RFC 1037 (rfc1037) - Page 1 of 86
NFILE - a file access protocol
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group B. Greenberg
Request for Comments: 1037 S. Keene
December 1987
NFILE - A File Access Protocol
STATUS OF THIS MEMO
This document includes a specification of the NFILE file access
protocol and its underlying levels of protocol, the Token List
Transport Layer and Byte Stream with Mark. The goal of this
specification is to promote discussion of the ideas described here,
and to encourage designers of future file protocols to take advantage
of these ideas. A secondary goal is to make the specification
available to sites that might benefit from implementing NFILE. The
distribution of this document is unlimited.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. NFILE PROTOCOL LAYERING 4
3. OVERVIEW OF AN NFILE SESSION 5
4. NFILE CONTROL AND DATA CONNECTIONS 6
5. NFILE FILE OPENING MODES 7
6. NFILE CHARACTER SET 9
7. CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS DOCUMENT 10
7.1 Mapping Data Types Into Token List Representation 10
7.2 Format of NFILE Commands and Responses 10
7.3 Data Channel Handles and Direct File Identifiers 13
7.4 Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments 13
7.5 Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs 14
8. NFILE COMMANDS 16
8.1 ABORT Command 16
8.2 CHANGE-PROPERTIES Command 16
8.3 CLOSE Command 17
8.4 COMPLETE Command 19
8.5 CONTINUE Command 20
Greenberg & Keene



