diff --git a/test/uudecode.c b/test/uudecode.c
index ce00cd0..7f2770c 100644
--- a/test/uudecode.c
+++ b/test/uudecode.c
@@ -2,11 +2,16 @@
 #include "textcode.h"
 #include "str.h"
 #include "buffer.h"
+#include "open.h"
 
 int main(int argc,char* argv[]) {
   char buf[4096];
+  char obuf[4096];
   buffer filein;
+  buffer fileout;
   int fd=1;
+  int ofd=-1;
+  unsigned long mode=0,lineno=0;
   if (argc>1) {
     fd=open_read(argv[1]);
     if (fd<0) {
@@ -25,21 +30,57 @@ int main(int argc,char* argv[]) {
       buffer_putsflush(buffer_2,"warning: hit end of file without finding any uuencoded data!\n");
       return 0;
     }
-    if (l>0 && buf[l-1]=='\r') --l;	/* kill DOS line endings */
-    buf[l]=0;
-    if (!str_diffn(line,"begin ",6)) break;
+    ++lineno;
+    if (l>0 && line[l-1]=='\r') --l;	/* kill DOS line endings */
+    line[l]=0;
+    if (!str_diffn(line,"begin ",6)) {
+      if (line[l=6+scan_8long(line+6,&mode)]==' ' && mode) {
+	int i;
+	++l;
+	if (line[l+(i=str_rchr(line+l,'/'))]) l+=i+1;
+	while (line[l]=='.') ++l;
+	if (line[l]) {
+	  ofd=open_excl(line+l);
+	  if (ofd<0) {
+	    buffer_puts(buffer_2,"error: could not create file \"");
+	    buffer_puts(buffer_2,line+l);
+	    buffer_putsflush(buffer_2,"\" (must not exist yet)\n");
+	  } else break;
+	}
+      }
+    }
   }
+  buffer_init(&fileout,write,ofd,buf,sizeof buf);
   /* read uuencoded lines */
   for (;;) {
     char line[1000];	/* uuencoded lines can never be longer than 64 characters */
+    unsigned int scanned,x;
+    char tmp[100];
     int l;
     if ((l=buffer_getline(&filein,line,(sizeof line)-1))==0) {
       buffer_putsflush(buffer_2,"warning: hit end of file without finding \"end\"!\n");
       return 0;
     }
-    if (l>0 && buf[l-1]=='\r') --l;	/* kill DOS line endings */
-    buf[l]=0;
-    if (!str_diffn(line,"begin ",6)) break;
+    ++lineno;
+    if (l>0 && line[l-1]=='\r') --l;	/* kill DOS line endings */
+    line[l]=0;
+    x=scan_uuencoded(line,tmp,&scanned);
+    if (!x) {
+      if (str_equal(line,"end")) {
+	buffer_flush(&fileout);
+	fchmod(ofd,mode);
+	close(ofd);
+	return 0;
+      } else {
+parseerror:
+	  buffer_puts(buffer_1,"parse error in line ");
+	  buffer_putulong(buffer_1,lineno);
+	  buffer_puts(buffer_1,": \"");
+	  buffer_puts(buffer_1,line);
+	  buffer_putsflush(buffer_1,"\"\n");
+	  exit(1);
+      }
+    }
+    buffer_put(&fileout,tmp,scanned);
   }
-  /* TODO */
 }
diff --git a/textcode/scan_uuencoded.c b/textcode/scan_uuencoded.c
index 245a3ba..13e38b0 100644
--- a/textcode/scan_uuencoded.c
+++ b/textcode/scan_uuencoded.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ unsigned int scan_uuencoded(const char *src,char *dest,unsigned int *destlen) {
   unsigned long tmp;
   register const unsigned char* s=(const unsigned char*) src;
   const char* orig=dest;
-  if ((len=*s-' ')>64) return 0;
+  if ((len=*s-' ')>64) return 0; len&=63;
   ++s;
   while (len>0) {
     if (s[0]-' '>64 || s[1]-' '>64 || s[2]-' '>64 || s[3]-' '>64) return 0;