Anonymous FTP

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List

Suggestions for changes and comments are always welcome.

** Updated News

- Any updates to the URLs can now be found at http://www.iaehv.nl/users/perry/ftp-list.html as soon as I get them, so you don't have to wait for the new version of the FAQ if something doesn't work.
- The searchable versions all seem to be working and up to date again
- Older versions of the ftp-list.zip files will be made available from the ftp.edu.tw site if time and space permits. This is for people who want to make diffs or do some other comparisons and for me to have them stored somewhere on-line as well.
- If you can recommmend any client/daemon programs let me know.. I'd compiling a short list of them for inclusion in the faq
- The SimTel archive has moved to ftp.coast.net so please use that machine instead of oak.oakland.edu (oak remains a mirror site so the SimTel files will still be available there)

Copyright (c) 1993-1995, Perry Rovers -- Text may be quoted in on-line documents and written publications, but please notify me so I can add a reference and make sure that you add pointers to the places where people can get the latest version. You may make this file available on public servers, like ftp, gopher or WWW servers as well, but please let me know. Do not modify the info itself (i.e. converting it to some other format) before consulting me. All rights reserved. This may seem stricter than the last versions, but I only want to make sure I'm notified of how this file is used and for what purpose. If you contact me, I'm sure we can work something out.

Thanks to all the people who have contributed to this document!
This edition specifically Uwe and ivbj for the 9409 version and the VM/CMS info.

I maintain a directory of Internet sites accepting Anonymous FTP and mail retrieval of their files and a list of Frequently Asked Questions about (Anonymous) FTP.

Subject: 1. Table of Contents

Topics are shown below and with their respective answers (*: new, +: changed)

Table of Contents
What is and how do I use the FTP program?
What types of FTP information are available?
What is the most current version?
Retrieving the listings via email.
Using FTP without direct Internet access.
Getting help when you have problems with a site.
Getting a site listed or changes made.
What is Archie and how does it relate to the list?
Using FSP/Gopher/WAIS/WWW to access archives.
How do I stop the listings from scrolling off the screen?
How do I set up an (Anonymous) FTP server?
How do I automate ftp sessions?
URL's of the interesting things mentioned in this text.

Subject: 2. What is and how do I use the FTP program?

The information below was originally maintained by Jon Granrose (one of the old maintainers of the listings). Mike Jones added the info about the existence and location of the compression data chart maintained by David Lemson. Tom Czarnik (another old maintainer) added some as well and I have made some changes too.

By

Jon Granrose, Mike Jones, Tom Czarnik, Perry Rovers

This is not a definitive guide to FTP, but it will give a novice a general idea of what it is and how to do it.

What is FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows a person to transfer files between two computers, generally connected via the Internet. If your system has FTP and is connected to the Internet, you can access very large amounts of files available on a great number of computersystems. If you are on Bitnet or a UUCP host, you should look for servers that work through electronic mail (e-mail). A good source of information on archives in general, is the Usenet newsgroup comp.archives. When using FTP, you use a program, called a 'client' to connect to a machine that holds the files, a 'server'.

What is Anonymous FTP?

Many computersystems throughout the Internet offer files through anonymous FTP. This means that you can access a machine without having to have an account on that machine (i.e. you don't have to be an official user of the system). These anonymous FTP servers contain software, documents of various sorts, files for configuring networks, graphic images, songlyrics and all sorts of other information. Archives for electronic mailing lists are often stored on and are available through anonymous FTP. An enormous amount of information is stored on these machines and is ready for anyone who's seeking it.

Note that all this is subject to change, it is a privilege and the person responsible for the machine can shut it down at any time without you being able to do anything about it.

Commands

All the normal FTP commands may be used to retrieve files. Some FTP commands are the same on different computers, but others are not. Also, some of the ftp sites offer custom commands like getting a directory with one command, 'regetting' a file or searching of directories. Read the relevant README files on the site itself for the 'special access features'. Usually, FTP will list the commands if you type 'help' or type a question mark (?). Also, your computer's help command may have information about FTP. Try 'man ftp', 'man ftpd', 'help ftp', 'ftp /?', 'ftp -?' or 'ftp /h' (all these to be typed without quotes).

Some useful commands available on most systems include

ascii   Switch to ascii mode. Ascii mode is the default mode and used for transferring text files
binary  Switch to binary mode. For transferring binary files like .ZIP files, .Z files and the like
cd      Change the directory on the remote computer
dir     List the files in the current directory on the remote computer.
ls      Same as 'dir', but shows less information sometimes.
get     Copy a file from the remote computer to yours
hash    Puts a '#' on the screen for every  of bytes transferred.  is 1024 in some cases, 2048 in others but is between 1024 and 4096 in most cases.  Check the ftp 'help' function for more info on the number for your clientprogram.
help    Gives help on the use of commands within the ftp program
lcd     Change the directory on your computer (the 'l' is for local)
lpwd    Shows the present working directory (pwd) on your computer (the 'l' is for local). Note: this may not work on all machines. On a Unix machine, try !pwd if lwpd doesn't work.
mget    Copy multiple files from the remote computer to yours
pwd     Shows the present working directory (pwd) on the remote computer

Procedure

Anonymous FTP is a facility offered by many machines on the Internet. This permits you to log in with the user name 'anonymous' or the user name 'ftp'. When prompted for a password, type your e-mail address -- it's not necessary, but it's a courtesy for those sites that like to know who is making use of their facility. Be courteous. Some sites require a valid e-mail address, others don't.

You can then look around and retrieve files. (Most anonymous ftp sites do not permit people to store files). Note that when you retrieve files, you have to know where the files are going to end up on your machine. This is where the 'lpwd' command comes in handy. Also note that when you have transferred a file that you want to use on your PC, but you run ftp from a Unix machine (or a similar mainframe or network machine), you will have to ftp the file from the Unix machine to your PC first (this is assuming that you can't ftp to outside your company or campus from your PC, otherwise you could have gotten the file directly to the PC). This may sound silly, but sometimes people don't know where their files are stored or a system administrator decides to give ftp access to only a few systems.

Typically, a directory called 'pub' is where the interesting things are stored. Some sites will have a file with a name like ls-lR, that contains a complete list of the files on that site. Otherwise, you can type ls -lR and get such a listing -- for some sites, this can take a LONG time (the size of the resulting file can be anywhere between approximately 2000 bytes and 25Mb).

When retrieving non-text files, you must use binary mode, otherwise the file gets messed up. To do this, use the 'binary' command. (It's safe to set this for text files, but the result might look a bit different from an ASCII transfer) If the site at the other end is non-Unix, you may need to use some other mode -- see the documents or README files for that site and for FTP (common other modes, are LZ for VAX Multinet servers, tenex or image for some others).

The simplest way to initiate FTP would be to give the command 'ftp '. The is the remote system you are connecting to, either a name like garbo.uwasa.fi, if you have an entry in /etc/hosts or are accessing a Domain Name Server or the Internet address 193.166.120.5 for Garbo. If that last sentence doesn't seem to make sense just try: ftp garbo.uwasa.fi or ftp 193.166.120.5 and look what happens. After a short wait, you will be prompted for your username. If you do not have an account on the remote system, some systems allow you to use 'anonymous'. This gives you a restricted access path (meaning that you can only run certain commands like 'dir' or 'ls' and are allowed only access to certain directories like 'pub').

You would then be prompted for a password. Some systems will tell you to send your real identity as the password. What you type doesn't matter in most cases, but it is suggested to give your e-mail address. This as a courtesy to the archive maintainers, who would like to know who's using their system. Other systems need a password of 'guest', or something similar. DO NOT TYPE A PASSWORD THAT YOU USE ON YOUR OWN SYSTEM.

After that, you should receive the FTP prompt ( usually ftp> ) and have access. You can get a directory of files by giving a 'dir' command. If the remote system is Unix-based and dir does not work, try 'ls -l' for an MS-DOS like output. On Garbo, there is a file available in the default anonymous ftp directory that explains what Garbo is and where files are located. Look for 00-index.txt or README files or some similar name.

Unix systems will all have the same directory structure, and moving around is done with the 'cd' or 'cwd' command. TOPS-20, VAX/VMS, DOS VM/CMS and other systems have a different structure, but movement is still accomplished with the 'cd' command.

VAX/VMS systems have filesystems that show as ALL CAPS and directories can be recognized as filenames ending in .DIR e.g FAQ.DIR

Files reside on disks, denoted by NAME: e.g. NETDISK: and a file on that disk could be denoted by: NETDISK:[FAQ.INTERNET]FTP.FAQ

You can change to that directory by typing:

cd netdisk:[faq.internet]

but since you are generally allowed only access to one disk, you probably can use cd [faq.internet] or type cd faq and then cd internet

TOPS-20 has directories of the form: DISK:, VAX/VMS has directories of the form DISK:[DIR1.DIR2] (use cd [-] instead of cd .. and cd [.DIR1] instead of cd dir1). DOS, OS/2 and Windows NT look like Unix but have shorter directory names. VM/CMS has mini-disks that can be accessed with the CD command:

 
cd .

e.g. cd arcdks.100
 
For an anonymous userid:
 
cd .
account 
 
e.g. cd bob.191
account bob1

Note: 'account...' may not be required if the mini-disk is not password protected.

A lot of systems give some information about how to use the system when you login, look for that after you have typed the password (some of those messages will not be shown if you use a - as the first character in your password, some people need this because the system won't recognize them otherwise. If you have problems logging into a site, try a - as the first character).

Different systems have different organizations for their files, and the above example is the way most archives have set it up. By looking around other systems, you can learn how their files are arranged and move around much faster. Note, however, that FTP will not allow you outside the FTP 'root' directory. Moving about the entire system is not permitted. You will get 'Permission denied' messages (or plainly not receiving any message and still not be able to change to the directory).

Usually, files are grouped in archive files, so you don't have to get many small files separately. The most common archival file formats for the Internet are tar and zip. Occasionally, people use shell archives (shar) instead. Tar files are basically a bunch of files 'glued' together. Tar archives can be unpacked by running the 'tar' command on a Unix system (tar exists also for DOS, VMS and a whole bunch of other Operating Systems) -- you may want to first do a 'tar t' on the file to see what it contains before unpacking it. This means typing: 'tar t filename.tar' or 'tar tf filename.tar' and looking what the output shows. To unpack the .tar file, type: 'tar xvf filename.tar', this will create a directory called filename with the unpacked archive in it (no quotes again). Be careful when unpacking shell archives since they have to be run through the Bourne shell to unpack them. (The simplest way is to use the unshar command).

Files are often stored compressed, because they take up less space that way -- for Unix, the most common compression 'scheme' is the 'compress' program, indicated by a .Z suffix on the file name. Also you will find Arc, Zoo, Arj, Lzh, gzipped or Zip files, which are combined archival and compression formats (there are other archival formats as well - talk to the systems staff if you encounter them and don't know how to deal with them). For .zip files use zip and unzip (or pkzip/pkunzip), for .gz files use gzip and for .Z files use compress, which are available for all Operating Systems.

Archival and compression utilities are very handy, but can make it very difficult to 'get' a file and use it when you're on a DOS or VMS system for example you can't type

get filename.tar.Z

You have to type

get filename.tar.Z filename.tz

or something like that and then remember what you have to do to unpack the file, namely first running your version of 'compress' on it and then your version of 'tar'. Remember this when you can't seem to transfer a file. An interesting feature of most ftp servers in use today, is the ability to compress and decompress 'on the fly'. This means that when you want to 'get' a .Z file, but you don't have compress handy, you can type: get filename.Z filename The server will then decompress the file and leave you with a plain, uncompressed file. Most servers support on-line decompression of .Z, .gz and .tar files and even 'get'ting an entire directory with 'get directoryname directoryname.tar'. Note that this can take up a huge amount of space and maybe take ages. Make sure you know what you are doing when trying this.

These are the most common file types (there are zillions more)

SUFFIX      FTP     TYPE

.arc         bin     ARChive (hardly used anymore)
.arj         bin     Arj (mostly MS-DOS)
.gif         bin     Graphics Interchange Format
.gz          bin     GNU Zip (Not compatible with Zip.  Found on some sites as .z files.  GNU zip is seen in combination with tar as .tgz files, maybe even as .tz files)
.hqx         asc     HQX (Mac, Mac equivalent of uuencode)
.jpg         bin     JPEG (graphics format)
.lzh         bin     LHa, LHarc, Larc
.shar        ascii   SHell ARchive (mostly Unix)
.sit         bin     Stuff-It (Mac)
.tar         bin     Tape ARchive (mostly Unix)
.uu          ascii   uuencode/uudecode (also .uue)
.Z           bin     compress (mostly Unix, seen in combination with tar as .tar.Z files)
.zip         bin     Zip (either PKZip or Zip/Unzip)
.zoo         bin     Zoo

To get a list of all file compression/archiving methods and the programs to uncompress/unarchive (on the PC, Mac, Unix, VAX/VMS, VM/CMS, Atari ST and Amiga systems), FTP to the following site and retrieve the listed file:

ftp.cso.uiuc.edu directory: /pub/doc/pcnet/compression

This could be helpful to people new to FTP that don't know how to unpack the file they have just transferred. Also check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Lists and other periodical postings in the news.answers group. Especially the comp.graphics, comp.compression and the different Operating Systems FAQs (Unix, VMS etc.) can be very handy. Most archiver programs are available from garbo.uwasa.fi in either /pc/arcers or /unix/arcers.

Last but not least, for novices to the Internet, I highly recommend a good book, e.g. 'The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog' by Ed Krol. It is written clearly and contains an enormous amount of information. Read it cover to cover, and keep it close at hand. Published by O'Reilly & Asscociates, it is available from many computer bookstores or O'Reilly's worldwide distributors. Contact the publisher at +1 707-829-0515 (USA), or send e-mail to nuts@ora.com for information.

Unfortunately, this book is already outdated, but it still offers an invaluable resource and manual for novices and more experienced Internet users. Apparently there will be a new version of this book somewhere this year, so look out for it. Other books are 'The Internet Companion', 'Internet: Getting Started', 'Internet Unleashed', 'The Internet Guide for New Users' and a lot more. Look for them in your local bookstore.

Almost all of the information in these books is also available on-line through various documents like the MaasInfo files, Zen and the Art of the Internet, The HitchHiker's Guide to the Internet, The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, the on-line version of The.Internet.Companion, the Internet Resource Guide and a whole number of FAQs, RFCs and the like.

The MaasInfo and Big Dummy's Guide files appear to be the most recent of these kind of files (look for info on where to get them in the sitelisting itself or try mailing to netguide@eff.org, that should send you the Big Dummy's Guide in a number of parts).

Another source for information might be the magazine Internet World, from Meckler Corp. (info@mecklermedia.com).

I'm not affiliated with any of the publishers, authors or anyone mentioned above, but I bought some of the books and like them.

Subject: 3. What types of FTP information are available?

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions List about FTP

SITELIST - Comprehensive Information, containing

Site name
Country
Date of last modification
GMT difference (+/-)
Source of last update
Administrative e-mail address
Organization maintaining FTP site, city, state, department if applicable
Other servers if available and instructions for use if applicable (e-mail, FSP, gopher, WWW)
System Type (Operating System, hardware)
Universal Resource Locator (for World Wide Web browsers)
Comments
Types of Files

Note that apart from my ftp-list.zip file, Timo Salmi (ts@uwasa.fi) is maintaining a complementary list of a number of MS-DOS ftp sites. They list some more information on a subset of sites in my SITELIST file. The file is called moder*.zip where * is a version number and it is available from garbo.uwasa.fi in directory /pc/pd2 and ftp.coast.net in directory /pub/msdos/info. Also, Christian Hettler (hettler@ask.uni-karlsruhe.de) is maintaining a list of German FTP sites on ftp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de, directory /pub/info , file: ftp-list-de and Arjan de Vet (devet@iaehv.nl) is maintaining a list of Dutch FTP sites on ftp.iaehv.nl, directory /pub/usenet/nlnet , file: nl-ftp (this one is in Dutch). Russell Vincent (vincent@ucthpx.uct.ac.za) maintains a list of South-African ftp, archie, whois and gopher servers at ftp.uct.ac.za in /pub/archives/faq-sites.txt
Furthermore, there are 2 documents describing anonymous FTP servers in the Czech Republic: http://www.cvut.cz/cesnet/resources/ftp.htm#anon and the Slovac Republic: http://nic.uakom.sk/SANET/hypertext/services.html#ftp
On ftp.urec.fr there's a file called ftp-france-liste, but it doesn't seem to be updated regularly.

Several newsgroups have their own FAQs that contain listings of sites. If you're interested in a particular topic, try looking in the FAQ(s) of the newsgroups related to that topic as well.

Subject: 4. What is the most current version?

Look in the Version: line in the top of this file and compare it to the faq file in ftp-list.zip on garbo.uwasa.fi, ftp.edu.tw or ftp.coast.net. The latest version is always available there.

Subject: 5. Retrieving the list from alternate sources.

Pick it up from anonymous FTP archives; look for 'ftp-list' in the SITELIST file. Be warned, many sites carry Jon Granrose's (sometimes known as ODIN.FTPLIST, pre Jan-92) or Tom Czarniks's old FTP listing (pre Apr-93) and these files are outdated. It will take a while for this version to spread, but the following sites always carry the latest version

Europe
garbo.uwasa.fi as /pc/doc-net/ftp-list.zip
USA
rtfm.mit.edu in the /pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list directory
faq file and sitelist directory (ASCII)
USA
ftp.coast.net as /SimTel/msdos/info/ftp-list.zip
Asia
ftp.edu.tw in /documents/networking/guides/ftp-list
several files in several formats (.Z, .gz, .zip, ASCII, dBase and MS-Access database versions and AmigaGuide Hypertext version)

Admins who would like to mirror the list are welcome to mirror any of the above sites/directories, dependent on what format they like.

send an e-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with no subject and in the body of the message:

send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part2
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part3
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part4
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part5
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part6
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part7
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part8
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part9
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part10
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part11
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part12
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part13
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part14
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part15
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part16
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part17
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part18
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part19
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part20
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part21
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part22
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part23

[apparently * can be used instead of all the parts numbers, but I'll check that out later]

Send me mail: Perry.Rovers@kub.nl. State how you need it sent and I'll get to it you ASAP. Note that this is NOT the preferred method!!! Try one of the above methods first. Thanks to the efforts of Lou Swiczewicz (swicz@acc.rwu.edu) and Dave Thomas (Dave_Thomas@mindlink.bc.ca) there will be made available from ftp.edu.tw a dBase and Microsoft Access database version and a Hypertext AmigaGuide version. The list is also searchable through some gophers, I'm gonna add a list of them at some later date. [I'm currently not sure how these versions are coming along, I'll have to look into that someday. I haven't seen the Amiga Guide version and the Access version is lagging behind. So don't ask me about those versions, because I don't know how they are faring. Check ftp.edu.tw or Aminet sites for them.] I recently tried packftp, by Mark Rinfret (mrr@mrsoft.network23.com), which converts the sitelist to comma-delimited format. It looks great! Be sure to watch comp.archives.msdos.announce for the upload announcement. It will probably include a MS-Access version of the sitelist as well.

Subject: 6. Using FTP without direct Internet access.

It is possible to get files from a site by using a general mail server. Many sites have their own servers. If you're on BITNET, ask your sysadmin or technical support group about BITFTP (or send mail with a body of 'help' (no quotes, and nothing else) to BITFTP@PUCC, BITFTP@PLEARN or BITFTP@DEARN (known on the Internet as bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu, bitftp@plearn.edu.pl and bitftp@vm.gmd.de respectively)

Also, there's a service called TRICKLE, a concentrator of several ftp sites. Through TRICKLE you can retrieve files by e-mail or have them ftped to your own machine or SEND to you. It's also possible to subscribe to directories or files (you can for instance subscribe to the McAfee virusscanner and get it by mail everytime there's a new version). Send e-mail with '/HELP' (no quotes) in the body to trickle@hearn.nic.surfnet.nl or trickle@hearn.bitnet, for more info and a list of other trickle servers.

For non-BITNET sites, try using DEC's mail server. Send mail to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with 'help' (no quotes) in the body of the letter. You should NOT send a blank letter, commands are not optional.

Other servers that might be closer and provide the same service are

ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au (Australia)
ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (Germany)
ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr (France)
ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk (Great Britain)
ftpmail@ieunet.ie (Ireland)
ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu (USA)
ftpmail@ftp.uu.net (USA, message relayed to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com)

Actually, you are urged to use one of the above instead of decwrl.dec.com. That machine is very overloaded as it is the most widely known ftpmailer. So, lift the burden and use (faster!) closer machines!!!

Requests for the ftpmail servers are of the form

open <site> <username> <password>
cd <directory>
dir          # To obtain a directory listing
get <file>   # To retrieve a file
quit

Example
open rtfm.mit.edu anonymous provers@kub.nl
cd /pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list
get faq
quit

NOTE: Please make sure your system admin has approved the the use of a mail server, as files can take system resources of not only your site, but several sites up the stream. And please abide by the guidelines that the ftpmail server administrators have put in their help files. Most ftpmail servers default to their own site for files, so try retrieving things from that site first. In general, most files you need are already available there, so it is a waste to connect to another machine. Also, don't use servers in Y to fetch files from X if you live in X and can use a server in X, e.g. X=Europe, Y=USA. Several servers have stopped providing ftpmail service to other hosts because they were being overloaded by these kind of requests. DON'T DO IT! You ruin a very good service, not only for yourself, but also for numerous other users.

Subject: 7. Problems with a site.

If you are unable to access the site because your computer doesn't seem to be able to 'find' the site (the ftp program returns 'invalid host' or 'unable to resolve hostname' or some similar errormessage), try one of the following ways to see if the name of the site is known:

telnet to the site and see if that works, if it does, there's either no ftp server active at the site or there's a configuration error with your ftp client program. Normally, the errormessage would be something like: 'I/O error on network device' or you do get a connection with the ftp server but it says 'Service not available. Remote service has closed the connection'. Telnet works on all systems, there are some more informative ways however:
try 'nslookup sitename' or 'host sitename' (this usually works on Unix systems) and see what that gives. If they can't find the site, your nameserver (the computer that looks up the addresses of computers) doesn't know the site 'sitename'. You can try again in a couple of minutes if you think it might be a delay between 'sitename' and your machine. If that doesn't help then either your site has a deficient nameserver (ask your local admin to fix it) or the site 'sitename' does not exist.
another program you can try is 'ping', 'traceroute' or 'hopcheck' to see if there is a clear link (or path) to the machine 'sitename'. This is however a bit too technical for the ordinary user.
easy ways to check if the name 'sitename' can be found outside of your domain (in my case kub.nl) is by mailing to one of the following addresses:
- dns@grasp.insa-lyon.fr (put 'ip sitename' (no quotes) in the body or 'help' for an info file. Lots of options available)
- service@nic.ddn.mil (use 'host sitename' as the subject of the message. Also other options, send 'help' as the subject)
- resolve@cs.widener.edu (put 'site sitename' in the body of the message. No other options)
you can try to telnet to nic.ddn.mil 101 and type 'HNAME sitename' (not very reliable it seems to me, but your mileage may vary) or you can telnet to tacom-emh1.army.mil 117

If you can get a connection with the site or if a problem appears while accessing the site or when retrieving a file, mail the problems to the admin address shown in the Sites list. When you report a problem, please be very explicit, i.e. don't write 'I can't get a file' but explain when it happened, what file it was, what system you are using etc. And word your message politely. It's no use to annoy an admin if you want a file from that site. If an admin address is not shown, attempt to use 'ftp@site_name'; replace 'site_name' with the name of the troublesome site. If it's very urgent, try sending a note describing the problem to postmaster@site_name or when the site is a Unix machine: root@site_name and when the site is a VAX/VMS machine: operator@site_name (the postmaster@site_name should be valid in all cases). If that fails, post a note to comp.archives.admin (the newsgroup for archive administrators). I'm going to include a list of common error messages here someday, so you don't have to contact the admin for some common notices you might receive. One of those message is: 'permission denied'. This can mean a few things: either you don't have write rights to the directory where you started 'ftp' from and you're trying to retrieve a file or the file or directory on the remote site has been made unaccessible to you (e.g. a /private directory). The solution to the first possibility is to change to a directory where you are allowed to write files (like your 'home' directory) and the solution to the second possibility is to ask the admin to change the permissions to that file or directory, but you'd better have a good reason to need access to that file or directory. Most of the time those permissions are there for a reason. Other messages will be included at a later date, in the meanwhile, check the helpfiles on your ftp client first if they give you the answer.

Subject: 8. Getting a site listed or changes made.

Send mail to Perry.Rovers@kub.nl Include the information stated below, in the body of the letter.

Needed information

Site name
Site's country of operations, preferably location within country as well
GMT difference (I don't bother with daylight savings and the like)
Manager(s) full name & email address(es) (not made public if you don't want it)
Any aliases you want listed for the site (preferred are ALL aliases that you know, because some people might refer to them. These are just there for completeness sake and to easily spot duplicate entries, NOT for use by anonymous ftp users). Actually, the term alias is misleading because the Site name is mostly an alias and what I list as Alias is mostly the real name.
Administrative address used for FTP related issues by the general public (like ftp@site_name)
Organization operating site, department within the organization
Is an E-mail, FSP, Gopher, WAIS or WWW server available and how can one use it?
Type of system the server is running on (OS, hardware)
Preferred Universal Resource Locator (either ftp://, gopher://, http:// or some other one)
Comments (restrictions and the like if any)
General description of the types of files available, special directories etc.

Please fill in this info completely and don't just mail a sitename. This saves me work and makes the list more complete.

Subject: 9. What is Archie and how does it relate to FTP?

Archie is a special service that keeps file listings from different FTP sites. You can Telnet to an Archie server (login with username 'archie') or use a client program to search for specific files.

Here are some sites; send mail to 'archie@site_name' for a help file. Note that some sites do not support mail access. Most do however.

archie.au*                  139.130.4.6     Australia
archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at* 140.78.3.8      Austria
archie.univie.ac.at*        131.130.1.23    Austria
archie.uqam.ca*             132.208.250.10  Canada
archie.funet.fi             128.214.6.100   Finland
archie.th-darmstadt.de*     130.83.22.60    Germany
archie.ac.il*               132.65.6.15     Israel
archie.unipi.it*            131.114.21.10   Italy
archie.wide.ad.jp           133.4.3.6       Japan
archie.kr*                  128.134.1.1     Korea
archie.sogang.ac.kr*        163.239.1.11    Korea
archie.rediris.es*          130.206.1.2     Spain
archie.luth.se*             130.240.18.4    Sweden
archie.switch.ch*           130.59.1.40     Switzerland
archie.ncu.edu.tw*          140.115.19.24   Taiwan
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk*        146.169.2.10    United Kingdom
archie.unl.edu              129.93.1.14     USA (NE)
archie.internic.net*        198.48.45.10    USA (NJ)
archie.rutgers.edu*         128.6.18.15     USA (NJ)
archie.ans.net*             147.225.1.10    USA (NY)
archie.sura.net*            128.167.254.179 USA (MD)

To get a list, type: telnet archie.ans.net and login as 'archie' (no quotes) and type 'servers' (again, no quotes). Of course you can also try a server somewhat closer but this list is from archie.ans.net To find a file called 'filename' you would type: prog filename at the prompt. There are lots of options available, read the manual with the 'help' command (no quotes). The Archie client programs provide more functionality, tailored to your specific Operating System. Client programs are available by ftp from most archie servers.

Some of you may be wondering, why does the Anonymous FTP Sitelist exist if Archie can find files?

The answer is this: Archie does not work (yet) with non-Unix sites (the number of which will increase substantially the next years with all the new users using PC's and Amiga's etc.) and another problem with Archie is that different servers can provide you with different answers depending on the ftp sites they currently have in their memory. Using a European server you might not be able to find a file in the US, but if you try a US server it's possible that it does find the file(s) you need and vice versa.

If you want your ftp server to be included in the archie database, check the documentation of some of the Archie clients. [I believe the e-mail address for updates is archie-updates@bunyip.com, but haven't checked it yet]

Subject: 10. Using FSP/Gopher/WAIS/WWW to access archives.

Some sites offer retrieval of their FTP archives through Gopher, a browser for the Internet. You can use a so-called Gopher client program to connect to a Gopher server (in this case the Gopher server of the ftp-site). Type 'gopher' on your system to see if Gopher is installed. Most of the time this will bring up a menu system from which you have several choices. Check the help pages for instructions or ask a local system administrator or helpdesk on how to use it.

If Gopher does not appear to be installed, ask your local helpdesk why it isn't. Installing Gopher on your system consists of getting a client program for your Operating System and installing it. You can get client programs for Gopher for several Operating Systems from the boombox.micro.umn.edu ftp site in directory /pub/gopher and from lots of other sites around the world (check the SITELIST file for more sites). Read the Usenet newsgroup comp.infosystems.gopher for more info. If I know that a site supports Gopher (or one of the other services to be mentioned here), this info can be found in the Comments: or Server: line in the SITELIST file.

Other means of retrieving files are through the World Wide Web (WWW or W3) or WAIS. These services are extensions to the 'bare bones' FTP approach and have rapidly become more popular. They are easy to use and if you have the resources you should consider getting a client for either Gopher, WWW or WAIS (or all) from a good ftp site (e.g. ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu for Mosaic, a WWW browser, or ftp.think.com for WAIS browsers. These sites are mirrored around the world, check the sitelist for details). Check the relevant comp.infosystems.* group or/and the sitelist for site addresses of clients and how to install them.

The last option to access an archive to be mentioned here is called FSP (some people say it stands for File Service Protocol, some call it FTP's Sexier Partner and others refer to it as F**cking Software Pirates). FSP has some nice features that FTP doesn't have like 'crash-recovery', the ability to transfer only the part of a file that wasn't transferred before (a la Zmodem). Using FSP means getting yourself a client program and finding FSP sites. A good place to look for clients is on ftp.germany.eu.net and you can ask for sites in alt.comp.fsp (read the FAQ and the FSP docs first). FSP is mostly used to retrieve GIF files in the background (hence the second explanation of the abbreviation) and has been used for setting up 'pirate' sites (sites that distribute commercial software, hence the third explanation). This has given it a somewhat bad name, but the idea is good. More and more admins install FSP servers because it reduces the load on their machine(s). Unfortunately, some of the client programs (notably WinFSP) appear to be buggy.

Subject: 11. How do I stop the listings from scrolling off the screen?

When you're retrieving a directory listing of a large site, it's quite possible that the number of files in a directory is bigger than the number of rows on your screen. The listing then scrolls of your screen. There are several ways to avoid this. You can use 'ls -CF' or 'ls -lF'(no quotes) to get a directory listing like the MS-DOS 'dir/w' command (a 'wide' directory listing). Also, some ftp clients support: 'ls -l "| more"' or 'dir "| more"'.

This seems to differ per site so trying some of the following might help you (note usage of spaces in the above and below examples):

ls -l |more
dir |more
dir -1 |more
Ctrl-S to stop the scrolling, Ctrl-Q to resume scrolling
Alt-Scrolllock to pause the screen and restart it again

These combinations are highly machine specific but probably one of them will work for you. Also, instead of using 'dir' or 'ls' you can try to retrieve an index file first to look at that. Either transfer the file and look at it while you're not connected to the ftp site (by using 'get filename'), transfer the file and look at it while you're connected (by using a 'shell' command, you temporarily leave the ftp client program to look at the file with some editor, 'cat' or 'more', look in the help pages of the ftp client for more info, most of the time it's: !more < filename or something similar) or read the file while you're connected by retrieving it to the screen itself, use:

get filename.idx -(if you're working on a Unix system)
get filename.idx tt(if you're working on a VMS system, tt: for OpenVMS, sys$output should work in both cases)
get filename.idx con (if you're working on a MS-DOS system)

I have no idea what the appropriate parameter for VM/CMS is. Any takers? Be aware that this is very useful for small files but is not very easy for large files (unless you redirect the output to some filter, like 'more'). Also, reading large files while you are connected is not recommended because it keeps the ftp server loaded. Be sensitive and don't overuse this. Get some readme or index files first and read them off-line so you know how the site is organized and where you can find things.

Subject: 12. How do I set up an (Anonymous) FTP server?

I'm not maintaining one, so this is mostly from docs and experience. Any comments or corrections here would be appreciated.

First ask yourself, do I want to do this? It's a potential havoc creator, extra work and can cause serious security problems. Read the following: /pub/usenet/news.answers/computer-security/anonymous-ftp-faq on rtfm.mit.edu and some of the CERT postings in comp.security.announce (backissues available from ftp.cert.org), most notably the warnings for bugs in ftpdaemons. Another intro to the administration of Anonymous FTP Sites can be found at ftp.cs.uni-sb.de as /pub/misc/doc/misc/iafa-wg.Z Also on the WWW.

Setting up a ftpserver basically consists of getting an ftp-daemon running, setting several options and creating appropriate user(s) and directories. Most of the time you have to be 'root' or 'superuser' or 'system' on the system to pull any of this off (excluding those cases where PC users can run a ftpserver program on their machine).

There are several ftpserver programs that can be used. In most cases, the OS installed on your machine will already have a 'ftpd' program (on Unix systems, try 'man ftpd'), provided the system has TCP/IP functionality installed. The programs that come with the OS can be used without too much hassle because they are written for that OS and there are full docs available with the OS manuals (at least, they should be).

A disadvantage is that most factory servers appear to be rather limited [I can't explain the widespread use of other programs otherwise], so you might consider getting a more flexible and portable program like the Washington University of St. Louis ftpd program (or wu-ftpd for short) from ftp.wustl.edu. This version can be compiled on your (Unix)system with the right option and installed in the way the documentation describes (basically, creating the ~/ftp directory, setting some variables, checking some permissions and the existence of files, enabling the server and logging. It appears to be simple enough). The program is very widely used and updated very fast if a bug is found. Also, there's a mailinglist for users of the program. Other ftpserver programs are available from e.g. ftp.funet.fi and some sites are using custom programs.

Server programs are also available for non-Unix systems; for VAX/VMS systems there's the Multinet server (I have no idea if it's commercial or not, I guess so), for OS/2 there's the IBM TCP/IP Kit with a ftpserver program, for MS-Windows there's WinQVT Net, for MS-Windows NT there's probably also a program and for the Mac and the Amiga as well (I don't know where though). Check the 'regular' sites for these OSs for server programs, ask in the appropriate newsgroups (comp.os.*.admin, news.admin.misc, news.misc, after reading the appropriate FAQs of course!) or ask your software dealer.

As a last note, I'd like to emphasize that running a ftpserver means a potential security leak. There have been bugs in the different server programs that enabled unauthorized users to access your machine as normal or even superusers. Read the documentation of the server well and follow the comp.security advisories of the CERT.

When you're ready and have tested the server, you can mail me the addition :-)

Subject: 13. How do I automate ftp sessions?

This is a new section on how to make life easier (when ftping at least). Although not very much directed at newbies it might be interesting for more experienced users. This section is in a *very* experimental stage. For now only a couple of tips, in the upcoming months this section will expand to include more general guidelines. Note: this section will be highly system specific! Not everything might work on your system. Experiment!

VMS

How to put ftp jobs in queues and automate retrieval. Create 2 .COM files with any editor (EVE, EDT, TPU, EMACS) that go something like:

JOB.COM
$ ftp sitename
user anonymous
e-mail@address
lcd localdisk:[users.username]
cd /pub/useful
bin
get useful.zip
quit
$ exit

and

QUEUE.COM
submit job /queue='p1' /after='p2'

Now you can type: @queue sys$batch 18:00 and it will ftp the file useful.zip from site sitename after 18:00 local time. The file will be stored on disk localdisk in directory users.username (if this disk exists of course, it depends on your local situation). The jobs will be put in queue sys$batch (but you can use others, ask your local admin what queues are available).

Unix (all sorts)

You can use programs like ncftp, batchftp and mirror. See the next section on where to get those programs. Also, there's a file called .netrc you can use to specify sitenames, usernames and other parameters for usage by the ftp client program. Try man ftp for more info on that.

The basic format of the .netrc file is something like

machine: <sitename> login: <username> password: <password>

So for e.g. anonymous access to ftp.coast.net you would use machine: ftp.coast.net login: anonymous password: youre-mailaddress

Note that the .netrc file will be used if and only if it contains NO password OR it contains passwords but is not readable by non-owners (i.e. read access must be OFF for group and world, so use chmod g-r o-r .netrc or the numerical equivalent)

This part will be further extended with a sample shell script to be used with the C, bash, Korn, TCSH or whatever shell, depending on what kind of scripts and shells I can lay my hands on or on the scripts that people send in [hint!].

Thanks to Fred Bourgeois for the reminder about .netrc (it keeps slipping my mind that I should it in).

DOS/Windows/NT/OS/2

You might be able to use a DOS client program with parameters like:
ftpbin -h sitename -u anonymous get pub/useful.zip
but since DOS doesn't support background processing it doesn't seem very useful to me. On the other hand, you can use those (batch) files in Windows (not very reliable), OS/2 or Windows NT. The latter two should provide the same functionality as VMS and Unix. I haven't tried it though, since I find VMS and Unix sufficient here. If anyone has good or bad experiences with this I'd like to hear. As far as I know, there are no real queue or batch ftp programs for these OSs. There are numerous clients, but they rely on active users. For client programs, check the usual OS/2, NT or Windows (winsock) sites.

Others: (VM/CMS, Mac etc.) I'm not (very) familiar with other Operating Systems. For the Mac there's Fetch, a client like WS_FTP. Very nice, but I don't think it has queue/batch possibilities (apart from being able to select a batch of files).

Subject: 14. URL's of the interesting things mentioned in this text

This part of the FAQ list provides URL's (Universal Resource Locators, or Uniform Resource Locators) to be used with a WWW (World Wide Web) browser like Mosaic. By clicking on the lines below you'll supposedly retrieve the file mentioned there. [not tested yet, so don't rely on any of this stuff, it's included here for testing. Feedback appreciated]