Anonymous FTP
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
Suggestions for changes and comments are always welcome.
I keep a directory of Internet sites accepting Anonymous FTP and mail
retrieval of their files.
Topics are shown below and with their respective answers (*: new, +: changed)
Format: (Q#) for a question and (A#) for the answer.
(1) What is and how do I use the FTP program?
(2) What types of FTP information are available?
(4) What is the most current version?
+(4) Retrieving the listings via email.
+(5) Using FTP without direct Internet access.
(6) Getting help when you have problems with a site.
(7) Getting a site listed or changes made.
(8) What is Archie and how does it relate to the list?
(9) Using FSP/Gopher/WAIS/WWW to access archives.
(10) How do I stop the listings from scrolling off the screen?
+(11) How do I set up an (Anonymous) FTP server?
(Q1) What is and how do I use the FTP program?
(A1) For novices to the Internet, I highly recommend a good book,
'The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog' by Ed Krol. It is
written clearly and contains an enormous amount of information. Read
it cover to cover, and keep it close at hand. Published by O'Reilly &
Associates, it is available from many computer bookstores or
O'Reilly's worldwide distributors. Contact the publisher at +1 707-
829-0515 (USA), or send e-mail to [email protected] for information.
Unfortunately, this book is already outdated, but it still offers
an invaluable resource and manual for novices and more experienced
Internet users. Apparently there will be a new version of this book
somewhere this year, so look out for it.
Other books are 'The Internet Companion', 'Internet: Getting Started',
'Internet Unleashed', 'The Internet Guide for New Users' and a lot more.
Look for them in your local bookstore. Almost all of the information in
these books is also available on-line through various documents like
the MaasInfo files, Zen and the Art of the Internet, The HitchHiker's
Guide to the Internet, The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, the on-line
version of The.Internet.Companion, the Internet Resource Guide and
a whole number of FAQs, RFCs and the like.
The MaasInfo and Big Dummy's Guide files appear to be the most recent of
these kind of files (look for info on where to get them in the
sitelisting itself).
Another source for information might be the magazine Internet World,
from Meckler Corp. ([email protected]).
I'm not affiliated with any of the publishers, authors or anyone
mentioned above, but I bought some of the books and like them.
The information below was originally maintained by Jon Granrose (one of
the old maintainers of the listings). Mike Jones added the info about the
existence and location of the compression data chart maintained by
David Lemson. Tom Czarnik (another old maintainer) added some as well
and I have made some changes too.
By:
Jon Granrose
Mike Jones
Tom Czarnik
Perry Rovers
This is not a definitive guide to FTP, but will give a novice a
general idea of what it is and how to do it.
What is FTP?
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows a person to transfer files
between two computers, generally connected via the Internet. If
your system has FTP and is connected to the Internet, you can
access very large amounts of archives available on a number of
systems. If you are on Bitnet or a UUCP host, you should look
for servers that work through the mail. A good source of
information on archives in general, is the Usenet newsgroup
comp.archives.
What is Anonymous FTP?
Many systems throughout the Internet offer files through
anonymous FTP. This means that you can access a machine
without having to have an account on that machine. These
anonymous FTP servers contain software, documents of various
sorts, and files for configuring networks. Archives for
electronic mailing lists are often stored on and are available
through anonymous FTP. An enormous amount of information
is stored on these machines and is ready for anyone who's
seeking it.
Note that all this is subject to change, it is a privilege
and the person responsible for the machine can shut it down
at any time without you being able to do anything about it.
Commands
All the normal FTP commands may be used to retrieve files. Some
FTP commands are the same on different computers, but others
are not.
Usually, FTP will list the commands if you type 'help' or type a
question mark (?). Also, your computer's help command may have
information about FTP. Try 'man ftp', 'man ftpd' or 'help ftp'.
Some useful commands available on most systems include:
ascii Switch to ascii mode. Ascii mode is the default mode
and used for transferring text files
binary Switch to binary mode. For transferring binary files
like .ZIP files, .Z files and the like
cd Change the directory on the remote computer
dir/ls List the files in the current directory on the remote
computer
get Copy a file from the remote computer to yours
hash Puts a '#' on the screen for every of bytes
transferred. is 1024 in some cases, 2048 in others
but is between 1024 and 4096 in most cases.
Check the ftp 'help' function for more info on the number for
your client program.
help Gives help on the use of commands within the ftp program
lcd Change the directory on your computer (the 'l' is for local)
lpwd Shows the present working directory (pwd) on your
computer (the 'l' is for local). Note: this may not
work on all machines. On a Unix machine, try !pwd
if lwpd doesn't work.
mget Copy multiple files from the remote computer to yours
pwd Shows the present working directory (pwd) on the
remote computer
Procedure
Anonymous FTP is a facility offered by many machines on the
Internet.
This permits you to log in with the user name 'anonymous' or the
user name 'ftp'. When prompted for a password, type your e-mail
address -- it's not necessary, but it's a courtesy for those
sites that like to know who is making use of their facility. Be
courteous. Some sites require a valid e-mail address, others don't.
You can then look around and retrieve files. (Most anonymous ftp
sites do not permit people to store files). Note that when you
retrieve files, you have to know where the files are going to
end up on your machine. This is where the 'lpwd' command comes
in handy. Also note that when you have transferred a file that
you want to use on your PC, but you run ftp from a Unix machine
(or a similar mainframe or network machine), you will have to ftp
the file from the Unix machine to your PC first (this is assuming
that you can't ftp to outside your company or campus from your PC,
otherwise you could have gotten the file directly to the PC).
This may sound silly, but sometimes people don't know where their
files are stored or a system administrator decides to give ftp
access to only a few systems.
Typically, a directory called 'pub' is where the interesting
things are stored. Some sites will have a file with a name
like ls-lR, that contains a complete list of the files on
that site. Otherwise, you can type ls -lR and get such a listing
-- for some sites, this can take a LONG time.
When retrieving non-text files, you must use binary mode,
otherwise the file gets messed up. To do this, use the
'binary' command. (It's safe to set this for text files, but
the result might look a bit different from an ASCII transfer)
If the site at the other end is non-Unix, you may need to
use some other mode -- see the documents or README files
for that site and for FTP.
The simplest way to initiate FTP would be to give the command
'ftp '. The is the remote
system you are connecting to, either a name like garbo.uwasa.fi,
if you have an entry in /etc/hosts or are accessing a Domain
Name Server or the Internet address 128.214.87.1 for Garbo. If
that last sentence doesn't seem to make sense just try: ftp
garbo.uwasa.fi or ftp 128.214.87.1 and look what happens.
After a short wait, you will be prompted for your username. If
you do not have an account on the remote system, some systems
allow you to use 'anonymous'. This gives you a restricted
access path (meaning that you can only run certain commands
like 'dir' or 'ls' and are allowed only access to certain
directories like 'pub').
You would then be prompted for a password. Some systems will
tell you to send your real identity as the password. What you
type doesn't matter in most cases, but it is suggested to give
your mail address. This as a courtesy to the archive maintainers,
they would like to know who's using their system. Other systems
need a password of 'guest', or something similar. DO NOT
TYPE A PASSWORD THAT YOU USE ON YOUR OWN SYSTEM.
After that, you should receive the FTP prompt ( usually ftp> )
and have access. You can get a directory of files by giving a
'dir' command or if the remote system is Unix-based,
'ls -l' will give the familiar output. On Garbo, there is a
file available in the default anonymous ftp directory that
explains what Garbo is and where files are located. Look
for 00-index.txt files or something similar.
Unix systems will all have the same directory structure, and
moving around is done with the 'cd' or 'cwd' command.
TOPS-20, VAX/VMS, DOS VM/CMS and other systems have a different
structure, but movement is still accomplished with the 'cd'
command.
TOPS-20 has directories of the form: DISK:, VAX/VMS
has directories of the form DISK:[DIR1.DIR2] (use cd [-] instead
of cd .. and cd [.DIR1] instead of cd dir1). DOS, OS/2 and
Windows NT look like Unix but have shorter directory names.
VM/CMS has mini-disks that can be accessed with the CD command.
A lot of systems give some information about how to use the
system when you login, look for that after you have typed
the password (some of those messages will not be shown if
you use a - as the first character in your password, some
people need this because the system won't recognize them
otherwise. If you have problems logging into a site, try
a - as the first character).
Different systems have different organizations for their files,
and the above example is the way most archives have it set up.
By looking around other systems, you can learn how their files
are arranged and move around much faster. Note, however,
that FTP will not allow you outside the FTP 'root' directory.
Moving about the entire system is not permitted. You will
get 'Permission denied' messages.
Usually, files are grouped in archive files, so you don't have
to get many small files separately. The most common archival
file formats for the Internet are tar and zip. Occasionally,
people use shell archives (shar) instead. Tar files are basically
a bunch of files 'glued' together. Tar archives can be unpacked
by running the 'tar' command on a Unix system (tar exists also
for DOS, VMS and a whole bunch of other Operating Systems) --
you may want to first do a 'tar t' on the file to see what it
contains before unpacking it. This means typing: tar t filename.tar
and looking what the output shows.
Be careful when unpacking shell archives since they have to be
run through the Bourne shell to unpack them. (The simplest
way is to use the unshar command).
Files are often stored compressed, because they take up less
space that way -- for Unix, the most common compression 'scheme'
is the 'compress' program, indicated by a .Z suffix on the file
name. Also you will find Arc, Zoo, Arj, Lzh or Zip files,
which are combined archival and compression formats (there are
other archival formats as well - talk to the systems staff if
you encounter them and don't know how to deal with them).
For .zip files use zip and unzip (or pkzip/pkunzip), which are
available for all Operating Systems.
Archival and compression utilities are very handy, but can make
it very difficult to 'get' a file and use it:
when you're on a DOS or VMS system for example you can't type:
get filename.tar.Z
You have to type:
get filename.tar.Z filename.tz
or something like that and then remember what you have to do to
unpack the file, namely first running your version of 'compress'
on it and then your version of 'tar'.
Remember this when you can't seem to transfer a file.
These are the most common file types (there are zillions more):
SUFFIX FTP TYPE
------ --- -----
.arc bin ARChive (hardly used anymore)
.arj bin Arj (mostly MS-DOS)
.gif bin Graphics Interchange Format
.gz bin GNU Zip
(Not compatible with Zip.
Found on some sites as .z files.
GNU zip is seen in combination with
tar as .tgz files, maybe even as .tz files)
.hqx bin HQX (Mac)
.jpg bin JPEG (graphics format)
.lzh bin LHa, LHarc, Larc
.shar ascii SHell ARchive (mostly Unix)
.sit bin Stuff-It (Mac)
.tar bin Tape ARchive (mostly Unix)
.uu ascii uuencode/uudecode (also .uue)
.Z bin compress (mostly Unix, seen in combination
with tar as .tar.Z files)
.zip bin Zip (either PKZip or Zip/Unzip)
.zoo bin Zoo
To get a list of all file compression/archiving methods and the
programs to uncompress/unarchive (on the PC, Mac, Unix, VAX/VMS,
VM/CMS, Atari ST and Amiga systems), FTP to the following site
and retrieve the listed file:
ftp.cso.uiuc.edu directory: /doc/pcnet/compression
This could be helpful to people new to FTP that don't know how
to unpack the file they have just transferred.
Also check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Lists and
other periodical postings in the news.answers group. Especially
the comp.graphics, comp.compression and the different
Operating Systems FAQs (Unix, VMS etc.) can be very handy.
(Q2) What types of FTP information are available?
(A2) FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions List about FTP
SITELIST - Comprehensive Information, containing:
o Site name
o Country
o Date of last modification
o GMT difference (+/-)
o Source of last update
o Administrative e-mail address
o Organization maintaining FTP site
o Email Server if available and instructions for use
o System Type
o Comments
o Types of Files
Note that apart from my ftp-list.zip file, Timo Salmi and
Rhys Weatherley are maintaining a complementary list of
a number of MS-DOS ftp sites. They list some more information
on a subset of sites in my SITELIST file. The file is called
moder*.zip where * is a version number and it is available
from garbo.uwasa.fi in directory /pc/pd2 and oak.oakland.edu
in directory /pub/msdos/info.
Also, Christian Hettler is maintaining a list of German FTP
sites on ftp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de, directory: /pub/info, file:
ftp.list.de and Arjan de Vet is maintaining a list of Dutch FTP
sites on ftp.win.tue.nl, directory: pub/usenet/nlnet, file: nl-ftp
(this one is in Dutch). On ftp.urec.fr there's a file called
ftp-france-liste but it doesn't seem to be updated regularly.
(Q3) What is the most current version?
(A3) Look in the Version: line in the top of this file and compare
it to the faq file in ftp-list.zip on garbo.uwasa.fi, ftp.edu.tw
or oak.oakland.edu. The latest version is always available there.
(Q4) Retrieving the list from alternate sources.
(A4) 1) Pick it up from anonymous FTP archives; look for 'ftp-list'
in the SITELIST file. Be warned, many sites carry Jon
Granrose's (sometimes known as ODIN.FTPLIST, pre Jan-92) or
Tom Czarniks's old FTP listing (pre Apr-93) and these files
are outdated. It will take a while for this version to spread,
but the following sites always carry the latest version:
Europe - garbo.uwasa.fi as /pc/doc-net/ftp-list.zip
USA - rtfm.mit.edu in the /pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list
directory: faq file and sitelist directory (ASCII)
USA - oak.oakland.edu as /SimTel/msdos/info/ftp-list.zip
Asia - ftp.edu.tw in /documents/networking/guides/ftp-list
several files in several formats (.Z, .gz, .zip, ASCII,
dBase and MS-Access database versions and AmigaGuide
Hypertext version)
Admins who would like to mirror the list are welcome to mirror any
of the above sites/directories, dependent on what format they like.
2) send an e-mail message to [email protected] with
no subject and in the body of the message:
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part2
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part3
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part4
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part5
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part6
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part7
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part8
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part9
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part10
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part11
3) Send me mail: [email protected]. State how you need it sent
and I'll get to it you ASAP. Thanks to the efforts of
Lou Swiczewicz ([email protected]) and Dave Thomas
([email protected]) there will be made available
from ftp.edu.tw a dBase and Microsoft Access database version
and a Hypertext AmigaGuide version. The list is also searchable
through some gophers, I'm gonna add a list of them at some
later date. [I'm currently not sure how these versions are coming
along, I'll have to look into that someday]
(Q5) Using FTP without direct Internet access.
(A5) It is possible to get files from a site by using a general mail
server. Many sites have their own servers. If you're on BITNET, ask
your sysadmin or technical support group about PUCC (or send mail
with a body of 'help' (no quotes, and nothing else) to BITFTP@PUCC,
BITFTP@PLEARN or BITFTP@DEARN (known on the Internet as
[email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]
respectively)
Also, there's a service called TRICKLE, a concentrator of several
ftp sites. Through TRICKLE you can retrieve files by e-mail or
have them ftped to your own machine or SEND to you. It's also possible
to subscribe to directories or files (you can for instance subscribe
to the McAfee virusscanner and get it by mail everytime there's
a new version). Send e-mail with '/HELP' (no quotes) in the body
to [email protected] or [email protected],
for more info and a list of other trickle servers.
For non-BITNET sites, try using DEC's mail server. Send mail to
[email protected] with 'help' (no quotes) in the body of the
letter. You should NOT send a blank letter, commands are not optional.
Other servers that might be closer and provide the same service are:
- [email protected] (Australia)
- [email protected] (Germany)
- [email protected] (France)
- [email protected] (Great Britain)
- [email protected] (Ireland)
- [email protected] (Sweden)
- [email protected] (USA)
- [email protected] (USA, message relayed to [email protected])
- [email protected] (USA)
- [email protected] (USA)
Actually, you are urged to use one of the above instead of decwrl.dec.com.
That machine is very overloaded as it is the most widely known ftpmailer.
So, lift the burden and use (faster!) closer machines!!!
Requests for the ftpmail servers are of the form:
open
cd
dir # To obtain a directory listing
get # To retrieve a file
quit
Example:
open rtfm.mit.edu
cd pub/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list
get faq
quit
NOTE: Please make sure your system admin has approved the the use of
a mail server, as files can take system resources of not only
your site, but several sites up the stream. And please abide
by the guidelines that the ftpmail server administrators have
put in their help files. Most ftpmail servers default to their
own site for files, so try retrieving things from that site first.
In general, most files you need are already available there, so
it is a waste to connect to another machine.
(Q6) Problems with a site.
(A6) Mail the problems to the admin address shown in the Sites list.
If an address is not shown, attempt to use 'ftp@site_name'; replace
'site_name' with the name of the troublesome site. If it's very
urgent, try sending a note describing the problem to
postmaster@site_name or when the site is a Unix machine: root@site_name
and when the site is a VAX/VMS machine: operator@site_name (the
postmaster@site_name should be valid in all cases).
If that fails, post a note to comp.archives.admin (the newsgroup for
archive administrators). I'm going to include a list of common error
messages here someday, so you don't have to contact the admin for
some common notices you might receive. One of those message is:
'permission denied'. This can mean a few things: either you don't have
write rights to the directory where you started 'ftp' from and you're
trying to retrieve a file or the file or directory on the remote
site has been made unaccessible to you (e.g. a /private directory).
The solution to the first possibility is to change to a directory
where you are allowed to write files (like your 'home' directory)
and the solution to the second possibility is to ask the admin
to change the permissions to that file or directory, but you'd
better have a good reason to need access to that file or directory,
most of the time those permissions are there for a reason.
Other messages will be included at a later date, in the meanwhile,
check the helpfiles on your ftp client first if they give you the
answer.
(Q7) Getting a site listed or changes made.
(A7) Send mail to [email protected]
Include the information stated below, in the body of the
letter.
Needed information
o Site name
o Site's country of operations, preferably location within
country as well
o GMT difference (I don't bother with daylight savings and the like)
o Manager(s) full name & email address(es) (not made public if
you don't want it)
o Any aliases you want listed for the site (preferred are ALL
aliases that you know, because some people might refer to them.
These are just there for completeness sake and to easily spot
duplicate entries, NOT for use by anonymous ftp users)
o Administrative address used for FTP related issues by the
general public (like ftp@site_name)
o Organization operating site, department within the organization
o Is an E-mail server available and how can one use it?
o Type of system the server is running on (OS, hardware)
o Comments (restrictions and the like if any)
o General description of the types of files available, special
directories etc.
(Q8) What is Archie and how does it relate to FTP?
(A8) Archie is a special service that keeps file listings from
different FTP sites. You can Telnet to an Archie server (login with username
'archie') or use a client program to search for specific files.
Here are some sites; send mail to 'archie@site_name' for a help file.
Note that some sites do not support mail access. Most do however.
archie.au* 139.130.4.6 Australia
archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at* 140.78.3.8 Austria
archie.univie.ac.at* 131.130.1.23 Austria
archie.uqam.ca* 132.208.250.10 Canada
archie.funet.fi 128.214.6.100 Finland
archie.th-darmstadt.de* 130.83.22.60 Germany
archie.ac.il* 132.65.6.15 Israel
archie.unipi.it* 131.114.21.10 Italy
archie.wide.ad.jp 133.4.3.6 Japan
archie.kr* 128.134.1.1 Korea
archie.sogang.ac.kr* 163.239.1.11 Korea
archie.rediris.es* 130.206.1.2 Spain
archie.luth.se* 130.240.18.4 Sweden
archie.switch.ch* 130.59.1.40 Switzerland
archie.ncu.edu.tw* 140.115.19.24 Taiwan
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk* 146.169.11.3 United Kingdom
archie.unl.edu 129.93.1.14 USA (NE)
archie.internic.net* 198.48.45.10 USA (NJ)
archie.rutgers.edu* 128.6.18.15 USA (NJ)
archie.ans.net* 147.225.1.10 USA (NY)
archie.sura.net* 128.167.254.179 USA (MD)
To get a list, type: telnet archie.ans.net
and login as 'archie' (no quotes) and type 'servers' (again, no quotes).
Of course you can also try a server somewhat closer but this list
is from archie.ans.net
To find a file called 'filename' you would type: prog filename
at the prompt. There are lots of options available, read the manual
with the 'help' command (no quotes). Some of you may be wondering,
why does the Anonymous FTP Sitelist exist if Archie can find files?
The answer is this: archie does not work (yet) with non-Unix sites (the
number of which will increase substantially the next years with all the
new users using PC's and Amiga's etc.) and another problem with archie
is that different servers can provide you with different answers depending
on the ftp sites they currently have in their memory. Using a European
server you might not be able to find a file in the US, but if you try
a US server it's possible that it does find the file(s) you need and
vice versa.
(Q9) Using FSP/Gopher/WAIS/WWW to access archives.
(A9) Some sites offer retrieval of their FTP archives through Gopher,
a browser for the Internet. You can use a so-called Gopher client
program to connect to a Gopher server (in this case the Gopher server
of the ftp-site). Type 'gopher' on your system to see if Gopher is
installed. Most of the time this will bring up a menu system from
which you have several choices. Check the help pages for instructions
or ask a local system administrator or helpdesk on how to use it.
If Gopher does not appear to be installed, ask your local helpdesk
why it isn't. Installing Gopher on your system consists of getting
a client program for your Operating System and installing it.
You can get client programs for Gopher for several Operating Systems
from the boombox.micro.umn.edu ftp site in directory /pub/gopher
and from lots of other sites around the world (check the SITELIST file
for more sites).
Read the Usenet newsgroup comp.infosystems.gopher for more info.
If I know that a site supports Gopher, this info can be found in the
Comments: line in the SITELIST file. Other means of retrieving files
are through the World Wide Web (WWW or W3) or WAIS. These services
are extensions to the 'bare bones' FTP approach and are rapidly
become more popular. They are easy to use and if you have the
resources you should consider getting a client for either Gopher, WWW
or WAIS (or all) from a good ftp site. Check the relevant comp.infosystems.*
group or/and the sitelist for addresses of clients and how to install them.
The last option to access an archive to be mentioned here is called FSP
(some people say it stands for File Service Protocol, some call it FTP's
Sexier Partner and others refer to it as F**cking Software Pirates).
FSP has some nice features that FTP doesn't have like 'crash-recovery',
the ability to transfer only the part of a file that wasn't transferred
before (a la Zmodem). Using FSP means getting yourself a client program
and finding FSP sites. A good place to look for clients is on
ftp.germany.eu.net and you can ask for sites in alt.comp.fsp (read the
FAQ and the FSP docs first). FSP is mostly used to retrieve GIF files in
the background (hence the second explanation of the abbreviation) and has
been used for setting up 'pirate' sites (sites that distribute
commercial software, hence the third explanation). This has given it a
somewhat bad name, but the idea is good.
(Q10) How do I stop the listings from scrolling off the screen?
(A10) When you're retrieving a directory listing of a large site,
it's quite possible that the number of files in a directory is
bigger than the number of rows on your screen. The listing then
scrolls of your screen. There are several ways to avoid this.
You can use 'ls -CF' or 'ls -lF' (no quotes) to get a directory listing
like the MS-DOS 'dir/w' command (a 'wide' directory listing). Also,
some ftp clients support: 'ls -l "| more"' or 'dir "| more"'.
This seems to differ however per site so trying some of the following
might help you:
ls -l |more
dir |more
Ctrl-S to stop the scrolling, Ctrl-Q to resume scrolling
Alt-Scrolllock to pause the screen
These combinations are highly machine specific but probably one
of them will work for you. Also, instead of using 'dir' or 'ls'
you can try to retrieve an index file first to look at that.
Either transfer the file and look at it while you're not connected
to the ftp site (by using 'get filename'), transfer the file and look at
it while you're connected (by using a 'shell' command, you temporarily
leave the ftp client program to look at the file with some editor, 'cat'
or 'more', look in the help pages of the ftp client for more info, most
of the time it's:
!more