General Information: The BITFTP server at PUCC is provided as a service to the BITNET community by the Princeton University Computer Administration. BITFTP provides FTP access to BITNET only sites, who do not have access to the Internet. As a note, you should NOT use BITFTP if you have direct FTP access. Please remember that BITFTP is being provided as a free service and do not take advantage of their generosity.
Using BITFTP by Electronic Mail: BITFTP accepts "command sets" in most standard mail formats (RFC-822). Send your commands as the body of the mail message. A subject line is not needed. The first command in your mail file must be one of the following:
FTP hostname FILETYPE - Initiate a FTP link
FTPLIST - Request a copy of a current list of FTP sites
HELP - Request a help file
VMS - Request a file containing suggestions on using BITFTP via VMS systems
The commands HELP, FTPLIST, and VMS should be the only contents of their file. The FTP command will be followed by the appropriate FTP commands to transfer the files. More info on FTP commands can be found in the Introduction to FTP section of this document. The commands supported by BITFTP are described in the FTP COMMANDS section below.
A Sample BITFTP command set:
This BITFTP command set will request a copy of this file from the Sumex Macintosh archives.
FTP sumex-aim.stanford.edu NETDATA
USER anonymous
CD /info-mac/misc
GET NetDoc10.hqx
QUIT
BITFTP Commands:
The following command syntax is supported by BITFTP. Additional information on some of these commands may be found in the "IBM TCP/IP for VM Command Reference Manual"
FTP (hostname) (Filetype) - The FTP command serves two functions. One, it instructs BITFTP to open a file transfer connection to the FTP site specified as the hostname. Second, it specifies the method by which the file is to be sent from BITFTP to your account. BITFTP can send files in either straight NETDATA, or UUENCODED files. More information about this command is available in the help file issued by BITFTP.
USERNAME (Username) (Password) - Specifies the account to be accessed. Most public access sites accept a username of anonymous. If anonymous is used, you do not need to specify a password. If you are accessing a private account, you must specify the password.
CD - Change directory. No changes from the standard FTP syntax. Used to move within directories at a site.
CLOSE - Disconnect from the current connection without ending the FTP session.
QUIT - Disconnect from the current connection and end the FTP session. You must specify QUIT as the last command in your file.
DIR - Obtain a listing of all files in the current directory.
BINARY - Set the file transfer mode to BINARY mode. You should use BINARY for any executable or GIF files.
ASCII - Set the file transfer mode to ASCII text.
Information on additional commands and some tips for using BITFTP are available from BITFTP itself via the help command.