <== Don't forget to quit

Size is your limit.