[62] in sw-release-announce
Plop Release Announcement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan McIndoe Hunt)
Thu Aug 30 15:49:01 2001
Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010830144759.06508d68@hesiod>
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 15:47:06 -0400
To: itpartners@MIT.EDU, winpartners@MIT.EDU, sw-release-announce@MIT.EDU
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@MIT.EDU>
Cc: itag@MIT.EDU, infosys@MIT.EDU
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
To: MIT Community, winpartners, itpartners, sw-release-announce
From: Software Release Team <swrt@mit.edu>
Date: Thursday, 30 Aug 2001
Cc: infosys, itag
Subject: Plop Release Announcement
------------------------
Good Afternoon,
Plop has been released to the MIT community and is now fully supported by
IS. It was developed at MIT as part of Project Pismere.
Plop is designed to allow Windows users to transfer files to Athena lockers
without sending their password in the clear. That is, Plop allows users to
securely upload files to a Kerberized FTP server. Plop does not transfer
folders, nor can it be used to download files.
Plop provides a drag and drop interface for uploading files to a single
location per shortcut. Plop does not provide a GUI interface for browsing
files on the remote server or the local system.
Why Install
----------------------
Plop is best for repeated tasks in which you need to upload files to the
same location, such as for maintaining a web page. If you have a few web
pages that you wish to update from a Windows machine, Plop can upload the
files easily and securely. Note that Plop is not intended for use in
maintaining large web sites with multiple sub-directories. For other
secure file transfer solutions that may meet your needs better, see the
section at the end of this message.
If you have been using the beta version of Plop and are comfortable with
creating shortcuts manually, then you do not need to install the released
version.
New Features
----------------------------
The one main improvement from the beta version of Plop is the Shortcut
Wizard. The Wizard makes creating shortcuts for different Athena lockers
easy and quick.
Known Issues
------------------------------------
Testing has shown that Plop does not work well with Windows 9x systems
including Windows ME and we do not recommend that it be used on those
computers.
We have found during testing that Plop works best with small numbers of
files. If it hangs at the end of a file, clicking the Cancel Button
usually resolves the issue and the transfers continue.
System Requirements
-------------------------------------------
- Windows NT or Windows 2000
- Kerberos for Windows 2.0 or later
Download
-------------------
Plop is available for download from http://web.mit.edu/software/.
Installation instructions and documentation are available at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/ftp/plop/.
Support
---------------------
If you have a question or need assistance using Plop, please contact the
Computing Help Desk at x3-1102 or computing-help@mit.edu. Support for Plop
is not being provided for machines other than Windows NT and 2000.
Other Secure File Transfer Options
-----------------------------------------------------------
Using Kermit with Host Explorer (kerberized telnet) or zmodem with
SecureCRT (ssh) provides secure methods for transferring files to and from
Athena. Host Explorer is fully supported by the Help Desk at this
time. SecureCRT is not yet supported.
You can also create an SSH tunnel with SecureCRT and then use a non-secure
ftp client, such as, WS_FTP to connect over the secure tunnel and transfer
files.
Host Explorer with Kermit: http://web.mit.edu/cwis/faq/kermit.html
SecureCRT with zmodem or WS_FTP:
http://web.mit.edu/acs/FAQ/remote_access/filetransfer.html#securecrteg
A Discovery Project will begin this fall to explore additional options to
better meet the need to securely transfer files on Windows machines. More
information on that project will be made available when the project starts.
Jonathan Hunt
SWRT Windows Platform Coordinator & Co-Team Leader
Plop Release Team
