COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR COMPUTING ACTIVITIES THE KERMIT FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL November 1984 KERMIT is a protocol for transferring sequential files between computers of all sizes over ordinary asynchronous telecommunication lines using packets, check- sums, and retransmission to promote data integrity. KERMIT is non-proprietary, thoroughly documented, and in wide use. The protocol and the original im- plementations were developed at Columbia University and have been shared with many other institutions, some of which have made significant contributions of their own. KERMIT is presently available for the following systems, with others under development: Versions for "Portable Operating Systems": OS; Language (Machines) CP/M-80; ASM (Kaypro, H/Z-89, H/Z-100, Osborne, DEC VT180, many others) CP/M-86; ASM86 (DEC Rainbow, NEC APC) MS-DOS; MASM (IBM PC, DEC Rainbow, Wang PC, H/Z-100, HP-150, NEC APC, etc) MUMPS (PDP-11) Software Tools; Ratfor (HP3000, Sperry-Univac 1100) UCSD p-System; Pascal (IBM PC, Terak, HP98x6) UNIX v6,v7,4.xBSD; C (VAX, PDP-11, SUN, many more) Host Versions: Machine (OS; Language) Cray-1, Cray-XMP (CTSS; Fortran-77) CDC Cyber 170 (NOS, NOS/BE; Fortran-77) Data General Nova (RDOS; Fortran-5), Eclipse (AOS; Fortran-5) DEC PDP-11 (RT,RSX,RSTS,P/OS; Macro-11) DEC VAX-11 (VMS; Bliss-32 or Macro-32 or Pascal/Fortran) DECsystem-10 (TOPS-10; Bliss-36, Macro-10), DECSYSTEM-20 (TOPS-20; Macro-20) Harris 800 (VOS; Pascal) Honeywell (MULTICS; PL/I), DPS-6,8 (GCOS; C) Hewlett-Packard 1000 (RTE-6/VM; Fortran), HP3000 (MPE; SPL) IBM 370 Series (VM/CMS, MVS/TSO; Assembler), (MTS; Pascal or Assembler) PRIME (PRIMOS; PL/P) Sperry/Univac-1100 (EXEC; Assembler or Ratfor or Pascal) PC Versions: Machine (OS; Language) Apollo (Aegis; Fortran), (AUX; C) Apple II 6502 (Apple DOS; DEC-10/20 CROSS or Apple Assembler) Apple Macintosh (SUMACC C) Atari (DOS; Action!) DEC Pro-300 Series (P/OS; Bliss-16 or Macro-11), (Pro/RT; Macro), (Venix; C) Intel Devlopment System (ISIS; PL/M) TRS80 I, III (TRSDOS; ASM) KERMIT DISTRIBUTION POLICY: The KERMIT software is free and available to all. Columbia University, however, cannot afford to distribute free software on the scale required for KERMIT. Therefore, to defray our costs for media, printing, postage, labor, and computing resources, we must request a moderate distribu- tion fee from sites that request KERMIT directly from us. The schedule is as follows: Complete KERMIT Distribution $100.00, US (Includes Tape, plus User Guide and Protocol Manual) Additional or Separate Printed Documents (User Guide, Protocol Manual, BYTE Article Manuscript, or Any Program Source Listing) Order Processing Fee $100.00 (Include this if you cannot prepay with a check) The User Guide contains complete instructions for installing and using the major implementations of KERMIT. The Protocol Manual is a guide for writing a new implementation of KERMIT, and includes a source listing in the C language. The BYTE manuscript is from the KERMIT article in the June and July 1984 issues of BYTE Magazine. Once you receive Kermit, you may redistribute it on your own terms, and are en- couraged to do so, with the following stipulations: KERMIT should not be sold for profit; credit should be given where it is due; and new material should be sent back to Columbia University at the address below so that we can maintain a definitive and comprehensive set of KERMIT implementations for further dis- tribution. To order KERMIT from Columbia University, send a letter requesting the manuals or source listings you desire (specify each one), or a 9-track magnetic tape in one of the following formats: System Tape Format Densities VAX/VMS ANSI Label, Format ``D'' (VMS COPY) 1600 UNIX TAR 1600 TOPS-10 BACKUP/Interchange, Unlabeled 1600, 6250 TOPS-20 DUMPER, Unlabeled 1600, 6250 IBM VM,MVS EBCDIC, OS Standard Label 1600, 6250 All Others ASCII, ANSI Label, Format ``D'' 1600 (Specify system, format, and density.) One copy of each manual will be in- cluded with the tape. We will supply the tape, packaging, and postage. We can only make tapes in the formats listed above. We cannot make fixed- record format, 800bpi, or unlabled tapes; there are too many Kermit files for such tapes. We cannot produce floppy disks; bootstrapping procedures are provided to allow the microcomputer versions to be downloaded from the mainframe for which the tape is produced. The tape includes sources for ALL the Kermit programs, plus documentation, and, when practical, binaries or hex. Unfortunately, our limited resources do not allow us to provide automatic up- dates to KERMIT recipients when new implementations, documentation, or bug fixes appear. Send your letter to: KERMIT Distribution Columbia University Center for Computing Activities <- Make check payable to 7th Floor, Watson Laboratory 612 West 115th Street New York, N.Y. 10025 Please list the machines and operating systems you expect to run KERMIT on, specify the tape format or the listings desired, and mention whether there are additional systems for which you require KERMIT or if you might be interested in attempting your own implementation for a new system. ALTERNATE SOURCES: Kermit is also available to users of the BITNET network via a server at host CUVMA (BITNET users type ``SMSG RSCS MSG CUVMA KERMSRV HELP'' for further information); ARPANET (via anonymous FTP from host CU20B, in the area KER:); UUCP from host okstate 10pm-10am CST; and on magnetic tape from user groups like DECUS and SHARE. MS-DOS Kermit floppies can be ordered from PC-SIG, (408) 730-9291. No warranty of the software nor of the accuracy of the documentation surround- ing it is expressed or implied, and neither the authors nor Columbia University acknowledge any liability resulting from program or documentation errors.