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What Is Kermit?   Standards

Kermit Software Source Code Archive - Web Access

Frank da Cruz
Most recent update:   16 February 2022
(Conversion to HTML5; conversion of FTP links to HTTP; W3C validation)
Report problems ]

22 JULY 2021:
This page has been edited for the first time in ten years because most of its links had stopped working; first when Columbia retired the "kermit.columbia.edu" alias that was used extensively here, and then in April and May of 2021 when Chrome and Firefox dropped support for FTP links, which were used in every single entry in the big table below. For this reason, all FTP links in the Columbia University Kermit Project website are being converted to HTTP. Also, several minor errors were corrected. Although this page should be functional and correct as of the date shown just below, the version of this page at the New Open-Source Kermit Project includes items that have appeared since 2011, when the Columbia site was frozen. These include not only software but also free online versions of the Kermit books.

Note: This page is inherently wide; the minimum viewport width for full viewing is about 700px.

—Frank da Cruz, 22 July 2021.

Index to table:
[TOP] [acorn] [amdahl] [alphamicro] [apollo] [apple] [atari] [basicfour] [belllabs] [bootstrap] [burroughs] [ccdos] [cdc] [cie] [ckermit] [commodore] [computervision] [convergent] [cpm80] [cpm86] [cray] [datageneral] [dec] [dtss] [EC] [ekermit] [emacs] [gec] [gkermit] [gould] [harris] [honeywell] [hp] [ibm] [icl] [intel] [kermit95] [lilith] [lispmachine] [luxor] [microware] [minix] [modcomp] [motorola] [msdos] [mskermit] [mswindows] [ncr] [nicolet] [norskdata] [perkinelmer] [perq] [pick] [prime] [radioshack] [rml] [sinclair] [sperry] [stratus] [sun] [tandem] [ti] [tripos] [ucsd] [umicrocomputers] [uniflex] [unisys] [unix] [victor] [END MATTER]

Welcome to what might be the biggest collection on earth of software source code for implementations of the same program on different computers and operating systems in different programming languages. This page provides, for the first time, convenient Web (HTTP) access to all the programs in the Kermit software archive. Each program can be downloaded as either a “tarball” (gzip'd tar archive for Unix) or a Zip archive (for Windows, VMS, and other platforms that have Unzip). You can also look at or download individual files by clicking on "file list". In many cases manuals are also available, sometimes as PDF, others as plain text.

The once-common '.doc' and '.hlp' plain-text-file extensions have been converted (foo.doc → foodoc.txt; foo.hlp → foohlp.txt) to avoid unwanted invocations of Microsoft Word or Help programs; others have been left as they were. Here are some common ones:

.txt Text Plain text
.ann Announcement Plain text
.msg Message E-Mail message, plain text
.bwr Beware Hints and tips, plain text
.hex Hexadecimal Plain-text encoding of a binary file
.boo Bootstrap A somewhat more compact plain-text encoding of a binary file (see below)
.com Command Usually a VMS command file or DCL procedure (plain text).
.mss Manuscript Scribe markup language source for documentation, plain text
.ps PostScript Document for printing on a PostScript printer
.pdf PDF Document for viewing with PDF reader or for printing

Many more extensions can be found, for example for source code (.c, .h, .pas, .pl1, .for, .lsp, etc), but all files (with very few exceptions, such as PDF and PostScript) are plain text, unless they are in the archives or bin directories. More about the Kermit archive after the big table.

Here are the programs in the Kermit software archive. In addition to these, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Kermit protocol implementations in commercial and shareware software packages such as Reflexions, Crosstalk, Procomm, Hyperterminal. Kermit protocol is also embedded in numerous devices, including routers, switches, factory-floor devices, medical devices and implants, cash registers, and perhaps most famously, HP calculators.

The Kermit Software Archive: 1981-2011
Name Version Date Language Platform Tar.gz Zip Files
C-Kermit: Kermit in C for many operating systems [Website]   [Manual]   [Binaries]
C-Kermit is the most portable and long-lived of all Kermit programs. It is also the basis for Kermit 95 and MacKermit.
Unix is an operating system family that comprises Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Mac OS X, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, SCO, and many others both open and proprietary; current and defunct; C-Kermit is available for all of them: see complete list. There are approximately 700 distinct targets in the C-Kermit makefile for Unix and about 1700 Unix C-Kermit binaries in the archive (names starting with "cku").
VMS, also known as OpenVMS, is a proprietary operating system developed at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which passed to Compaq and then to Hewlett-Packard (HP). C-Kermit is available for VMS versions old and new on VAX, Alpha, and IA64.
Tar and Zip archive legend: cku = for Unix; ckv = for VMS; cko = for OS/2; ck9 = for OS9; ckl = for Stratus VOS; ckc = for all
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C Unix, VMS cku302.tar.gz ckv302.zip file list 
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C Unix, VMS cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list 
C-Kermit 8.0.206 2002/10/24 C Unix, VMS cku206.tar.gz cku206.zip file list 
C-Kermit 8.0.201 2002/02/08 C Unix, VMS cku201.tar.gz cku201.zip file list 
C-Kermit 8.0.200 2001/12/12 C Unix, VMS cku200.tar.gz ckv200.zip file list 
C-Kermit 7.0.197 2000/02/08 C Unix, VMS, Data General AOS/VS, Stratus VOS, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, Microware OS9, Commodore Amiga cku197.tar.gz cku197.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Unix, VMS, AOS/VS, VOS, Plan 9, OS9, Amiga, IBM OS/2 cku192.tar.gz ck9192.tar.gz ckc192.zip ck9192.zip ckv192.zip file list 
C-Kermit 5A(190) 1994/10/04 C Unix, VMS, AOS/VS, Plan9, OS9, Amiga, Apple Macintosh, Apollo Aegis, Atari ST cku190.tar.gz ckc190.zip cko190.zip file list 
C-Kermit 5A(188) 1992/11/23 C Ditto (+/-) cku188.tar.gz ckc188.zip cko188.zip file list 
C-Kermit 4F(095) 1989/08/31 C Unix, VMS, OS/2, OS9, Amiga, Apollo, Macintosh ckc095.tar.gz ckc095.zip file list 
C-Kermit 4E(072) 1989/01/24 C Unix, VMS, OS9, Amiga, Apollo, Macintosh ckc072.tar.gz ckc072.zip file list 
C-Kermit 4.0 (5 Feb 1985), the first interactive version, through 4D are missing. The versions just below are Unix command-line only.
Kermit 3.0(0) 1984/08/01 C 4.1-4.3BSD Unix only (single source file) n/a n/a kermit.c
Kermit 3.0 1984/11/05 C 4.1-4.3BSD Unix, Amdahl UTS, VMS (modular) uxk300.tar.gz uxk300.zip file list 
Earlier versions of Unix Kermit are lost, but appear vestigially in some of the programs (like this one) in the second section of this table. Version 1 was a single source file that was for 4.2BSD only.
E-Kermit: Kermit Protocol for Embedding [Website]
E-Kermit 1.17 2011/06/06 C Any ek17.tar.gz ek17.zip file list 
EKSW 0.94 2011/06/06 C Linux eksw094.tar.gz eksw094.zip file list 
G-Kermit: Kermit for UNIX with GNU Public License [Website] [Binaries] [UUencoded binaries]
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C All versions of Unix that have an ANSI C compiler gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list 
Kermit 95: Kermit software for 32- and 64-bit Microsoft Windows and for IBM OS/2 [Website] [Manual]
Kermit 95 2.1.3 2003/01/01 C Microsoft Windows 95 and later, IBM OS/2 Warp k95source.tar.gz k95source.zip file list 
MS-DOS Kermit: Kermit software for MS-DOS and MS Windows ≤ 3.11 [Website] [Binaries] [Installer] [Manual]
MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 - 3.16 1995-1999 MASM, C MS-DOS computers (see list just below) mskermit.tar.gz msk316src.zip mskermit.zip file list  overview updates
MS-DOS Kermit runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with MS-DOS, PC-DOS, or DR-DOS, or under Microsoft Windows 3.11 or earlier. Separate versions were created for the following non-IBM compatible PCs: ACT Apricot, DEC Rainbow, DECmate-II and -III, GRiD Compass II, Heath/Zenith-100, HP Portable Plus, HP-110, HP-150, Intel 300 Series with iRMX-86 or iRMX-286, Macintosh with AST286 board, NEC APC, NEC APC III, NEC PC9801, Olivetti M24 PC, Sanyo 550 MBC, Seequa Chameleon, TI Professional, Victor/Sirius 1, and the Wang PC/APC. "PC Kermit" or "Kermit 86", just below, is a very early version of what would become MS-DOS Kermit.
Kermit 86 1.20 1982-83 MASM DOS on the IBM PC and the H/Z-100 pckermit.tar.gz pckermit.zip file list  binary
Bootstrap: Receive-only Kermit from the Kermit book to type in and run to download a real Kermit program
Kermit   1986 MS BASIC MS-DOS (when all PCs had BASIC) n/a n/a kermit.bas note
The versions above are the big ones in terms of popularity, coverage, scope, or longevity. From here down we go in approximately alphabetical order. Many of these are adaptations of early versions of the Kermit programs listed above to specific platforms. IMPORTANT: C-Kermit is listed for some of the platforms below, showing the version that was last known to build and work there, and where to find binaries for it. This does not necessarily mean that later versions do not work on those platforms, only that there have been no reports either way. Ditto for G-Kermit. Obviously not every single platform is listed for C-Kermit or G-Kermit here because there are thousands of them. Even for modern platforms; click here to see the table for C-Kermit 9.0.
Name Version Date Language Platform Tar.gz Zip Files
Acorn: Kermit for Acorn computers
C-Kermit 4C(057) 1985/07/26 C Acorn Cambridge Workstation with PANOS acorn.tar.gz acorn.zip file list  manual
Arthur-Kermit 1.3 from C-Kermit 4C(052) 1987/10/07 C Acorn Archimides with RISC OS (followon to Arthur) archimedes.tar.gz archimedes.zip file list 
BBC Kermit 1.45 1987/05/19 6502 Assembler Acorn BBC Micro models B, B+, B+128, and Master 128 bbcmicro.tar.gz bbcmicro.zip file list  manual
Amdahl: Kermit for Amdahl mainframes
Kermit   1983 C Amdahl UTS amdahluts.tar.gz amdahluts.zip file list 
Amdahl made IBM-370 compatible mainframes. UTS was a UNIX virtual machine running under VM/CMS on an Amdahl or an IBM 370, so Kermit-370 could also be used on the same machine outside of UTS. Several years later, C-Kermit was adapted to UTS 2.4 and UTS/V.
Alpha Micro: Kermit for the Alpha Micro [Manual] [Announcement]
The Alpha Micro version of Kermit was featured in the book 680x0 programming by example by Stan Kelly-Bootle (1988).
Alpha-Kermit 2.0 1994/03/18 mc68000 assembler Alpha Micro mc68000 with AMOS/L and AMOS/32 alphamicro.tar.gz alphamicro.zip file list 
Apollo: Kermit for Apollo Workstations [Announcement]
Kermit 2.9 1989/05/07 Pascal Apollo Aegis apollo.tar.gz apollo.zip file list 
C-Kermit 5A(190) 1994/10/04 C Apollo Aegis cku190.tar.gz ckc190.zip file list  binaries
Apple: Kermit for Apple computers
Kermit 65 3.87 1990/12/05 CROSS Apple II DOS, ProDOS n/a appleii.zip file list  website manual
Mac Kermit 0.993 1996/06/03 MPW C Apple Macintosh Mac OS ≤ 9 ckc190.tar.gz ckc190.zip file list  website manual other files
Mac Kermit (1984-1996) was the first, and one of the only, Kermit programs to have a graphical user interface (GUI).
C-Kermit 5A(190) 1994/10/04 C Apple Macintosh A/UX cku190.tar.gz ckc190.zip file list  website manual binary
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C Apple Macintosh Mac OS X cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip file list  website manual binaries
Atari: Kermit for Atari computers
Kermit 1.1 1984/01/09 Action Atari Home Computer DOS atarihc.tar.gz atarihc.zip file list  help
Kermit 1.02 1986/07/03 C Atari ST GEMDOS atarist.tar.gz atarist.zip file list  manual
C-Kermit 5A(190) 1994/10/04 C Atari ST GEMDOS cku190.tar.gz ckc190.zip file list  binaries
Burroughs: Kermit for Burroughs Mainframes
Kermit   1985/06/03 Algol Burroughs B6800 CANDE burroughs6800.tar.gz burroughs6800.zip file list 
Kermit-7800 1.019 1986/09/11 Algol Burroughs 6700, 7800,... and A Series burroughs7800.tar.gz burroughs7800.zip file list 
Kermit-Bur 5.2 1985/11/27 Algol Burroughs B7900 burroughs7900.tar.gz burroughs7900.zip file list 
CCDOS: Kermit for Chinese DOS [Documentation]
CC-Kermit 2.32A 1991/09/09 MASM Chinese PCs with CCDOS ccdos.tar.gz ccdos.zip file list 
CDC: Kermit for the Control Data Corporation Cyber Supercomputer
Kermit 2.2 1984/09/07 Fortran-77 CDC Cyber 170 with NOS and NOS/BE cdccyber.tar.gz cdccyber.zip file list  [cdc*.*]
Kermit 3.4 1988/05/10 Fortran V CDC Cyber with NOS cdccyber.tar.gz cdccyber.zip file list  [cd3*.*]
Cyber Kermit 1.0 1987/03/04 COMPASS CDC Cyber with NOS 2.2 cdccompass.tar.gz cdccompass.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C CDC Cyber NOS/VE VX/VE cku192.tar.gz ckc192.zip file list 
CIE Systems: Kermit for CIE 620 [Manual]
Kerm   1987/01/26 C CIE 620/xx with Regulus cieregulus.tar.gz cieregulus.zip file list 
Commodore: Kermit for Commodore Computers
Kermit C-64 1.5 1985/02/08 FORTH Commodore 64 c64forth.tar.gz c64forth.zip file list  manual
Kermit-65 2.27 1992/09/30 CROSS Commodore 64 and 128 c64cross.tar.gz c64cross.zip file list  manual
C-Kermit 7.0.197 2000/02/08 C AmigaOS ckc197.tar.gz n/a file list  website manual binaries
Computervision: Kermit for Computervision [Manual]
Kermit-CV 1.21 1987/03/04 Fortran S Computervision minicomputer CGOS computervision.tar.gz computervision.zip file list 
Convergent: Kermit for Convergent Technologies CTOS [Manual]
CTOS-Kermit 2.00 1993/01/20 C Convergent CTOS, Burroughs BTOS, Bull STARSYS convergent.tar.gz convergent.zip file list 
CP/M-80: Kermit 80 for CP/M-80 and CP/M-85 [Manual]
Kermit 80 4.11 1991/04/23 8080 assembler CP/M-80 2.2, CP/M-80 3.0, CP/M-85 cpm80.tar.gz cpm80.zip file list 
Kermit 80 was one of the original Kermit programs, first written in 1981 for the Intertec Superbrain and then made portable to many other CP/M systems, all mutually incompatible: Access Matrix; Acorn BBC computer with Z80; Action Computer Enterprises Discovery; Ampro Little Board (terminal required); Amstrad CPC 664 and 6128; Amstrad PCW 8256/8512; Apple II with Z80 Softcard; BigBoard II; British Telecom Merlin/Rair Black Box; CPT-85xx; Cifer 1886; Comart Communicator; Compupro; Cromemco; DEC VT180; DECmate II with CP/M option; Digicomp Delphi 100; Epson PX-8; Generic CP/M 3.0; Generic: CPM 2.2; Heath-8; Heath/Zenith H89; Hewlett-Packard HP-125; Ithaca Intersystems; Kaypro-II 4; Lobo Max-80; Microbee; Micromint SB-180; MikroMikko; Morrow Decision I; Morrow Micro Decision I; NCR Decision Mate V; Northstar Advantage; Northstar Horizon; Northstar Horizon; Northstar Horizon; Ohio Scientific; Osborne 1; PMC 101 Micromate; Research Machines 380Z; Sanyo MBC-1100; Screentyper; TELCON Zorba portable; TRS-80 model II; TRS-80 model IV; Teletek Systemaster Torch computers BBC-B; US Microsales S100-8; Vector Graphics; Video Genie; Xerox 820; Z-100 under CP/M-85; Z80MU development system on PC.
CP/M-86: Kermit 86 for CP/M-86 and Concurrent CP/M-86 [Manual] [README]
Kermit 86 2.9 1984-1986 ASM86 CP/M-86 on the DEC Rainbow, Fujitsu Micro16s, Future FX20/FX30, NEC APC, Tektronix 4170, and Victor/Sirius 9000 cpm86.tar.gz cpm86.zip file list 
Kermit 86 1.1 1983/11/25 ASM86 Victor/Sirius 9000 victor9000cpm.tar.gz victor9000cpm.zip file list 
Kermit 86 2.9 1985/06/05 ASM86 Concurrent CP/M-86 on the Argos Pro PC, Daisy PCi, Fallon 2000, FTS PCi, ICL PC2, ICL PC Quattro, Orion PCi ccpm86.tar.gz ccpm86.zip file list 
Cray: Kermit for Cray Supercomputers
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C Cray Research X/MP or YMP or C90 with UNICOS cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list  website manual binaries
Data General: Kermit for Data General RDOS
Kermit   1984/09/14 Fortran-5 DG Nova/4 RDOS rdos1.tar.gz rdos1.zip file list 
Kermit   1987/03/25 BASIC DG 800 RDOS rdos2.tar.gz rdos2.zip file list 
Data General: Kermit for Data General AOS and AOS/VS
C-Kermit 7.0.197 2000/02/08 C AOS/VS and AOS/VS-II ckc197.tar.gz ckc197.zip file list  website manual binaries
Kermit   1985/07/xx C Data General MV Series with MV/UX under AOS/VS dgmvux.tar.gz dgmvux.zip file list 
Kermit-AOS 1.0 1984/07/05 Ratfor AOS 5.0 aosfortran.tar.gz aosfortran.zip file list 
Kermit   1985/02/08 SP/Pascal AOS, AOS/VS aospascal.tar.gz aospascal.zip file list 
DEC: DECSYSTEM-20 Kermit [Website] [Manual] [Update notes]
Kermit 20 5.1(186) 2006/01/06 Macro-20 TOPS-20 dec20.tar.gz dec20.zip file list 
Kermit-20 was one of the first three Kermit programs, the other two being Kermit 80 for CP/M and IBM mainframe Kermit for CMS. Kermit-20 was the first of the three, transferring the first file with Kermit protocol on April 29, 1981, between two instances of itself.
DEC: DECsystem-10 Kermit for the PDP-10 [Website]
The three [SIT] programs (from Stevens Institute of Technology) are an exercise in cross-platform development using a shared code base in DEC Common Bliss; Bliss-36 for the PDP-10, Bliss-32 for the VAX, and Bliss-16 for the DEC Professional, which is a 16-bit PDP-11.
Kermit 10 [SIT] 3.134 1989/09/08 Bliss-36, Macro-10 TOPS-10 pdp10.tar.gz pdp10.zip file list 
DEC: Kermit for VMS / OpenVMS (DEC, then Compaq, then HP)
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C VMS/OpenVMS 4.x-8.4 on VAX, Alpha, and IA64 n/a ckv302.zipfile list  website manual binaries
Kermit 32 [SIT] 3.3.128 1991/01/04 Bliss-32, Macro-32 DEC VAX/VMS vmskermit32.tar.gz vmskermit32.zip file list  manual binary
The Pascal version of Kermit for VMS was the first Kermit in Pascal and was the basis for most of the other ones.
Kermit-VMS 1.1E 1984/08/22 Pascal DEC VAX/VMS vmspascal.tar.gz vmspascal.zip file list  README
DEC: Kermit for Ultrix-32
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Ultrix-32 on VAX or MIPS cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list  website manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C DEC VAX or MIPS with Ultrix-11 gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
DEC: Kermit for OSF/1, Digital Unix, and Tru64 Unix on 64-bit Alpha
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C DEC Alpha OSF/1, Digital Unix, Tru64 Unix cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list  website manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C DEC Alpha OSF/1, Digital Unix, Tru64 Unix gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
DEC: Kermit for the DEC Professional 300 Series Workstation
Pro/Kermit [SIT] 1.0.10 1984/04/16 Bliss-16, Macro-11 P/OS on the DEC Pro-350 and Pro-380 decpro300.tar.gz decpro300.zip file list  manual
C-Kermit 4E(072) 1989/01/24 C Pro/380 2.9BSD ckc072.tar.gz ckc072.zip file list 
C-Kermit 4E(072) 1989/01/24 C Pro/380 Venix 1.x ckc072.tar.gz ckc072.zip file list 
DEC: Kermit for the 16-bit PDP-11 minicomputer
Kermit 11 3.60 1989/06/13 Macro-11 DEC RSX-11M, RSX-11M+, RT-11, RSTS/E, IAS, TSX+, P/OS kermit11.tar.gz kermit11.zip file list  manual website
Kermit 11 3.63 1997/09/27 Macro-11 DEC RT-11, Pro/RT krt11.tar.gz krt11.zip file list 
UTCS RT-11 Kermit 2.2C 1984/05/11 OMSI Pascal DEC RT-11 rt11pascal.tar.gz rt11pascal.zip file list  help
Kermit-M 1.0 1984/04/11 1982 ANSI Standard MUMPS DEC PDP-11 with InterSystems M/11 V5 (see note) mumps.tar.gz mumps.zip file list  Manual
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C PDP-11/45 2.11BSD cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list  website manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C PDP-11/45 2.11BSD gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Ultrix-11 cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list  website manual
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C Ultrix-11 gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
DEC: Kermit for 12-bit DEC PDP-8 and PDP-12 computers [Website] [Discussion]
Kermit 12 10g 1990/09/13 PAL PDP-8 and PDP-12 micro and lab computers k12.tar.gz k12.zip file list 
DTSS: Kermit for the Dartmouth Time Sharing System (DTSS)
DCTS-Kermit   1986/05/29 VPL/1 DTSS on the GE-265 and the Honeywell H-6000 dtss.tar.gz dtss.zip file list  notes
EMACS: Kermit file transfer into and out of an EMACS buffer
Kermit 1.4 1994/06/02 EMACS LISP GNU EMACS emacslisp.tar.gz emacslisp.zip file list 
GEC: Kermit for GEC 4000 [Manual]
Kermit-40 3.9 1989/05/07 MUM/SERC GEC 4000 with OS4000 gec4000.tar.gz gec4000.zip file list 
Gould: Kermit for Gould/SEL MPX
Kermit 2.3 1986/12/10 Fortran 77+ assembler Gould Concept and Series computers with MPX 2.x or 3.x. gould2.tar.gz gould2.zip file list  Manual
Kermit 2.3 1990/11/12 Fortran 77+ Gould/SEL 32/77 with MPX 1.5E gould3.tar.gz gould3.zip file list 
Harris: Kermit for Harris Minicomputers
Krmsrv 1.06 1988/03/17 Fortran 77+ Harris H100 VOS 4.1.1 harris100.tar.gz harris100.zip file list  manual
Kermit   1985/02/11 Pascal, assembler Harris H800 VOS harris800.tar.gz harris800.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP-1000 Minicomputer [Manual]
Kermit 1.99D 1990/01/08 Fortran HP-1000 with RTE-6, RTE-A hp1000.tar.gz hp1000.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP2640 Series "Rover" Programmable Graphics Terminal [Manual]
Rover Kermit 1.2 1986/02/26 8080 assembler HP-2640 Series hp2647.tar.gz hp2647.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP-3000 Minicomputer
Kermit 1n 1984/02/16 Ratfor HP-3000 MPE hp3000st.tar.gz hp3000st.zip file list  help
Kermit 2.0 1994/09/03 SPL HP-3000 with MPE, MPE XL hp3000.tar.gz hp3000.zip file list  manual
Kermit 2.0 1994/09/03 C HP-3000 with MPE, MPE XL This is a translation of the SPL version to C hp3000.c
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP86 and HP87 Microcomputer [Manual]
Kermit 1.01 1988/01/28 BASIC H86, HP87 hp86.tar.gz hp86.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP 9800-series workstations with UCSD Pascal
HP-Kermit 1.0 1984/01/20 Pascal HP 9826, 9836 hp9826.tar.gz hp9826.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP9845 BASIC workstation
Kermit 1.00 1986/03/14 BASIC HP 9845 hp9845.tar.gz hp9845.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP9000 BASIC workstation [README] [Manual]
Kermit-RMB 1.0 1989/06/21 BASIC HP 9000/200, /300 hp9000basic.tar.gz hp9000basic.zip file list 
Hewlett-Packard: Kermit for the HP9000 with HP-UX [Website]   [Manual]
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C HP-UX 5.21 through 11.x on FOCUS, mc680x0, PA-RISC, and IA64 cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip file list  website manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C HP-UX 5.21 through 11.x on FOCUS, mc680x0, PA-RISC, and IA64 gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
Honeywell: Kermit for Honeywell MULTICS on DPS/LEVEL 68 and DPS 8M
Kermit-Multics 2.0h 1984/09/ PL/I Honeywell MULTICS multics.tar.gz multics.zip file list  manual
Honeywell: Kermit for the Honeywell 6000 Series with CP-6
Kermit 1.00 1988/01/28 PL/6 Honeywell DPS8, DPS90 honeywellcp6a.tar.gz honeywellcp6a.zip file list  manual
Kermit   1985/04/04 Pascal Honeywell DPS8, DPS90 honeywellcp6b.tar.gz honeywellcp6b.zip file list  manual
Honeywell: Kermit for the Honeywell 6000 and Level 6 Series with GCOS
Kermit 2.01 1991/06/03 C Honeywell AP6, DPS6 with GCOS6 honeywellgcosa.tar.gz honeywellgcosa.zip file list  manual
Kermit 1.1 1985/03/21 B Honeywell DPS8 with GCOS/TSS honeywellgcosb.tar.gz honeywellgcosb.zip file list  manual
Kermit 3.0 1984/10/05 C Honeywell DPS8,DPS66 with GCOS3, GCOS8 honeywellgcosc.tar.gz honeywellgcosc.zip file list  manual
Also see DTSS for another OS and another Kermit program that ran on the Honeywell 6000.
Honeywell: Kermit for the Honeywell L6/10 PC
Kermit 1.20/a 1984/10/05 MASM Honeywell Microsystem L6/10 MS-DOS 2.11 honeywellmicro.tar.gz honeywellmicro.zip file list 
IBM: Portable IBM Mainframe Kermit [Website] Manuals:  [VM/CMS] [MVS/TSO] [MUSIC] [CICS]
Kermit 370 4.3.2 1997/12/16 BAL MVS/TSO, VM/CMS, CICS, ROSCOE, MUSIC [overview] ibm370.tar.gz ibm370.zip file list 
Kermit-CMS 2.01 1985/04/ BAL IBM 370 VM/CMS cmsoriginal.tar.gz cmsoriginal.zip file list  manual
Kermit-CMS was one of the three original Kermit programs.
IBM: Kermit for Soviet EC 2157 mainframe [README] [MANUAL] [View source code in Russian]
Courier-CICS 2.20 1988 BAL EC 2157 CICS cicsussr.tar.gz cicsussr.zip file list 
IBM: Kermit in Pascal for VM/CMS
Kermit-CMS   1988/05/20 Pascal/VS, BAL IBM 370 VM/CMS cmsqueens.tar.gz cmsqueens.zip file list 
IBM: Kermit programs for IBM 370-series mainframes with MVS/TSO
Kermit   1984/07/18 BAL IBM 370 MVS/TSO ibmtsochicago.tar.gz ibmtsochicago.zip file list  manual
Kermit 1.0 1986/05/xx ALP IBM 370 MVS/TSO ibmtsonih.tar.gz ibmtsonih.zip file list  manual
Kermit 2.3 1987/10/01 Pascal/VS IBM 370 MVS/TSO ibmtsoqueens.tar.gz ibmtsoqueens.zip file list  manual
IBM: Kermit for the IBM 370 with the Michigan Terminal System (MTS)
Kermit   1983 BAL IBM 370 with MTS note mtsasm.tar.gz mtsasm.zip file list 
Kermit 1.0 1984/01/06 Pascal/VS IBM 370 with MTS mtspascal.tar.gz mtspascal.zip file list  manual
UBC Kermit 1.00 1984/09/10 PLUS IBM 370 with MTS note mtsplus.tar.gz mtsplus.zip file list  manual
IBM: Kermit for the MUSIC operating system [Manual]
Kermit-MUSIC 1.2 1985/12/11 BAL IBM 370 MUSIC under VM/SP music.tar.gz music.zip file list 
IBM: Kermit for the Gothenburg University Timesharing System (GUTS) [Manual]
Kermit/GUTS 1.0 1985/04/05 BAL IBM 370 MVS/GUTS guts.tar.gz guts.zip file list 
IBM: Kermit for the IBM CS/9000 Instrument Workstation [Manual]
Kermit   1992/09/10 Pascal IBM CS/9000 CSOS ibmcs9000.tar.gz ibmcs9000.zip file list 
IBM: Kermit for AIX [Website]   [Manual]
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C AIX/370 and AIX/ESA on 370; AIX 1.x on PS/2; AIX 2.x on RT PC; AIX 4-5 RS/6000 and PowerPC cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip ckv302.zipfile list 
IBM: Kermit for OS/2
Kermit 95 2.1.3 2003/01/01 C IBM OS/2 Warp k95source.tar.gz k95source.zip file list  website manual
Kermit   1990 Modula 2 IBM OS/2 PM os2pm.tar.gz os2pm.zip file list 
ICL: Kermit for ICL Computers
Kermit 1.01 1986/10/16 S3, MTUP ICL 2900 VME iclvme2900.tar.gz iclvme2900.zip file list  manual
Intel: Kermit for the Intel 8051 Microcontroller [Notes]
Kermit   1996/06/27 8051 assembler Intel 8051 Microcontroller intel8051.tar.gz intel8051.zip file list 
Intel: Kermit for the Intel System 86/830
iRMX-86 Kermit 2.3 1985/06/06 P/LM-86 Intel System 86/380 intel86.tar.gz intel86.zip file list 
iRMX-86 Kermit 2.41 1985/08/22 P/LM-86 Intel System 86/380 intel86b.tar.gz intel86b.zip file list 
RMX-86 Kermit 1.0 1985/10/28 P/LM-86 Intel iRMX-86 intelrmx86.tar.gz intelrmx86.zip file list 
Intel: Kermit for the Intel Microcomputer Development System
ISIS Kermit   1985/11/01 P/LM Intel MDS 80 intelmdsa.tar.gz intelmdsa.zip file list 
ISIS Kermit 3 1987/04/06 P/LM-86 Intel Series II, III, IV computers with ISIS intelmdsb.tar.gz intelmdsb.zip file list  manual
Lilith: Kermit for the ETH Lilith Workstation [Manual]
M2-Kermit 1.0 1986/03/01 Modula-2 Lilith Workstation with Medos lilith.tar.gz lilith.zip file list 
LISP Machines: Kermit for LISP machines
Kermit 1.0 1985/09/12 Zetalisp LMI and Symbolics LISP Machines lispmachine.tar.gz lispmachine.zip file list  notes
Explorer Kermit 1.0 1986/09/22 Common LISP Texas Instruments Explorer tiexplorer.tar.gz tiexplorer.zip file list  manual
Luxor: Kermit for Luxor ABC Microcomputers
Luxker 1.0 1987/09/24 8080 assembler Luxor ABC-80 luxorabc80.tar.gz luxorabc80.zip file list  manual
Kermit 4.11 1990/01/04 BASIC, assembler Luxor ABC-800, 802, 806; Facit DTC, DTC2 luxorabc800.tar.gz luxorabc800.zip file list  manual
MAI BASIC Four: Kermit for the MAI BASIC Four Business System
Kermit 1.0 1988/04/07 BOSS/VS Business Basic MBF Models 7000, 8000, 9000 maibasicfour.tar.gz maibasicfour.zip file list 
Bell Labs: Kermit for Bell Labs operating systems
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C AT&T System VR3 and SVR4 cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip ckv302.zipfile list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Plan 9 from Outer Space cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list  binaries
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Bell Research UNIX V10 cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list  binaries
C-Kermit 4E(072) 1989/01/24 C UNIX V7 ckc072.tar.gz ckc072.zip file list 
MINIX: Kermit for MINIX
C-Kermit 4D(071) 1986/09/08 C MINIX 1.1 minix1.tar.gz minix1.zip file list  [notes]
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C MINIX 3 cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip ckv302.zipfile list 
Microware: Kermit for the OS-9 Realtime Operating System
Kermit 1.5 1985/07/02 C Motorola 6809 with OS9 Level I or II; OS9/68k os9.tar.gz os9.zip file list  manual
Kermit68K 1.0.00 1987/07/01 mc68000 assembler Motorola 680x0 with OS-9/68k os968ka.tar.gz os968ka.zip file list  manual
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C OS9/68k ck9192.tar.gz ck9192.zip file list 
Modcomp: Kermit for the MODCOMP Classic [Manual]
MAXIV Kermit A.0 1987/01/26 Fortran, assembler MODCOMP Classic with MAX IV modcomp.tar.gz modcomp.zip file list 
Motorola: Kermit for Motorola computers
Kermit   1986/04/17 6809 assembler Motorola 6809 and SWTP micros with Flex-09 flex1.tar.gz flex1.zip file list 
Kermit-09 3.0 1987/03/04 C and 6809 assembler Motorola 6809 and SWTP micros with Flex-09 flex2.tar.gz flex2.zip file list 
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C Motorola Delta Series 3000 MVME147 SV/68R3 V5.1 cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list  binaries
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C Motorola Delta 8000 VME SV/88 R32 and R40 cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list  binaries
MS-DOS: Various Kermit programs for MS-DOS on the IBM PC and compatibles (also see MS-DOS Kermit)
Kermit 1.1a 1988/04/15 Turbo Pascal MS-DOS tpdoskermit.tar.gz tpdoskermit.zip file list  notes
Queens Kermit 3.1 1988/12/14 Turbo Pascal MS-DOS queenskermit.tar.gz queenskermit.zip file list  manual
Kermit 1.0 1997/11/13 Pygmy Forth MS-DOS with Pygmy Forth n/a pfkerm.zip file list  notes
The following, together with PRIME Kermit, were the first to have sliding windows packet transport, needed for long-distance file transfers across TELENET. This is a prototype program; the algorithms were refined later in C-Kermit and MS-DOS Kermit. This work was funded by THE SOURCE, a TELENET-based online service provider using PRIME computers, many of whose clients had PCs.
Wkermit 1.3 1985/11/11 Lattice C MS-DOS wkermit.tar.gz wkermit.zip file list 
MS Windows: Kermit programs for 16-bit versions of Microsoft Windows (Also see Kermit 95)
Win100 2.4 1990/10/10 C Windows 2.x win100.tar.gz win100.zip file list  notes
Win100   1991/05/28 C Windows 3.0 win100b.tar.gz win100b.zip file list  notes
NCR: Kermit for National Cash Register (NCR) computers
C-Kermit 8.0.211 2004/04/10 C NCR 3000 SVR4 cku211.tar.gz cku211.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C NCR 3000 MP-RAS cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C NCR Tower SVR2 or OS1.x/2.x cku192.tar.gz cku192.zip file list 
V-Kermit 4E(072) 1990/06/22 C NCR 9800-4 VE4.0 with IVS or MCS ncr9800.tar.gz ncr9800.zip file list  manual
Nicolet: Kermit for the Nicolet-80 [Manual]
NIC-80 Kermit 1.76 1994/06/29 Pascal, assembler Nicolet NIC-80 Series (LAB-80, MED-80, NMR-80, BNC-12, etc) nicolet80.tar.gz nicolet80.zip file list 
Norsk Data: Kermit for the Norsk Data Systems NORD Series [Manual]
Kermit-ND 3.1b 1985/04/22 Pascal, assembler Norsk Data Systems NORD-10/100/500 Sintran III norskdata.tar.gz norskdata.zip file list 
Perkin Elmer: Kermit for Perkin-Elmer Minicomputers
Kermit 1.1(0) 1986/12/05 C Perkin-Elmer IDRIS 7000 Series perkinelmeridris.tar.gz perkinelmeridris.zip file list  manual
Kermit 1.0 1987/03/04 Fortran Perkin-Elmer 3200 with OS32MT72 perkinelmeros32.tar.gz perkinelmeros32.zip file list  notes help
PERQ: Kermit for the Three Rivers / ICL PERQ Workstation
Kermit 2.0 1984/12/04 Pascal PERQ POS perqa.tar.gz perqa.zip file list  notes
Kermit-Perq   1985/05/06 Pascal PERQ POS perqb.tar.gz perqb.zip file list  notes
PICK: Kermit for PICK
Kermit 0.3 1987/01/22 Data/BASIC, assembler Microdata Reality, VAX/Ultimate, or IBM PC with PICK pick.tar.gz pick.zip file list  notes
PRIME: Kermit for PR1ME Computers
Kermit 8.14 1992/02/14 PL/P PRIME Computers with PRIMOS prime.tar.gz prime.zip file list  notes
Radio Shack: Kermit for Tandy Radio Shack computers
Kermit   1984/11/27 BASIC Tandy 100 Palmtop tandy100.tar.gz tandy100.zip file list 
Kermit-CoCo 1.1 1985/03/21 EDTASM TRS-80 Color Computer with Radio Shack DOS trs80coco.tar.gz trs80coco.zip file list  manual
Kermit 3.5 1984/08/08 8080 assembler TRS-80 Model I or III with TRSDOS, NEWDOS/80, LDOS, and VTOS trs80model1+3.tar.gz trs80model1+3.zip file list  notes manual
TRSKER 2.3 1987/03/26 Microsoft assembler TRS-80 Model II trs80model2.tar.gz trs80model2.zip file list 
Kermit 5.2 1986/10/22 Z80 assembler TRS-80 Model 4 with TRSDOS 6.1 trs80model4.tar.gz trs80model4.zip file list  manual
MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 1995/05/21 C, 8080 assembler Tandy 1000 n/a msk314.zip n/a
Kermit-86 1.21 1984/02/16 8080 assembler Tandy 2000 tandy2000.tar.gz tandy2000.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Tandy 16/6000 Xenix 3.0 ck9192.tar.gz ck9192.zip file list  binary
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C Tandy 16/6000 Xenix 3.0 gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
RML: Kermit for Research Machines Limited Computers
Kermit 1.22 1986/11/03 Aztec C RML Nimbus and 480Z researchmachines.tar.gz researchmachines.zip file list  manual
SCO: Kermit for Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) operating systems
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C All SCO OS's: XENIX, UNIX, Unixware, ODT, Open Unix, OpenServer cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip file list  website manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C All SCO OS's gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
Sinclair: Kermit for the Sinclair QL
QL-Kermit 1.10 1987/05/08 C Sinclair QL QDOS sinclairqla.tar.gz sinclairqla.zip file list  manual
Kermit 1 1987/05/29 BCPL Sinclair QL QDOS sinclairqlb.tar.gz sinclairqlb.zip file list  manual
Sperry/Univac: Kermit for Sperry/Univac mainframes
Kermit   1985/04/09 assembler Sperry Univac 90/60 with VS/9 sperry9060.tar.gz sperry9060.zip file list 
Kermit 2.5 1986/09/03 assembler Sperry Univac 1100 EXEC sperry1100a.tar.gz sperry1100a.zip file list 
Kermit 1100 2.0 1984/10/04 Pascal Sperry Univac 1100 EXEC sperry1100p.tar.gz sperry1100p.zip file list 
Stratus: Kermit for Stratus fault-tolerant computers
C-Kermit 7.0.197 2000/02/08 C Stratus VOS n/a ckl197.zip file list  notes
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/04 C Stratus FTX cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip file list 
Sun: Kermit for Sun Computers
C-Kermit 9.0.302 2011/07/11 C SunOS and Solaris, all versions, all platforms cku302.tar.gz cku302.zip ckv302.zipfile list  website] manual binaries
G-Kermit 1.00 1999/12/25 C SunOS and Solaris, all versions, all platforms gku100.tar.gz gku100.zip file list  website binaries
Tandem: Kermit for Tandem NonStop fault-tolerant computers [overview]
Kermit 2.0 1997/11/13 TAL NonStop Guardian tandem.tar.gz tandem.zip file list  binary
Texas Instruments: Kermit for Texas Instruments computers (Also see: LISP Machines)
Kermit 1.0 1987/07/10 Pascal TI-990 DX10 ti990.tar.gz ti990.zip file list 
TRIPOS: Kermit for Cambridge University TRIPOS (Trivial Portable Operating System)
Kermit 1.5 1987/07/10 BCPL various tripos.tar.gz tripos.zip file list 
U-Microcomputers: Kermit for U-Microcomputers U-Man Series
Kermit 0.02 1985/12/25 C U-Man 1000 with CP/M-68k uman1000.tar.gz uman1000.zip file list  notes
UCSD: Kermit for the UCSD p-System (Also see Hewlett-Packard)
Kermit-UCSD   1984/01/11 UCSD Pascal Terak 8510A UCSD p-System ucsdterak.tar.gz ucsdterak.zip file list  manual
Kermit-UCSD4 0.1 1984/05/23 UCSD Pascal IBM PC UCSD p-System IV ucsdibmpc.tar.gz ucsdibmpc.zip file list  manual
Kermit UMICRO III.0 1984/12/03 UCSD Pascal Western Digital Pascal Microengine UCSD p-System ucsdwdme.tar.gz ucsdwdme.zip file list  manual
Kermit-UCSD 1.0 1985/12/20 UCSD Pascal Apple II UCSD p-System ucsdappleii.tar.gz ucsdappleii.zip file list  manual
M2 Kermit   1986/06/23 UCSD Pascal Joyce Loebl Magiscan 2 ucsdmagiscan2.tar.gz ucsdmagiscan2.zip file list  manual
Kermit-UCSD 1.1 1990/08/05 UCSD Pascal Atari Mega ST Pecan UCSD p-system IV.2.2/SFS ucsdpecan.tar.gz ucsdpecan.zip file list  manual
UniFLEX: Kermit for the Technical Systems Consultants UniFLEX OS
UF-Kermit 1.5 1993/08/23 McCosh C Motorola 6809 computers with UniFLEX uniflex.tar.gz uniflex.zip file list  manual]
UNISYS: Kermit for UNISYS computers
AS-Kermit 1.041 1989/09/28 Algol A-Series unisysaseries.tar.gz unisysaseries.zip file list 
C-Kermit 6.0.192 1996/09/06 C Unisys 6000 UTS or SVR3 ck9192.tar.gz ck9192.zip file list  binaries
UNIX: Various Kermit programs for various Unix versions (all superseded by C-Kermit)
UCL Kermit 2.8 1985/08/27 C 2.9BSD, 4.2 BSD, AT&T System V uclkermit.tar.gz uclkermit.zip file list  manual
QNX Kermit   1985/09/23 C QNX 1.0 or 2.0 on IBM PC or DEC Rainbow qnx1.tar.gz qnx1.zip file list 
Kermit   1995/04/28 C QNX-2 qnx2.tar.gz qnx2.zip file list 
Victor Kermit for the Victor Technologies 9000 PC
Kermit 1.0 1991/04/18 C Victor 9000 MS-DOS victor9000.tar.gz victor9000.zip file list  help
MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 1993/07/08 MASM Victor 9000 MS-DOS msr313src.tar.gz msr313src.zip file list  binary

More about the Kermit software archive

The uncompressed unarchived files are not available via HTTP because HTTP, the protocol of the Web, doesn't have a way to refer to or deal with a group of files, like FTP can do with its MGET command. Therefore we have to bundle the files for each Kermit program into Zip or Tar archive so each Kermit program can be fetched with a single click. The danger is that years from now, Zip and Tar and Gzip will go out of style and nobody will be able to decode these files any more. The Files column is for access to the individual source or other text files; when you click on "file list" for a given entry you get a directory listing in which each filename is a link; if you click on it, your browser either shows you the file or downloads it to your computer.

NOTE: The Kermit Project FTP server is Unix-based; therefore text files are in Unix format (lines terminated by linefeed only, not carriage return and linefeed [CRLF]). ZIP archives have text files in CRLF format; tar.gz files have them in Unix format.

I have not made any attempt to include offsite links to information about the many platforms where Kermit programs run, because any links will inevitably go stale and I might not be able to update them. If you want to find out more about some platform, search for it in Google or Wikipedia, or whatever has replaced them by the time you read this.

For the history of each Kermit program, there are several onsite resources:

  1. The Info-Kermit Digest, a public mailing list run by the Kermit Project from 1983 to 1995 over ARPANET, BITNET, CSNET, CCNET, Usenet, LISTSERV, etc, and eventually the Internet.
  2. The Kermit Newsgroups, comp.protocols.kermit.misc and comp.protocols.kermit.announce, which replaced the high-maintenance labor-intensive mailing list in 1994-95, and was active until 2011, maybe beyond. Newsgroup archives are available (as of this writing) in Google Groups here and here. However, there is not much filtering in the Google archive; the real messages are mixed with a fair amount of spam. As of 16 August 2011, the newsgroup archives are also available in the Kermit software archive (table just below).
  3. The program's source files and accompanying documentation, available in the big table above.

Kermit Digest and Newsgroups, Plain Text, Searchable
Forum name Status Years Scope Size Link
Info-Kermit Digest moderated mailing list 1983-1994 general 6MB info-kermit.txt
comp.protocols.kermit.announce moderated newsgroup 1994-2003 announcements 0.2MB announce.txt
comp.protocols.kermit.misc unmoderated newsgroup 1994-2011 general 33MB misc.txt

The .misc newsgroup is also available in separate files, about 1MB each, at the Kermit ftp site.

Brief history of the Kermit Archive

In the early days of the Kermit Project, there was no network for distributing Kermit programs; therefore we sent them out on 9-track magnetic tape (at our own expense*). At 1600bpi, each 10-inch reel held approximately 50MB of data. Portable tape formats such as ANSI D and IBM SL (as opposed to platform-specific ones like DUMPER, BACKUP, and Tar), had no provision for binary files, so all files had to be text (when making IBM tapes, we either wrote them on the IBM mainframe or we used a utility that we wrote to make IBM EBCDIC OS Standard-Label tapes on Unix (see below).

Also there is no directory structure on these tapes; therefore files had to be grouped by filename. All files for a particular Kermit program had to be named with a unique 2- or 3-character prefix.

Furthermore, some of the most popular platforms in the early 80s, such as TOPS-10 and RT-11, restricted filenames to 6.3 format — six or fewer characters, a period, and then an "extension" of one to three characters. Thus, even for platforms that had more liberal naming rules, we tried to keep names within the 6.3 format so the files could be read, stored, and re-distributed from platforms that tolerated only short names.

Initially all the Kermit programs fit on one tape. But soon with the great flourishing of Kermit programs in the mid-1980s, the distribution grew to four tapes. By this time we also had our primary development and distribution machine, CU20B (Columbia University DECSYSTEM-20 B) on the ARPANET. Thus the Kermit files were split up into four directories:

A Popular microcomputers
B Popular minis and mainframes
C Less popular microcomputers
D Less popular minis and mainframes

It was a neverending struggle to keep each directory within the capacity of a tape reel. Every time a new version of some Kermit program was released, a tape overflowed. Then we would have to look for ways to save space. This was typically done by concatenating all the files for a particular Kermit program into one big (plain-text) file, with markers showing the divisions and filenames. This eliminated large numbers of interfile gaps, each of which took up a disproportionate amount of tape.

It must be said that also we removed some Kermit programs from circulation when they were "superseded" by a "better" version for the same platform. We did this simply because we could not fit a lot of alternative versions for the same platform on one tape.

By the mid-1990s, with the growth of the Internet, tape distribution had diminished to a trickle so we did not have to be so careful about the size of each directory. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing volume of Kermit Digest issues, newsletters, newsgroup archives, version lists, and so on demanded a "tape" of their own, E, while C-Kermit grew to such proportions that it received its own directory too, F (now ckermit). Also, since Kermit binaries and Zip and Tar archives could be distributed over the new networks (Internet, for example, unlike, say BITNET), a directory (archives) was created for them too.

For the assembly of this new Internet archive, all of the superseded programs have been made available again, and all of the text archives have been unpacked into their original constituent files with their original names (but made lowercase, if they were uppercase).

Another noteworthy event is that on August 16, 1988, we moved all the Kermit files from CU20B to a Unix machine (it was either a VAX-11/750 running 4.2BSD, or a VAX 8700 running Ultrix), just before CU20B was turned off for the last time. Since neither Kermit nor FTP nor ANSI-format tapes had a mechanism to preserve file dates, a lot of the older files in the present archive have that date. In putting this archive together, some of the earlier file dates were restored, but not consistently.

__________________

*   In 1985 or thereabouts, we were spending so much programmer time making and shipping tapes that we were told to start charging for them. And thus the "Kermit business" was born, with a a production staff, business manager, and a machine-room/factory.

BOO Files

In the early 1980s, to transfer binary files (e.g. over BITNET) or send them by email, a plain-text encoding was usually needed. The most obvious binary-to-text transformation is to represent every 8-bit byte by two hexadecimal characters. But this makes the file twice as long, and in those days typical communication speeds were 300 to 1200 bits per second. So we came up with something called a BOO file, short for bootstrap*. The idea being that if you could get this file onto your PC somehow, then you could "type in" or download a simple program to turn it back into the original binary file. The encoding is similar to Base64 or UUENCODE, but adds a rudimentary form of compression. A BOO file contains only 7-bit ASCII printable characters (with lines separated by CR or CRLF, depending on the platform). Here's the first bit of a typical BOO file:

KERMIT.EXE
CEX00<81~2801:2OooHT60~3402[=ah0~20@00~~~~~~~~~~~~~=n0l]7;4OhRe?=P\m0?@0
\NSA]L_XU[G;j9C5bnQa7\_XZ[G;j3TFbnRLXL]A7Xc1S]WX9J<OFL_XSa7;j0igbnR>4\_X
FQ;;j1H2bnPS0\_X@0;;1XcHS\2Jb`gh3`O3j=2IbnR;8L_XVQ7;j5ZRbhTVg@W61\h10:3J
9Z;K9X3l17D6VP46n0o3P?`1M@JJ007h3l>0o0Ee1YYa1?P?`h3l1WD6VT85n0o3]0VjM03=
8NX^7OP?RbKM2OW3RAK[2ERSk@V99_49D8c8Xnl9aPIc~2a`Ke2O85a`KS2@X2a`KU2@X2
<l261W<0QRI]050b`8H6C2m@3^Q`05R61T`_F:9c08PVK@295VT0F:=S08TVI`1@S<RSI@2h

The first line gives the name of the original binary file, and the remaining lines are its encoded contents. Tildes (~) indicate places where compression was done. The writing of BOO-file encoders and decoders became quite the cottage industry. You can read the specification here, and you can find an impressive collection of BOO-file makers and decoders in the table below. In any case, with this mechanism we were able to mix text and "binary" files in the same directory and put them on tape. Although BOO files never caught on to any great extent in the wider world, they did their job for Kermit. In retrospect, a big improvement would have been a mechanism for gathering multiple files into a BOO file.

BOO-File Encoders and Decoders
Tar.gz Zip Files Overview
boo.tar.gz boo.zip file list  ckboo.txt

____________________

*   "Bootstrap" refers to lifting up oneself by one's bootstraps (a parodox). In Kermit jargon, it refers to a way of getting file-transfer program onto a computer that does not have one, which itself is a paradox if you think about it. A textual encoding (BOO or Hex, for example) would be displayed on the microcomputer's screen (conceptually) with the display copied or "captured" to disk. Then the captured lines of text would be decoded into the original executable program. But suppose the microcomputer did not have even a terminal emulator? You can see the lengths to which we would go in those days to "bootstrap" Kermit onto new computers in the CP/M Kermit User Guide, pp.20-23.

The Kermit Protocol

The Kermit protocol as of 1986 is defined in the book Kermit: A File Transfer Protocol, Digital Press (1987), which is out of print but can still be ordered on Amazon (click the link). The same definition, more or less, appears in the 1986 (and final) edition of the Kermit Protocol Manual. Since then, a lot of new features have been added (see overview and timeline) but often not documented anywhere except in notes that were never published before. Here they are:

Kermit Protocol Files
Tar.gz Zip Files Overview
protocol.tar.gz protocol.zip file list  readme  timeline

The protocol manual is quite serviceable; it covers file attributes as well as both long packets and sliding windows, so it can be the basis of an efficient and fairly advanced Kermit implementation. It does not, however, cover character-set conversion, Unicode, "resend" (recovery of interrupted binary-mode transfers), streaming, control-character unprefixing, cross-platform directory-tree transfer, or various client-server protocol extensions. The files in this section are mostly plain text, but there are some typeset files too:

Kermit Protocol and Software Documents
Document Date Text PostScript PDF
Original Kermit article in BYTE 1983 byte.txt byte.ps byte.pdf
Kermit Protocol Manual 1986 kproto.txt kproto.ps kproto.pdf
Kermit User Manual 1988 kuser.txt kuser.ps kuser.pdf
International Text 1994 n/a/ accents.ps accents.pdf
Correctness Proof 1995 n/a/ proof.ps proof.pdf

The KERMIT Acronym

In 1982 or 83, as we saw Kermit protocol and software leaking out of Columbia University and spreading all over planet, Bill Catchings (one of the original Kermit developers) became slightly concerned about trademark infringement so one day he tried to put together a series of words that KERMIT might stand for. It was really more of a joke than anything:

KL10 Error-free Reciprocal Micro-Interface Transfer

(and some similar variations). KL10 was the processor of our DECSYSTEM-20 where the first Kermit program was written. Of course the protocol was designed to work on any computer but Bill couldn't find anything appropriate that started with K. Anyway, this legend was put into one or two pieces of source souce, which escaped from Columbia, and then found their way into other pieces of source code that you will find in this archive, and still provokes a great deal mirth. For our part, we removed it from our own code as soon as had a letter of permission from Henson Associates to keep using the name Kermit.

Patterns and Trends

Kermit programs fall into roughly two categories: one-shot minimalist versions, and long-lived and continuously elaborated ones. You can tell the difference pretty much by the version number and the latest release date. Any version number greater than 1 is a Kermit program that received a fair amount of attention; the higher the number, the more attention (in general). That's not to say that every 1.x version is crude; one counterexample is G-Kermit 1.00, which I wrote with the specific intention of never having to touch it again. Another is Macintosh Kermit, which never quite reached 1.0 level but was widely used.

As to languages, at first we had a great proliferation of them, including many different assembly languages (PDP-10, IBM mainframe, 8080, 8086, mc68000...) But by, say, the mid-90s, the only non-interpretive language that mattered any more was C and its offshoots. Which is kind of a shame because many of the older languages were more consistent, expressive, powerful, stable, and robust. And better documented and less aggravating.

Kermit Software Programming Language Census
Assemblers
Assembler Unspecified assembly language
6502 Assembler MOS Technology 6502 assembly language
6809 Assembler Motorola 6809 assembly language
8080 Assembler Intel 8080 assembly language
ASM86 Digital Research assembler for Intel 8086
BAL IBM "Basic Assembly Language" for 360/370/390 mainframes
Macro-10 DEC PDP-10 assembly language
Macro-11 DEC PDP-11 assembly language
Macro-20 DEC assembly language for DECSYSTEM-20
Macro-32 DEC VAX assembly language
MASM Microsoft assembly language for 8086
mc68000 Assembler Motorola 68000 assembly language
PAL Assembly language for the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-12
Z80 Assembler Zilog Z80 assembly language
Higher-Level Languages
Action Atari Home Computer programming language
Algol The original structured language (1960) and Burroughs implementation language
B The B language, precursor to C
BASIC Unspecified BASIC dialect
BOSS/VS Business BASIC for MAI Basic Four
Data/Basic BASIC for PICK
MS BASIC Microsoft BASIC
BCPL Basic Combined Programming Language (Cambridge U)
Bliss-16 DEC Common Bliss for 16-bit computers (from CMU Bliss-11)
Bliss-32 DEC Common Bliss for 32-bit computers
Bliss-36 DEC Common Bliss for 36-bit computers (from CMU Bliss-10)
C The C programming language, unspecified dialect
Aztec C C compiler for early microcomputers
MPW C Macintosh Programmer's Workbench C compiler
McCosh C Third-party C compiler for UniFLEX/6809
COMPASS CDC Cyber implementation language
CROSS A portable cross assembler
EDTASM Microsoft editor/assembler for Motorola 6809
Forth The Forth programming language
Pygmy Forth A dialect of Forth
Fortran FORTRAN (Formula Translator), unspecified version
Fortran V, Fortran 5 I believe this is another name for Fortran 66 (ANSI standard Fortran IV)
Fortran-77 ANSI standard Fortran 1977
Fortran S Computervision Fortran
Common LISP List Processing Language, ANSI standard version
EMACS LISP LISP for EMACS
Zetalisp LISP Machine LISP
MTUP ICL Message Text Update Program
MUM/SERC GEC 4000 implementation language
MUMPS Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System
Modula 2 Niklaus Wirth's successor to Pascal
PL/1 or PL/I Programming Language I
PL/6 Honeywell version of PL/I
PL/M-86 Implementation language for the 8086
PL/P PRIME version of PL/I
VPL/1 Virtual PL/I from Darthmouth College
Pascal Niklaus Wirth's structured programming language
OMSI Pascal Pascal from Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Pascal/VS Pascal for IBM mainframe
SP/Pascal Pascal for Data General AOS/VS
Turbo Pascal Pascal for PCs with MS-DOS
UCSD Pascal Pascal for p-System from University of California at San Diego
Ratfor Rational Fortran, a preprocessor that adds modern control structures to Fortran 66
S3 Implementation language for ICL 2900 VME
SPL Implementation language for HP-3000
TAL Implementation language for Tandem Nonstop

About 36 languages in all; more counting variant dialects. Among the missing: APL, SNOBOL, SAIL, Simula, Algol-68, Ada... And the Kermit language itself!

Utilities, Scripts, Tables, and Miscellaneous

The following table gives access to Kermit-related items from the FTP site that are not Kermit programs.

Kermit Project Utilities, Scripts, and Tables
Directory Contents Tar.gz Zip Files Overview
misc Assorted manuals and articles misc.tar.gz misc.zip file list  readme
ucsterminal Terminal characters for Unicode ucsterminal.tar.gz ucsterminal.zip file list  readme
tools Utilities to make this archive tools.tar.gz tools.zip file list  readme
tapeutils Magnetic tape utilities tapeutils.tar.gz tapeutil.zip file list  readme
utils General utilities utils.tar.gz utils.zip file list  readme
charsets Character sets charsets.tar.gz charsers.zip file list  readme
printers Printer utilities printers.tar.gz printers.zip file list  readme
scribe Scribe Cyrillic and Hebrew scribe.tar.gz scribe.zip file list  readme
scripts/ckermit C-Kermit / K95 Script Library ckscripts.tar.gz ckscripts.zip file list  website
scripts/k95keymaps Kermit 95 Keymaps k95keymaps.tar.gz k95keymaps.zip file list  readme
scripts/mskermit MS-DOS Kermit Script Library mskscripts.tar.gz mskscripts.zip file list  readme
hostmode Kermit 95 Host Mode Scripts hostmode.tar.gz hostmode.zip file list  readme
vt100 VT terminal demos & utilities vt100.tar.gz vt100.zip file list  readme
pcfonts DOS fonts for many code pages pcfonts.tar.gz n/a file list  readme
packetdrivers DOS packet drivers packetdrivers.tar.gz n/a file list  readme
cu Columbia-specific cu.tar.gz cu.zip file list  readme

Unix versions covered by C-Kermit and/or G-Kermit

This list belongs in the main table but it's too big. If a name appears on this list, it means that C-Kermit or G-Kermit is available for that machine/operating-system combination, or it was at some point. If a name doesn't appear, that does not mean that C-Kermit and/or G-Kermit can not be built for it. In the case of C-Kermit, an older release might be required, as is definitely the case for 16-bit Unix versions such as XENIX, 2.xBSD, etc. Support for old systems has never been removed from C-Kermit source code or the makefile, but that support might not have been tested in many years, since the last time anybody involved in Kermit development had access to that platform.
Acorn RISCiX; Alliant FX/8 with Concentrix 4.1; Altos 486, 586, or 986 with XENIX 3.0; Altos ACS68000 with UNIX System III R2; Amdahl mainframes with UTS 2.4 and UTSV 5.2.6b; Amdahl mainframes with UNIX System V R5.2.6; Apollo workstations with Aegis 9.7 and with DomainOS SR10.0 and 10.4; Apple Macintosh with A/UX; Apple Power Macintosh with Mac OS/X 1.0 thru 10.2; Apple Power Macintosh with Debian Linux; Apple Power Macintosh with MkLinux; Apple Power Macintosh with LinuxPPP; Apple Powerbook with MachTen 2.1.1.D; Apple Mac OS X 10.0 and later on PowerPC, PC, and X86_64; AT&T System III; AT&T 3B2 and 3B20 systems with UNIX System V R2 and R3; AT&T 6300 PLUS with UNIX System V R2; AT&T 6386 WGS UNIX PC with UNIX System V/386 3.2; AT&T PC 7300 UNIXPC (3B1) System V R3.51m; Atari Falcon with MiNT; Atari ST with MINIX ST 1.5; BeBox with BeOS DR7 and BeOS 4.5; Bull DPX/2 with BOS/X; Bull Escala and other RS/6000 compatibles with AIX; Charles River Data Systems Universe with UNOS 9.2; Commodore Amiga with UNIX System V R4; Commodore Amiga with MINIX 1.5.10; Concurrent (Masscomp) computers with RTU 4.0 through 6.0; Convergent Technologies MiniFrame with CTIX System V R3; Convex C1 and C2 with Convex/OS 8.x and 9.x; Convex 3240, C220, and C240 with ConvexOS V10.x; Cray supercomputers with UNICOS 6.1 through 8.0 and with CSOS 1.0; DEC Alpha, DECstation, and or PC with with OSF/1 versions 1 through 3; DEC Alpha with Digital UNIX 3.2 through 4.0D; DEC Alpha with Compaq Tru64 UNIX 4.0E through 5.1B; DEC Alpha with Linux (Debian, Red Hat, SuSE); DEC Alpha with FreeBSD, NetBSD; DEC PDP-11 with 2.4, 2.9, 2.10, and 2.11 BSD; DEC VAX with 4.1BSD, 4.2BSD, 4.3BSD, 4.3BSD-Reno, 4.3BSD-Networking/2; DEC VAX with AT&T Bell Labs UNIX 7th Edition; DEC VAX with AT&T Bell Labs Research UNIX 10th Edition; DEC VAX with AT&T System V R3; DEC VAX with ULTRIX 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.x; DECstation with Berkeley Sprite; DECstation with MACH 2.6; DECstation with NetBSD; DECstation with ULTRIX 4.2 through 4.5; Data General AViiON 88K with DG/UX 4.3 through 5.4R4.11; DIAB DS90 with DNIX 5.2 and 5.3; Dolphin Server Technology Triton 88/17 with Dolphin UNIX System V/88 R3.2; Encore Multimax with UMAX 4.3; Encore 88K with UMAX V 5.2; Fortune 32:16 with For:Pro 2.1; FPS 500 with FPX 4.1; Harris HCX-2900; Harris Night Hawk 68K and 88K with CX/UX; HP-9000 with 4.4BSD; HP-9000 with HP-UX 5.00 through 11.20; HP-9000 with Trusted HP-UX 10.xx and 11.xx; HP-9000 PA-RISC with NeXTSTEP/Mach 3.3; HP-9000 PA-RISC with OPENSTEP/Mach 4.1; HP-9000 PA-RISC with Debian Linux 3.0; HP-9000 PA-RISC with FTX 3.x; IA64 (Itanium) with HP-UX 11.20&emdash;11.23, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux; IBM 370-series mainframes with AIX/370 1.2; IBM 370-series mainframes with AIX/ESA 2.1; IBM 390-series mainframes with Linux/S390 and SuSE Linux; IBM PS/2 with AIX 1.0 - 1.2.1; IBM RS/6000 and Power Series with AIX 3.0 through 6.1; IBM RT PC with AIX 2.x, ACIS 4.x, AOS/4.3BSD-Reno; ICL DRS400 and 400E with System V R3; ICL DRS3000 and DRS6000 with DRS/NX UNIX System V R4;; Integrated Solutions VS8 with ISI 4.2BSD; Intel 302 with Bell Tech System V/386 R3.2; Intergraph Clipper with CLIX 3.x; Luxor ABC-9000 with DNIX; MIPS Computer Systems with RISC/os UMIPS 4.52; MirBSD on i386 and Sparc; Modcomp Realstar 1000 with Real/IX D.1; Motorola Four Phase; Motorola VME Delta Series with System V/68 R3; Motorola VME Delta Series with System V/88 R32 and R40; Motorola 680x0 with Debian Linux; Motorola 680x0 with NetBSD; NCR Tower 1632 with System V R2; NCR Tower 32 with OS 1.x-2.x; NCR System 3000 and MP-RAS with System V R4; NeXT workstations with NeXTSTEP/Mach 1.0 through 3.3; NeXT workstations with OPENSTEP/Mach 4.1 and 4.2; Nixdorf Targon/31 M15 with TOS 4.0.13; Norsk Data Uniline 88/17 with System V/88 R3.2; OkiStation 7300 Series with System V R4; Olivetti CP 486 with UNIX System V R4; Olivetti LSX 3005 through 3045 with X/OS UNIX 2.3 through 3.0;; Olivetti LSX 5020 with SCO UNIX 3.2.2; PCs with 386BSD (Jolix); PCs with AT&T UNIX System V R3.2; PCs with BeOS 4.5; PCs with BSDI/386 1.0-4.1; PCs with Dell UNIX System V/386 R4.04 issue 2.2; PCs with DG/UX 5.40-5.4R4.20; PCs with ESIX System V R3 and R4; PCs with FreeBSD 1.0 through 7.2; PCs with Interactive Systems Corporation System III PC/IX; PCs with Interactive Systems Corporation 386/ix 1.x and 2.x; PCs with Interactive Systems Corporation System V/386 R3.2 V2.2-4.1.1; PCs with Linux (Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Caldera, SuSE, Mandrake,; Turbo, VA, Centos, Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc); PCs with Lynx/386; PCs with Mark Williams COHERENT/386 4.0 and 4.2; PCs with MINIX/386 and MINIX 3 1.5; PCs with Microport SV/AT System V R2; PCs with Microport 3.0U3 and SVR4.0 V2.2-4.1; PCs with MirBSD 10; PCs with Mt Xinu Mach386; PCs with NCR MP-RAS 2.03 and 3.02; PCs with NetBSD 1.0 through 5.0.1; PCs with Neutrino 2+; PCs with NeXTSTEP/486; PCs with OpenBSD 2.3 through 4.5; PCs with OPENSTEP/Mach 4.1 and 4.2; PCs with QNX 4.0 through 6.1; PCs with SCO ODT 1.1 through 3.0; PCs with SCO Open Server R5.0.0 through 6.0.0; PCs with SCO Open UNIX 8.0.0 and 8.0.1; PCs with SCO UNIX/386 3.2v4.0 and 4.2; PCs with SCO Xenix/286 2.3.3; PCs with SCO Xenix/386 2.2.x through 2.3.4; PCs with Sequent DYNIX/ptx 2.16-4.4.2; PCs with SINIX-L 5.41-5.42; PCs with Sun Solaris 1.0 through Solaris 10; PCs with Trusted Xenix; PCs with UnixWare 1.0 through 7.3; PCs with Versyss System V R3; Perkin-Elmer 3200 series with AT&T Bell Labs UNIX V7; Perkin-Elmer 3200 series with AT&T System V R3; Perkin-Elmer 3200 series with Xelos R02; PFU Compact A Series SX/A TISP V10/E50; Plan 9 from Bell Labs on Intel, MIPS, SPARC, and 680x0; Prime EXL7000 or 8000 MIPS RISC/os 4.52; Pyramid MIS T Series with OSx 4.4 through 5.1a; Pyramid MIS S and ES Series with DataCenter/OSx; Sequent Balance or Symmetry with DYNIX 3.x and DYNIX/ptx 1.3, 1.4, and 4.0; Siemens Nixdorf RM x00 (MIPS) with SINIX 5.41-5.42; Siemens Nixdorf RM x00 (MIPS) with Reliant 5.43-5.44; Silicon Graphics IRIX 3.3 through 6.5.1; Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux; Solbourne 5E/900 with OS/MP 4.1A; Sony NEWS with NEWS-OS 4.x; Sperry 5000 with UTS V and System V R3; Stardent 1520 UNIX System V R3 2.2; Stratus Continuum with FTX 2.x through 3.1; Sun computers with SunOS 3.2 through 4.1.4; Sun computers with Solaris 1.0 through Solaris 9; Sun SPARC with Linux (Debian, Red Hat, SuSE); Sun SPARC with NeXTSTEP/Mach 3.3; Sun SPARC with OPENSTEP/Mach 4.1, 4.2; Sun SPARC with Plan 9 from Bell Labs; Tandy Model 6000 with XENIX 3.2; Tektronix 6130 with UTek OS; UNISYS 640 with CTIX SVR3.2 5.3; UNISYS S/4040 with CTIX SVR3.2; UNISYS U6000/65 MP with UNIX System V R4.

The Kermit Project / Columbia University / [email protected] / 30 September 2011 / Updated: 22 July 2021