DRAFT. EXPECT SOME OMISSIONS AND INACCURACIES
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NFTP : New File Transfer Protocol Client Version 0.82
Copyright (C) 1994-1996 Sergey Ayukov

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Home page of NFTP is http://crydee.sai.msu.su/nftp/
Check it for new versions, updates etc.

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Installation
  3. Quick start
  4. Usage
        o Launching NFTP
        o Logging in and out
        o Behind the firewall
        o Navigating remote site and local directories
        o Transferring files
        o Customizing NFTP
  5. Keyboard commands summary
        o General keyboard commands
        o Control connection window
        o File listing (remote and local)
        o Entry fields
        o Bookmark list
        o Built-in file viewer
  6. Known bugs and limitations
  7. Troubleshooting
  8. Licensing information
  9. Acknowledgements
 10. Registration
 11. Contacting the author
 12. Version history

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INTRODUCTION

NFTP is a text-mode ftp client for OS/2. Comparing to popular ncftp, it has
a number of enhancements:

   * remote directory view is fully scrollable with minimum keystrokes
     required;
   * remote directory contents is cached during one session - you'll never
     have to wait for retrieving the same listing;
   * marking files for download/upload: you don't need to type filenames at
     all;
   * remote file viewing is more simple and intelligent, and viewed files
     are cached as well;
   * you can see client-server negotiation (even complete history during all
     run);
   * NFTP has batch progress indicator (you see how long will take entire
     operation if more than one file was selected to transfer);
   * file selection is simple and allows to view remote files while marking
     others to transfer;
   * you can skip files during transfer while continuing to download/upload
     the rest;
   * you can mark files in different directories and then retrieve them all;
   * you can sort remote directories by name, size, date/time.
   * NFTP comes in 12 languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Danish,
     Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian,
     Russian, Spanish, Swedish.

The biggest advantages over majority of PM ftp clients (like FTP-PM, sftp
etc.) are the ability to 'reget' (continue transfer after interruption),
speed of simple and effective text-mode interface, small memory
requirements.

In my opinion, LW-FTP while being very elegant is useless due to big
overhead of Workplace Shell object creation/deletion.

OS/2 4.0 (Merlin) has introduced concept of 'FTP Folder', similar to LW-FTP
and offering seamless integration of FTP client and Workplace Shell (via WPS
class). They are funny and easy to use, but play and work are different
things. If you really need to transfer files regularly and in large
quantities you'll look for more useful and less fancy program than 'FTP
Folder'.

However, NFTP isn't free as ncftp. But registration fee is only US$ 20 --
and you'll get all future versions and support by e-mail at this price! See
registration details below.
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INSTALLATION

  1. Requirements are
        o OS/2 2.x or later;
        o TCP/IP stack: IBM TCP/IP 2.0 for OS/2, OS/2 Warp Connect, OS/2
          Warp Internet Access Kit;
        o HPFS formatted drive to be able to download files which are not
          8.3-compliant.
        o In addition, you also have to install emx runtime package. If you
          don't have it installed, file "emx.dll" is supplied with this
          version of NFTP. Copy it into any directory listed in your
          LIBPATH. If you want to obtain complete emx runtime package and/or
          its source, you can get it from the following anonymous ftp
          servers:
          ftp.uni-stuttgart.de:/pub/systems/os2/emx-0.9b/
          hobbes.nmsu.edu://os2/unix/emx09b/
          ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/os2/lang/emx09b/
          ftp.sai.msu.su:/pub/os2/programming/emx-0.9b/
          EMX runtime support is contained in file emxrt.zip; instructions
          on installing it can be found inside archive.
  2. Installation.

     Unpack archive nftp*.zip into some directory and run install.cmd. After
     answering some questions necessary files will be copied to the
     directory you specified and your WPS desktop will hold two new objects
     -- "NFTP" (executable) and "NFTP Manual". You probably already done
     that because you're reading that "NFTP Manual"!

     If you want to install NFTP by hand (without install.cmd), copy all
     files into the directory of your choice (eg, "d:\apps\tcpip\nftp"),
     load nftp.ini into your favourite ASCII text editor (eg, TEDIT shipped
     with Warp) and insert your e-mail address (it will be used as a
     password for anonymous logins) at the appropriate place (line

               anonymous-password="your-e-mail-address"


     ). I also suggest to decide where you will keep your bookmarks and
     transfer history and set corresponding variables accordingly. If you
     like to launch programs from desktop, create program object for NFTP.
     Put supplied nftp.mrk file into the directory which you've chosen in
     nftp.ini.

     The language NFTP uses is determined by environment variable NFTP_LANG.
     It should be set to the name (without extension) of corresponding DLL
     file. E.g., if you want to use Japanese version, you should use

               set NFTP_LANG=japanes


     This statement can be put to config.sys or to the batch file invoking
     nftp (install.cmd does exactly this). If you only need English version
     you may omit this variable.

     install.cmd creates Workplace shell object to run NFTP. This feature
     can be useful even you are die-hard command-line user (see below). NFTP
     can run in a fullscreen session or in a VIO window. Installation script
     sets it to run in a window, and window will not be closed automatically
     after exit -- this can help to diagnose problems. Turn it off when
     everything works as expected.

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QUICK START

After installation, run nftp.exe (from command line or WPS object). If
you're launching NFTP from WPS object created by installation script you
will be asked to enter "FTP server to log in"; simply press ENTER now. You
should see list of bookmarks on the screen. Use cursor keys to select one of
them and press ENTER. If everything is set up correctly, you'll see
client-server negotiation and then finally list of files and directories on
the ftp server you've chosen. Hit SPACE to view control connection window
(and it is scrollable!), TAB to view local files/directories. Return to
remote directory view by pressing space/tab another time. Move pointer with
cursor keys, press ENTER on a directory to enter it. If you know name of the
file (or first symbols of the name), type it directly: NFTP will try to
position cursor on a file which name starts with these symbols. Select files
to download with INSERT or simply press F5 to transfer single file. To
upload file to server, switch to local files view (with TAB), select file(s)
and press Shift-F5. To view local or remote file, move pointer to it and
press F3 (of course, remote file will be downloaded first -- that will
probably take some time). Navigating in the viewer is simple and intuitive:
scroll file with cursor keys. Press F10 to log off and exit NFTP.
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USAGE: LAUNCHING NFTP

You often already know where the file you need right now is located. Let's
suppose, say, you want to retrieve RFC 959 from

       src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/pub/rfc/


Launch nftp in the following fashion:

       nftp  src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/pub/rfc


or

       nftp  src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/rfc


After logging in into src.doc.ic.ac.uk nftp will change directory for you to
/pub/rfc. Having directory listing before you, start typing 'rfc959': cursor
will be positioned on rfc959.txt.gz. You will then locate required file and
download it.

The command line format for NFTP is:

      nftp [hostname[[:[port]]directory]   [userid]


"hostname" is the name of ftp server ('src.doc.ic.ac.uk' in the above
example), ":" can be omitted, "directory" is remote directory ('/pub/rfc' in
the above example), "port" is port number (don't use it if you don't know
what's it). If you have an account on ftp server (i.e. you're not anonymous
user), you can specify your userid in the command line. You will be asked
for a password. An important note -- there shouldn't be any spaces between
hostname and directory! Another examples are:

      nftp private.crlf.net:7500/users    (nonstandard port)
      nftp ftp/pub                        (domain suffix omitted)
      nftp 128.128.128.128:/mydir         (IP number instead of host name)
      nftp lnfm1.sai.msu.su/home/asv asv  (login with explicit directory and
                                           real password)


Specifying directories in a command line is a pretty useful feature: when
you've found some reference, paste it directly into the command line (e.g.,
File Commander/2 1.4 allows this) and you'll get right into the place
without typing anything except Ctrl-Ins and Shift-Ins! Note that it's
impossible to specify filename on the command line -- use directory name,
not file name (i.e. /pub/rfc instead of pub/rfc/rfc959.txt.gz in the above
example).

NFTP will try to use any text mode you have set before starting it. Modes
with 80 columns work rather good, but do not expect this from 132-col or
other modes.
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USAGE: LOGGING IN AND OUT

NFTP has several ways to choose ftp server:

   * you can specify ftp server on the command line (see previous chapter,
     "USAGE: LAUNCHING NFTP"; examples can be found there as well).
   * if you don't need to put server into bookmark list (i.e. you want to
     visit it only once), use Ctrl-L and Ctrl-N keys. Ctrl-L invokes
     anonymous login procedure, and Ctrl-N will also ask for userid and
     password. Later you may decide that the site is worth attention and
     want to put it into bookmark list -- press F4 to add current directory
     on a current server to the bookmark list. Unfortunately, currently you
     can only add sites in such a way to the end of the list. To sort the
     bookmark list, use any ASCII editor. To log off, use Ctrl-K; F10 will
     log off and exit NFTP.
   * you can server's hostname and (optionally) initial directory into the
     bookmark list if you frequent this site. Locate file 'nftp.mrk' or
     whatever is set in 'bookmarks-file' in NFTP.INI and load it into ASCII
     editor. Insert new line in any place and fill it following this
     template:
     userid <space> hostname <space> : <space> directory
     <space> is blank character here. All fields, excluding directory, are
     obligatory. When directory is omitted, colon must present. Format of
     bookmark file will change in near future; I plan to add comments and
     some kind of folders to get more compressed list.

     If you don't like editing text files, start NFTP and when you'll be
     prompted one of bookmarks, press INSERT to add new site. Fill all
     fields and press ENTER. Select newly added server with cursor keys and
     press ENTER again to login to site.

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USAGE: BEHIND THE FIREWALL

NFTP can be used if your machine is located behind the firewall. There are
several kinds of firewalls (and may be even other types not documented
here). Unfortunately, I cannot test NFTP with any type of firewall because I
don't have one. So I have to relay on independent testers. If NFTP does not
work with your firewall software, please contact me and I will try to fix
the situation. I would also appreciate your report about whether NFTP works
with your firewall, how your firewall software is called and to what type it
belongs (see below about firewall types). Here are six types of firewalls
supported by NFTP:

  1. SITE hostname
     Firewall host, userid and password are required. User is logged on the
     firewall and the remote connection is established using SITE
     remote_host.
  2. USER after logon
     Firewall host, userid and password are required. User is logged on the
     firewall and the remote connection is established using USER
     remote_userid@remote_host
  3. USER with no logon
     Firewall host required, userid and password are ignored. USER
     remote_userid@remote_host is sent to firewall upon initial connection.
  4. Proxy OPEN
     Firewall host required, userid and password are ignored. OPEN
     remote_host is sent to firewall upon initial connection.
  5. PASV mode
     There is another kind of firewall, which is not specifically
     configured. A router-based firewall is one which allows connections to
     be established in one direction only. The router itself is invisible to
     the user. However, the default mode within FTP is that "data"
     connections are established by the server rather than the client. To
     work with a router-based firewall requires using the PASV Mode of FTP.

You decide of what type your firewall is, and then edit NFTP.INI setting
appropriate variables:

;
;firewall-type=0
;
;firewall-host=
;
;firewall-login=
;
;firewall-password=
;
;firewall-port=
;
;use-PASV-mode=0

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USAGE: NAVIGATING REMOTE SITE AND LOCAL DIRECTORIES

With NFTP, you work with remote directories like using some kind of
filemanager. List of files is scrollable; you can view, delete, rename files
and directories, create new directories, sort file list by different
criteria, mark and unmark files, quickly search for file if you know its
name, change directories etc. Some actions will succeed only if you have
sufficient rights, of course. Most anonymous servers allow to create
directories and upload files only to special 'incoming' directory; in other
directories you can't manipulate directory contents.

Complete list of available commands is in the Keyboard Commands Summary
section. You can also view it while working with NFTP - just press F1. F1
displays context-sensitive help, i.e. keystrokes valid in the current mode.
Shift-F1 shows general (rather brief) information about program usage.
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USAGE: TRANSFERRING FILES

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USAGE: CUSTOMIZING NFTP

Almost all customizations are done through NFTP.INI. This file usually
resides in the same directory as NFTP.EXE itself. However, you can also
place it into PATHed directory or current directory.

The file NFTP.INI is plain ASCII file and can be edited with any ASCII
editor (e.g., "System Editor" or "TEDIT"). Lines starting with semicolon ";"
are comments; empty lines are ignored. The file itself holds comments about
configuration and parameter meaning.

Note that only one entry in NFTP.INI is required -- your e-mail address
(anonymous-password). All other fields are commented by default
(installation script sets log-transfers-name and bookmarks-file). Do not
forget to remove leading ";" when doing customizations.

To get rid of overhead of parsing of text initialization file, NFTP converts
NFTP.INI into NFTP.BIN. This operation is done only when necessary (i.e.
when NFTP.BIN does not exist or older than NFTP.INI). Conversion is fully
automatic and done by NFTP-OPT. Please note that file NFTP-OPT.EXE should be
placed into the same directory as NFTP.INI or into the directory listed in
PATH environment variable. In general, you shouldn't worry about it.

Complete explanation of all parameters in NFTP.INI is in NFTP.INI itself. I
feel it is more appropriate place than this manual; it makes little sense to
duplicate information here.

Parameters can be of one of three types: integer, boolean and string.
Integer values are represented by integers :-) and can be prefixed by sign.
Boolean values can be specified as "0", "n", "no" (false), "1", "y", "yes"
(true) (WITHOUT! quotes). Different capitalization (e.g., "Yes") can also be
used. Strings are represented by character sequencies enclosed into double
quotes; if value contains only letters, digits and minus sign you can safely
omit quotes.

The following table lists valid keyboard combinations which can be used in
NFTP. "Y" means that this keystroke can be used; "--" -- keystroke cannot be
assigned (it's not generated at all or intercepted by system); "N/R" -- not
recommended (e.g., better leave Esc or Enter bound to defaults); "char" --
generates plain ASCII character code.

           VALID KEY COMBINATIONS: FUNCTION AND ALPHANUMERIC KEYS
    Key     Plain          Shift               Alt              Ctrl
 esc        N/R    same as 'esc'         --               --
 f1-f12     Y      Y                     Y                Y
 ~ `        char   char                  Y                --
 1 !        char   char                  Y                --
 2 @        char   char                  Y                Y
 3 #        char   char                  Y                --
 4 $        char   char                  Y                --
 5 %        char   char                  Y                --
 6 ^        char   char                  Y                Y
 7 &        char   char                  Y                --
 8 *        char   char                  Y                --
 9 (        char   char                  Y                --
 0 )        char   char                  Y                --
 - _        char   char                  Y                Y
 + =        char   char                  Y                --
 | \        char   char                  Y                Y
 backspace  N/R    same as 'backspace'   Y                Y
 tab        N/R    N/R                   N/R              N/R
 enter      N/R    same as 'enter'       Y                Y
 a-z        char   char                  Y                Y
 { [        char   char                  Y                same as 'esc'
 } ]        char   char                  Y                Y
 : ;        char   char                  Y                --
 " '        char   char                  Y                --
 < ,        char   char                  Y                --
 > .        char   char                  Y                --
 ? /        char   char                  N/R              --
 Space      char   same as 'space'       same as 'space'  same as 'space'

         VALID KEY COMBINATIONS: NAVIGATION KEYS AND NUMERIC KEYPAD
    Key           Plain            Shift        Alt           Ctrl
 insert     N/R               same as 'insert'  Y    Y
 delete     N/R               same as 'delete'  Y    Y
 home       N/R               same as 'home'    --   Y
 end        N/R               same as 'end'     Y    Y
 pgup       N/R               same as 'pgup'    Y    Y
 pgdn       N/R               same as 'pgdn'    Y    Y
 up         N/R               same as 'up'      Y    Y
 down       N/R               same as 'down'    Y    Y
 left       N/R               same as 'left'    Y    Y
 right      N/R               same as 'right'   Y    Y
 num /      same as '/'       same as '/'       Y    Y
 num *      same as '*'       same as '*'       Y    Y
 num -      same as '-'       same as '-'       Y    Y
 num +      same as '+'       same as '+'       Y    Y
 num enter  same as 'enter'   same as 'enter'   Y    same as 'ctrl-enter'
 num 1      same as 'end'     same as '1'       --   same as 'ctrl-end'
 num 2      same as 'down'    same as '2'       --   same as 'ctrl-down'
 num 3      same as 'pgdn'    same as '3'       --   same as 'ctrl-pgdn'
 num 4      same as 'left'    same as '4'       --   same as 'ctrl-left'
 num 5      Y                 same as '5'       --   Y
 num 6      same as 'right'   same as '6'       --   same as 'ctrl-right'
 num 7      same as 'home'    same as '7'       --   same as 'ctrl-home'
 num 8      same as 'up'      same as '8'       --   same as 'ctrl-up'
 num 9      same as 'pgup'    same as '9'       --   same as 'ctrl-pgup'
 num 0      same as 'insert'  same as '0'       --   same as 'ctrl-insert'
 num .      same as 'delete'  same as '.'       --   same as 'ctrl-delete'
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KEYBOARD COMMANDS SUMMARY

All interaction with NFTP is keyboard-based; there's no mouse support (and I
am not going to implement it -- at least now). This approach is somewhat
tough for novice user, but after some learning it gives the best results in
terms of usability and interaction speed. Here is the list of keystrokes
("hot keys"); it's divided into several sections each pertaining to specific
mode of operation or action classification.

                 GENERAL KEYBOARD COMMANDS

    Note that these commands are available almost always

    Key                         Meaning

 Shift+F1    program information and general keyboard
             commands

    F1       brings context sensitive help

    F10      logoff from site and quit NFTP

  Ctrl-K     logoff from site

  Ctrl-B     open bookmark list and log to site from it

  Ctrl-L     login as anonymous into new site

  Ctrl-N     login with userid/password into new site

  Ctrl-V     display version information

  Ctrl-A     toggle state of autocontrol flag

  Ctrl-T     toggle ASCII/BINARY mode

  Ctrl-D     redraw screen (do not re-read remote dir)

   Alt-N     send NO OPERATION command (verify connection
             aliveness)

  Ctrl-W     sets remote directory view to raw

  Ctrl-P     sets remote directory view to parsed

             use/inhibit NLST with flags (default is on).
             Some servers
   Alt-F     do not like NLST -lLa. Try if you see strange
             messages from server when retrieving directory
             listing. NOT RECOMMENDED.

                 CONTROL CONNECTION WINDOW

     Key                         Meaning

 arrow keys    move viewpoint

     Esc       bring you back to the end of history (same
               as End)

    Space      switches to directory view

    Alt-Q      send any string to server verbatim (quote)

    Alt-C      change to arbitrary directory

            FILE LISTING VIEW (REMOTE OR LOCAL)

          Key                         Meaning

                         Navigating

      arrow keys         move cursor around. Horizontal
                         scrolling is also possible

 Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right    horizontal scrolling by 10 symbols

        Ctrl-\           change to root directory

       Ctrl-PgUp         goto the directory level higher
                         ("cd ..")

       Ctrl-PgDn         chdir to directory under cursor

         Enter           same as above

         Alt-C           change to arbitrary directory

         Space           switch to control connection

          F2             select drive letter -- local view
                         only

                    Sorting file listing

        Ctrl-F3          sort directory by name, dirs first

        Ctrl-F5          sort directory by time, then name,
                         dirs first

        Ctrl-F6          sort directory by size, then name,
                         dirs first

        Ctrl-F7          remove sorting, return to original
                         state

        Ctrl-F8          reverse current sort order

                     Marking/unmarking

       Ctrl-num+         mark all files in current
                         directory

       Ctrl-num-         unmark all files in current
                         directory

        Insert           mark/unmark file under cursor.
                         Directory cannot be marked

           *             invert selection

       Alt-num+          mark all files in all visited
                         directories

       Alt-num-          unmark all files in all visited
                         directories

                     Transferring files

                         download file under cursor or
          F5             marked files (if any) -- remote
                         view only

       Shift+F5          upload file under cursor or marked
                         files (if any) -- local view only

        Alt-F5           download all marked files from all
                         directories -- remote view only

         Alt-S           save listing of current directory
                         into file -- remote view only

                       Viewing files

          F3             view file under cursor, use fast
                         internal viewer

        Alt-F3           view file under cursor, use
                         external viewer

        Creating/deleting/renaming files/directories

          F6             rename file/directory

          F7             make directory (you have to have
                         permissions on remote)

          F8             delete file or directory under
                         cursor

        Ctrl-R           re-read directory (refresh file
                         list)

                       Miscellaneous

          F4             save this place as a bookmark

   alphanumeric keys     quick search for files starting
                         with these symbols

                        ENTRY FIELDS

          Key                         Meaning

       Esc/Enter          abandon/confirm

   Left, Right, Home,
          End             move cursor around

     Tab, Shift-Tab       move to next/previous field (if
                          any)

     Del, Backspace       delete characters

   Pressing any keys different from Left, Right, Home, End
               will clear the initial string.

                       BOOKMARK LIST

       Key                         Meaning

    arrow keys      move cursor

      Enter         select bookmark

       Esc          abort (leave bookmark list)

       Del          delete bookmark

      Insert        create new bookmark

                    BUILT-IN FILE VIEWER

       Key                          Meaning

    arrow keys      scroll (note that you can scroll
                    horizontally also)

 Ctrl-Left/Right    scroll by 10 symbols horizontally

        F7          search for text string

     Shift-F7       repeat search for text string

     F2/Alt-S       save contents to file

       Esc          exit viewer

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KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

  1. Not all ftp servers are supported. Most ftp servers in the world use
     wu-ftpd under Unix as their server software, so you shouldn't
     experience this trouble too often. Nearly all Unix ftp servers are
     supported. IBM TCP/IP 2.0 for OS/2 ftpd and Windows NT ftpd are
     supported too.
  2. When running with 'debug=1', your password will be recorded in debug
     tracefile -- beware!
  3. When running with 'debug=1', run nftp off HPFS partition - debug file
     has long filename with two dots.
  4. Error handling is still pretty primitive

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TROUBLESHOOTING

Q: nftp says "emx not found".
     A: You don't have emx runtime package installed. Read INSTALLATION
     section again.
Q: nftp crashes, saying "core dumped".
     A: If you can repeat situation, please send me details of your setup
     (nftp.ini, nftp.mrk, keystrokes which caused fault).
Q: nftp seems to be hanging, no activity is visible
     A: If this happened during transfer, try "Q". Otherwise terminate it
     with Ctrl-Break.

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LICENSING INFORMATION

The Program (NFTP) is owned by Sergey Ayukov and is copyrighted and
licensed, not sold. The term "Program" means the original program and all
whole or partial copies of it.

You may:

   * use the Program
   * distribute unaltered copies of the Program

You may not:

   * reverse assemble, reverse compile, or otherwise translate the Program
   * sublicense, rent, or lease the Program

The Program is provided `as is'. Any express or implied warranties,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties for merchantability
and fitness to a particular purpose are disclaimed. Sergey Ayukov will not
be liable for any lost profits, lost savings, incident, special, or indirect
damages or other economic consequential damages, even if Sergey Ayukov has
been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some jurisdictions do not
allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so
the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.

The size of files that can be transferred with free version is limited to
500KB. If you want to exploit full capabilities of the Program and receive
support by e-mail from author, you have to register your copy. See section
Registration below. If you don't need neither to transfer files larger than
500KB nor support you don't have to register. Using unregistered version is
perfectly legal; the above conditions apply. Using registered version is
covered by separate license; it will be provided later.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have helped me in creating and improving NFTP. They are (in
alphabetical order):

   * Hubert Brentano (translation to German)
   * Lennart Carlson (translation to Swedish)
   * Tth Ferenc (translation to Hungarian)
   * Henk Hendriks (translation to Dutch)
   * Stefan Hora (testing behind the firewall)
   * Lord Lee (translation to Chinese)
   * Kirill Lissovsky (usability comments)
   * Dmitry Maloff (usability comments)
   * Ivan F. Martinez (translation to Brazilian Portuguese)
   * Sergey Mikhaylov (usability comments)
   * Pantaleo Nacci (translation to Italian)
   * Jose Ruiz (translation to Spanish)
   * Kaz Shimz (translation to Japanese)
   * Andrew Sukhorukov (usability comments)
   * Kim Poulsen (translation to Danish)
   * Kristoffer Viddal (translation to Norwegian)

Special thanks to Eberhard Mattes, author of emx/gcc development system!

This program is packaged using Info-ZIP's compression utility. Info-ZIP's
software (Zip, UnZip and related utilities) is free and can be obtained as
source code or executables from various bulletin board services and
anonymous-ftp sites, including CompuServe's IBMPRO forum and
ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip/*.
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REGISTRATION

Registration fee will be US$ 20. For this price you'll get free updates
(i.e. all future versions of NFTP) and support from author by e-mail. Single
registration covers all national language versions, so if you want to run,
say, English and Chinese versions, you'll have to pay only once.

If you think that price is too high for this small utility, simply don't use
NFTP.

The program isn't complete, so there's nothing yet to pay for. Please wait
for release version (1.0). Version 0.82 will become unregistered October 1,
1996. There should be another version this Summer.

For people living in Former Soviet Union countries registration will cost
only one postcard. If you want to register in advance, send nice postcard
(preferably with your home town if it's not Moscow) enclosed in envelope to
Sergey Ayukov
Sternberg Astronomical Institute
Universitetsky pr., 13
Moscow 119899
Russia
You will receive your registration number after sending registration form by
e-mail. This form will be provided later.

Nothing else here at the moment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

You can reach me at asv@sai.msu.su.

Where to find new versions:

  1. anonymous ftp: ftp.sai.msu.su:/pub/os2/internet/ftp/
  2. WWW: http://crydee.sai.msu.su/nftp/
  3. ftp-os2.cdrom.com, hobbes.nmsu.edu, ftp.leo.org

Note that first site is managed by myself so it always contains the latest
version while Hobbes and cdrom archives sometimes become outdated.

Sorry for any typos and bad grammar. I will gladly accept any corrections to
this short manual.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sergey Ayukov (asv@sai.msu.su)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION HISTORY

Version 0.1 (preview)
     First usable version. Used FTPAPI calls. Very slow; control connection
     messages cannot be seen. Wasn't exposed to public, although available.
Version 0.2 (preview)
     Got rid of FTPAPI. Full-scale socket programming of ftp control
     connection and data transfers. Introduced bookmarks.
Version 0.3 (preview)
     Never showed to public. The last version compiled with IBM CSet++. See
     0.4.
Version 0.4 (preview)
     Nearly the same as 0.3, but compiled with emx 0.9a + gcc 2.6.3. A
     handful of new features:
        o logging in and out without restarting entire program;
        o passworded entries in bookmark file;
        o quick directory change: if you know where to go, you won't need to
          traverse all intermediate dirs;
        o various bug fixes.
Version 0.5 (preview; close the beta stage)
     Bugfixes plus
        o ability to work in any 80xXX mode (25 <= XX)
        o online context sensitive help (press F1, Shift+F1)
        o code reorganization
        o some errors are handled (mostly login errors)
        o directory sorting by name, size, date/time
        o create directory on the remote, remove file(s) on the remote
        o preserving date/time of files downloaded
        o fast built-in file viewer
        o ability to invoke any ftp server command
        o better socket selecting scheme
     Will not work after 31 Dec 1995
Version 0.51 (preview; close the beta stage)
     I am sorry for releasing 0.5 so full of bugs... There was a lot of...
        o fixed couple of awful bugs (memory corruption) resulting in core
          dumps etc;
        o got rid of malloc (goodbye, flat memory space! welcome, 32-bit
          segments and memory protection!)
        o you can set nonstandard port in nftp.ini
Version 0.52
     Same as 0.51 but without 31 Dec limitation. Only to be distributed by
     SAMS Publishing.
Version 0.53
     Nearly the same as 0.52 but limited to 30 March 1996.
Version 0.60
     I am a bit short on time; 0.53 expires today, so some new features
     weren't tested much. Bugfixes and small improvements plus:
        o reget (restarting transfers)
        o uploading
        o IP numbers can be used instead of host names
        o "Q" and "S" work! you can skip files during transfer or stop
          download/upload
        o more intelligent networking (fixes some problems with dynamic IP)
        o changing local directory, viewing list of local files etc.
        o ability to specify arbitrary port (not in bookmarks though)
        o new bookmarks can be created with Insert key
        o installation program
        o documentation
Version 0.70
     Few bugfixes (including failing to recognize "hostname/directory"
     format when specified in the command line) plus
        o fixed nasty bug causing nftp to crash when viewing some files with
          internal viewer -- thanks to Jose Ruiz who pointed out to such
          file
        o sort by extension
        o much more error recovery; there should be no more situations when
          nftp exits silently;
        o improved sound signals; includes beep after successful login
          (configurable)
        o tables in this manual look much nicer now :-)
        o firewalling support -- does not work yet
        o remappable keys
        o ability to specify download directory in NFTP.INI. NFTP will
          change into that directory after start
        o IBM TCP/IP ftpd for OS/2 is supported
        o Windows NT ftpd is supported
        o Windows 3.x WFTPD by Texas Imperial Software is supported
        o Progress indicator in "view remote file" and during receiving of
          directory listing
        o You can now try to "chdir" to symbolic link
        o "Parsed" directory view -- hit Ctrl-P and see
        o National language support -- check out NFTP home page
        o Average transfer speed is now recorded in the history (.fls file)
        o Russian version
        o Chinese BIG-5 version
        o Spanish version
Version 0.71
     Several bugfixes plus
        o '*' inverts selection
        o f8 deletes local directories
        o Neologic FTPD is supported
        o moving language-dependent strings into separate DLLs (thus greatly
          reducing size of the package)
        o (un)marking files by template (eg, '*.txt')
        o Hungarian version
        o German version
        o Danish version
        o Japanese version
        o caching of viewed remote files
        o downloading all marked files from all directories (alt-f5)
Version 0.72
     No new functionality. Fixed small mistakes in national language
     translations. Added Norwegian version. Added missing ASCII and
     Postscript manuals.

Version 0.80
        o Support for Neologic FTPD in UNIX emulating mode
        o Support for PowerWeb FTPD
        o Support for old (with DOS-like output) Windows NT ftp server
        o F6 renames files/directories (on remote too)
        o Alt-S saves listing of current directory into file
        o left/right/ctrl-left/ctrl-right scroll remote/local directory
          listing
        o symbols select files starting with these symbols
        o complete firewalling support (a-la WS_FTP) (wasn't completely
          tested)
        o built-in fileviewer now has ability to save file and search for
          text
        o retrieving directories/viewing files is now interruptable (with
          ESC)
        o when anonymous login is denied, NFTP will retry after specified
          amount of time
        o Italian version
        o Brazilian Portuguese version
Version 0.81
     Mostly bugfixes. Also
        o Dutch version
Version 0.82
     Fixed bug causing zerodivide when transferring small (<1000 bytes)
     files and total size of batch transfer is larger than 1MB. NFTP now
     assumes that server has Unix-like LIST output when server OS was not
     recognized.

Planned for next versions (note that not all these features will be in the
first shareware version (1.0)):

   * more error recovery
   * more complete docs
   * more multithreading (view file while downloading etc)
   * enhanced bookmarks (folders?, descriptions, URL form etc.)
   * searching for string in file names
   * batch mode ?
   * autodownloading file descriptions (00index.txt) and showing them (a-la
     CuteFTP)
   * FAT support

There were several requests for PM version. I hope that I will write it
sometimes, but probably not in 1996.
