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13. How to anonymously ftp

Pretty much everything mentioned here is available by anonymous FTP. FAQ lists cross-posted to news.answers and rec.answers can be gotten from rtfm.mit.edu 18.181.0.24, under /pub/usenet/news.answers or under /pub/usenet/more.specific.group.name

"anonymous FTP" is just a way for files to be stored where anyone can retrieve them over the Net. For example, to retrieve the latest version of the literate programming FAQ, do the following:

> ftp rtfm.mit.edu              /* connect to the site; message follows */
> anonymous                     /* type this when it asks for your name */
> <your email address>          /* type your address as the password    */
> cd /pub/usenet                /* go to the directory you want to be   */
> cd comp.programming.literate  /* one level down (no slash).           */
> dir                           /* look at what's there                 */
> get literate-progamming-faq   /* get the file; case-sensitive         */
> quit                          /* stop this mysterious thing           */
If your FTP program complains that it doesn't know where the site you want to use is, type the numerical address instead of the sitename:
> ftp 18.181.0.24               /* connect with numerical address */
If you don't have ftp access, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the single word "help" in the body of the message.

Getting binary files (executables, or any compressed files) is only slightly more difficult. You need to set binary mode inside FTP before you transfer the file.

> binary            /* set binary transfer mode  */
> ascii             /* set back to text transfer mode */
FAQs and spoiler lists are generally ascii files; everything else is generally binary files.

Some common extensions on binary files in archive sites are:

  .Z           Compressed; extract with uncompress
  .tar.Z       Compressed 'tape archive'; uncompress then untar or tar -xvf
  .gz or .z    Gnu gzip; use gunzip (available from prep.gnu.ai.mit.edu)
  .sit         (Mac) StufIt archive
  .zip         Extract with Zip or Unzip
  .zoo         Yet another archive/compress program
  .lhe         (Amiga) ?
  .lzh         Lha archive program.
  .arj         (PC) Arj archive program.
  .exe         (PC) Sometimes self-extracting archives-just execute them.
  .uue or .UUE Transfer as text file; use uudecode to convert to binary
  .hqx         (Mac) BinHex format; transfer in text mode
Generic help can be found in the FAQs of comp.binaries. <your_system_type> for how to transfer, extract, and virus-check binary files. (At rtfm.mit.edu)

If you can't FTP from your site, use one of the following ftp-by-mail servers:

  ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
  ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk
  ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au
  ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr
For complete instructions, send a message reading "help" to the server.

If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, or exactly where it is, there are programs and servers that can help you. For more info, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.with with the body of the message reading send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources

Thanks to Aliza R. Panitz (the "buglady") for this text. I copied it verbatim from her post on faq-maintainers with only minor modifications.


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