Kermit Protocol
Kermit is a universal file transfer protocol developed at Columbia University; cross-platform and cross-system, it supports many character sets and long file names, and has been widely used in academic and research networks since 1981.
Purpose
It reliably transfers files and character data between heterogeneous systems (from mainframes to microcomputers) with a uniform transfer abstraction.
Mechanism
It uses an ARQ stop-and-wait scheme; data is packaged into printable-character packets (default 94-character set), and the receiver checks and acknowledges each packet. A sliding-window extension and several checksum types are supported.
Use cases
- Cross-platform file transfer
- Mainframe-to-microcomputer interconnection
- Serial and parallel link adaptation