Work on C-Kermit has continued, on and off, since the release of C-Kermit 8.0.211 on 10 April 2004. The next release is currently designated 8.0.212 but that might change.
The biggest change in C-Kermit 8.0.212 is support for large files on platforms that support them. A "large file" is one whose size is greater than 231-1 (2,147,483,647) bytes (2GB-1); that is, one whose size requires more than 31 bits to represent. Before now, Kermit was able to access such files only on 100% 64-bit platforms such as Digital Unix, later known as Tru64 Unix. In the new release, Kermit takes advantage of the X/Open Single UNIX Specification Version 2 (UNIX 98) Large File Support (LFS) specification, which allows 32-bit platforms to create, access, and manage files larger than 2GB.
Accommodating large files required changes to code in nearly every module, affecting not only file transfer, but also file management functions from directory listings to local file manipulation, plus the user interface itself to allow entry and display of large numbers. All this had to be done in a way that would not affect pure 32-bit builds on platforms that do not support large files.
| OS and Version | Arch | Word | Target | Footprint | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | i386 | 32 | linuxnolfs | 2.1MB | Large files disabled |
| Linux | i386 | 32/64 | linux | 2.1MB | Large files OK in all versions back to 1999 |
| Linux | amd64 | 64 | linux | 2.4MB | Large files OK in all 64-bit Linux builds |
| FreeBSD 3.3 | i386 | 32/64 | freebsd | ... | Large files OK in FreeBSD 3.3 and later |
| FreeBSD 6.0 | ia64 | 64 | freebsd | ... | Large files OK |
| FreeBSD 6.1 | amd64 | 64 | freebsd | ... | Large files OK |
| NetBSD 1.x | i386 | 32 | netbsd | ... | Large files not available |
| NetBSD 2.x | i386 | 32/64 | netbsd | ... | Large files OK |
| OpenBSD 2.5 | i386 | 32/64 | openbsd | ... | Large files OK in OpenBSD 2.5 and later |
| Mac OS X 10.3.9 | ppc | 32/64 | macosx10.4 | 2.4MB | Large files OK |
| Mac OS X 10.4.2 | ppc | 32/64 | macosx10.4 | 2.4MB | Large files OK |
| Mac OS X 10.4.2 | ppc | 64 | macosx10.4_64 | 2.6MB | Large files OK |
| HP-UX 11.11 | pa-risc | 32/64 | hpux1100 | ... | Large files OK |
| HP-UX 11i v2 | ia64 | 64 | hpux1100 | ... | Large files OK |
| HP Tru64 Unix 4.0F | alpha | 64 | tru64_40f | ... | Large files OK |
| HP VMS / OpenVMS | alpha | 32 | ckvker.com | ... | Large files not supported |
| IBM AIX | ppc | ?? | aix... | ... | Untried and untested |
| QNX 4.25 | i386 | 32 | qnx32 | ... | Large files not available |
| SCO UnixWare 7.1.4 | i386 | 32/64 | uw7 | ... | Large files OK |
| SCO OSR5.0.x | i386 | 32 | sco32v5xx | No support for large files in OS | |
| SCO OSR6.0.0 | i386 | 32/64 | sco_osr600 | 2.3MB | Large files OK |
| Solaris 5-10 | i386 | ?? | solaris... | ... | Untried and untested |
| Solaris 5-8, 10 | sparc | ?? | solaris... | ... | Untried and untested |
| Solaris 9 | sparc | 32 | solaris9 | 2.5MB | Large files disabled |
| Solaris 9 | sparc | 32/64 | solaris9lfs | 2.5MB | Large files OK |
| Solaris 9 | sparc | 64 | solaris9_64 | 3.4MB | Large files OK (-xarch=generic64) |
No information yet for anything else not mentioned above. Note that some targets (such as Linux) automatically detect long file support and include it if it's available, whereas others (Solaris) do not because I haven't yet been able to test it widely enough. Access is needed to platforms such as AIX, Solaris on Intel, etc, to verify that C-Kermit still builds on them and to see if large files can be supported.
Frank da Cruz, The Kermit Project, Columbia University
[ C-Kermit Daily Builds ] [ C-Kermit Home ] [ Kermit Home ]