From fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu Mon Jan  3 17:09:19 EST 2000
Article: 41 of comp.protocols.kermit.announce
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From: fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Frank da Cruz)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.announce
Subject: Announcing C-Kermit 7.0
Date: 3 Jan 2000 22:04:41 GMT
Organization: Columbia University
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Keywords: Kermit Telnet IKSD Kerberos TLS SRP Unicode Linux Internet
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C-Kermit 7.0 is a new release of C-Kermit communications software for UNIX
(all versions), VMS, VOS, QNX, OS-9, Plan 9, AOS/VS, and other platforms.
It replaces C-Kermit 6.0 of September 1996.  If you have Web access, you can
skip the rest of this message and go here:

  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html

for a more complete presentation, complete with download links.

The major new features of C-Kermit 7.0 include:

A new license
  o Allows inclusion of C-Kermit with Free UNIX distributions

Making and Using Connections
  o Internet Kermit Service Daemon (IKSD) - client and server
  o Kerberos IV, Kerberos V, SRP, and SSL/TLS security
  o HTTP client commands
  o A new and improved Telnet protocol engine
  o TELNET protocol option debugging
  o Support for IBM AIXLink/X.25
  o Connections via external programs like ssh or tn3270
  o PPP dialing in UNIX
  o Give multiple phone numbers to the DIAL command
  o New support for 8 data bits + parity on serial connections
  o New ability to select number of stop bits on serial connections
  o Dialing improvements (10-digit dialing, blind dialing, PBXs, etc)
  o SET DIAL MACRO for last-minute phone number manipulations
  o 20 new built-in modem types
  o New all-purpose "generic-high-speed" modem type.
  o Higher serial speeds in VMS, IRIX, SCO, BSDI, Linux, . . .
  o Hardware flow control for more platforms

File Transfer and Management
  o FAST Kermit protocol settings are now the default
  o New streaming protocol for FTP-like speeds on reliable connections
  o Binary mode is now the default for file transfer, rather than text
  o File-transfer command switches (e.g. for file selection)
  o File-transfer pipes and filters
  o Automatic per-file text/binary mode switching (by name)
  o Transfer and preservation of file permissions
  o Ability to transfer directory trees even between unlike systems
  o Ability to move or rename each file after successful send or receive.
  o High-precision timers and statistics
  o New display and log formats
  o New options for coping with broken Kermit protocol partners

Character Sets
  o Automatic transfer/file character-set matching in file transfer.
  o Unicode / ISO-10646 Universal Character Set
  o Full conversion between Japanese character sets and Unicode
  o KOI8-R (Russian) and KOI8-U (Ukrainian) character sets
  o ISO 8859-7 Latin/Greek Alphabet (= ELOT 928)
  o ELOT 927 Greek, CP869 Greek code page
  o ISO 8859-15 Latin Alphabet 9 (includes Euro and OE)
  o Bulgaria-PC (code page)
  o Mazovia (Polish PC code page)
  o CP855 (Cyrillic PC code page)
  o CP858 (West European PC code page, includes Euro)
  o CP1250, 1251, 1252 (Windows code pages, include Euro)

Logs
  o New syslogging option for UNIX
  o New connection log
  o New brief transaction-log format option
  o New FTPD-like transaction-log format option
  o Time-critical debugging with millisecond timestamps.
  o Unbuffered transaction log (e.g. for UNIX "tail -f")

Script Programming
  o A new general-purpose file i/o package
  o Floating-point numbers and arithmetic
  o Associative arrays
  o Ability pass arguments to command files as well as macros
  o Pattern matching in the [M]INPUT command
  o Ability to pass more than ten arguments to a macro or command file
  o Expanded command buffer length to allow bigger macros, variables, etc.
  o Maximum number of macros increased.
  o New support for compound Boolean expressions.
  o "kerbang" scripts now take arguments from the command line.
  o New built-in Array operations: COPY, RESIZE, CLEAR, SET, SORT, ...
  o SEND an array as if it were a file
  o New SCREEN command for screen clearing & cursor positioning.
  o Date conversion functions (Julian dates, etc)
  o Timed ASK commands
  o New IF conditions
  o Automatic arrays
  o Array initializers
  o Assignment operators
  o New TRACE and SHOW STACK commands for debugging scripts.

New platforms
  o IRIX 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5
  o AIX 4.2, 4.3 (including X.25)
  o DG/UX 5.4R4.11
  o Solaris 2.6 (including X.25 support)
  o Solaris 7
  o SCO OpenServer R5.0.0 through 5.0.5
  o SCO Unixware 7
  o HP-UX 10.01, 10.10, 10.20, 10.30, 11.00
  o Trusted HP-UX
  o Mac OS/X
  o OpenStep 4.2
  o Red Hat Linux 5.1 through 6.1
  o Slackware Linux 3.5 through 7.0
  o SuSE Linux 6.0
  o MkLinux DR3
  o New OpenBSD/NetBSD/FreeBSD versions
  o Siemens Nixdorf Reliant UNIX 5.43 and 5.44
  o Sequent DYNIX/ptx 4.4
  o Stratus VOS with TCP/IP and X.25 support
  o VMS 7.2

This is just a brief list; you can find more detail on the new C-Kermit
7.0 web page:

  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html

The complete story runs to more than 200 printed pages, and can be found in
the ckermit2.txt file, which is a supplement to Using C-Kermit, 2nd Edition,
until the new 3rd Edition is ready, probably about 6 months from now.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who contributed to the development and
testing of this new release over the past 3+ years, especially Jeffrey
Altman, Peter Eichhorn, Lucas Hart, Peter Mauzey, Fred Smith, Christian
Mondrup, Gerry Belanger, Clarence Dold, Graham Jenkins, William Bader,
Martin Whitaker, Nigel Roles, Dat Nguyen, Dragan Milicic, Steve Walton,
Nelson Beebe, JP Radley, Joe Doupnik, Ted T'so, and Carl Friend, with
apologies to anybody I forgot to list!

We have made and/or collected over 100 individual binaries so far; if you
can make any that are not listed as current on the web page:

  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html#bin

please let me know.

If you have any problems getting or using the new version, send email
to kermit-support@columbia.edu.

Frank da Cruz
The Kermit Project
Columbia University
New York City
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/