Kermit Turns 45: First New C-Kermit Release in 15 Years
Celebrating 45 Years of Kermit with the First New C-Kermit Release in 15 Years
After 15 years, C-Kermit gets a major update. The maintainer dove into the decades-old C codebase, fixing security issues, adding IPv6 support, and modernizing the build. The new release includes nearly 2000 tests, compatibility checks, and a dedication to Frank da Cruz, who led the project for 44 years.
As we start to spend a lot of time in the Kermit codebase, we do so standing on the shoulders of a giant.
- jonathaneunice
I complied Kermit for IBM's AIX in ~1989 as a study in "how compatible is AIX to other Unixes?" Kermit source code remains the high-water mark in my memory for how many different, incompatible, non-standard platforms one piece of software can support. More than even Unix itself, as it could also run on VMS and non-Unixes of the time. I have never in my life seen so many `#ifdef`s and such complicated "Am I running on this platform or that one? Does it have this feature or that feature? No, what about this other one? Is it HP-UX maybe? HP-UX 6? No, 7? No, 8? No, what about VMS? No, how about SunOS? No, how about Unix System III?" ...on and on, seemingly endlessly.
Kermit was an extraordinary monument to portability in an era when "portable" often meant "we have individually accommodated every incompatible system anyone has ever built or might possibly still be using, however improbably."
- chipotle_coyote
I remember mostly ignoring Kermit back in my BBSing days; by the time "SuperKermit" came along, which could get performance competitive with ZMODEM, it alreayd seemed ancient.
Then, around 1991, a friend gave me access to his college Unix account so I could play with Gopher, Archie, and TinyFugue (the world of MUDs/MUCKs/etc.). The catch: to get to his account from my home machine, I had to call into a Florida state network that let you dial in and connect to machines on various college campuses. The network ran on some IBM minicomputer. And, it didn't connect to the Unix machine, oh no. It connected to a VAX, which was then on the same local network as the Unix machine.
So I had to dial in to the IBM machine, connect from it to a VAX, and then telnet from the VAX to the Unix box.
Incredibly, this all worked with only mildly annoying lag...but then I tried to transfer a file from the Unix machine to my personal machine. ZMODEM didn't work. XMODEM didn't work. I think I tried one or two other things that I've forgotten.
Then I remembered Kermit, and its reputation for being able to handle difficult connections. It got the file through on its first try.
- compiler-guy
Bill Catchings (the undergrad who helped Frank da Cruz with the original spec and coding) still blogs. It has been a while since he spoke specifically about kermit, but he has one or two interesting posts about the 40th anniversary of Kermit.
https://www.billcatchings.com/2012/04/frog-from-my-past.html
https://www.billcatchings.com/2013/11/kermit-oral-history-pa...
and here is a link to the oral history he discusses:
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10274641...
- donflamenco
One cool feature is that you can use C-Kermit to do inline file transfers over the open SSH session. It doesn't work over a terminal muxer like screen/tmux, but it is pretty useful for a quick way to transfer files between the client and the remote host.
The remote host just needs kermit or zmodem (sz/rz), since at least K95 supported zmodem also.
There are paid for SSH clients (SecureCRT) that has the feature with Zmodem. Nice to have it on free software.
- rickydroll
Good Lord. That takes me back. I ported Kermit to the Computervision CGOS environment. It was very popular in the user community. Internally, it was used to transfer files between systems over the terminal concentrator when you didn't want to walk down to the machine room, scavenge a mag tape, and put up with FUTIL.