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From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: ftp
Message-ID: <2970@phri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Oct-87 17:24:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: phri.2970
Posted: Wed Oct 21 17:24:18 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Oct-87 07:33:01 EDT
References: <421@wrs.UUCP>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 26

In article <2218@uunet.UU.NET> rsalz@uunet.UU.NET (Rich Salz) writes:
> > Rick Adams (rick@uunet.uu.net) provides archive access to those on the
> > Internet.  Access is available directly via anonymous FTP
> 
In article <421@wrs.UUCP> dg@wrs.UUCP (David Goodenough) responds:
> For us mere mortals who do not know how do access things via FTP
> *HOW_DOES_IT_WORK* ?????

	The key is the phrase "to those on the Internet".  FTP stands for
File Transfer Protocol, and is also the name of a program which uses that
protocol to copy files between machines.  If a site wants to make file
publicly available, they put them in an directory which outside people can
access with the username "anonymous" and no password (or sometimes, the
password "guest").

	While FTP works fine between any pair of machines which know how to
speak internet protocols at each other (note: this does not by a long shot
limit you to Unix systems) and with a network connection between them, when
people say "available via anonymous FTP" they are almost always talking
about machines on the DARPA internet, or simply, the Internet.  If you are
not on the Internet, you can't do anonymous FTP, at least not in the sense
Rich is talking about.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016