C - K e r m i t   8 . 0

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Network and Serial Communications for Unix, VMS, and other platforms.

Version: 8.0.206
Released:   24 October 2002
Also see: Kermit 95 2.1 for Windows

This page last updated: Mon Nov 25 13:30:05 2002

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C-Kermit is a combined network and serial communication software package offering a consistent, medium-independent, cross-platform approach to connection establishment, terminal sessions, file transfer, character-set translation, numeric and alphanumeric paging, and automation of communication tasks. C-Kermit includes:

And lots more -- CLICK HERE for specifications. C-Kermit is:

C-Kermit 8.0 is available for practically every known variation and version of Unix, past and present, on every architecture, and for DEC / Compaq / HP VMS / OpenVMS on VAX and Alpha. Earlier releases of C-Kermit remain available for other platforms and operating systems:

In Unix, C-Kermit can be thought of as a user-friendly and powerful alternative to cu, tip, minicom, uucp, ftp, ftpd, telnet, ktelnet, rlogin, ssh, find, grep, iconv, recode, expect, wget, sendpage, bc, and to some extent even Lisp, your shell, and/or Perl; a single package for both network and serial communications, offering automation, helpfulness, and language features not found in most of the other packages, and with most of the same features available on all its non-Unix platforms (such as VMS), as well as in Kermit 95 on Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP.

Links:

LICENSING

As of version 7.0, C-Kermit has a new license, CLICK HERE to read it. Summary:

  1. Personal or Internal Use: C-Kermit is freely downloadable by individuals for their own use and by organizations (companies, universities, government agencies, hospitals, etc) for internal use. In this case, we ask (but do not require) you to also purchase the user manual to (a) let you get the most out of the software; (b) reduce the load on our help desk; and (c) contribute some revenue to the nonprofit and entirely self-supporting Kermit Project.

  2. Support Contract: A support contract is available to companies and other organization that use C-Kermit internally but require a formal support arrangement.

  3. Free Unix Distributions: C-Kermit may be included in "free Unix" distributions such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. See the license for details.

  4. Redistribution: Redistribution of C-Kermit except as in (3) must be licensed. CLICK HERE for NEW, EASIER, LOWER-COST terms and conditions.

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DOCUMENTATION

The user manual for C-Kermit 8.0 is (still) the book Using C-Kermit, Second Edition [ ORDER ], which is current with C-Kermit 6.0. Features new to version 7.0 are documented in the online Supplement to Using C-Kermit, Second Edition, for C-Kermit 7.0, and those new to 8.0 in C-Kermit 8.0 Supplement (see links just below), which should serve until the Third Edition is ready.

If you don't have the manual, please order it. It explains how to use C-Kermit, how to make connections, how to troubleshoot connection and file-transfer problems, how to handle character-set translation, how to write script programs, and lots more. It lets you get the most out of your software, it reduces the load on our help desk, and sales of the manual are the primary source of funding for continued C-Kermit development and support.

Online Information Resources:

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SUMMARY OF NEW FEATURES

New Terms and Conditions for Commercial Redistribution
CLICK HERE for details.

Built-In FTP Client (Unix only)

Built-In HTTP 1.1 Client (Unix only)

Security

Dialing

Terminal Sessions

Automatic Text/Binary Mode Switching

Proxy support

Scripting Improvements

Command Parsing Improvements

New or Improved Commands

Bugs Fixed

New to 8.0.201

New to 8.0.206

CLICK HERE to see the list of features that were new to C-Kermit 7.0.

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CASE STUDIES AND TUTORIALS

CLICK HERE to view the C-Kermit Tutorial.

Case studies and tutorials are posted from time to time to the newsgroup news:comp.protocols.kermit.misc to showcase some of the new features of C-Kermit 7.0 and 8.0, with each posting also available on the website. Here's the index:

  1. Cleaning Out Beta-Test Binaries (file management)
  2. Kerbang Scripts (script construction and argument passing)
  3. Autodownload (file transfer)
  4. Automatic Text/Binary Mode Switching (file transfer)
  5. Directory Recursion (file transfer and management)
  6. Streaming (file transfer)
  7. Internet Kermit Service (file transfer and management)
  8. Unicode (character sets)
  9. Printing (file transfer and management)
  10. Atomic File Movement (file transfer and management)
  11. C-Kermit Meets SSH (networking and security)
  12. C-Kermit's Telnet Client (networking)
  13. PPP Dialing (networking)
  14. Character Sets (file transfer)
  15. File Selection (file transfer and management)
  16. Bootstrapping (installation)
  17. Fun with Dates and Times (script programming)
  18. File Timestamps and Permissions (file transfer)
  19. An Easy Way to Get Files from IKSD (file transfer)
  20. Lynx/Kermit Coordination (Part I)
  21. Secure Telnet Using C-Kermit 7.1 With Stunnel
  22. More Fun with Dates
  23. Modem Pool Statistics
  24. Lynx/Kermit Coordination (Part II)
  25. (Check back later for more as we add new ones)

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DOWNLOAD

[ Source Code ] [ Individual Text Files ] [ Individual Binaries ]

You can download C-Kermit source and/or binaries in tar, zip, or other archive format or as separate files. THE C-KERMIT 8.0 CDROM WILL BE AVAILABLE IN LATE DECEMBER 2002. C-Kermit 7.0 CDROM remains available in the meantime.

Install packages are contributed by Linux distributors, OS vendors, user groups, or users. The following install packages are presently available:

ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/archives/kermit-8.0.206-zsl5500.ipk
C-Kermit 8.0.200 ipkg installer for the Sharp Zaurus.

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/8.0/suse/n2/ckermit-8.0.200-55.i386.rpm
C-Kermit 8.0.200 SuSE Linux RPM.

CLICK HERE for a general discussion of C-Kermit package making. HOWEVER, the Unix version of C-Kermit 8.0 includes its own new installation procedure, built into the makefile. See Section 5 of the Unix C-Kermit installation guide.

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Download and Build from Source Code

[ Unix Build ] [ VMS Build ]

You can download C-Kermit 8.0 source and text files directly from the Kermit Project in any of several archive formats by clicking on the following FTP links. The complete archives contain source code, build procedure, license, initialization files, CA certificates, manual page or help topic, initialization files, and plain-text information files extracted from the Web pages listed in the Documentation section: a complete distribution. The text archives contain everything but the source code; these can used when you download a prebuilt binary. The size of each archive file in megabytes is shown in each cell.

Archive Zip Tar Tar.Z Tar.gz
Unix Complete  2.8 cku206.zip 11.7 cku206.tar  4.1 cku206.tar.Z  2.9 cku206.tar.gz
Unix Text Only  0.8 cku206txt.zip  2.6 cku206txt.tar  1.0 cku206txt.tar.Z  0.8 cku206txt.tar.gz
VMS Complete  2.8 ckv206.zip      
VMS Text Only  0.6 ckv206txt.zip      

(Zip archives contain only text files, unzip them with "-a" or "-aa".)

Besides those, we also have C-Kermit 7.0 archives for the following platforms that have not yet been updated to C-Kermit 8.0:

ckl197.zip
Source code and text files for Stratus VOS, ZIP archive (text files in DOS format) (Version 7.0).
ck9197.zip
Source code and text files for Microware OS-9/68k, ZIP archive (text files in DOS format). (Version 7.0).

If you want to monitor the day-to-day progress of C-Kermit development, you can find the current working source code HERE.

Source code and text files are also available separately in the kermit/f/ directory. These include files for platforms other than Unix and VMS, such as Stratus VOS, Data General AOS/VS, OS-9, the Amiga, etc. All files in this directory are text files; transfer them in text mode. See the ckaaaa.txt file for details. NOTE: The Unix and VMS source files are at 8.0 level. The VOS, Amiga, OS-9, and AOS/VS versions remain at 7.0 level. Others (Macintosh, Atari ST) have not yet been updated in a long while due to lack or programmers and/or platforms; volunteers welcome. And of course anybody interested in porting C-Kermit to new platforms is more than welcome to contact us about it; we'll be happy to get you started.

Trouble with FTP?
o CLICK HERE for FTP hints and tips; or:
o Forget FTP -- Use Kermit!

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Unix Build Instructions

[ Unix Hints & Tips ] [ Unix Installation Instructions ]

  1. Make a fresh directory and 'cd' to it. Example: 

      $ mkdir kermit
  $ cd kermit

  2. Download the appropriate source code archive.

  3. If you downloaded a compressed tar file, uncompress it. Examples: 

      $ gunzip cku206.tar.gz
  $ uncompress cku206.tar.Z

  4. If you downloaded a tar archive, "un-tar" it. Example: 

      $ tar xvf cku206.tar

    If you downloaded a Zip archive, unzip it. Example: 

      $ unzip -a cku206.zip

  5. Now you can delete the tar archive (or zip archive) if you wish: 

      $ rm cku206.tar                 (or rm cku206.zip)

  6. Read the comments at the top of the makefile to find out which target is appropriate for your computer and operating system, and then give the appropriate "make" command. Examples: 

      $ make linux                    (Linux, almost any version)
  $ make freebsd44                (FreeBSD 4.4)
  $ make solaris8                 (Solaris 8 with cc)
  $ make solaris8g                (Solaris 8 with gcc)
  $ make irix62                   (IRIX 6.2)

  7. To install the version of Kermit you have just built, read the installation instructions, especially if you had trouble with any of these steps, or if you will be using C-Kermit to dial out. The most convenient way to install is to the use makefile's install target ("make install"); read about it HERE. See the configuration options guide for information about compile-time options for customizing the feature set.

You can also download individual Unix binaries from the C-Kermit binaries table, but to avoid library or other version mismatches, it is better to build from source code if you can.

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VMS Build Instructions

[ VMS Hints & Tips ] [ VMS Installation Instructions ]

If you want to install a prebuilt VMS binary, then fetch the most appropriate VMS binary from the C-Kermit binaries table. Pick a VAX binary for a VAX or an Alpha binary for an Alpha. The VMS version number for the binary must be less than or equal to your VMS version. If you want to make TCP/IP connections, pick the binary for the appropriate TCP/IP product (TGV Multinet, DEC UCX, Process Software TCPware, etc), again with a version number less than or equal to yours; if none can be found, then try a UCX version (since most non-DEC TCP products include built-in UCX emulation). If you downloaded a prebuilt binary, also download the VMS C-Kermit text-file archive. Then read the installation instructions for VMS.

If you want to build from source code, fetch the VMS complete archive above if you have VMS-based unpacking tools, otherwise get the source files and text individually as described just below. NOTE: Unzip the Zip file with "unzip -a".

  1. Make a fresh directory and SET DEFAULT to it. Example: 

      $ create/directory kermit
  $ set default [.kermit]

  2. Download the VMS source code Zip archive.

  3. Unpack the Zip archive. Example: 

      $ unzip -a ckv206.zip

  4. Run the build procedure: 

      $ @ckvker

    If you have a pre-5.0 VMS release, use the "old" build procedure: 

      $ @ckvold

    If you experience any trouble, read the comments at the top of the build procedure.

  5. This makes a WERMIT.EXE file in your current directory. Start it with: 

     $ r wermit

  6. To install the version of Kermit you have just built, read the installation instructions.

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Individual Binaries

[ Binaries Table ] [ C-Kermit Installation Instructions ]

The C-Kermit binaries table is HERE. Before visiting the table, you should read this section.

When you download a prebuilt-Kermit binary, you should also download the C-Kermit text files, unpack them if necessary, and install them as desired. NOTE: In Unix, you can still use "make install", even if if you did not use the makefile to build your Kermit binary (the makefile as well as all the text files you need are in the text archive).

In the binaries table, filenames start with "ck" for C-Kermit, then one letter or digit to indicate the platform ("u" for Unix, "d" for Data General AOS/VS, "v" for VMS, "i" for Amiga, "9" OS-9, "p" for Plan 9, etc). After that comes a three-digit edit number:

188: Version 5A(188), November 1992 through September 1993.
189: Version 5A(189), September 1993 through October 1994.
190: Version 5A(190), October 1994 through September 1996.
192: Version 6.0.192, September 1996 through December 1999.
193: Version 6.1.193, November 1996 through June 1998.
194: Version 6.1.194, June 1998 through December 1998.
195: Version 7.0.195, January 1999 through August 1999.
196: Version 7.0.196, September 1999 through final release 1 Jan 2000.
197: Version 7.0.197, January-February 2000.
200: Version 8.0.200, December 2001.
201: Version 8.0.201, February 2002.
206: Version 8.0.206, October 2002.
Then a possible test-version designator: "a" for Alpha or "b" for Beta, followed by the 2-digit test number. Examples: 

  cku200.xxx        C-Kermit 8.0.200 final release
  cku200b04.xxx     C-Kermit 8.0.200 Beta.04
  cku197.xxx        C-Kermit 7.0.197 final release

Test versions are included here only for platforms that do not have a final build available (usually because the machine disappeared or had an OS upgrade before the final C-Kermit release).

Note that edits 193, 194, 195, 198, and 199 were never formally released (191 was only for OS/2).

The rest of the name is platform-dependent; in Unix it's the name of the makefile target, optionally followed by specific hardware platform and/or OS version, when it makes a difference. In VMS it's the platform ("axp" (i.e. Alpha) or "vax"), then the VMS version number (e.g. "vms73"), and then TCP/IP product and version number (or "nonet" if TCP/IP support is not built in). And so on. VMS TCP/IP product codes are as follows:

  ucx  DEC / Compaq / HP TCP/IP
  tgv  TGV MultiNet
  pst  Process Software TCPware
  twg  The Wollongong Group WIN/TCP or PathWay
  cmu  Carnegie-Mellon University CMU/IP

REMEMBER: It's often better to build your own binary than to run a prebuilt one, due to the ever-increasing likelihood of OS and/or library version mismatch.

After downloading, rename to "kermit" or "kermit.exe" (etc), as appropriate for your operating system and, if necessary, give execute permission, e.g. (in Unix): 

  $ mv cku206.linux-i386-rh7.2 kermit
  $ chmod +x kermit

Also remember that before C-Kermit can be used to dial out from Unix, it will probably also be necessary to give the Kermit executable a certain owner and group, and to set it suid and/or sgid bits, to allow it access to the dialout device and/or lockfile directory (the same as any other dialout software, such as cu or minicom). Read Sections 10 and 11 of the Unix C-Kermit installation guide.

Notes on the Binaries:

  1. "curses" refers to the fullscreen file-transfer display, used when transferring files over dialout or network connections. It's nice but it adds size and sometimes causes problems so if a "curses" version gives you trouble, try a no-curses (NC) version. On platforms that have a choice between "traditional curses" and "new curses" (ncurses), you might also have a choice of binaries -- if one doesn't work, try the other.

  2. Likewise, some binaries come in TCP/IP and non-TCP/IP versions. If you don't need to make TCP/IP connections with C-Kermit, choose the non-TCP/IP version (if available). A TCP/IP-enabled binary might not run on platforms that don't have TCP/IP installed.

  3. And some binaries come in optimized and non-optimized versions; this refers to compile-time optimization. Choose the optimized version, but if it gives you trouble, try the corresponding non-optimized one, if available (some optimizers have bugs). When optimization is marked in the table, O means normal optimization, O- means no optimization, O+ means extra optimization.

  4. Some binaries are available in gcc and non-gcc versions; that is, versions built using two different compilers. If one gives you trouble, try the other if available. Some compilers have bugs; some compilers support features that other ones don't.

  5. Some HP-UX binaries (notably, the HP-UX 7.00 ones) are built for long filename (255 chars) file systems, others for short-filename (14 chars) systems; these are marked with SF and LF. Choose one that is appropriate for your file system.

  6. Some Linux binaries are linked with libc, some with glibc. Pick the one that is appropriate for your Linux system. Better yet, just build from source ("make linux" should work on any Linux system).

If you are able to make a binary not listed table
(or that is listed, but is not current"), please contribute it to the archive.

CLICK HERE to visit the C-Kermit binaries table.

Questions? Comments? -- Send e-mail.

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C-Kermit 8.0 / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu / 8 February 2002 - 25 Nov 2002