Description of techniques used to access and download software from remote servers

Anonymous ftp

To use ftp, you need to have an account on a machine connected to the Internet (and privileges to use the networking facilities, if your site restricts this). You need to know the name or IP number of the site you wish to contact (for example, tex.ac.uk or 134.151.40.18)

To connect to the remote site, type the command

telnet

followed by the name or number.

When the connection is made, you will be asked to login. Type the word `anonymous' (without the quotes). If when you connect, you are not explicitly asked to login, you may have to type `login anonymous' instead. When it asks for your password, type your eMail address (your own username and machine-name, joined with an `at' sign, eg fred@vax.univ-life.eu): this will not be displayed, for security reasons.The following commands may then be used:

cd

followed by the name of the directory you want to use, eg `cd pub/tex'. The command `cd ..' will move you one level back up the directory tree (eg from `pub/tex' to `pub')

ls -l

to list the names of all files in the current directory

binary

must be used before you start to download any non-text files (eg executable programs, .zip or .tar.Z or .sit archive files etc)

get

followed by a filename starts downloading that file - be patient!

quit

terminates an ftp session and logs you off the remote computer

BITFTP

Users on machines directly connected to BITNET only (without a connection to the Internet) can request stuff from ftp sites by sending a file to BITFTP@PUCC containing the sequence of commands that they would have used, had they had direct access to the Internet, but without the login information. Construct your file using the commands as given above under `ftp', for example:

Requests are queued for access, so a response can be quite slow. To see how big the queue is, use one of the following commands:

TELL BITFTP AT PUCC HOW ARE YOU?

on IBM VM/CMS systems

SEND BITFTP@PUCC HOW ARE YOU?

on DEC VAX/VMS systems

Fuller details are in the BITFTP HELP file

LISTSERV

The LISTSERV mailing-list software also acts as a file server. Users of any network can send eMail to a LISTSERV and request indexes or files to be sent to them. The principal commands are:

index

on its own returns an index of files. This usually consists of entries for each of the `filelists' (subsidiary levels of directory information)

index

followed by a filelist name returns an index of the files in that list

get

followed by a filename and filetype retrieves a specified file

Users on machines directly connected to BITNET can of course transmit these commands interactively using the TELL and SEND commands as shown earlier under `BITFTP'.

eMail Access

Many archives are also acessible by eMail. The details of the interface vary widely from archive to archive, and are thus given under the entry for each of the individual archives (Aston, YMIR and SHSU).

ARCHIE

The ARCHIE service runs at a variety of sites worldwide and provides an on-line searchable database of all files which can be retrieved from the world's ftp servers. The current (Feb 93) list of archie servers is:

You can use the archie service by telnet to the address or number given above. Login as `archie' (no password) and use the PROG command followed by a portion of the filename you are seeking (for example `PROG emtex' to locate any files with `emtex' in their name). This returns a list of all such files, giving their ftp sites and the directory where the file can be found.

If you have facilities for running a TCP client, the `archie' program can be downloaded and compiled. This given you a command `archie' which can be used to conduct remote searches on archie databases without having to perform a login.