diff --git a/openpkg/HISTORY b/openpkg/HISTORY
index 67d65b1b11..9780ca166f 100644
--- a/openpkg/HISTORY
+++ b/openpkg/HISTORY
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 2003
 ====
 
+20031129 do not enforce uudecode availability as raw tarballs introduced a month ago do no longer require it
 20031127 only allow exact section command matches in rc
 20031124 upgrade to zlib 1.2.1
 20031121 rc manual page additions
diff --git a/openpkg/openpkg.boot b/openpkg/openpkg.boot
index afa16d69b3..be0930ae57 100755
--- a/openpkg/openpkg.boot
+++ b/openpkg/openpkg.boot
@@ -252,22 +252,6 @@ export PATH
 umask 022
 unset ls rm mv cp sed grep awk >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 
-#   find reasonable UUENCODE
-l_uuencode=''
-for t in guuencode uuencode; do
-    for p in `IFS=":"; echo . $PATH`; do
-        if [ -f "$p/$t" ]; then
-            l_uuencode="$p/$t"
-            break
-        fi
-    done
-    [ ".$l_uuencode" != . ] && break
-done
-if [ ".$l_uuencode" = . ]; then
-    echo "$0:FAILED: required UUENCODE not found"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
 #   find reasonable TAR
 l_tar=''
 for t in gtar tar; do
diff --git a/openpkg/openpkg.spec b/openpkg/openpkg.spec
index 93eda51dbe..abeedab6fa 100644
--- a/openpkg/openpkg.spec
+++ b/openpkg/openpkg.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 #   o any cc(1)
 
 #   the package version/release
-%define       V_openpkg  20031127
+%define       V_openpkg  20031129
 
 #   the used software versions
 %define       V_rpm      4.2.1