3 C-KERMIT VERSION 8.0.211
6 Communications software for UNIX and (Open)VMS.
8 And in former versions also for:
9 Stratus VOS, AOS/VS, QNX,
10 Plan 9, OS-9, Apollo Aegis, and the Commodore Amiga.
11 The Apple Macintosh, the Atari ST.
13 The Kermit Project - Columbia University
15 http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ - kermit@columbia.edu
18 Copyright (C) 1985, 2004,
19 Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
20 All rights reserved. See the C-Kermit COPYING.TXT file or the
21 copyright text in the ckcmai.c module for disclaimer and permissions.
26 C-Kermit is documented in the book "Using C-Kermit", Second Edition, by
27 Frank da Cruz and Christine M. Gianone, Digital Press, ISBN 1-55558-164-1,
28 supplementated by Web-based updates for C-Kermit 7.0 and 8.0.
32 Name Included Last Updated
34 Unix Yes 8.0.211 10 Apr 2004
35 (Open)VMS No 8.0.208 10 Apr 2004
36 Windows (K95) Yes 8.0.208 14 Mar 2003 (K95 2.1)
37 OS/2 (K95) Yes 8.0.208 14 Mar 2003 (K95 2.1)
38 DG AOS/VS No 7.0.196 1 Jan 2000
39 Stratus VOS No 7.0.196 1 Jan 2000
40 Bell Plan 9 No 7.0.196 1 Jan 2000
41 Microware OS-9 No 7.0.196 1 Jan 2000
42 Commodore Amiga No 7.0.196 1 Jan 2000
43 Macintosh No 5A(190) 16 Aug 1994 (Mac Kermit 0.991)
44 Atari ST No 5A(189) 30 Jun 1993
46 QUICK START FOR FTP USERS
48 If you have a Web browser, go to:
50 http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html
52 And take it from there. Otherwise...
54 The definitive FTP source for Kermit software is kermit.columbia.edu.
55 Kermit software obtained from other FTP sites is not necessarily complete
56 or up to date, and may have been modified.
58 C-Kermit for UNIX computers that have a C compiler and 'make' program:
60 Directory kermit/archives, binary mode, file cku211.tar.Z or cku211.tar.gz
62 This is a compressed tar archive of UNIX C-Kermit source code, makefile, and
63 other files. It unpacks into its current directory, so download it into a
64 fresh directory. Transfer in binary mode, uncompress (or gunzip), untar (tar
65 xvf cku211.tar), and then give the appropriate "make" command to build for
66 your UNIX system; read the comments in the makefile and ckuins.txt for
71 If you have VMS UNZIP, get the file kermit/archives/ckv211.zip in binary
72 mode, unzip, and build with CKVKER.COM.
74 Others: In the kermit/f or kermit/test directories under the appropriate
75 prefixes, explained below.
80 Installation procedures depend on the system. Please read the CK?INS.TXT,
81 if any, file for your system (?=U for UNIX, V for VMS, etc). Please note
82 the naming and placement for the initialization files:
85 The standard initialization file. Please leave it as is unless you
86 know what you are doing and (if you are changing it or replacing it
87 for others to use) you are prepared to support it. Rename this file
88 to .kermrc in UNIX, OS-9, BeBox, or Plan 9. In Stratus VOS, rename
89 it ckermit.ini (lowercase). On multiuser systems, it goes either in the
90 (or EACH) user's home (login) directory, or else in a common shared
91 place if C-Kermit has been configured to look in that place (see
92 ckccfg.txt for details).
95 A *sample* customization file. On multiuser OS's, a copy of this file
96 goes in each user's home directory, and then each user edits it to suit
97 her needs and preferences; e.g. by defining macros for their common
101 Dialing directory files can be system-wide, per-group, or per-user, or
102 any combination. For example, there can be a corporate wide directory
103 shared by all users, a supplemental directory for each division or
104 department, and a personal directory for each user. Simply be sure the
105 dialing directory files are identified a SET DIAL DIRECTORY command in
106 the user's (or the system-wide) C-Kermit initialization file, or in the
107 environment variable (logical name, symbol) K_DIAL_DIRECTORY. (The
108 standard initialization file looks by default in the user's home or login
109 directory.) When installing C-Kermit on multiuser platforms from which
110 users will dial out, you can also set environment variables for area
111 code, country code, and the various dialing prefixes as described on page
112 478 of "Using C-Kermit" (second edition), so users don't have to worry
113 about defining these items themselves. Network directories and service
114 directories can also be set up in a similar manner.
117 In UNIX, the general C-Kermit man page (or one of the versions tailored
118 for a specific platform, like HP-UX or Solaris) should be installed in
119 the appropriate place. In VMS, the VMS help topic (CKVKER.HLP) should
120 be installed as described in CKVINS.TXT. Plain-text documentation such
121 as CKERMIT2.TXT should be put in whatever place people are accustomed
124 FILES AND FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS
126 C-Kermit is a family of Kermit programs for many different computer systems.
127 The program shares a common set of system-independent file transfer protocol
128 modules, written in the C language. System-dependent operations are collected
129 into system-specific modules for each system.
131 C-Kermit file names all start with the letters "CK", followed by a single
132 letter indicating the subgroup. When referring to these files in the UNIX,
133 AOS/VS, or VOS environments, use lowercase letters, rather than the uppercase
134 letters shown here. Subgroups:
136 _: Security/Authentication/Encryption code, possibly regulated by law
137 a: General descriptive material and documentation
138 b: BOO file encoders and decoders (obsolete)
139 c: All platforms with C compilers
140 d: Data General AOS/VS
141 e: Reserved for "ckermit" files, like CKERMIT.INI, CKERMIT80.TXT
145 i: Commodore Amiga (Intuition)
149 m: Macintosh with Mac OS
150 n: Microsoft Windows NT
151 o: OS/2 and/or Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/...
154 r: DEC PDP-11 with RSTS/E (reserved)
155 s: Atari ST GEMDOS (last supported in version 5A(189))
156 t: DEC PDP-11 with RT-11 (reserved)
157 u: UNIX or environments with UNIX-like C libraries
159 w: Wart (Lex-like preprocessor, used with all systems)
164 4: IBM AS/400 (reserved)
170 ckaaaa.txt - This file
171 ckufio.c - File i/o for UNIX
172 ckstio.c - Communications i/o for the Atari ST
173 makefile - makefile for building UNIX C-Kermit
174 ckpker.mk - makefile for building Plan 9 C-Kermit
175 ckvker.com - build procedure for VMS C-Kermit
177 IMPORTANT FILES (use lowercase names on UNIX, VOS, or AOS/VS):
179 ckaaaa.txt - This file (overview of the C-Kermit files).
180 For system-specific distributions, this will normally
181 be replaced by a system-specific READ.ME file.
183 ckermit70.txt - Updates: Supplement to "Using C-Kermit", 2nd Ed, for 7.0.
184 ckermit80.txt - Updates: Supplement to "Using C-Kermit", 2nd Ed, for 8.0.
185 ckututor.txt - C-Kermit Tutorial for Unix (plain text)
186 ckcbwr.txt - "Beware file" (limitations, known bugs, hints), general.
187 ckermit.ini - Standard initialization file (rename to .kermrc in UNIX, OS-9)
188 ckermod.ini - Sample customization file (rename to .mykermrc in UNIX, OS-9)
190 The following can be found at the Kermit FTP site:
192 ckermit.kdd - Sample dialing directory file (rename to .kdd in UNIX, OS-9)
193 ckermit.knd - Sample dialing directory file (rename to .knd in UNIX, OS-9)
194 ckermit.ksd - Sample services directory file (rename to .ksd in UNIX, OS-9)
195 ckedemo.ksc - Demonstration macros from "Using C-Kermit"
201 ckuins.txt - UNIX-specific installation instructions.
202 ckubwr.txt - UNIX-specific beware file.
203 ckuker.nr - "man page" for UNIX.
207 ckvins.txt - VMS-specific installation instructions.
208 ckvbwr.txt - VMS-specific beware file
209 ckvker.hlp - VMS C-Kermit HELP topic (needs updating).
211 DG AOS/VS-specific files:
213 ckdins.txt - Data General AOS/VS C-Kermit installation instructions
214 ckdbwr.txt - AOS/VS "beware" file
215 ckd*.cli - Procedures for building AOS/VS C-Kermit
217 The following files are of interest mainly to programmers and historians
218 (find them at the Kermit ftp site):
220 ckcker.ann - Release announcements.
221 ckccfg.txt - Configuration information (feature selection), general.
222 ckcplm.txt - Program logic manual (for programmers).
223 ckc211.txt - Program update history for edit 201-211.
224 ckc200.txt - Program update history for edit 198-200 (big)
225 ckc197.txt - Program update history for edit 195-197 (big)
226 ckc190.txt - Program update history for edits 189-190 (big).
227 ckc188.txt - Program update history, edits 179-188 (big).
228 ckc178.txt - Program edit history, 5A edits through 178 (very big).
229 ckcv4f.txt - Program edit history, version 4F.
230 ckcv4e.txt - Program edit history, version 4E.
234 If you have FTP access to kermit.columbia.edu (also known as
235 kermit.cc.columbia.edu, ftp.cc.columbia.edu), you can also retrieve various
236 C-Kermit binaries from the directory kermit/bin/ck*.*, or more conventiently
239 http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck80binaries.html
241 Test versions would be in kermit/test/bin/ck*.*. Be sure to transfer these
242 files in binary mode. The READ.ME file in that directory explains what's
247 The source files for the UNIX version (all UNIX versions) are available in
248 kermit/archives/ckuNNN.tar.Z, approximately 1MB in size. Transfer this file
249 in binary mode. This is a compressed tar archive. There is also a gzip'd
250 version, cku211.tar.gz. To get the binary tar archive:
252 mkdir kermit (at shell prompt, make a Kermit directory)
253 cd kermit (make it your current directory)
255 ftp kermit.columbia.edu (make an ftp connection)
256 user: anonymous (log in as user "anonymous", lower case!)
257 password: (use your email id as a password)
258 cd kermit/archives (go to the archives directory)
259 type binary (specify binary file transfer)
260 get cku211.tar.Z (get the tar archive) (or get cku192.tar.gz)
261 bye (disconnect and exit from ftp)
263 uncompress cku211.tar.Z (at the shell prompt, uncompress the archive)
264 tar xvf cku211.tar (extract the files from the tar archive)
265 make xxx (build C-Kermit for your system)
267 (where "xxx" is the makefile entry appropriate for your system.)
269 All C-Kermit source and other text files are also kept separately in the
270 kermit/f directory. The files necessary to build a particular implementation
271 of C-Kermit are listed in the appropriate makefile or equivalent:
273 UNIX: makefile (or rename ckuker.mak to makefile)
274 2.11 BSD: ckubs2.mak (rename to makefile), ckustr.sed
275 Plan 9: ckpker.mk (rename to mkfile)
276 Macintosh: ckmker.mak (rename to kermit.make, use MPW C 3.2)
277 VMS: CKVKER.COM (DCL) (and optionally also CKVKER.MMS)
278 or CKVOLD.COM (for VMS 4.x)
279 Amiga: CKIKER.MAK (Aztec C) or CKISAS.MAK (SAS C)
281 OS-9: ck9ker.mak or ck9ker.gcc
282 AOS/VS: ckdmak.cli, ckdcc.cli, ckdlnk.cli
283 Stratus VOS: cklmak.cm
285 Minimal source files for building selected versions (these patterns get all
286 the files you need, and in some cases maybe a few extra):
288 UNIX: ck[cuw]*.[cwh] (including QNX, Plan 9, and BeBox)
289 UNIX: ck[cuw_]*.[cwh] (Unix with security modules)
291 Mac: ck[cuwm]*.[cwhr]
292 AOS/VS: ck[cuwd]*.[cwh]
294 Amiga: ck[cuwi]*.[cwh]
295 Atari: ck[cuws]*.[cwh]
296 OS-9: ck[cuw9]*.[cwha]
298 For a detailed, specific source file list for this C-Kermit release, see the
299 file ckcxxx.txt, where xxx is the current C-Kermit edit number, such as 211.
301 Finally, here is a more detailed description of the C-Kermit file naming
302 conventions. A C-Kermit filename has the form:
304 CK<system><what>.<type>
308 <system> is described earlier in this file;
310 <type> is the file type (use lowercase on UNIX, VOS, or AOS/VS):
313 h: Header file for C language source
314 w: Wart preprocessor source, converted by Wart (or Lex) to a C program
315 r: Macintosh resource file (8-bit text)
319 nr: Nroff/Troff text formatter source for UNIX "man page"
320 mss: Scribe text formatter source
321 ps: Typeset material to be printed on a PostScript printer
322 hlp: A VMS Help topic
324 ini: Initialization file
325 ksc: A Kermit Script to be executed by the TAKE command
326 kdd: A Kermit Dialing Directory
327 knd: A Kermit Network Directory
328 ksd: A Kermit Services Directory
330 mak: A Makefile or other build procedure (often needs renaming)
331 com: (VMS only) a DCL command procedure
332 cli: (AOS/VS only) a command procedure
333 cmd: (OS/2 only) a Rexx command procedure
335 boo: "boo"-encoded executable program, decode with CKBUNB program.
336 hex: "hex"-encoded executable program, decode with CKVDEH program (VMS only).
337 hqx: BinHex'd Macintosh Kermit program, decode with BinHex version 4.0.
338 uue: A uuencoded binary file, decode with uudecode or (DG only) CKDECO.
340 def: An OS/2 linker definitions file.
341 sh: A UNIX shell script.
342 sed: A UNIX sed (editor) script.
343 str: A file of character strings extracted from C-Kermit (BSD 2.1x only).
345 <what> is mnemonic (up to 3 characters) for what's in the file:
347 NOTE: After C-Kermit 6.0, text filetypes such as .DOC and .HLP were changed
348 to .TXT to avoid confusion in Windows-based Web browsers, which would
349 otherwise mistake them for Microsoft Word or Windows Help documents.
351 aaa: A "read-me" file, like this one
352 ins: Installation instructions or procedures
353 bwr: "Beware" file -- things to watch out for, hints and tips
354 plm: Program Logic Manual
355 ker: General C-Kermit definitions, information, documentation
357 nnn: Digits: C-Kermit edit number (e.g. cku211.tar.gz)
360 cns: CONNECT command (UNIX only - version that uses select(), not fork())
361 deb: Debug/Transaction Log formats, Typedefs
362 dia: Modem/Dialer control
363 fio: System-depdendent File I/O
364 fns: Protocol support functions
365 fn2: More protocol support functions (and FN3, ...)
366 lib: Common library routines module
368 net: Network i/o module
371 tel: Telnet protocol module
372 tio: System-dependent communications i/o & control and interrupt handing
373 sig: Signal handling module
374 usr: Interactive/script user interface
375 us2: More user interface (mainly help text)
376 us3: Still more user interface (and USR4, USR5, USR6, USR7)
377 usx: Common user interface functions
378 usy: Command-line parsing
379 xla: Character set translation module
381 pty: Pseudoterminal support
382 mdb: Malloc-debugging module (not included in real builds)
383 str: Strings module (only for 2.xBSD)