Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ziploc!eps
From: eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: FTP / How do I determine file type?
Message-ID: <244@toaster.SFSU.EDU>
Date: 9 Jan 90 14:32:36 GMT
References: <20950@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Reply-To: eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)
Organization: San Francisco State University
Lines: 28

In article <20950@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> HUFF@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
	(Steve Huff, U. of Kansas, Lawrence) writes:
>When I am FTP'ng, how do I determine what type the file I am
>'get'ng is?

It's not always possible.  If there's a "README" file in the
directory, get it (ASCII) and read it first.

Between _identical_ operating systems it's a non-issue; most UNIX
systems can use BINARY for everything; DEC-20s can use PAGE
structure; VMS sites running MultiNet can use the STRU O VMS
extension.  But these are special cases.  The heterogeneous
nature of the Internet often leads to...  "ya just gotta know."

>             For example, I tried to get a file with the extension
>	TAR.Z
>
>as a binary file, but received garbage.

You must use BINARY (or TENEX, if appropriate) mode to transfer
.Z files--these are Lempel-Ziv compressed.  If you try looking at
them "raw" they will look like garbage.  They can be recognized
by their first three bytes; for 16-bit compression, they will be
(hex) 1F 9D 90.  You will need an "uncompress" program to
recover the original data (which your site should have, possibly
as part of its usenet software).

					-=EPS=-