To: wermit-l@wkuvx1.wku.edu Subject: C-Kermit 6.1 Alpha.11 And Now, New For 1998, C-Kermit 6.1.193 Alpha.11. Still a closed Alpha, like last time, but no big functional changes this time; mainly just bug fixes (or making features work that never worked before), especially in VMS. A few new people have been added to the mailing list (see notes at the end about how to find out what happened in previous Alphas). We're getting close to Beta stage, I think, so if you find any bugs, don't tell me (that's a joke!) GENERAL CHANGES SINCE ALPHA.10 (20 Dec 1997) . Added: /CONNECT and /SERVER switches for SET LINE and SET HOST. . Added: Full help for command-line options (HELP OPTIONS). . Added: X.25 connections now automatically set the reliable flag. . Added: Display of remote filename in CRT and SERIAL file-transfer displays. . Added: Missing entries in ckcplm.doc (program logic manual). . Added: Cross references from SHOW FILE to other relevant commands. . Fixed: SWITCH with no matching label and no ":default" label. . Fixed: Program exit status code when file transfer fails (again). . Fixed: \frandom(0) to behave as advertised. Also \frand(-anything). . Fixed: An unguarded use of nonportable memcpy() in ckcnet.c. . Fixed: SHOW PATTERNS screen formatting. . Fixed: Evaluation of \v(filename) when using a receive filter. . Fixed: Conflicts between filename patterns and transfer pipes or filters. . Fixed: IRIX 6.2 and 6.4 makefile entry optimization (Ric Anderson). . Fixed: Various typos and missing or misplaced #ifdefs. . Removed: Per-character entries in the debug log -- too much! . Changed: Floating point type from float to double except on DEC Alpha. . Documented: How to use OUTPUT command on echoplex connections: ckermit.bwr. . Updated: SHOW FEATURES. . Updated: ckermit2.upd, ckermit.bwr, ckcplm.doc files. . Updated: Copyrights to 1998. SET LINE (or HOST or PORT) /SERVER enters server mode after the SET LINE (or HOST or PORT) command completes; handy for setting up "set host *" (i.e. incoming) connections. Similary /CONNECT, except enters terminal mode. Details in ckermit2.upd, Section 2.0. UNIX-SPECIFIC CHANGES . Fixed: Non-streaming transfers in SCO. . Fixed: Non-streaming transfers in Digital UNIX on Alpha. . Fixed: High-precision timers in Digital UNIX on Alpha. . Fixed: Format for recording Kermit packets in debug.log. . Fixed: SET HANDSHAKE; if it ever worked, it was only by accident. . Fixed: Setting of Delete bit in Generic Protection in Attribute packet. . Fixed: Setting non-Owner permissions when using Generic Protection. . Updated: bgcc (bounds-checking gcc) makefile entry from William Bader. . Updated: ckuker.nr (man page), ckuker.bwr file Open UNIX issues: New ones: . Reportedly C-Kermit can halt AIX 4.1.4 or 4.2.x? . C-Kermit not building on FreeBSD 2.2.5 because "_xstr" undefined. Old ones: . I need an IRIX 6.2 or later O-Class machine to build on. . Orphaned CONNECT forks reported in HP-UX (no news since last time). . HP-UX 10.x version doesn't pop back to prompt if carrier drops on cua0p0 device; as far as I can tell, it never did, even though most other SVR4-based versions do and HP-UX 10.x shares the same code. . Still no C-Kermit 6.1 version for the BeBox. . This version not yet checked out in Plan 9 (and when it is, that would be a good opportunity to add TCP/IP support). VMS-SPECIFIC CHANGES . Added: SET HOST * -- listen for incoming TCP connections. . Added: /SHARE and /NOSHARE switches for SET LINE (for DECIntact). . Added: High-precision (floating point) file-transfer timers. . Added: Sending and setting of file protection during file transfer. . Added: \v(pid) for VMS (watch out, it's decimal, use \fn2hex() to hexify). . Added: C-Kermit now sets its process name for VMS SHOW SYSTEM, etc. . Fixed: SET CARRIER-WATCH (this time for real, I hope!). . Fixed: Turning off broadcast (breakthru) messages during CONNECT. . Fixed: As-name ignored in GET and RECEIVE commands for Labeled transfers. . Fixed: Warning that connection was still open after it was closed. . Fixed: Broken SET LINE TTxx:, SET LINE, SET LINE TTyy: sequence. . Updated: The ckvker.bwr file. Yes, VMS got most of the attention this time. SET HOST * lets you set up C-Kermit to wait for incoming TCP connections (the UNIX version has had this since 6.0). That is, other Kermit programs can use "set host" to connect the waiting copy of C-Kermit. This is handy for client/server sessions (and, by the way, file transfers are a lot faster this way not only because the Telnet server / pty overhead is eliminated, but also because in this case streaming (announced in Alpha.10) is activated automatically), and for chat sessions, etc, but contrary to what some might expect, it is not a Telnet server -- it doesn't give the caller a DCL prompt (that's what your Telnet server is for). Those of you who were having trouble using C-Kermit for remote-mode file transfers under DECIntact (and maybe also ALL-IN-1?), try this: C-Kermit> set line /share ; (or "set line /share tt:") If you include /SHARE, then your VMS SHARE privilege (if you have it) is enabled when assigning the device. If you include /NOSHARE (and this is the default), your VMS SHARE privilege is disabled for the assign, which prevents two people from using the same terminal device at once. Details in ckermit2.upd, Section 2.0. The fullscreen file-transfer display and the STATISTICS command now gives more accurate elapsed-time and characters-per-second numbers, due to our new use of high-precision (subsecond) timers internally (there were some tricky VAX-vs-Alpha differences here...) SET CARRIER-WATCH now behaves more or less as it should, I hope, on terminal devices that have the /MODEM characteristic. Communications-oriented commands like CONNECT, SEND, GET, INPUT, etc, will fail immediately if the device does not present carrier but CARRIER-WATCH is ON, and they will not fail (at least not due to lack of carrier) if CARRIER-WATCH is OFF. DIAL, of course, works without carrier, no matter what the CARRIER-WATCH setting. Execution of a communications-oriented command will stop if carrier drops and CARRIER-WATCH is not OFF, and won't stop if it is OFF; in this case we simply ignore the SS$_HANGUP indication from VMS. File protections are now sent in and set from Kermit Attribute packets in VMS-to-VMS transfers as well as VMS-to-UNIX and UNIX-to-VMS transfers. Details in ckermit2.upd, Section 4.4. If you want to see who's running C-Kermit (and which version of C-Kermit) on your VMS system or cluster (provided they're running this one or later), you'll now see it in the VMS SHOW SYSTEM display (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...) Open VMS issues: New ones: . I don't have access to Alpha VMS 6.x any more, can't make binaries, sorry. Old ones: . Inability to transfer certain types of files that Kermit-32 can transfer. . Inability to create or CD to a directory when the directory specification includes a DECnet node. WHERE TO FIND IT C-Kermit 6.1.193 Alpha.10 is in the usual places for C-Kermit test versions, along with early drafts of all the update documentation, etc: ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/test/tar/ cku193src.tar.Z Source code (UNIX and VMS), tar, UNIX compress cku193src.tar.gz Source code (UNIX and VMS), tar, gzipped cku193txt.tar.Z Other text files, tar, UNIX compress cku193txt.tar.gz Other text files, tar, gzipped ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/test/text/ Individual source and text files for these and other platforms: AOS/VS, Stratus VOS, etc etc. Among the interesting text files: ckermit2.upd -- Detailed documentation of new features since 6.0. ckaaaa.hlp -- Overview of files, file naming conventions, etc. ckc193.upd -- Program edit history since 6.0. ckuins.doc -- UNIX installation instructions. ckvins.doc -- VMS installation instructions. ckvker.bwr -- VMS C-Kermit "beware file" (hints and tips). ckuker.bwr -- UNIX C-Kermit beware file. ckcplm.doc -- Program logic manual, API definition, etc. ckccfg.doc -- Program configuration options. alpha*.txt -- Announcements of each Alpha test. INDIVIDUAL ALPHA.11 BINARIES: The binaries marked with (*) are Alpha.10, transferred using itself (in streaming mode this time) to the Kermit ftp site; the others are mostly Alpha.10 or earlier (built at sites I can't reach any more or that have since been upgraded to newer OS versions, etc): ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/test/bin/ * ckdker-aosvsii.pr: DG AOS/VS-II * ckuker.bsd44c-hp9000_300 HP-9000/300 4.4BSD-Lite ckuker.bsdi2-2.1 PC, BSDI 2.1 ckuker.bsdi2-3.0 PC, BSDI 3.0 * ckuker.bsdi2-3.1 PC, BSDI 3.1 * ckuker.du32 DEC Alpha Digital UNIX 3.2 * ckuker.du40 DEC Alpha Digital UNIX 4.0 ckuker.hpux500wintcp HP-9000/550 HP-UX 5.21 + TWG-TCP/IP 1.2 * ckuker.hpux80c-hp9000_385 HP-9000/385 HP-UX 8.00 (not optimized) * ckuker.hpux80oc-hp9000_385 HP-9000/385 HP-UX 8.00 (optimized) * ckuker.hpux90o700 HP-9000/712 HP-UX 9.05 * ckuker.hpux100o-10.20 HP-9000/715 HP-UX 10.20 * ckuker.irix51-5.3 SGI IRIX 5.3 * ckuker.irix60-6.2 SGI IRIX 6.2 * ckuker.irix62-6.2 SGI IRIX 6.2 (**) * ckuker.linux-1.2.13-i386 PC, Red Hat Linux 1.2.13 * ckuker.next-3.1-mc68040 NeXT 68040 NeXTSTEP 3.1 * ckuker.qnx16 QNX 4.24 16-bit * ckuker.qnx32 QNX 4.24 32-bit * ckuker.rs6aix41c IBM RS/6000 AIX 4.1 * ckuker.sco32v504net PC, SCO OpenServer 5.0.4 * ckuker.sinix542-5.42-mips SNI SINIX 5.4.2 MIPS (RM200) * ckuker.solaris2x-2.4-sparc Sun Sparc, Solaris 2.4 * ckuker.solaris2x25-2.4-sparc Sun Sparc, Solaris 2.4 + SunLink X.25 * ckuker.solaris25-2.5.1-sparc Sun Sparc, Solaris 2.5.1 ckuker.solaris25-2.6-sparc Sun Sparc, Solaris 2.6 * ckuker.sunos41c-4.1.3-sparc Sun Sparc, SunOS 4.1.3_U1 * ckuker.ultrix42c-4.3-mips DECstation 5000, Ultrix 4.3 * ckuker.unixware2-2.1.1 PC, Unixware 2.1.1 * ckuker.unixware2-2.1.2 PC, Unixware 2.1.2 ckvaker-vms62-nonet.exe: Alpha CPU, VMS 6.2, no TCP/IP ckvaker-vms62-tgv40a.exe: Alpha CPU, VMS 6.2, MultiNet 4.0A * ckvaker-vms71-nonet.exe: Alpha CPU, VMS 7.1, no TCP/IP * ckvaker-vms71-tgv40b.exe: Alpha CPU, VMS 7.1, MultiNet 4.0B * ckvvker-vms55-nonet.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 5.5-2, no TCP/IP * ckvvker-vms55-ucx20.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 5.5-2, UCX 2.0 * ckvvker-vms61-nonet.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 6.1, no TCP/IP * ckvvker-vms61-tgv40a.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 6.1, MultiNet 4.0AX * ckvvker-vms71-nonet.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 7.1, no TCP/IP * ckvvker-vms71-tgv40b.exe: VAX CPU, VMS 7.1, MultiNet 4.0B (**) The IRIX 6.2 version that I built on IRIX 6.2 does not support high serial speeds because it was not built on an O-Class machine; the header files did contain definitions for the higher speeds. I'd be glad to do more of these myself and spare you the trouble -- for that I'd need guest IDs on systems or configurations not listed above, to which I can Telnet from here, and which have the necessary C compilers, header files, & libraries. C-Kermit 6.1 has not yet been checked out in OS-9, Atari ST, or Macintosh -- volunteers? (But VOS and Amiga work is in progress.) Thanks to all of you for your help with & comments on this version so far! Please continue to beat on it and send any bug reports straight to me. If you do succeed in building it on a platform not listed above, please let me know the details (machine make & model, OS and version, separate TCP/IP product, if any, and the size (in bytes) of the resulting executable (for addition to the table at the end of the ckc193.upd file). And if you have trouble, of course, let me know about that too. - Frank P.S. And also let me know if you want off this mailing list.