IBM Mainframe Kermit

Page created: 12 February 1999
Updated: 7 January 2006 (PDF versions of manual chapters)
Updated: 30 July 2021 (FTP links changed the HTTP)

Kermit-370 is a family of programs implementing the Kermit file transfer protocol for IBM 370-series mainframes (System/370, 303x, 43xx, 308x, 3090, System/390, etc.) under a variety of operating systems. Kermit-370 operates over asynchronous ASCII communication lines attached to a 3705-style or protocol-enveloping 3708 front end ("TTY" or line-mode devices), to a Series/1 or 4994 running the Yale ASCII Terminal Communication System or the IBM 7171 ASCII Device Control Unit or a 9370 with ASCII subsystem ("SERIES1" devices), to the IBM 3174 protocol converter at level B2.0 or higher ("AEA" devices), or to front-ends with graphics pass-through mode, such as the Datastream/Leedata 8010 and PCI 1076 ("GRAPHICS" devices). It can also be used to transfer files over incoming TELNET (linemode) or TN3270 (fullscreen) connections.

Kermit-370 is written in IBM 370 assembly language and is compatible with the F, VS, and H assemblers. The Kermit protocol implementation is among the most advanced available, lacking only sliding windows due the half-duplex nature of IBM mainframe communications, but including a vast array character-set translations between EBCDIC Country Extended Code Pages and the international standard character sets used by Kermit protocol "on the wire".

Kermit-370 4.3.2 for IBM Mainframes with VM/CMS, MVS/TSO, OS/390, CICS, or MUSIC was released on 16 December 1997. Its major new features are:

Kermit-370 4.3.3 for IBM Mainframes with MVS/TSO was released on 12 February 1999. This is a minor update for TSO only, that corrects a TSO-specific bug regarding choice of modification vs creation date when getting file dates for partitioned datasets.

IBM Mainframe Kermit is available on 9-track tape in the Kermit Software Catalog.

It may also be obtained via anonymous ftp from the kermit/b directory:

NOTE: FTP links to the files themselves are not provided here since most Web browsers do not support links to file groups. Furthermore, the files must be transferred in text (ASCII) mode, a function also not commonly supported byWeb browsers.

For VM/CMS
Files ik0*.* and ikc*.*.
Manual: ikcker.doc (plain text), ikcker.ps (PostScript), ikcker.pdf (PDF).

For MVS/TSO (including ROSCO) or OS/390
Files ik0*.* and ikt*.* (add ikr*.* for ROSCOE).
Manual: iktker.doc (plain text), iktker.ps (PostScript), iktker.pdf (PDF).

For CICS
Files ik0*.* and ikx*.*.
Manual: ikxker.doc (plain text), ikxker.ps (PostScript), ikxker.pdf (PDF).

For MUSIC
Files ik0*.* and ikm*.*.
Manual: ikmker.doc (plain text), ikmker.ps (PostScript), ikmker.pdf (PDF).
NOTE: The *.doc files listed above are plain text, not Microsoft word documents, and must be transferred in text (ASCII) mode, not binary mode.

For further information see:

The 4.3.2 upgrade is in the form of "update" (.upd) files kept with the regular files. Apply them as updates to your current version (4.3.0 or later) by replacing your current update files with the new ones and rebuilding:


IBM Mainframe Kermit / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu / 12 Feb 1999
Updated 7 Jan 2006 (PDF versions of manual chapters)