C-Kermit for Windows
====================

This is C-Kermit for Windows and OS/2. It is a free and open source version of the
program formerly known as Kermit-95, a commercial product of Columbia
University from 1994 to 2011. For more information on Kermit, visit the
Kermit Project website: http://www.kermitproject.org.

Major features include:
 * More than [40 terminal emulations](#supported-terminal-emulations)
 * Virtual Terminal connections over SSH, Telnet (including TLS support), 
   rlogin, modem, serial port, named pipe and pty
 * Scriptable file transfer via Kermit, X/Y/Z Modem, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS protocols
 * International character set translation
 * Pathworks supported for LAT and CTERM Virtual Terminal connections. 
   Can optionally be built with SuperLAT support as well (not enabled by
   default)

To get the latest most stable release as well as other news and information, 
visit the [C-Kermit for Windows Beta website](https://www.kermitproject.org/ckw10beta.html).
This software is currently based on C-Kermit version 10.0 Beta.11 of
8-AUG-2024 and is available under the 3-clause BSD license.

![Screenshot](doc/screenshot-w11.png)

Requirements
------------

C-Kermit for Windows should work on every released 32bit or 64bit version of 
Windows [except Windows NT 3.10](https://github.com/davidrg/ckwin/issues/164). 
Some non-x86 platforms (ARM, ARM64, Itanium) are not actively tested due to a 
lack of hardware.

Certain features within C-Kermit for Windows have a minimum Windows version
requirement:

| Feature | Minimum Windows Version | Description                                                                    |
|---------|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| PTY     | Windows 10 version 1809 | Windows cmd/powershell/WSL using the CKW terminal emulator                     |
| SSH     | Windows XP SP 3         |                                                                                |
| SSL/TLS | Windows XP SP 3         | This includes https, ftps and secure telnet support                            |
| TAPI    | Windows 95 or NT 4.0    | Modem dialing via `set modem` should still work on earlier versions of windows |
| Toolbar | Windows NT 3.51         | Some GUI dialogs also require at least NT 3.51                                 |

Supported Terminal Emulations
-----------------------------

ANSI-BBS; Avatar/0+; AT386; BeBox ANSI; Data General DASHER D200, D210; 
Data General DASHER D217 in native and Unix modes; DEC VT52; DEC VT100, VT102, 
VT220, VT320 with color extensions; Hazeltine 1500; Heath/Zenith 19; 
Hewlett Packard 2621A; HPTERM; IBM HFT and AIXTERM; IBM 3151; Linux console; 
Microsoft VTNT; QNX ANSI and QNX Console; SCOANSI; 
Siemens Nixdorf BA80 and 97801-5xx; Sun Console; 
Televideo TVI910+, TVI925, TVI950; Volker Craig VC404; 
Wyse 30, 50, 60, 160, and 370

For more details on what features the various emulations support, see 
[The Manual](https://www.kermitproject.org/k95manual/termtype.html).

Mouse reporting via the X10, X11/normal, URXVT and SGR protocols is also
supported and can be configured via the `set mouse reporting` command.

Documentation
-------------

The [Kermit 95 manual](https://www.kermitproject.org/k95manual/) still covers 
C-Kermit for Windows quite well and is the first place to look for details on
features and capabilities specific to Windows and OS/2. The SSH Client reference
is now a little out of date, see the [SSH Readme](doc/ssh-readme.md) for more
details on what has changed in the C-Kermit for Windows SSH implementation. 
There is also a [C-Kermit for Windows How-To](https://www.kermitproject.org/ckwhowto.html)
which may be useful for new users.

For everything else, consult the [C-Kermit Documentation](https://www.kermitproject.org/ckbindex.html).

If you previously used Kermit 95 and would like to know what's changed, see the
[C-Kermit for Windows Change Log](doc/changes.md) as well as the C-Kermit 9.0
and 10.0 changelogs

New Features
------------
Since the [original open-source release](https://www.kermitproject.org/k95sourcecode-orig.html)
way back in July 2011, a lot of work has gone on to restore missing features and
bits that couldn't be open sourced at the time:

* The missing source code required to build the GUI version has been recovered
* The Dialer has been made available now that the framework it was built with,
  Zinc, is available under an open license
* X/Y/Z MODEM support has been restored thanks to Jyrki Salmi of 
  Online Solutions Oy (www.online.fi) providing his "P" X/Y/Z MODEM library 
  under the same license as C-Kermit for Windows
* An entirely new SSH subsystem using [libssh](https://libssh.org/) has been
  built. Not all SSH features are supported yet though - see the 
  [SSH Readme](doc/ssh-readme.md)
* The SSL/TLS code has been upgraded to support the latest version of OpenSSL
  allowing support for https, ftps and secure telnet to return
* Initial support for OS/2 is back, now built with OpenWatcom. Much
  more work is required to get this into a usable state however and assistance
  from anyone familiar with OS/2 development would be much appreciated.
* DECnet support has been re-enabled but you need a licensed copy of Pathworks32
  installed to use it.
* SuperLAT support has been restored as a custom build option. The SDK, while made
  publicly available by Meridian, has an unclear license so SuperLAT support
  isn't included by default at this time.
* The Telnet Encryption Option (DES/CAST) is supported again, not that anyone
  should be using it today if they care about security.
* Kerberos V is supported again (including GSSAPI support in the SSH client). To
  use Kerberos authentication in CKW you must
  [Download and Install Kerberos for Windows from MIT](http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/dist/index.html),
  it is not bundled with CKW like it was with kermit 95. If you need Kerberos IV
  you can build CKW from source against an older version of the KFW SDK (2.x or
  3.x).
* Alpha and PowerPC support has been restored. Alpha support was previously
  discontinued after Kermit 95 v1.1.20 (May 2000) and PowerPC was discontinued after
  Kermit 95 v1.1.16 (8 April 1998).

Additionally, a number of new features have been added:
* Compiler support has been extended down to Visual C++ 2.0 and all the way up
  to Visual C++ 2022 fixing a number of issues along the way. This enables
  proper support for the latest versions of windows, as well as the second
  oldest 32bit version - Windows NT 3.50. Support has also been added for
  OpenWatcom (targeting both Windows and OS/2) and MinGW.
* PTYs are also supported on Windows 10+ now via the `pty` command. For example,
  `pty cmd.exe` will open the Windows shell inside C-Kermit and from there you can
  run any windows console tool. Note that Kermit file transfers are not supported
  via this mechanism as Windows PTYs are not transparent. There may also be some
  minor terminal emulation glitches as windows slots a terminal emulator in 
  between the subprocess and CKW (Windows PTYs are not transparent).
* The `pipe` command has also been fixed and kermit file transfers *are* supported
  via this mechanism. Applications relying on the special Windows terminal APIs
  won't work properly but anything that just outputs standard ANSI escape
  sequences should work interactively. PuTTYs plink tool works as long as the
  remote host is already trusted, and you use public key authentication.
* Network DLLs are also fixed. You can now add support for additional protocols
  via custom DLLs which are loaded with the `set network type dll` command.
* Mouse wheel support and terminal mouse reporting have been implemented
* Support for 64bit Windows (x86-64, Itanium, ARM64, AXP64)
* Ports to new CPU architectures: MIPS, Itanium, x86-64, ARM, ARM64
* A selection of other bugs fixed and other minor features added

A full [Change Log](doc/changes.md) is available and updated for major releases.

### Still Missing Features
The following features supported by Kermit 95 v2.1.3 remain unavailable in
C-Kermit for Windows at this time:

* SSH port forwarding, X11 forwarding, and a few other features have not been
  implemented yet - ticket #44 is tracking these.
* SSH v1 support will not return as this is not supported by libssh anymore.
* SSH/SSL/TLS on Windows versions prior to Windows XP SP3 will likely not return
  as OpenSSL no longer supports these older versions of Windows or the compilers
  required to target them.
* SRP: Formerly provided by the Stanford SRP distribution, now unmaintained for
  over a decade it is not compatible with any supported version of OpenSSL. 
  Its still buildable if really needed but not included in any standard builds.
  OpenSSL includes SRP support now which is probably the way forward if CKW is 
  to ever include SRP support as standard again, but it would probably be a lot 
  of work to switch - see ticket #32 for more information
* DNS-SRV (#205) - support for this previously came from wshelper, a part of
  MIT Kerberos for Windows that was removed in 2018.
* Kerberos IV support is not included in standard builds as current versions of
  MIT Kerberos for Windows no longer support it. 

Code to support Kerberos IV, Stanford SRP and old versions of OpenSSL still exists
and should still work if there is some need for these features despite the known
security issues.

Compiling
---------

To build C-Kermit for Windows, see the [Build Instructions](doc/building.md).
Visual C++ 2019 is strongly recommended, but any released 32bit or 64bit version
*should* work (with certain features automatically excluded on older compilers).
To build with ConPTY and SSH support you'll need to use Visual C++ 2019 or newer.

There is also limited support for compiling with OpenWatcom 1.9+ and MinGW. For
OpenWatcom, just follow the normal build instructions above. For cross-compiling
from Linux, see the [MinGW Build Instructions](doc/mingw-building.md).

To build C-Kermit for OS/2 using OpenWatcom, see the
[OS/2 Build Instructions](doc/os2-building.md).

### Making Changes
Any files matching the pattern `ck[cu]*.[cwh]` are shared by implementations of 
C-Kermit for other platforms (UNIX, Linux, VMS, and others) and are not 
specific to the Windows and OS/2 port in this repository. Any changes to these 
files should be sent to [The Kermit Project](https://www.kermitproject.org/)
to be included in future C-Kermit releases for other platforms. If your changes
are not intended to affect other platforms, make sure they're ifdef'd for either
OS2 (OS/2+Windows) or NT (Windows only).

Files matching `ck[on]*.*` can be safely modified as they are only used by the 
OS/2 and Windows targets

The dialer data files (dialer.dat, registry.dat) are binary files edited by the
zinc designer. It's not possible to merge these files, so it's probably best to
get in touch before making changes to these files.

History
-------
C-Kermit for Windows is based on what was going to be Kermit 95 v2.2 which was
never released publicly. For full details on whats changed since the last public
release of Kermit 95, v2.1.3 of 21 January 2003, see the 
[Change Log](doc/changes.md).
