KERMIT

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Arguments are optional. If Kermit is executed without arguments, it will enter command mode. Otherwise, kermit will read the arguments off the command line and interpret them.

The following notation is used in command descriptions:

fn

A Unix file specification, possibly containing either of the "wildcard" characters '*' or '?' ('*' matches all character strings, '?' matches any single character).

fn1

A Unix file specification which may not contain '*' or '?'.

rfn

A remote file specification in the remote system's own syntax, which may denote a single file or a group of files.

rfn1

A remote file specification which should denote only a single file.

n

A decimal number, in most cases between 0 and 94.

c

A decimal number between 0 and 127 representing the value of an ASCII character.

cc

A decimal number between 0 and 31, or else exactly 127, representing the value of an ASCII control character.

[ ]

Any field in square braces is optional.

{x,y,z}

Alternatives are listed in curly braces.

Kermit command line options may specify either actions or settings. If Kermit is invoked with a command line that specifies no actions, then it will issue a prompt and begin interactive dialog. Action options specify either protocol transactions or terminal connection.  

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

-s fn

Send the specified file or files. If fn contains wildcard (meta) characters, the Unix shell expands it into a list. If fn is '-' then Kermit sends from standard input, which may come from a file:

            kermit -s - < foo.bar

or a parallel process:

            ls -l | kermit -s -

You cannot use this mechanism to send terminal typein. If you want to send a file whose name is "-" you can precede it with a path name, as in

            kermit -s ./-

-r

Receive a file or files. Wait passively for files to arrive.

-k

Receive (passively) a file or files, sending them to standard output. This option can be used in several ways:

        kermit -k

Displays the incoming files on your screen; to be used only in "local mode" (see below).

        kermit -k > fn1

Sends the incoming file or files to the named file, fn1. If more than one file arrives, all are concatenated together into the single file fn1.

        kermit -k | command

Pipes the incoming data (single or multiple files) to the indicated command, as in

        kermit -k | sort > sorted.stuff

-a fn1

If you have specified a file transfer option, you may specify an alternate name for a single file with the -a option. For example,

        kermit -s foo -a bar

sends the file foo telling the receiver that its name is bar. If more than one file arrives or is sent, only the first file is affected by the -a option:

        kermit -ra baz

stores the first incoming file under the name baz.

-x

Begin server operation. May be used in either local or remote mode.

Before proceeding, a few words about remote and local operation are necessary. Kermit is "local" if it is running on a PC or workstation that you are using directly, or if it is running on a multiuser system and transferring files over an external communication line --- not your job's controlling terminal or console. Kermit is remote if it is running on a multiuser system and transferring files over its own controlling terminal's communication line, connected to your PC or workstation.

If you are running Kermit on most systems, Kermit runs in remote mode by default, so on a PC or workstation, you will have to put it into local mode. The following command sets Kermit's "mode":

-l dev

Line --- Specify a terminal line to use for file transfer and terminal connection, as in

            kermit -l /dev/ttyi5

When an external line is being used, you might also need some additional options for successful communication with the remote system:

-b n

Baud --- Specify the baud rate for the line given in the -l option, as in

            kermit -l /dev/ttyi5 -b 9600

This option should always be included with the -l option, since the speed of an external line is not necessarily what you might expect.

-p x

Parity --- e, o, m, s, n (even, odd, mark, space, or none). If parity is other than none, then the 8th-bit prefixing mechanism will be used for transferring 8-bit binary data, provided the opposite Kermit agrees. The default parity is none.

-t

Specifies half duplex, line turnaround with XON as the handshake character.

The following commands may be used only with a Kermit which is local --- either by default or else because the -l option has been specified.

-g rfn

Actively request a remote server to send the named file or files; rfn is a file specification in the remote host's own syntax. If fn happens to contain any special shell characters, like '*', these must be quoted, as in

            kermit -g x\*.\?

-f

Send a 'finish' command to a remote server.

-c

Establish a terminal connection over the specified or default communication line, before any protocol transaction takes place. Get back to the local system by typing the escape character (normally Control-Backslash) followed by the letter 'c'.

-n

Like -c, but after a protocol transaction takes place; -c and -n may both be used in the same command. The use of -n and -c is illustrated below.

On a timesharing system, the -l and -b options will also have to be included with the -r, -k, or -s options if the other Kermit is on a remote system.

If kermit is in local mode, the screen (stdout) is continously updated to show the progress of the file transer. A dot is printed for every four data packets, other packets are shown by type (e.g. 'S' for Send-Init), 'T' is printed when there's a timeout, and '%' for each retransmission. In addition, you may type (to stdin) certain "interrupt" commands during file transfer:

Control-F: Interrupt the current File, and go on to the next (if any).

Control-B: Interrupt the entire Batch of files, terminate the transaction.

Control-R: Resend the current packet

Control-A: Display a status report for the current transaction.

These interrupt characters differ from the ones used in other Kermit implementations to avoid conflict with Unix shell interrupt characters. With System III and System V implementations of Unix, interrupt commands must be preceeded by the escape character (e.g. control-\).

Several other command-line options are provided:

-i

Specifies that files should be sent or received exactly "as is" with no conversions. This option is necessary for transmitting binary files. It may also be used to slightly boost efficiency in Unix-to-Unix transfers of text files by eliminating CRLF/newline conversion.

-e n

Specifies the (extended) receive-packet length, a number between 10 and about 1000 (depending on the system). Lengths of 95 or greater require that the opposite Kermit support the long packet protocol extension.

-w

Write-Protect --- Avoid filename collisions for incoming files.

-q

Quiet --- Suppress screen update during file transfer, for instance to allow a file transfer to proceed in the background.

-d

Debug --- Record debugging information in the file debug.log in the current directory. Use this option if you believe the program is misbehaving, and show the resulting log to your local Kermit maintainer.

-h

Help --- Display a brief synopsis of the command line options.

The command line may contain no more than one protocol action option.  

INTERACTIVE OPERATION

Kermit's interactive command prompt is "C-Kermit>". In response to this prompt, you may type any valid command. Kermit executes the command and then prompts you for another command. The process continues until you instruct the program to terminate.

Commands begin with a keyword, normally an English verb, such as "send". You may omit trailing characters from any keyword, so long as you specify sufficient characters to distinguish it from any other keyword valid in that field. Certain commonly-used keywords (such as "send", "receive", "connect") have special non-unique abbreviations ("s" for "send", "r" for "receive", "c" for "connect").

Certain characters have special functions in interactive commands:

?

Question mark, typed at any point in a command, will produce a message explaining what is possible or expected at that point. Depending on the context, the message may be a brief phrase, a menu of keywords, or a list of files.

ESC

(The Escape or Altmode key) --- Request completion of the current keyword or filename, or insertion of a default value. The result will be a beep if the requested operation fails. Tab does the same thing.

DEL

(The Delete or Rubout key) --- Delete the previous character from the command. You may also use BS (Backspace, Control-H) for this function.

^W

(Control-W) --- Erase the rightmost word from the command line.

^U

(Control-U) --- Erase the entire command.

^R

(Control-R) --- Redisplay the current command.

SP

(Space) --- Delimits fields (keywords, filenames, numbers) within a command.

CR

(Carriage Return) --- Enters the command for execution. LF (Linefeed) or FF (formfeed) may also be used for this purpose.

\

(Backslash) --- Enter any of the above characters into the command, literally. To enter a backslash, type two backslashes in a row (\\). A single backslash immediately preceding a carriage return allows you to continue the command on the next line.

You may type the editing characters (DEL, ^W, etc) repeatedly, to delete all the way back to the prompt. No action will be performed until the command is entered by typing carriage return, linefeed, or formfeed. If you make any mistakes, you will receive an informative error message and a new prompt --- make liberal use of '?' and ESC to feel your way through the commands. One important command is "help" --- you should use it the first time you run Kermit.

Interactive Kermit accepts commands from files as well as from the keyboard. Upon startup, Kermit looks for the file .kermrc in your home or current directory (first it looks in the home directory, then in the current one) and executes any commands it finds there. These commands must be in interactive format, not Unix command-line format. A "take" command is also provided for use at any time during an interactive session. Command files may be nested to any reasonable depth.

Here is a brief list of Kermit interactive commands:

! command

Execute a Unix shell command. A space is required after after the !.

% text

A comment. Useful in take-command files.

bye

Terminate and log out a remote Kermit server.

close

Close a log file.

connect

Establish a terminal connection to a remote system.

cwd

Change Working Directory (also, "cd").

dial

Dial a telephone number.

directory

Display a directory listing.

echo

Display arguments literally. Useful in take-command files.

exit

Exit from the program, closing any open logs.

finish

Instruct a remote Kermit server to exit, but not log out.

get

Get files from a remote Kermit server.

hangup

Hang up the phone.

help

Display a help message for a given command.

log

Open a log file --- debugging, packet, session, transaction.

quit

Same as 'exit'.

receive

Passively wait for files to arrive.

remote

Issue file management commands to a remote Kermit server.

script

Execute a login script with a remote system.

send

Send files.

server

Begin server operation.

set

Set various parameters.

show

Display values of 'set' parameters, program version, etc.

space

Display current disk space usage.

statistics

Display statistics about most recent transaction.

take

Execute commands from a file.

The 'set' parameters are:

block-check

Level of packet error detection.

delay

How long to wait before sending first packet.

duplex

Specify which side echoes during 'connect'.

escape-character

Character to prefix "escape commands" during 'connect'.

file

Set various file parameters.

flow-control Communication line full-duplex flow control.

handshake

Communication line half-duplex turnaround character.

line

Communication line device name.

modem-dialer

Type of modem-dialer on communication line.

parity

Communication line character parity.

prompt

Change the Kermit program's prompt.

receive

Set various parameters for inbound packets.

retry

Set the packet retransmission limit.

send

Set various parameters for outbound packets.

speed

Communication line speed.

The 'remote' commands are:

cwd

Change remote working directory (also, "remote cd").

delete

Delete remote files.

directory

Display a listing of remote file names.

help

Request help from a remote server.

host

Issue a command to the remote host in its own command language.

space

Display current disk space usage on remote system.

type

Display a remote file on your screen.

who

Display who's logged in, or get information about a user.

FILES

SEE ALSO

Frank da Cruz,

Kermit, A File Transfer Protocol, Digital Press (1987)

The file ckuker.doc.

DIAGNOSTICS

BUGS

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

INTERACTIVE OPERATION

FILES

SEE ALSO

DIAGNOSTICS

BUGS