eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (08/29/89)
FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It dates back to the earliest
days of the ARPAnet (NCP days) about 1969. I first used it in 1973.
Ftp is also a program which resides on Unix and non-Unix systems.
It involves a simple language (which have changed very slightly.
It hides (or is supposed to)
character set differences, some file (data set) naming conventions, provides
a tiny bit of security while giving some freedom (anonymous FTP), some help,
without knowing too many details of the remote host, and a few other things.
Another gross generalization from
--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov
resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:
"You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
"If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology."
{ncar,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!ames!eugene
Live free or die.epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott) (08/30/89)
In article <820@adelphi.UUCP> markd@adelphi.UUCP (Mark J. DeFilippis) writes: >I am sure this must have been asked 10000+ times, but I have not seen >it recently and I have been looking for a while. Most sites expire news after 2 weeks, and it may actually have been two weeks since we last addressed it. :-) >1. What exactly is ftp FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It's one of the basic services available to Internet sites. If you are not connected to the Internet, this probably doesn't help you. > We archive net sources here at Adelphi > University, and maybe I can make them available via anonymous > uucp and/or ftp if I can get information on ftp. There are several sites already archiving usenet sources and making them available for anonymous FTP. Since the networks don't "charge more for distance" the existing sites are probably adequate. For anonymous uucp, there's a clear benefit to making sources available this way. (Consider also that networks multiplex traffic, whereas dialup uucp means one phone line tends to handle exactly one connection for as long as the call lasts, so more phone lines are always welcome!) >2. I notice several requests from people asking for someone to > "mail me the sources for xyz". I would like to help, but > don't know exactly how to mail them, and I don't want to > get anyone angry. Do I just mail the source code via email? > Is this type of bandwidth usage frowned upon? This is only a problem if a lot of people all mail the same thing at once. If you have something large, send a message saying "I have X and will mail it on request." Let the recipient advise you of any special formats, etc. "Packaging" is usually a good idea. For UNIX sources, find out what shar, tar, compress, and uuencode do, and when to use them. Some mail systems impose limits on the size of individual messages; 100,000 bytes is typical, although I've seen 50,000. Moderated digests that split at 40,000 seem to do o.k., so that's a conservative lower bound. (For non-UNIX sources, ... ask--there may be special requirements.) In article <4902@eos.UUCP> eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes: >FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It dates back to the earliest >days of the ARPAnet (NCP days) about 1969. The history can be found in RFC 959; I think it's more like 1971. A year here, a year there... -=EPS=-
sean@ursa.UUCP (Sean Cunningham) (10/26/89)
Can anyone give me details on the "anonymous ftp" concept... How do you setup FTP to access sites over the net? Do I need the source to ftp to do this ? - Sean Cunningham e-mail: gotham!ursa!booboo!sean -- |=============================================================================| | Bear, Stearns, & Co. Inc. 245 Park Avenue | | Financial Systems Research New York, New York 10167 (212) 272-5786 | |=============================================================================|
eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) (10/27/89)
In article <2110@ursa.UUCP> sean@ursa.UUCP (Sean Cunningham) writes: >Can anyone give me details on the "anonymous ftp" concept... FTP is Internet's primary File Transfer Protocol. You have to have IP access to the Internetwork in order to use it directly; it is not available to uucp-only (or BITNET, or ...) sites. Anonymous FTP is a way to make a select group of files publicly accessible to others who do not have specific individual authorizations on a machine. > How do you setup FTP to access sites over the net? This is taken care of when a machine is configured to attach to Internet. > Do I need the source to ftp to do this ? No, just an executable. :-) -=EPS=- P.S. You might want to get in touch with the folks at NYSERNET; they're the regional NSF network in your area, and I'm sure they'd be happy to answer questions, or send you some literature. NYSERNet Inc. 1095 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036