From: dje@sspiff.ampr.ab.ca (Doug Evans)
Subject: ftpmail (was Re: perl and groff binaries for SCO.)
Organization: Edmonton, Alberta
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 06:26:08 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

ronald@gate.demon.co.uk (Ronald Khoo) writes:
> ...
>
>>> You might be able to get the
>>> ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com server to grab it for you if you can't FTP.
>> That sounds ideal - do you have instructions for the server?
>> (Is it the same as Simtel's?)
>
>I do not have instructions for the server, although I know that you can
>send it "help" and I know that it is different from the BITNET servers
>for simtel.

I saved the following as soon as I saw it!
I use ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com as my only ftp access.
I can't grab megabyte files but other than that, it's great.
(I suppose I could grab big files, but I don't want to rock the boat
and lose my free net access!).

----- cut here -----
From: bnelson@csulx.weber.edu (Bert Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: FTPing through E-mail
Date: 15 Jan 92 05:09:51 GMT
Organization: Weber State University, Ogden Utah


Many of those out in netland have requested that I mail them a copy
of my recent game, because their over-zealous system adminstrators do
not allow FTP at their site.  And that's not too bad but when scores of people
make the same request it becomes a little overwhelming.

There is another way!

Try using ftpmail.  Send e-mail to 'ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com', with the
word 'help' as the only word in the message body, and a null subject
header.  It will tell you how to use ftpmail.  (The syntax for ftpmail
is very similar to FTP itself, although ftpmail operates using e-mail,
and thus is not interactive, unlike FTP.)  This works for any hosts
with e-mail access to the Internet, even from FidoNet!
 

The contents of help for ftpmail from the above site is below. 

>>> this help file was last edited on 08-August-1991
>>>
>>> commands are:

	reply <MAILADDR>	set reply addr, since headers are usually wrong
	connect [HOST [USER [PASS]]]  defaults to gatekeeper.dec.com, anonymous
	ascii			files grabbed are printable ascii
	binary			files grabbed are compressed or tar or both
	chdir PLACE		"get" and "ls" commands are relative to PLACE
					(only one CHDIR per ftpmail session)
	compress		compress binaries using Lempel-Ziv encoding
	compact			compress binaries using Huffman encoding
	uuencode		binary files will be mailed in uuencode format
	btoa			binary files will be mailed in btoa format
	ls (or dir) PLACE	short (long) directory listing
	get FILE		get a file and have it mailed to you
	quit			terminate script, ignore rest of mail message
					(use if you have a .signature or
					 are a VMSMAIL user)

>>> notes:

	-> you must give a "connect" command, default host is
	   gatekeeper.dec.com, default user is anonymous, default
	   password is your mail address.

	-> binary files will not be compressed unless 'compress' or 'compact'
	   command is given; use this if at all possible, it helps a lot.

	-> binary files will always be formatted into printable ASCII
	   with "btoa" or "uuencode" (default is "btoa").

	-> all retrieved files will be split into 60KB chunks and mailed.

	-> VMS/DOS/Mac versions of uudecode, atob, compress and compact
	   are available, ask your LOCAL wizard about them if you can't
	   locate them (but try gatekeeper.dec.com in /archive/pub/VMS
	   if you're still trapped on a VMS system.)

	-> several mail unsplitters are hiding on gatekeeper.dec.com in
	   /pub/mail/ua/misc/unsplit.  includes one in c, one in perl,
	   and one in VMS DCL.

>>> examples:

	-> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get a root directory listing:

		connect
		ls
		quit

	-> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the README.ftp file:

		connect
		get README.ftp
		quit

	-> connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the gnuemacs sources:

		connect
		binary
		chdir /pub/GNU
		get emacs-18.57.tar.Z
		quit

	-> connect to uunet.uu.net as anonymous and get a root directory list:

		connect uunet.uu.net
		dir
		quit

  -- Ftpmail Submission Transcript --
<<< help
>>> Help is on the way.


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 
Bert Nelson              	"On a clear disk you can seek forever"
Weber State University   	Anonymous
bnelson@csulx.weber.edu
----- cut here -----
-- 
Doug Evans               | "You're just supposed to sit here?"
dje@sspiff.ampr.ab.ca    |               - Worf in a mud bath.
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco