telnet links

[Thomas Dowling]

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Rasmussen <ras at nimbus.anzio.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Friday, October 31, 1997 1:11 PM
Subject: Re: telnet links


>On Thu, 30 Oct 1997, Sheryl Dwinell wrote:
>
>> We have links to several online library catalogs that are text-based and
>> have telnet links that include a port number. Currently, I have them set
up
>> like this:
>>
>> <a href="telnet://library.university.edu:6000">
>>
>> However, we're finding that some telnet apps can't seem to interpret the
>> port number. We've had suggestions to set this up with one or two spaces
in
>> place of the colon, but this still doesn't seem to work. Has anyone else
>> experienced this problem? I'm not quite sure what to tell folks except
tell
>> them to install a different telnet client.  Any suggestions?
>
>It is dangerous, of course, to change your practices to accommodate
software
>that doesn't deal with standards. And this IS a standard (I could look up
the
>RFC number if you're curious).

RFC1738, Section 3.8.

   "A telnet URL takes the form:

       telnet://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/

   as specified in Section 3.1. The final "/" character may be omitted.
   If :<port> is omitted, the port defaults to 23.  The :<password> can
   be omitted, as well as the whole <user>:<password> part."

>
>IN FACT, the standard also allows for:
>   usermame at sitename
>and
>   username:password at sitename
>(both with or without the ":port" afterwards). These are minimally used,
and
>often not handled correctly, but they offer the prospect of solving some
other
>problems ("After connecting, use 'libcat' for the login").
>
>Of course, my (considerably biased) opinion is that they should get a
>fully-functioned telnet :-)
>

Any recommendations there, Bob? :-)


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu