Announcing Kermit 95 1.1.16

[Frank da Cruz]

This is to announce Kermit 95 version 1.1.16, a rather major new release
of Columbia University's communications software for Windows 95/98, Windows
NT, and OS/2. It is available as a no-cost upgrade to registered users of
previous versions of Kermit 95, as a patch:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95patch.html

An overview of Kermit 95, including specifications and licensing options,
can be found at:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW RELEASE

. Kerberos(TM) and SRP(TM) authentication for Telnet connections.
. DES and CAST encrypted Telnet connections (requires additional patch).
. Faster echoing in the Terminal screen.
. Works better with speech and Braille devices.
. Linux Console emulation added.
. File transfer and terminal emulation performance improvements.
. Transfer of directory trees.
. Automatic per-file text/binary transfer-mode switching.
. Improved performance with Winframe / Winterm.

OVERVIEW OF HIGHLIGHTS

1. Internet Security

Kermit 95 now offers secure Telnet connections. This means:

. Secure authentication of client to host and host to client.
. Fully encrypted sessions (USA and Canada only).

Secure authentication means that passwords are not transmitted over the
communications connection, not even in encrypted form. Thus passwords can
not be stolen by eavesdroppers in either online or offline attacks.

Encryption is available in the USA and Canada only. Encryption/decryption
software is restricted from export, except to Canada, by USA law.
Encryption capability is delivered separately as a patch to Kermit 95
1.1.16. The patch is available in the USA and Canada only.

Two authentication schemes are offered:

1. MIT's Kerberos(TM). Both Kerberos IV and Kerberos V are supported.
2. Stanford University's Secure Remote Password (SRP)(TM) protocol.

Once authentication is successful, your entire Telnet session can be
encrypted if encryption is successfully negotiated with the Telnet server.
This means that all interactions with the host -- Terminal emulation, file
transfer, and scripting -- are encrypted.

2. Performance Improvements

Terminal emulation and file transfer on serial as well as network
connections should be faster in all cases. Echoing has been improved,
especially on serial connections, but also on certain kinds of network
connections. File transfer is faster too, not only because of improvements
in low-level i/o, but also by addition of a new protocol feature called
"streaming", which can be used on reliable connections (such as Telnet and
Rlogin). Streaming requires a compatible Kermit program on the other end.
These include K-95 1.1.16, C-Kermit 6.1, and MS-DOS Kermit. The latter two
are in Beta test and will be released soon. Local measurements show that
streaming transfers of large precompressed (i.e. uncompressible) files
between K95 1.1.16 and C-Kermit 6.1 on local 10Mbps Ethernet at 600,000 cps;
other testers report 800,000 cps. Your mileage may vary, depending on
various bottlenecks.

3. Transferring Directory Trees

It is now possible, for the first time, to perform "recursive" file
transfers, in which all of the files in a particular directory are
transferred, as well as all the files in all the subdirectories of that
directory, and all the files in all the subdirectories of the
subdirectories, etc. This option, too, requires K-95 1.1.16, C-Kermit 6.1,
or MS-DOS Kermit 3.16 on the other end.

For recursive file transfer to work, a new method for switching between
text and binary mode on a per-file basis was required. This mechanism, of
course, can be used for all kinds of transfers, not only recursive ones. It
involves specification of a list of filename patterns to be matched for
text mode, and another list to be matched for binary mode. The commands
are:

set file binary-patterns list-of-patterns
set file text-patterns list-of-patterns
add binary-patterns list-of-patterns
add text-patterns list-of-patterns
remove binary-patterns list-of-patterns
remove text-patterns list-of-patterns
show patterns

A reasonably comprehensive set of text and binary patterns is configured by
default; use "show patterns" to see them.

4. New Screen Update Method

K95 now performs its own internal optimization of screen updates. This
should have at least three benefits:

1. K95 should now work "out of the box", transparently, with any screen
reader or Braille device that handles Console windows. Previously it
worked only with those that could cope with periodic screen repaints.

2. K95 should now perform acceptably when used over a Winframe / Winterm,
Hydra, pcAnywhere, or similar kind of connection.

3. Screen updates should be faster and more flicker-free on video
adapters that do not perform their own optimization.

The following sections present a comprehensive listing of the new features
and bug fixes, arranged by category.

NEW FEATURES

General:
. New REDO command finds and reexecutes a previous command.
. HELP OPTIONS describes command-line options.
. DELETE command now has /VERBOSE and /QUIET switches.
. K95 easier to call from other programs.

Communication:
. Kerberos IV and V ticket getting and management.
. Kerberos IV and V authentication on Telnet connections.
. DES and CAST strong encryption for Telnet connections (requires
additional patch)
. Stanford University's Secure Remote Password authentication for Telnet.
. Reverse DNS lookups performed on the IP address to retrieve real name
of remote host (e.g. when connecting to pooled hostnames), plus new
SET TCP REVERSE-DNS-LOOKUP { ON, OFF } command to enable/disable this.
. New ability to select from multiple network adapters.
. More TELNET option negotiations added: LOGOUT, XDISPLOC, ...
. Bigger buffers and numerous internal speedups.
. New CLOSE [ CONNECTION ] command (as in Telnet and FTP).
. New SET { LINE, HOST } switches, /CONNECT and /SERVER.
. DIAL completion message now shows entire modem CONNECT message, and
other improvements in DIAL progress messages.
. SET MODEM COMMAND <action> {} now disables sending of command for <action>.

Terminal Emulation:
. Faster echoing.
. Linux Console emulation.
. Word Perfect keyboard mode.
. New support for Cyrillic code pages 855 and 856.
. Recognition of escape sequence to invoke PRODUCT macro.
. SET TERM KEY /LITERAL to disable character-set translation of a
key definition on a per-key basis.
. SHOW KEY now tells if MSKERMIT KEYCODES are in use.

File Transfer:
. New Kermit fast streaming protocol for use on reliable connections.
. It is now possible to "unprefix" the NUL character (ASCII 0).
. Fast transfer settings negotiated automatically when both Kermits know
they have a TCP/IP connection.
. Internal microtuning for faster Kermit transfers.
. SET { SEND, RECEIVE } PATHNAMES { ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE }.
. Recursive directory traversal for sending directory trees.
. GET /RECURSIVE to request a directory tree from a server.
. Automatic directory creation when receiving directory trees.
. GET /DELETE /RECURSIVE to "move" a directory tree from server to client.
. SET FILE PATTERNS to specify text and binary filename patterns for
automatic text/binary transfer-mode switching when sending.
. SEND /MOVE-TO: moves a file to another directory after successful transfer.
. SEND /RENAME-TO: renames a file after successful transfer.
. SEND /LIST:<name-of-file-containing-list-of-files-to-send>.
. New WHERE command: "Where did my file go???"
. Increased accuracy of file-transfer throughput statistics.
. STATISTICS display is now brief but verbose display can be requested.
. Peak CPS now included in statistics.
. Numerous fixes to the fullscreen file transfer display.
. New "brief" file transfer display option - one line per file.
. New Transaction log option to create records for database or spreadsheet.
. Automatic draining of queued-up incoming packets after sending Error packet.
. /BINARY and /TEXT switches now override all other text/binary decisions.
. Better detection of connection loss before or during file transfer.
. Nagle algorithm turned off during file transfer on TCP/IP connections.
. SET { SEND, RECEIVE } NEGOTIATION-STRING-MAX-LENGTH <number>.
. New SET TRANSMIT TIMEOUT <sec> to specify echo/prompt reading timeout.

Client/Server:
. REMOTE MKDIR and REMOTE RMDIR to create and remove directories on server.
. ENABLE / DISABLE { MKDIR, RMDIR } added to server.
. New REMOTE SET TRANSFER MODE { AUTOMATIC, MANUAL } command.
. Improved server response to REMOTE HELP.

Script Programming:
. New functions for getting recursive file lists.
. New functions for getting flat and recursive directory lists.
. New, more natural syntax for assigning values to variables.
. A way to make scripts uninterruptible.
. Automatic (local) arrays.
. No more need to copy file lists obtained from functions before use.
. SET OUTPUT SPECIAL-ESCAPES (like \N, \B, \L) { ON, OFF }.
. IF ABSOLUTE <filename> <command>.
. SHOW MACRO is more flexible and helpful.
. EXIT <exit-code> <message>: New <message> field added.
. SET FUNCTION DIAGNOSTICS { ON, OFF } to diagnose function-call errors.
. SET FUNCTION ERROR { ON, OFF } to specify treatment of function-call errors.
. \%* now shows entire argument string.
. \&_[] now holds all macro args even if more than 10.
. SET INPUT CANCELLATION { ON, OFF } to prevent keyboard cancellation of INPUT
. Internal representation of pathnames, e.g. in variables, now uses / rather
than \ as directory separator to avoid conflict with parser.
. \v(ipaddr) now evaluated even if a TCP/IP connection is not present
. REMOTE QUERY KERMIT function(\%a) now evaluates \%a locally.
. Kerberos ticket management commands, conditionals, and functions.

Dialer:
. New site-specific connections database DIALORG.DAT
. Menu items for frequently accessed Kermit Project web pages
. New TCP/IP page in entry notebooks
. Configuration of editor, FTP client, and browser

New variables:
. \v(printer) - Current printer name.
. \v(escape) - ASCII value of current CONNECT-mode escape character.
. \v(intime) - Number of milliseconds for INPUT to find its match.
. \v(krb...) - Kerberos-related variables.
. \v(osname) - Operating system name.
. \v(osrelease) The release of the operating system.
. \v(name) - The name that Kermit 95 was invoked with.

New functions:
. \frandom(max) - Random number between 0 and max.
. \fdirname(filespec) - Directory part of filespec.
. \frfiles(wildcard) - Recursive file list.
. \fdirectories(wildcard) - Directory list.
. \frdirectories(wildcard) - Recursive Directory list.
. \fword(s,n,...) - nth word from string s.
. \fsplit(s,&a,...) - Split words of string s into array \&a[].
. \fdimension(&a) - Dimension of array \&a[].
. \ferrstring(n) - System error message for code n.
. \fkrb...() - Kerberos-related functions.

New command-line options:
. -G: get file and write it to standard output.
. -L: recursive directory traversal when sending.
. -V: = SET FILE NAMES LITERAL, SET FILE PATTERNS OFF, i.e. obey -i or -T.
. -#: K95 startup flags.

FIXES

General:
. Occasional hanging on EXIT resolved.
. Numerous problems caused by MSC optimizer: Wyse protect mode would enter
infinite loop; GET would fail after an XMODEM SEND; VT regional scrolling...
. Certain commands were not getting into the command recall buffer.
. DIRECTORY command displayed one file less than it should have.
. Console mode was changed from TEXT to BINARY and not restored in Win95.
. MKDIR command didn't in work in OS/2.

Communication:
. Slow echoing problems resolved.
. Exit warning was generated if a TAPI device was open even if not in use.
. CONNECT would succeed if a TAPI device was open but no call in progress.
. TAPI device not closed when deselected, preventing other apps from
accessing it until K95 terminated.
. SET MODEM COMMAND VOLUME HIGH did the wrong thing.
. Assorted Telnet initialization problems on non-Telnet ports.
. Assorted minor Telnet negotiation problems.
. URL rlogin://host did not work (since "rlogin" not a real service name).
. The SET TCP NODELAY did not work.

Terminal Emulation:
. VT emulation CSI Pn X did not erase attributes along with characters.
. BA80 did not handle Function Key Labels or Status Line commands.
. VT/ANSI emulation <ESC>E (NEL) at bottom bottom was not scrolling.
. QANSI graphics characters were displayed incorrectly.
. Wyse graphics incorrectly converted to local code page in Windows NT.
. Host programming of function keys in AT386 and SCOANSI emulation was broken.
. MSKERMIT KEYCODE for Ctrl-Enter was wrong.
. Various problems fixed in HPTERM emulation.
. DG transparent printing would fail to print ESC.
. SET TERMINAL TYPE set the wrong flag when National Charsets were used.
. Unwanted entry into "mark mode" when using mouse to copy.

File transfer:
. SET FILE NAMES LITERAL sometimes unnecessarily inhibited file transfers.
. Autodownload didn't work when parity was mismatched.
. XYZmodem receives reported twice the number of files received.

Client/server:
. Server end of REMOTE SET WINDOW / RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH values not checked.

Script Programming:
. "def \%a 12:00:00, pause \%a" caused a parse error.
. RETURN from inside SWITCH didn't work.
. RUN didn't set SUCCESS/FAILURE or \v(pexitstat).
. SET TITLE did not update title immediately.
. Failure to EXIT sometimes, notably in host mode.
. Certain commands like SET TERM TYPE would terminate APC prematurely.
. An empty APC command would send K95 into an infinite loop.

Printing:
. Various parsing problems with SET PRINTER switches.
. Default windows printer queue might not have been detected on NT.
. Networked windows printer queues could not be seen on NT.

Dialer:
. Login Script Text box data was being lost.
. Printer Type combo box could not be set to File, Pipe, or None.
. Communications page would not always retain the override speed.

WHAT'S NEXT

After this release, hopefully not very long after, will come version 1.1.17,
whose major features will be:

. GUI install procedure.
. Internet-downloadable time-expiring demo version.
. CDROM distribution.
. Online HTML manual.
. Fixes to any bugs reported in 1.1.16.

And maybe a surprise or two. Then after that, on the the long-awaited
full-GUI version.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS

Send email to:

kermit-...@columbia.edu <-- Technical questions
kermit...@columbia.edu <-- Ordering questions

Jeffrey Altman, Frank da Cruz, Christine Gianone
The Kermit Project, Columbia University
New York City