diff --git a/builder/kojid b/builder/kojid
index 72487e69..6f737666 100755
--- a/builder/kojid
+++ b/builder/kojid
@@ -1056,7 +1056,7 @@ class TaskManager(object):
         id = data['id']
         request = data['request']
         self.tasks[id] = data
-        params, method = xmlrpclib.loads(base64.decodestring(request))
+        params, method = xmlrpclib.loads(request)
         if self.handlers.has_key(method):
             handlerClass = self.handlers[method]
         elif self.handlers.has_key('default'):
@@ -1131,11 +1131,11 @@ class TaskManager(object):
                 tb = ''.join(traceback.format_exception(*sys.exc_info()))
                 self.logger.warn("TRACEBACK: %s" % tb)
             response = xmlrpclib.dumps(xmlrpclib.Fault(faultCode, tb))
-        data_out = base64.encodestring(response)
+
         if fail:
-            session.host.failTask(handler.id, data_out)
+            session.host.failTask(handler.id, response)
         else:
-            session.host.closeTask(handler.id, data_out)
+            session.host.closeTask(handler.id, response)
 
 
 class BaseTaskHandler(object):
diff --git a/docs/schema.sql b/docs/schema.sql
index 63670556..720c74cb 100644
--- a/docs/schema.sql
+++ b/docs/schema.sql
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ CREATE TABLE host_channels (
 -- just package builds.
 -- tasks may spawn subtasks (hence the parent field)
 -- top-level tasks have NULL parent
--- the request and result fields are base64-encoded xmlrpc data.
+-- the request and result fields are xmlrpc data.
 --   this means each task is effectively an xmlrpc call, using this table as
 --   the medium.
 -- the host_id field indicates which host is running the task. This field