X-Git-Url: https://git.distorted.org.uk/u/mdw/putty/blobdiff_plain/a58b605bdac885cb1e5a015e53f185f18f1ba7c7..811453cbc32f1f0f14cfef25f54eabf2e3b28bd9:/doc/faq.but diff --git a/doc/faq.but b/doc/faq.but index 3459826f..10a98203 100644 --- a/doc/faq.but +++ b/doc/faq.but @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -\versionid $Id: faq.but,v 1.36 2002/10/10 14:39:35 jacob Exp $ +\versionid $Id: faq.but,v 1.46 2003/03/29 01:44:39 owen Exp $ \A{faq} PuTTY FAQ @@ -20,16 +20,19 @@ listed there, it's been implemented. If it's listed as a change made development snapshots, in which case testing will be very welcome. \b try the -\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist.html}{Wishlist +\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/}{Wishlist page}, and see if you can find the feature there. If it's on there, -it probably \e{hasn't} been implemented. +and not in the \q{Recently fixed} section, it probably \e{hasn't} been +implemented. \S{faq-ssh2}{Question} Does PuTTY support SSH v2? Yes. SSH v2 support has been available in PuTTY since version 0.50. However, currently the \e{default} SSH protocol is v1; to select SSH v2 if your server supports both, go to the SSH panel and change the -\e{Preferred SSH protocol version} option. +\e{Preferred SSH protocol version} option. (The factory default will +\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/ssh2-default.html}{change to v2} +in the next full release.) Public key authentication (both RSA and DSA) in SSH v2 is new in version 0.52. @@ -162,46 +165,52 @@ happens. \H{faq-ports} Ports to other operating systems The eventual goal is for PuTTY to be a multi-platform program, able -to run on at least Windows, MacOS and Unix. Whether this will -actually ever happen I have no idea, but it is the plan. A Mac port -has been started, but is only half-finished and currently not moving -very fast. +to run on at least Windows, Mac OS and Unix. Porting will become easier once PuTTY has a generalised porting layer, drawing a clear line between platform-dependent and -platform-independent code. The general intention is for this porting -layer to evolve naturally as part of the process of doing the first -port. One particularly nasty part of this will be separating the -many configuration options into platform-dependent and -platform-independent ones; for example, the options controlling when -the Windows System menu appears will be pretty much meaningless -under X11 or perhaps other windowing systems, whereas Telnet Passive -Mode is universal and shouldn't need to be specified once for each -platform. +platform-independent code. The general intention was for this +porting layer to evolve naturally as part of the process of doing +the first port; a Unix port is now under way and the plan seems to +be working so far. \S{faq-ports-general}{Question} What ports of PuTTY exist? -Currently, PuTTY only runs on full Win32 systems. This includes -Windows 95, 98, and ME, and it includes Windows NT, Windows 2000 and -Windows XP. +Currently, release versions of PuTTY only run on full Win32 systems. +This includes Windows 95, 98, and ME, and it includes Windows NT, +Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In the development code, partial ports +to Unix (see \k{faq-unix}) and the Mac OS (see \k{faq-mac-port}). +are under way. -It does \e{not} include Windows CE (see \k{faq-wince}), and it does -not quite include the Win32s environment under Windows 3.1 (see -\k{faq-win31}). +Currently PuTTY does \e{not} run on Windows CE (see \k{faq-wince}), +and it does not quite run on the Win32s environment under Windows +3.1 (see \k{faq-win31}). -We do not have ports for any other systems at the present time. If -anyone told you we had a Unix port, or an iPaq port, or any other -port of PuTTY, they were mistaken. We don't. +We do not have release-quality ports for any other systems at the +present time. If anyone told you we had a Mac port, or an iPaq port, +or any other port of PuTTY, they were mistaken. We don't. -\S{faq-wince}{Question} Will there be a port to Windows CE or PocketPC? +\S{faq-unix}{Question} Will there be a port to Unix? + +It's currently being worked on. If you look at the nightly source +snapshots, you should find a \c{unix} subdirectory, which should +build you a Unix port of Plink, and also \c{pterm} - an +\cw{xterm}-type program which supports the same terminal emulation +as PuTTY. + +It isn't yet clear whether we will bother combining the terminal +emulator and network back end into the same process, to provide a +Unix port of the full GUI form of PuTTY. It wouldn't be as useful a +thing on Unix as it would be on Windows; its major value would +probably be as a pathfinding effort for other ports. If anyone +really wants it, we'd be interested to know why :-) -Probably not in the particularly near future. Despite sharing large -parts of the Windows API, in practice WinCE doesn't appear to be -significantly easier to port to than a totally different operating -system. +\S{faq-wince}{Question} Will there be a port to Windows CE or PocketPC? -However, PuTTY on portable devices would clearly be a useful thing, -so in the long term I hope there will be a WinCE port. +It's currently being worked on, but it's only in its early stages yet, +and certainly isn't yet useful. PuTTY on portable devices would +clearly be a useful thing, so in the long term I hope it can be +brought up to release quality. \S{faq-win31}{Question} Is there a port to Windows 3.1? @@ -222,18 +231,9 @@ testing in this area would be very welcome! \S{faq-mac-port}{Question} Will there be a port to the Mac? -A Mac port was started once and is half-finished, but development -has been static for some time and the main PuTTY code has moved on, -so it's not clear how quickly development would resume even if -developer effort were available. - -\S{faq-unix}{Question} Will there be a port to Unix? - -I hope so, if only so that I can have an \cw{xterm}-like program -that supports exactly the same terminal emulation as PuTTY. If and -when we do do a Unix port, it will have a local-terminal back end so -it can be used like an \cw{xterm}, rather than only being usable as -a network utility. +There is a port to the Mac OS in progress. It's just about usable, but +has an awful lot of gaps and rough edges that will need cleaning up +before release. \S{faq-epoc}{Question} Will there be a port to EPOC? @@ -242,6 +242,10 @@ even on systems the developers \e{do} already know how to program for, it might be a long time before any of us get round to learning a new system and doing the port for that. +However, some of the work has been done by other people, and a beta +port of PuTTY for the Nokia 9200 Communicator series is available +from \W{http://www.s2.org/putty/}\cw{http://www.s2.org/putty/} + \H{faq-embedding} Embedding PuTTY in other programs \S{faq-dll}{Question} Is the SSH or Telnet code available as a DLL? @@ -558,7 +562,7 @@ Bourne shell derivative) or \c{.login} (if you use a C shell). Putting them in more general files such as \c{.bashrc} or \c{.cshrc} is liable to lead to problems. -\S{faq-psftp-slow} PSFTP transfers files much slower than PSCP. +\S{faq-psftp-slow}{Question} PSFTP transfers files much slower than PSCP. We believe this is because the SFTP and SSH2 protocols are less efficient at bulk data transfer than SCP and SSH1, because every @@ -764,6 +768,25 @@ key in the wrong format isn't optimal. To connect using SSH 2 to a server that supports both versions, you need to change the configuration from the default (see \k{faq-ssh2}). +\S{faq-rh8-utf8}{Question} When I'm connected to a Red Hat Linux 8.0 +system, some characters don't display properly. + +A common complaint is that hyphens in man pages show up as a-acute. + +With release 8.0, Red Hat appear to have made UTF-8 the default +character set. There appears to be no way for terminal emulators such +as PuTTY to know this (as far as we know, the appropriate escape +sequence to switch into UTF-8 mode isn't sent). + +A fix is to configure sessions to RH8 systems to use UTF-8 +translation - see \k{config-charset} in the documentation. (Note that +if you use \q{Change Settings}, changes may not take place immediately +- see \k{faq-resetterm}.) + +If you really want to change the character set used by the server, the +right place is \c{/etc/sysconfig/i18n}, but this shouldn't be +necessary. + \H{faq-secure} Security questions \S{faq-publicpc}{Question} Is it safe for me to download PuTTY and @@ -876,13 +899,11 @@ general-subscription mailing list, what is? There isn't one, that we know of. -If someone else wants to set up a mailing list for PuTTY users to -help each other with common problems, that would be fine with us; -but the PuTTY team would almost certainly not have the time to read -it, so any questions the list couldn't answer would have to be -forwarded on to us by the questioner. In any case, it's probably -better to use the established newsgroup \cw{comp.security.ssh} for -this purpose. +If someone else wants to set up a mailing list or other forum for +PuTTY users to help each other with common problems, that would be +fine with us, though the PuTTY team would almost certainly not have the +time to read it. It's probably better to use the established +newsgroup \cw{comp.security.ssh} for this purpose. \S{faq-donations}{Question} How can I donate to PuTTY development? @@ -932,8 +953,15 @@ PuTTY team can personally recommend Thinking Putty, which you can buy from Crazy Aaron's Putty World, at \W{http://www.puttyworld.com}\cw{www.puttyworld.com}. -\S{faq-pronounce}{Question} How do I pronounce PuTTY? +\S{faq-meaning}{Question} What does \q{PuTTY} mean? + +It's the name of a popular SSH and Telnet client. Any other meaning +is in the eye of the beholder. It's been rumoured that \q{PuTTY} +is the antonym of \q{\cw{getty}}, or that it's the stuff that makes your +Windows useful, or that it's a kind of plutonium Teletype. We +couldn't possibly comment on such allegations. + +\S{faq-pronounce}{Question} How do I pronounce \q{PuTTY}? -Exactly like the normal word \q{putty}. Just like the stuff you put -on window frames. (One of the reasons it's called PuTTY is because -it makes Windows usable. :-) +Exactly like the English word \q{putty}, which we pronounce +/\u02C8{'}p\u028C{V}t\u026A{I}/.