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Kermit is a robust transport-independent file-transfer protocol and a large collection of software programs that implement it on a wide variety of platforms. In addition to file transfer, many of these programs also make network, dialed, and/or serial-port connections and also offer features such as terminal emulation, character-set conversion, and scripting for automation of any communication or file-management task. The Kermit Project originated at Columbia University in New York City in 1981 and remained there for 30 years. Since 2011 it is independent. CLICK HERE for a longer explanation.

News:

See News for other items.

Kermit programs currently in use

   Hosted at kermitproject.org

All of these are written in the C programming language, with source code available.

Program	Operating systems
C-Kermit	Unix, VMS
Terminal sessions, file transfer, character-set conversion, scripting. Makes serial and TCP/IP network connections, including secure ones. Unix is the operating system family that includes Linux, Mac OS X, Android, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and hundreds of others. C-Kermit 9.0 and later has a BSD license. Prebuilt C-Kermit binarires for over 700 platforms 1985-2011 are archived at the Columbia University Kermit website; CLICK HERE for access.
G-Kermit	Unix
File transfer only, does not make connections*. GNU Public License.
E-Kermit	None/Any
For embedding in devices that might not have an operating system. File transfer only. Programming is required for adaptation to a given device. Extremely small and compact. BSD license.
Kermit 95	Windows, OS/2
Terminal emulation, file transfer, character-set conversion, scripting. Makes serial and TCP/IP network connections, including secure ones. Proprietary, but the source code is Open Source BSD license; Windows programmers needed to produce a free version suitable for general release.

*

“Does not make connections” means that this Kermit program is used only on the "far end" of a data connection. For example, if you have a PC on your desk with Windows and Kermit 95, or with Linux and C-Kermit, you can make a connection (direct serial, or dialed with a modem, or Telnet, or SSH) to another (remote) computer, and you can use G-Kermit or E-Kermit (or C-Kermit) on the remote computer to transfer a file with your local computer (the PC in the case) using Kermit protocol [see diagram].

New Open-Source Kermit Project website

Welcome to the new Open Source Kermit Project website at kermitproject.org, also known as kermitsoftware.org, hosted by Panix.com Public Access Networks Corporation in New York City. It houses only the active open-source Kermit software versions: C-Kermit, E-Kermit, and Kermit 95, plus any new or updated Kermit programs that might appear later. Kermit software for older platforms (such as MS-DOS or IBM Mainframes, to name only two) remains available on the Columbia University Kermit website, which was frozen in 2011 and will not change.

The historical Kermit software archive — the one that contains all the Kermit programs and files from 1981 to August 2011 — is at Columbia University: about 150 different programs, covering thousands of hardware-OS-version combinations, in 36 different programming languages and many more dialects. The archive page indicated just below links mostly to Columbia, but also links to some newer items that are here:

Kermit Software Archive 1981-2016: http://kermitproject.org/archive.html

Here's the layout of the new Kermit software FTP site:

New Kermit Project FTP Site Map

Area	Mode	FTP URL
C-Kermit Source Code	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/ckermit
E-Kermit Source Code	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/ekermit
G-Kermit Source Code	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/gkermit
Kermit 95 Source Code	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/kermit95
Kermit Script Library	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/scripts
Tar and Zip Archives	binary	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/archives
Test and Development Source Code	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/test/text
Test and Development Tar and Zip Archives	binary	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/test/tar
PDF and PostScript Files	binary	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/pdf
Plain-Text Documents	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/etc
Updated historic Kermit versions	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/historic
Columbia MM email client	text	ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/mm

Tar and Zip archives in the archive directory are also available individually via HTTP links in the Download section of each program page (for example, here), for the benefit of those who have FTP blocked. In fact, any Kermit Project FTP URL can be converted into an HTTP URL as follows:

Change green to blue and add red: ftp://ftp.kermitproject.org/kermit/directory/filename http://www.kermitproject.org/ftp/kermit/directory/filename

The reason FTP is offered at all is that following an FTP link into a directory shows you all the files and lets you look at or download each one individually, whereas you can't get a file list with HTTP. Also, when using a command-line FTP client (such as C-Kermit), you get a lot more control than you do with HTTP.

In July 2014, Columbia University changed its FTP service in such a way as to break all FTP links to files at Columbia, of which there were more than 5000 in the Columbia University Kermit Project pages. The links in the Kermit Software Archive were updated, but none of the others. If you follow an FTP link from a Columbia page and it doesn't work, please try the corresponding page at this site, e.g. the C-Kermit Binaries page.

My thanks to Panix Public Access Networks Corporation on behalf of the open source community and Kermit software users and developers for hosting this new site. —Frank da Cruz, fdc@kermitproject.org

[about translations]    Note: Some of these might have disappeared.

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The New Open-Source Kermit Project hosted by Panix.com / Created: 1 September 2011 / Most recent update:  4 September 2019