IBM Mainframe Kermit
Kermit-370 is a family of programs implementing the Kermit file transfer
protocol for IBM 370-series mainframes (System/370, 303x, 43xx, 308x, 3090,
System/390, etc.) under a variety of operating systems. Kermit-370 operates
over asynchronous ASCII communication lines attached to a 3705-style or
protocol-enveloping 3708 front end ("TTY" or line-mode devices), to a
Series/1 or 4994 running the Yale ASCII Terminal Communication System or the
IBM 7171 ASCII Device Control Unit or a 9370 with ASCII subsystem ("SERIES1"
devices), to the IBM 3174 protocol converter at level B2.0 or higher ("AEA"
devices), or to front-ends with graphics pass-through mode, such as the
Datastream/Leedata 8010 and PCI 1076 ("GRAPHICS" devices). It can also be
used to transfer files over incoming TELNET (linemode) or TN3270 (fullscreen)
connections.
Kermit-370 is written in IBM 370 assembly language and is compatible with the
F, VS, and H assemblers. The Kermit protocol implementation is among the most
advanced available, lacking only sliding windows due the half-duplex nature of
IBM mainframe communications, but including a vast array character-set
translations between EBCDIC Country Extended Code Pages and the international
standard character sets used by Kermit protocol "on the wire".
Kermit-370 4.3.2 for IBM Mainframes with VM/CMS, MVS/TSO, OS/390,
CICS, or MUSIC was released on 16 December 1997. Its major new
features are:
- Year-2000 compatibility.
- Support for autodownloads and autouploads.
- REGET command added (like RESEND, but in the other direction)
- "Who Am I" protocol added.
- CD to PDS now supported under TSO.
- Various minor fixes.
Kermit-370 4.3.3 for IBM Mainframes with MVS/TSO was released
on 12 February 1999. This is a minor update for TSO only, that corrects a
TSO-specific bug regarding choice of modification vs creation date when
getting file dates for partitioned datasets.
IBM Mainframe Kermit is available on
9-track tape in the Kermit Software Catalog.
It may also be obtained via anonymous ftp from the
kermit/b directory:
- The ik0*.* files are OS-independent and are needed for all versions.
- The ikc*.* files are specific to VM/CMS.
- The ikt*.* files are specific to MVS/TSO (or OS/390).
- The ikx*.* files are specific to CICS.
- The ikm*.* files are specific to MUSIC.
NOTE: FTP links to the files themselves are not provided here since most Web
browsers do not support links to file groups. Furthermore, the files must be
transferred in text (ASCII) mode, a function also not commonly supported byWeb browsers.
- For VM/CMS
- Files ik0*.* and ikc*.*.
Manual: ikcker.doc (plain text),
ikcker.ps (PostScript),
ikcker.pdf (PDF).
- For MVS/TSO (including ROSCO) or OS/390
- Files ik0*.* and ikt*.* (add ikr*.* for ROSCOE).
Manual: iktker.doc (plain text),
iktker.ps (PostScript),
iktker.pdf (PDF).
- For CICS
- Files ik0*.* and ikx*.*.
Manual: ikxker.doc (plain text),
ikxker.ps
(PostScript),
ikxker.pdf
(PDF).
- For MUSIC
- Files ik0*.* and ikm*.*.
Manual: ikmker.doc (plain text),
ikmker.ps (PostScript),
ikmker.pdf (PDF).
NOTE: The *.doc files listed above are plain text, not Microsoft
word documents, and must be transferred in text (ASCII) mode, not binary mode.
For further information see:
- The
ik0aaa.hlp
file for a general overview.
- The ik?ker.ins file for your platform (e.g.
ikcker.ins
for CMS) for installation instructions.
- The ik?ker.bwr file for your platform (e.g.
ikcker.bwr
for CMS) for hints and tips, as well as update instructions.
The 4.3.2 upgrade is in the form of "update" (.upd) files kept with
the regular files. Apply them as updates to your current version (4.3.0 or
later) by replacing your current update files with the new ones and rebuilding:
IBM Mainframe Kermit / Columbia University / kermit@kermitproject.org / 12 Feb 1999
Updated 7 Jan 2006 (PDF versions of manual chapters)