





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



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       8.6  CREATE-DIRECTORY Command                                  21
       8.7  CREATE-LINK Command                                       21
       8.8  DATA-CONNECTION Command                                   22
       8.9  DELETE Command                                            23
       8.10  DIRECT-OUTPUT Command                                    23
       8.11  DIRECTORY Command                                        24
            8.11.1  NFILE DIRECTORY Data Format                       26
       8.12  DISABLE-CAPABILITIES Command                             27
       8.13  ENABLE-CAPABILITIES Command                              28
       8.14  EXPUNGE Command                                          28
       8.15  FILEPOS Command                                          29
            8.15.1  Implementation Hint for FILEPOS Command           30
       8.16  FINISH Command                                           30
       8.17  HOME-DIRECTORY Command                                   31
       8.18  LOGIN Command                                            32
       8.19  MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS Command                             34
       8.20  OPEN Command                                             35
            8.20.1  NFILE OPEN Optional Keyword/Value Pairs           39
            8.20.2  NFILE OPEN Response Return Values                 45
       8.21  PROPERTIES Command                                       47
       8.22  READ Command                                             49
       8.23  RENAME Command                                           50
       8.24  RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL Command                       51
            8.24.1  Implementation Hints for RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-      51
                    CHANNEL Command
       8.25  UNDATA-CONNECTION Command                                52

   9.  NFILE RESYNCHRONIZATION PROCEDURE                              53

       9.1  NFILE Control Connection Resynchronization                54
       9.2  NFILE Data Connection Resynchronization                   55

   10.  NFILE ERRORS AND NOTIFICATIONS                                58

       10.1  Notifications From the NFILE Server                      58
       10.2  NFILE Command Response Errors                            59
       10.3  NFILE Asynchronous Errors                                60
       10.4  NFILE Three-letter Error Codes                           61

   11.  TOKEN LIST TRANSPORT LAYER                                    65

       11.1  Introduction to the Token List Transport Layer           65
       11.2  Token List Stream                                        66
            11.2.1  Types of Tokens and Token Lists                   66
            11.2.2  Token List Stream Example                         68
            11.2.3  Mapping of Lisp Objects to Token List Stream      70
                    Representation
            11.2.4  Aborting and the Token List Stream                71



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       11.3  Token List Data Stream                                   72

   12.  BYTE STREAM WITH MARK                                         73

       12.1  Discussion of Byte Stream with Mark                      73
       12.2  Byte Stream with Mark Abortable States                   75

   13.  POSSIBLE FUTURE EXTENSIONS                                    77

   APPENDIX A.  NORMAL TRANSLATION MODE                               79

   APPENDIX B.  RAW TRANSLATION MODE                                  83

   APPENDIX C.  SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION MODE                          84

   NOTES                                                              86

                              LIST OF TABLES

   TABLE 1.    TRANSLATIONS FROM NFILE CHARACTERS TO UNIX CHARACTERS  80
   TABLE 2.    TRANSLATIONS FROM UNIX CHARACTERS TO NFILE CHARACTERS  80
   TABLE 3.    TRANSLATIONS FROM NFILE TO PDP-10 CHARACTERS           81
   TABLE 4.    TRANSLATIONS FROM PDP-10 CHARACTERS TO NFILE           82
               CHARACTERS
   TABLE 5.    SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION FROM NFILE TO ASCII            84
   TABLE 6.    SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION FROM ASCII TO NFILE            85

1.  INTRODUCTION

   NFILE stands for "New File Protocol".  NFILE was originally designed
   as a replacement for an older protocol named QFILE, with the goal of
   solving robustness problems of QFILE, hence the name "New File
   Protocol".

   NFILE was designed and implemented at Symbolics by Bernard S.
   Greenberg.  Mike McMahon made important contributions, especially in
   the design and implementation of the Byte Stream with Mark and Token
   List Transport layers.  NFILE has been used successfully for file
   access between Symbolics computers since 1985.  NFILE servers have
   been written for UNIX hosts as well.  NFILE is intended for use by
   any type of file system, not just the native Symbolics file system.

   NFILE is a file access protocol that supports a large set of
   operations on files and directories on remote systems, including:

            - Reading and writing entire files
            - Reading and writing selected portions of files
            - Deleting and renaming files



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            - Creating links
            - Listing, creating, and expunging directories
            - Listing and changing the properties of files
            - Enabling and disabling access capabilities on a remote
              host

   NFILE supports file transfer of binary or character files.

   The NFILE server provides information about any errors that occur in
   the course of a command.  In addition, NFILE has a robust scheme for
   handling aborts on the user side.

   This specification defines NFILE user version 2 and server version 2.
   We do not envision NFILE as an unchanging protocol, but rather as a
   protocol that could continue to develop if additional requirements
   are identified though the process of this Request for Comments.  The
   design of NFILE makes room for various useful extensions.  Some of
   the extensions that we are considering are described later on in this
   document:  See the section "Possible Future Extensions", section 13.

2.  NFILE PROTOCOL LAYERING

   NFILE is a layered file protocol.  The layers are:

             +-----------------------------------------------+
             |client program or user interface               |
             +-----------------------------------------------+
             |NFILE                                          |
             +-----------------------------------------------+
             |Token List Transport Layer                     |
             +-----------------------------------------------+
             |Byte Stream with Mark                          |
             +-----------------------------------------------+
             |reliable host-host byte transmission protocol  |
             +-----------------------------------------------+

   Byte Stream with Mark is a simple protocol that guarantees that an
   out-of-band signal can be transmitted in the case of program
   interruption.  Byte Stream with Mark is to be layered upon extant
   byte stream protocols.  An important goal of the NFILE design was
   that NFILE could be built on any byte stream.  It is currently
   implemented on TCP and Chaosnet.  See the section "Byte Stream with
   Mark", section 12.

   The Token List Transport Layer is a protocol that facilitates the
   transmission of simple structured data, such as lists.  See the
   section "Token List Transport Layer", section 11.




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   The NFILE commands and command responses are transmitted in "token
   lists".  See the section "NFILE Commands", section 8.

   This specification does not include a client program or user
   interface to the protocol.  In the Symbolics implementation, the
   normal file operations transparently invoke NFILE, when the remote
   host is known to support NFILE.  Another possible interface to NFILE
   would be through a dedicated client program that would issue NFILE
   commands in response to explicit requests by the user.

3.  OVERVIEW OF AN NFILE SESSION

   An NFILE session is a dialogue between two hosts.  The host that
   initiates the NFILE session is known as the "user side", and the
   other host is the "server side".  The user side sends all NFILE
   commands.  The server receives each command, processes it, and
   responds to it, indicating the success or failure of the command.

   The user side keeps track of commands sent and command responses
   received by using "transaction identifiers" to identify each command.
   The user side generates a transaction identifier (which must be
   unique per this dialogue) for each command, and sends the transaction
   identifier to the server along with the command.  Each NFILE server
   response includes the transaction identifier of the command with
   which the response is associated.  The server is not required to
   respond to commands in the same order that the user gave them.

   The user side sends NFILE commands over a bidirectional network
   connection called the "control connection".  The server sends its
   command responses on the same control connection.  The control
   connection governing the NFILE session is established at the
   beginning of the session.  If the control connection is ever broken,
   the NFILE session is ended.

   Whereas NFILE commands and responses are transmitted on the control
   connection, file data is transferred over "data channels".  An "input
   data channel" transfers data from server to user.  An "output data
   channel" transfers data from user to server.  Each input data channel
   is associated with an output data channel; together these two
   channels comprise a "data connection".

   Often more than one NFILE activity is occurring at any given time.
   For example, several files can be open and transferring data
   simultaneously; one or more commands can be in process at the same
   time; and the server can be simultaneously transmitting directory
   lists and processing further commands.  This happens in an
   implementation in which the user side has multiple processes, and
   several processes share a single NFILE server.



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4.  NFILE CONTROL AND DATA CONNECTIONS

   The user and server communicate through a single control connection
   and a set of data connections.  Data connections are established and
   disestablished by NFILE commands.  The user side sends NFILE commands
   to the server over the control connection.  The server responds to
   every user command over this control connection.  The actual file
   data is transmitted over the data connections.

   User aborts can disrupt the normal flow of data on the control
   connection and data connections.  An important aspect of any file
   protocol is the way it handles user aborts.  NFILE uses a
   resynchronization procedure to bring the affected control connection
   or data channel from an unknown, unsafe state into a known state.
   After resynchronization, the control connection or data channel can
   be reused.  See the section "NFILE Resynchronization Procedure",
   section 9.

   THE CONTROL CONNECTION

   An NFILE session is begun when the NFILE user program connects to a
   remote host and establishes a network connection.  This initial
   connection is the control conection of the dialogue.  If TCP is used
   as the underlying protocol, contact NFILE's well-known port, 59.  If
   Chaos is used, use the contact name "NFILE".

   The control connection is the vehicle used by the user to send its
   commands, and the server to send its command responses.  These types
   of communication occur over the NFILE control connection:

         - The user side sends NFILE commands.
         - The server sends command responses.
         - The server sends "notifications" and "asynchronous errors".
           See the section "NFILE Errors and Notifications", section 10.
         - During resynchronization (a special circumstance) either the
           user or server sends a mark.

   All commands, command responses, and other data flowing over the
   NFILE control connection are transmitted in the format of "top-level
   token lists".  The control connection expects never to receive "loose
   tokens"; that is, tokens not contained in token lists.










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   DATA CONNECTIONS

   Data connections are established and discarded at user request, by
   means of two NFILE commands:  DATA-CONNECTION and UNDATA-CONNECTION.
   Each data connection is associated with a specific control
   connection, which is the same control connection that caused the data
   connection to be established.

   Each data connection is composed of two "data channels".  Each data
   channel is capable of sending data in one direction.  The term "input
   channel" refers to the data channel that transmits data from the
   server to the user side; "output channel" refers to the data channel
   that transmits data from the user to the server side.  Throughout the
   NFILE documentation, the terms "input channel" and "output channel"
   are seen from the perspective of the user side.  A single data
   channel can be used for one data transfer after another.

   The format of the data transferred on the data channels is defined as
   a "token list data stream".  See the section "Token List Data
   Stream", section 11.3. When the end of data is reached, the keyword
   token EOF is sent.  Occasionally, token lists are transmitted over
   the data channels, such as asynchronous error descriptions.

5.  NFILE FILE OPENING MODES

   The NFILE OPEN command opens a file for reading, writing, or "direct
   access" at the server host.  That means, in general, asking the host
   file system to access the file and obtaining a file number, pointer,
   or other quantity for subsequent rapid access to the file; this is
   called an "opening".  The term "opening" translates to a file stream
   in Symbolics terminology, a JFN in TOPS-20 terminology, and a file
   descriptor in UNIX terminology.  An opening usually keeps track of
   how many bytes have been read or written, and other bookkeeping
   information.

   NFILE supports two ways of transferring file data, "data stream mode"
   and "direct access mode".  A single mode is associated with each
   opening.  Note that an NFILE dialogue can have more than one opening,
   and thus use both modes.

   DATA STREAM MODE:

   Data stream mode of file transfer is the default mode of NFILE's OPEN
   command.  Data stream mode is appropriate when the entire file is
   transferred, either from user to server, or from server to user.
   Data stream mode is used more often than direct access mode.





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   The OPEN command includes a "handle" argument, which identifies the
   data channel to be used to transfer the data.  The handle is used in
   subsequent commands to reference this particular opening.  When a
   data stream opening is requested with the OPEN command, the file is
   opened and the data begins to flow immediately.

   The sending side transmits the entire contents of the specified file
   over the specified data channel as rapidly as the network permits.
   When the sending side reaches the end of the file, it transmits a
   special control token to signal end of file.  The receiving side
   expects an uninterrupted stream of bytes to appear immediately on its
   side of the data channel.

   The user gives the CLOSE command to terminate a data stream transfer.
   CLOSE results in closing the file.

   DIRECT ACCESS MODE:

   Direct access mode enables reading or writing data from a given
   starting point in a file through a specified number of bytes.  In
   direct access mode, data is requested and sent in individual
   transactions.  To request a direct access mode opening, the OPEN
   command is used with a DIRECT-FILE-ID argument.  (In data stream
   mode, no DIRECT-FILE-ID is supplied.)  The direct file identifier is
   used in subsequent commands to reference the direct access opening.

   When a file is opened in direct access mode, the flow of data does
   not start immediately.  Rather, the user gives either a READ command
   (to request data to flow from server to user) or a DIRECT-OUTPUT
   command (to request data to flow from user to server).  When reading,
   the READ command allows the user to specify the starting point and
   the number of bytes of data to transfer.  When writing, the FILEPOS
   command can be used to specify the starting point, before the
   DIRECT-OUTPUT command is given.  The user can give many READ and
   DIRECT-OUTPUT commands, one after another.

   The user side terminates the direct access transfer by using the
   CLOSE command.  The ABORT command can be given to terminate without
   transmitting all of the specified bytes.












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6.  NFILE CHARACTER SET

   The NFILE character set <1> is an extension of standard ASCII.  NFILE
   command and response names use only the standard ASCII characters.
   However, the protocol supports the transfer of the non-ASCII
   characters in the NFILE character set; these characters might be
   stored in files, or might be used in pathnames.

   Servers on machines that do not natively use the NFILE character set
   must perform character set translations for character openings,
   depending on the requested translation mode.  No translation is
   required for binary openings.  There are three translation modes for
   character openings:  NORMAL, RAW, and SUPER-IMAGE.  Each mode
   specifies a way to translate between the server's native set and the
   NFILE character set.

   NORMAL mode is the default of the OPEN command.  The translation for
   NORMAL mode ensures that a file containing characters in the NFILE
   character set can be written to a remote host and read back intact.
   OPEN has optional keyword arguments to specify RAW or SUPER-IMAGE.
   RAW mode means to perform no translation whatsoever.  SUPER-IMAGE
   mode is intended for use by PDP-10 family machines only.  It is
   included largely as an illustration of a system-dependent extension.

   The details of each translation mode are given in Appendices:

         See the section "NORMAL Translation Mode", Appendix A.  See the
         section "RAW Translation Mode", Appendix B.  See the section
         "SUPER-IMAGE Translation Mode", Appendix C.

   The use of the NFILE character set brings up a difficulty involved
   with determining an exact position within a character file.  Some
   NFILE characters expand to more than one native character on some
   servers.  Thus, for character files, when we speak of a given
   position in a file or the length of a file, we must specify whether
   we are speaking in "NFILE units" or "server units", because the
   counting of characters is different.  This causes major problems in
   file position reckoning for character files.  Specifically, it is
   futile for a user side to carefully monitor file position during
   output by counting characters, when character translation is in
   effect.  The server's operating system interface for "position to
   point x in a file" necessarily operates in server units, but the user
   side has counted in NFILE units.  The user side cannot try to
   second-guess the translation-counting process without losing host-
   independence.  See the section "FILEPOS NFILE Command".






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7.  CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS DOCUMENT

7.1  Mapping Data Types Into Token List Representation

   Throughout this NFILE specification, the data types of arguments,
   return values, asynchronous error descriptions, and notifications are
   described as being strings, integers, dates, time intervals, and so
   on.  However, each conceptual data type must be mapped into the
   appropriate token list representation for transmission.  The mapping
   of conceptual data types to token list representation is shown here:

    Conceptual Type     Token List Representation

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Keyword             A keyword token

    Keyword list        A token list of keyword tokens

    Integer             A numeric data token

    String              A data token containing the characters of the
                        string in the NFILE character set.

    Boolean Truth       The token known as BOOLEAN-TRUTH.

    Boolean False       The empty token list.

    Date                A numeric data token.  The date is expressed in
                        Universal Time format, which measures a time as
                        the number of seconds since January 1, 1900, at
                        midnight GMT.

    Date-or-never       Can be either a date or the empty token list,
                        representing "never".  "Never" is used for
                        values such as the time a directory was last
                        expunged, if it has never been expunged.

    Time interval       A numeric data token.  The time interval is
                        expressed in seconds.  A time interval
                        indicating "never" is represented by the empty
                        token list.

7.2  Format of NFILE Commands and Responses

   Each command description begins by giving the command format and
   response format.  Here is the beginning of the DATA-CONNECTION
   command description:



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   Command:  (DATA-CONNECTION tid new-input-handle new-output-handle)

   Response: (DATA-CONNECTION tid connection-identifier)

   The command descriptions follow these conventions:

    1. NFILE commands and responses are transmitted as top-level token
       lists.

       Top-level token lists are enclosed in parentheses in these
       command descriptions.  These parentheses are not sent literally
       across the control or data connections, but are a shorthand
       representation of special control tokens that delimit top-level
       token lists.  Specifically, TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN starts a top-
       level token list; TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END ends a top-level token list.

    2. NFILE command names are keywords.

       The command name is required in every command and command
       response.  All NFILE command names are keywords.  Keywords appear
       in the NFILE documentation as their names in uppercase.  For
       example, DATA-CONNECTION and DELETE are two command names.

    3. A unique transaction identifier (tid) identifies each command.

       The transaction identifier is a string made up by the user side
       to identify this particular transaction, which is composed of the
       command and the response associated with this command.  The
       transaction identifier is abbreviated in the command descriptions
       as tid.  Transaction identifiers are limited to fifteen
       characters in length.  The transaction identifier is required in
       every command and command response.

   OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS

   Many NFILE commands have "optional arguments".  Optional arguments
   can be supplied (with appropriate values), or left out.  If optional
   arguments are left out, their omission must be made explicit by means
   of substituting the empty token list in their place.  The only
   exception to that rule is for trailing optional arguments or return
   values, which can be omitted without including the empty token list.

   For example, the text of the DELETE command description explains that
   either a handle or a pathname must be supplied, but not both;
   therefore, one of them is an optional argument.  Here is the command
   format of DELETE:

         (DELETE tid handle pathname)



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    If you supply a handle and no pathname, the command format is:

         (DELETE tid handle)

    If you supply a pathname and no handle, the command format is:

         (DELETE tid empty-token-list pathname)

   The empty token list in the token list stream appears as a LIST-BEGIN
   followed immediately by a LIST-END.

   OPTIONAL KEYWORD/VALUE PAIRS

   Four NFILE commands have "optional keyword/value pairs".  These
   commands are: COMPLETE, LOGIN, OPEN, and READ.  Optional
   keyword/value pairs can be either included in the command or omitted
   entirely.  There is no need to substitute the empty token list for
   ommitted optional keyword tokens, unlike optional arguments.  The
   order of the option keyword/value pairs is not significant.

   If included, optional keyword/value pairs are a sequence of
   alternating keywords and values.  The values associated with the
   keywords can be keywords, lists, strings, Booleans, integers, dates,
   date-or-never's, and time intervals.  The text of each command
   description states what type of value is appropriate for each
   optional keyword.

   Optional keyword/value pairs appear in the text as the keyword only,
   in uppercase letters.  For example, here is the format of the LOGIN
   command:

   Command Format:

         (LOGIN tid user password FILE-SYSTEM USER-VERSION)

   FILE-SYSTEM and USER-VERSION are two optional keywords associated
   with the LOGIN command.  The user side can supply USER-VERSION, and
   omit FILE-SYSTEM as shown in this example:

         (LOGIN x105 tjones let-me-in USER-VERSION 2)

   As seen above, the optional keyword/value pair USER-VERSION, if
   supplied in a command, consists of the keyword USER-VERSION followed
   by the value to be used for that keyword (in this example, 2).







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7.3  Data Channel Handles and Direct File Identifiers

   Several NFILE commands require an argument that specifies an opening.
   This kind of argument is called a handle in the command description.
   It is always a string type argument.  A handle can be either a data
   channel handle or a direct file identifier, depending on the mode of
   the opening:


   Data Stream

   The handle must identify a data channel that is bound to an opening.

   Direct Access

   In general, the handle must be a direct file identifier.  A direct
   file identifier specifies a direct access opening.  It is the same as
   the value supplied in the DIRECT-FILE-ID keyword/value pair in the
   OPEN command.  It is used for all operations that identify an opening
   rather than a data channel.

   Two NFILE commands applicable to direct access openings are
   exceptions to the general rule.  The handle supplied in ABORT and
   CONTINUE cannot be a direct file identifier, but must be a data
   channel handle instead.

7.4  Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments

   Some arguments and return values in the NFILE command descriptions
   represent file pathnames.  These are strings in the pathname syntax
   native to the server host.  These pathnames contain no host
   identifiers of any kind.  These pathnames must be fully defaulted, in
   the sense that they have a directory and file name (and file type, if
   the server operating system supports file types).  If appropriate, a
   device is referenced in the pathname.  If the server file system
   supports version numbers, there is always an explicit version number,
   even if that number or other specification is that system's
   representation of "newest" or "oldest".













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   Here are some examples of file pathnames, for different server hosts:

   Server Host     Example of File Pathname

   ------------------------------------------------------------

      UNIX            /usr/max/life.c

      TOPS-20         ps:<max>life.bin.17

      VMS             MACD:[MAX]LIFE.FOR;3

      Symbolics LMFS  >max>life.lisp.newest

   ------------------------------------------------------------

   The CREATE-DIRECTORY and HOME-DIRECTORY commands take a directory as
   an argument.  In NFILE commands, a directory is represented by a
   string that names the directory.  In most cases this string is in the
   syntax native to the server host.  However in some cases the native
   format is modified somewhat to clarify that the string names a
   directory, and not a file.  For example, a directory on UNIX is
   represented by "/usr/max/", not "/usr/max".

   Here are some examples of directory pathnames for different server
   hosts:

   Server Host     Example of Directory Pathname

   ------------------------------------------------------------

      UNIX            /usr/max/

      TOPS-20         <max>

      VMS             MACD:[MAX]

      Symbolics LMFS  >max>hacks>

   ------------------------------------------------------------

7.5  Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs

   Several NFILE commands request information regarding the properties
   of files or directories.  These commands include:  DIRECTORY,
   MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS, PROPERTIES, and CHANGE-PROPERTIES.  This
   section describes how file property information is conveyed over the
   token list stream.



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   File property information is usually sent in property/value pairs,
   where the property identifies the property, and the following value
   gives the value of that property for the specified file.

   Each property is denoted either by a keyword or an integer.  You can
   mix both ways of specifying properties (keyword or integer) within a
   single description.  An integer is interpreted as an index into the
   Property Index Table, an array of property keywords.  The server can
   optionally send a Property Index Table to the user during the
   execution of the LOGIN command, although it is not required.  This
   greatly reduces the length of transmissions.

   In command arguments, file properties cannot be specified with
   integers; keywords must be used to specify file properties in command
   arguments.  Integers can be used to denote file properties only in
   command responses.

   We now list the keywords associated with file properties.  This list
   is not intended to be restrictive.  If a programmer implementing
   NFILE needs a new keyword, a new keyword (not on this list) can be
   invented.  The type of value of any new keywords is by default
   string.  The keywords are sorted here by conceptual data type:

    Data type       Keywords denoting file properties

   ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Integers        BLOCK-SIZE, BYTE-SIZE, GENERATION-RETENTION-COUNT,
                    LENGTH-IN-BLOCKS, LENGTH-IN-BYTES,
                    DEFAULT-GENERATION-RETENTION-COUNT

    Dates           CREATION-DATE, MODIFICATION-DATE

    Date-or-never's REFERENCE-DATE, INCREMENTAL-DUMP-DATE,
                    COMPLETE-DUMP-DATE, DATE-LAST-EXPUNGED,
                    EXPIRATION-DATE

    Time intervals  AUTO-EXPUNGE-INTERVAL

    Keyword Lists   SETTABLE-PROPERTIES, LINK-TRANSPARENCIES,
                    DEFAULT-LINK-TRANSPARENCIES

    Boolean values  DELETED, DONT-DELETE, DONT-DUMP, DONT-REAP,
                    SUPERSEDE-PROTECT, NOT-BACKED-UP, OFFLINE,
                    TEMPORARY, CHARACTERS, DIRECTORY






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    Strings         ACCOUNT, AUTHOR, LINK-TO, PHYSICAL-VOLUME,
                    PROTECTION, VOLUME-NAME, PACK-NUMBER, READER,
                    DISK-SPACE-DESCRIPTION, and any keywords not
                    on this list

   Note that these keyword names are intended to imply the semantics of
   the properties.  For a discussion of the semantics of CREATION-DATE:
   See the section "NFILE OPEN Response Return Values", section 8.20.2.
   The "Reference Guide to Streams, Files, and I/O" in the Symbolics
   documentation set details the semantics that Symbolics associates
   with these properties.

8.  NFILE COMMANDS

   It is important to understand the conventions used in each of the
   following command descriptions.  See the section "Conventions Used in
   This Document", section 7.

8.1  ABORT Command

   Command:  (ABORT tid input-handle)

   Response: (ABORT tid)

   ABORT cleanly interrupts and prematurely terminates a single direct
   access mode data transfer initiated with READ.  The required input-
   handle string argument identifies a data channel on which an input
   transfer is currently taking place; this must be a direct access
   transfer.  input-handle must identify a data channel; it cannot be a
   direct file identifier.

   Upon receiving the ABORT command, the server checks to see if a
   transfer is still active on that channel.  If so, the server
   terminates the transfer by telling the data connection logical
   process to stop transferring bytes of data.  The user side needs to
   issue this command only when there are outstanding unread bytes.
   This excludes the case of the data channel having been disestablished
   or reallocated by the user side.

   Whether or not a transfer is active on that channel, the user side
   puts the data channel into the unsafe state.  Before the data channel
   can be used again, it must be resynchronized.

8.2  CHANGE-PROPERTIES Command

   Command:  (CHANGE-PROPERTIES tid handle pathname property-pairs)

   Response: (CHANGE-PROPERTIES tid)



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   CHANGE-PROPERTIES changes one or more properties of a file.  Either a
   handle or a pathname must be given, but not both.  Whichever one is
   given must be supplied as a string.  handle identifies a data channel
   that is bound to an open file; it can be a direct file identifier.
   pathname identifies a file on the server machine.

   property-pairs is a required token list of keyword/value pairs, where
   the name of the property to be changed is the keyword, and the
   desired new property value is the value.

   The properties that can be changed are host-dependent, as are any
   restrictions on the values of those properties.  The properties that
   can be changed are the same as those returned as settable-properties,
   in the command response for the PROPERTIES command.

   The server tries to modify all the properties listed in property-
   pairs to the desired new values.  There is currently no definition
   about what should be done if the server can successfully change some
   properties but not others.

   For further information on file property keywords and associated
   values:  See the section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs",
   section 7.5.

8.3  CLOSE Command

   Command:  (CLOSE tid handle abort-p)

   Response: (CLOSE tid truename binary-p other-properties)

   CLOSE terminates a data transfer, and frees a data channel.  The
   handle must be a data channel handle for a data stream opening, or a
   direct file identifier for a direct access opening.  If a data
   channel is given, a transfer must be active on that handle.  If
   abort-p is supplied as Boolean truth, the file is close-aborted, as
   described below.

   "Closing the file" has different implications specific to each
   operating system.  It generally implies invalidation of the pointer
   or logical identifier obtained from the operating system when the
   file was "opened", and freeing of operating system and/or job
   resources associated with active file access.  For output files, it
   involves ensuring that every last bit sent by the user has been
   successfully written to disk.  The server should not send a
   successful response until all these things have completed
   successfully.





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   In either data stream or direct access mode, the user can request the
   server to close-abort the file, instead of simply closing it.  To
   close-abort a file means to close it in such a way, if possible, that
   it is as if the file had never been opened.  In the specific case of
   a file being created, it must appear as if the file had never been
   created.  This might be more difficult to implement on certain
   operating systems than others, but tricks with temporary names and
   close-time renamings by the server can usually be used to implement
   close-abort in these cases.  In the case of a file being appended to,
   close-abort means to forget the appended data.

   AN UNSUCCESSFUL CLOSE OPERATION

   For the normal CLOSE operation (not a close-abort), after writing
   every last bit sent by the user to disk, and before closing the file,
   the server checks the data channel specified by handle to see if an
   asynchronous error is outstanding on that channel.  That is, the
   server must determine whether it has sent an asynchronous error
   description to the user, to which the user has not yet responded with
   a CONTINUE command.  If so, the server is unable to close the file,
   and therefore sends a command error response indicating that an error
   is pending on the channel.  The appropriate three-letter error code
   is EPC.  See the section "NFILE Errors and Notifications", section
   10.

   A SUCCESSFUL CLOSE OPERATION

   The return values for OPEN and CLOSE are syntactically identical, but
   the values might change between the time of the file being opened and
   when it is closed.  For example, the truename return value is
   supplied after all the close-time renaming of output files is done
   and the version numbers resolved (for operating systems supporting
   version numbers).  Therefore, on some systems the truename of a file
   has one value at the time it is opened, and a different value when it
   has been closed.  For a description of the CLOSE return values:  See
   the section "NFILE OPEN Response Return Values", section 8.20.2.

   If the user gives the CLOSE command with abort-p supplied as Boolean
   truth, thus requesting a close-abort of the file, the server need not
   check whether an asynchronous error description is outstanding on the
   channel.  The server simply close-aborts the file.










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8.4  COMPLETE Command

   Command:  (COMPLETE tid string pathname DIRECTION NEW-OK DELETED)

   Response: (COMPLETE tid new-string success)

   COMPLETE performs file pathname completion.

   string is a partial filename typed by the user and pathname is the
   default name against which it is being typed.  Both string and
   pathname are required arguments, and are of type string.  The
   remaining arguments are optional keyword/value pairs.

   NEW-OK is Boolean; if followed by Boolean truth, the server should
   allow either a file that already exists, or a file that does not yet
   exist.  The default of NEW-OK is false; that is, the server does not
   consider files that do not already exist.

   DELETED is a Boolean type argument; if followed by Boolean truth, the
   server is instructed to look for files that have been deleted but not
   yet expunged, as well as non-deleted files.  The default is to ignore
   soft-deleted files.

   DIRECTION can be followed by READ, to indicate that the file is to be
   read.  If the file is to be written, DIRECTION can be followed by
   WRITE.  The default is READ.

   The filename is completed according to the files present in the host
   file system, and the expanded string new-string is returned. New-
   string is always a string containing a file name:  either the
   original string, or a new, more specific string.  The value of
   success indicates the status of the completion. The keyword value OLD
   or NEW means complete success, whereas the empty token list means
   failure.  The following values of success are possible:

   Value               Meaning

   ----------------------------------------------------------------

   OLD                 Success:  the string completed to the name of
                       a file that exists.

   NEW                 Success:  the string completed to the name of
                       a file that could be created.

   Empty token list    Failure due to one of these reasons:

                       The file is on a file system that does not



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                       support completion.  new-string is supplied as
                       the unchanged string.

                       There is no possible completion.  new-string
                       is supplied as the unchanged string.

                       There is more than one possible completion.
                       The given string is completed up to the first
                       point of ambiguity, and the result is supplied
                       as new-string.

                       A directory name was completed.  Completion
                       was not successful because additional
                       components to the right of this directory
                       remain to be specified.  The string is
                       completed through the directory name and the
                       delimiter that follows it, and the result is
                       returned in new-string.

   The semantics of COMPLETE are not documented here.  See the
   "Reference Guide to Streams, Files, and I/O" in the Symbolics
   documentation set for the recommended semantics of COMPLETE.

8.5  CONTINUE Command

   Command:  (CONTINUE tid handle)

   Response: (CONTINUE tid)

   CONTINUE resumes a data transfer that was temporarily suspended due
   to an asynchronous error.  Each asynchronous error description has an
   optional argument of RESTARTABLE, indicating whether it makes any
   sense to try to continue after this particular error occurred.
   CONTINUE tries to resume the data transfer if the error is
   potentially recoverable, according to the RESTARTABLE argument in the
   asynchronous error description.  For a discussion of asynchronous
   errors:  See the section "NFILE Errors and Notifications", section
   10.

   handle is a required string-type argument that refers to the handle
   of the data channel that received an asynchronous error.  That data
   channel could have been in use for a data stream or direct access
   transfer.  handle cannot be a direct file identifier.

   If the asynchronous error description does not contain the
   RESTARTABLE argument, and the user issues the CONTINUE command
   anyway, the server gives a command error response.




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8.6  CREATE-DIRECTORY Command

   Command:  (CREATE-DIRECTORY tid pathname property-pairs)

   Response: (CREATE-DIRECTORY tid dir-truename)

   CREATE-DIRECTORY creates a directory on the remote file system.  The
   required pathname argument is a string identifying the pathname of
   the directory to be created.  The return value dir-truename is the
   pathname of the directory that was successfully created.  Both of
   these pathnames are directory pathnames:  See the section "Syntax of
   File and Directory Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.

   property-pairs is a keyword/value list of properties that further
   define the attributes of the directory to be created.  The allowable
   keywords and associated values are operating system dependent;
   typically they indicate arguments to be given to the native primitive
   for creating directories.

   If property-pairs is supplied as the empty token list, default access
   and creation attributes apply and should be assured by the server.
   See the section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs", section
   7.5.

8.7  CREATE-LINK Command

   Command:  (CREATE-LINK tid pathname target-pathname properties)

   Response: (CREATE-LINK tid link-truename)

   CREATE-LINK creates a link on the remote file system.

   pathname is the pathname of the link to be created; target-pathname
   is the place in the file system to which the link points.  Both are
   required arguments.  The return value link-truename names the
   resulting link.

   If a server on a file system that does not support links receives the
   CREATE-LINK command, it sends a command error response.

   The arguments pathname and target-pathname, and the return value
   link-truename, are all strings in the full pathname syntax of the
   server host.  See the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname
   Arguments", section 7.4.

   The required properties argument is a token list of keyword/value
   pairs. These properties and their values specify certain attributes
   to be given to the link.  The allowable keywords and associated



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   values are operating system dependent; typically they indicate
   arguments to be given to the native primitive for creating links.

   If no property pairs are given in the command, the server should
   apply a reasonable default set of attributes to the link.  See the
   section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs", section 7.5.

8.8  DATA-CONNECTION Command

   Command:  (DATA-CONNECTION tid new-input-handle new-output-handle)

   Response: (DATA-CONNECTION tid connection-identifier)

   DATA-CONNECTION enablesthe user side to initiate the establishment of
   a new data connection.  The user side supplies two required string
   arguments, new-input-handle and  new-output-handle.  These arguments
   are used by subsequent commands to reference the two data channels
   that constitute the data connection now being created.  new-input-
   handle describes the server-to-user data channel, and new-output-
   handle describes the user-to-server channel.  new-input-handle and
   new-output-handle cannot refer to any data channels already in use.

   Upon receiving the DATA-CONNECTION command, the server arranges for a
   logical port (called socket or contact name on some networks) to be
   made available on the foreign host machine.  When the server has made
   that port available, it must inform the user of its identity.  The
   server relays that information in the command response, in the
   required connection-identifier, a string.  The server then listens on
   the port named by connection-identifier, and waits for the user side
   to connect to it.

   Upon receiving the success command response, the user side supplies
   the connection-identifier to the local network implementation, in
   order to connect to the specified port.  The data connection is not
   fully established until the user side connects successfully to that
   port.  This command is unusual in that the successful command
   response does not signify the completion of the command; it indicates
   only that the server has fulfilled its responsibility in the process
   of establishing a data connection.












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   The connection-identifier informs the user of the correct identity of
   the logical port that the server has provided.  NFILE expects the
   connection-identifier to be a string.  For TCP this string is the
   port number represented in decimal.  For Chaosnet, this string is the
   contact name.  The connection-identifier is used only once; in all
   subsequent NFILE commands that need to reference either of the data
   channels that constitute this data connection, the new-input-handle
   and new-output-handle are used.

   For background information:  See the section "NFILE Control and Data
   Connections", section 4.

8.9  DELETE Command

   Command:  (DELETE tid handle pathname)

   Response: (DELETE tid)

   DELETE deletes a file on the remote file system.

   Either a handle or a pathname must be supplied, but not both.  If
   given, the handle must be a data channel handle for a data stream
   opening, or a direct file identifier for a direct access opening.
   pathname is a string in the full pathname syntax of the server host.
   See the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments",
   section 7.4.

   With a pathname supplied, the DELETE command causes the specified
   file to be deleted.  DELETE has different results depending on the
   operating system involved.  That is, DELETE causes soft deletion on
   TOPS-20 and LMFS, and hard deletion on UNIX and Multics.  If an
   attempt is made to delete a delete-through link on a Symbolics LMFS,
   its target is deleted instead.

   If the handle argument is supplied to DELETE, the server deletes the
   open file bound to the data channel specified by handle at close
   time.  This is true in both the output and input cases.

8.10  DIRECT-OUTPUT Command

   Command:  (DIRECT-OUTPUT tid direct-handle output-handle)

   Response: (DIRECT-OUTPUT tid)

   DIRECT-OUTPUT starts and stops output data flow for a direct access
   file opening.  DIRECT-OUTPUT explicitly controls binding and
   unbinding of an output data channel to a direct access opening.




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   direct-handle is a required argument, and output-handle is optional.

   If supplied, output-handle is a request to bind an output data
   channel (indicated by output-handle) to the direct access opening
   designated by the direct-handle.  The specified output data channel
   must be free.  The server binds the data channel and begins accepting
   data from that connection and writing it to the opening.

   If the output-handle is omitted, this is a request to unbind the
   channel and terminate the active output transfer.

8.11  DIRECTORY Command

   Command:  (DIRECTORY tid input-handle pathname control-keywords
              properties)

   Response: (DIRECTORY tid)

   DIRECTORY returns a directory listing including the identities and
   attributes for logically related groups of files, directories, and
   links.  If the command is successful, a single token list containing
   the requested information is sent over the data channel specified by
   input-handle, and the data channel is then implicitly freed by both
   sides <2>.  For details on the format of the token list:  See the
   section "NFILE DIRECTORY Data Format", section 8.11.1.

   pathname specifies the files that are to be described; it is a string
   in the full pathname syntax of the server host.  See the section
   "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.

   The pathname generally contains wildcard characters, in operating-
   system-specific format, describing potential file name matches.  Most
   operating systems provide a facility that accepts such a pathname and
   returns information about all files matching this pathname.  Some
   operating systems allow wildcard (potential multiple) matches in the
   directory or device portions of the pathname; other operating systems
   do not.  There is no clear contract at this time about what is
   expected of servers on systems that do not allow wildcard matches (or
   some kinds of wild card matches), when presented with a wildcard.

   properties is a token list of keywords that are the names of
   properties.  If properties is omitted or supplied as the empty token
   list, the server sends along all properties.  If any properties are
   supplied, the user is requesting the server to send only those
   properties.






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   control-keywords ARGUMENT TO DIRECTORY

   control-keywords is a token list of keywords.  The control-keywords
   affect the way the DIRECTORY command works on the server machine.
   Although some of the options below request the server to limit (by
   some filter) the data to be returned, it is never an error if the
   server returns more information than is requested.

   The following keywords are recognized:

   DELETED

   Includes soft-deleted files in the directory list.  Without this
   option, they must not be included. Such files have the DELETED
   property indicated as true" among their properties.  DELETED is
   ignored on systems that do not support soft deletion.

   DIRECTORIES-ONLY

   This option changes the semantics of DIRECTORY fairly drastically.
   Normally, the server returns information about all files,
   directories, and links whose pathnames match the supplied pathname.
   This means that for each file, directory, or link to be listed, its
   directory name must match the potentially wildcarded) directory name
   in the supplied pathname, its file name must match the file name in
   the supplied pathname, and so on.

   When DIRECTORIES-ONLY is supplied, the server is to list only
   directories, not whose pathnames match the supplied pathname, but
   whose pathnames expressed as directory pathnames match the
   (potentially wildcarded) directory portion of the supplied pathname.
   The description of the PROBE-DIRECTORY keyword that can be supplied
   as the direction argument of the OPEN command discusses this:  See
   the section "OPEN Command", section 8.20.

   It is not yet established what servers on hosts that do not support
   this type of action natively are to do when presented with
   DIRECTORIES-ONLY and a pathname with a wildcard directory component.

   FAST Speeds up the operation and data transmission by not listing any
   properties at all for the files concerned; that is, only the
   truenames are returned.









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   NO-EXTRA-INFO

   Specifies that the server is to suppress listing those properties
   that are generally more difficult or expensive to obtain.  This
   typically eliminates listing of directory-specific properties such as
   information about default generation counts and expunge dates.

   SORTED

   This causes the directory listing to be sorted.  The sorting is done
   alphabetically by directory, then by file name, then file type, then
   file version (by increasing version number).

8.11.1  NFILE DIRECTORY Data Format

   If the NFILE DIRECTORY command completes successfully, a single token
   list containing the requested directory information is sent on the
   data channel specified by the input-handle argument in the DIRECTORY
   command.  This section describes the format of that single token
   list, and gives further detail on the properties argument to
   DIRECTORY.

   The token list is a top-level token list, so it is delimited by TOP-
   LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN and TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END.  The top-level token list
   contains embedded token lists.  The first embedded token list
   contains the empty token list followed by property/value pairs
   describing property information of the file system as a whole rather
   than of a specific file.  NFILE requires one property of the file
   system to be present: DISK-SPACE-DESCRIPTION is a string describing
   the amount of free file space available on the system.  The following
   embedded token lists contain the pathname of a file, followed by
   property/value pairs describing the properties of that file.

   The following example shows the format of the top-level token list
   returned by DIRECTORY, for two files.  It is expected that the server
   return several property/value pairs for each file; the number of
   pairs returned is not constrained.  In this example, two
   property/value pairs are returned for the file system, two pairs are
   returned for the first file, and only one pair is returned for the
   second file.

             TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN
             LIST-BEGIN       - first embedded token list starts
             LIST-BEGIN       - an empty embedded token list starts
             LIST-END         - the empty embedded token list ends
             prop1 value1     - property/value pairs of file system
             prop2 value2
             LIST-END



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             LIST-BEGIN
             pathname1        - pathname of the first file
             prop1 value1     - property/value pairs of first file
             prop2 value2
             LIST-END
             LIST-BEGIN
             pathname2        - pathname of the second file
             prop1 value1     - property/value pairs of second file
             LIST-END
             TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END

   The following example is designed to illustrate the structure of the
   top-level token list by depicting TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN and TOP-
   LEVEL-LIST-END by parentheses and LIST-BEGIN and LIST-END by squarbe
   rackets.  respectively. The indentation, blank spaces, and newlines
   in the example are not part of the token list, but are used here to
   make the structure of the token list clear.

                   ([   [ ]    prop1 value1 prop2 value2]
                    [pathname1 prop1 value1 prop2 value2]
                    [pathname2 prop1 value1])

   The pathname is a string in the full pathname syntax of the server
   host.  See the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname
   Arguments", section 7.4.

   For further information on file property/value pairs:  See the
   section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs", section 7.5.

8.12  DISABLE-CAPABILITIES Command

   Command:  (DISABLE-CAPABILITIES tid capability)

   Response: (DISABLE-CAPABILITIES tid cap-1 success-1
                  cap-2 success-2 cap-3 success-3 ...)

   DISABLE-CAPABILITIES causes an access capability to be disabled on
   the server machine.  capability is a string naming the capability to
   be disabled.  The meaning of the capability is dependent on the
   operating system.

   The return values cap-1, cap-2, and so on, are strings specifying
   names of capabilities.  If the capability named by cap-1 was
   successfully disabled, the corresponding success-1 is supplied as
   Boolean truth; otherwise it is the empty token list.






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   Although the user can specify only one capability to disable, it is
   conceivable that the result of disabling that particular capability
   is the disabling of other, related capabilities.  That is why the
   command response can contain information on more than one capability.

8.13  ENABLE-CAPABILITIES Command

   Command:  (ENABLE-CAPABILITIES tid capability password)}

   Response: (ENABLE-CAPABILITIES tid cap-1 success-1
              cap-2 success-2 cap-3 success-3 ...)

   ENABLE-CAPABILITIES causes an access capability to be enabled on the
   server machine.  The password argument is optional, and should be
   included only if it is needed to enable this particular capability.
   Both password and capability are strings.  The meaning of the
   capability is dependent on the operating system.

   The return values cap-1, cap-2 and so on, are strings specifying
   names of capabilities.  If the capability named by cap-1 was
   successfully enabled, the corresponding success-1 is supplied as
   Boolean truth; otherwise it is the empty token list.

   Although the user can specify only one capability to enable, it is
   conceivable that the result of enabling that particular capability is
   the enabling of other, related capabilities.  That is why the command
   response can contain information on more than one capability.

8.14  EXPUNGE Command

   Command:  (EXPUNGE tid directory-pathname)

   Response: (EXPUNGE tid server-storage-units-freed)

   EXPUNGE causes the directory specified by pathname to be expunged.
   Expunging means that any files that have been soft deleted are to be
   permanently removed.

   For file systems that do not support soft deletion, the command is to
   be ignored; a success command response is sent, but no action is
   performed on the file system.  In this case, the number-of-server-
   storage-units-freed return value should be omitted.

   directory-pathname is a required string argument in the directory
   pathname format; it must refer to a directory on the server file
   system, and not to a file.  See the section "Syntax of File and
   Directory Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.




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   The return value server-storage-units-freed is an integer specifying
   how many records, blocks, or whatever unit is used to measure file
   storage on the server host system, were recovered.  This return value
   should be omitted if the server does not know how many storage units
   were freed.

   The protocol does not define whether directory-pathname is really a
   pathname as directory or a wildcard pathname of files to be expunged.
   The protocol does not define whether or not wildcards are permitted,
   or required to be supported, in the directory portion of the pathname
   (representing an implicit request to expunge many directories).

8.15  FILEPOS Command

   Command:  (FILEPOS tid handle position resync-uid)

   Response: (FILEPOS tid)

   FILEPOS sets the file access pointer to a given position, relative to
   the beginning of the file.  FILEPOS is used to indicate the position
   of the next byte of data to be transferred.

   The handle indicates the file to be affected.  handle must be a data
   channel handle for a data stream opening, or a direct file identifier
   for a direct access opening.  Both handle and position are required
   arguments.

   position is an integer indicating to which point in the file the file
   access pointer is to be reset.  position is either a byte number
   according to the current byte size being used, or characters for
   character openings.  Position zero is the beginning of the file.  If
   this is a character opening, position is measured in server units,
   not in NFILE character set units.

   If the FILEPOS command is given on an input data channel (that is, a
   data channel currently sending data from server to user), the
   affected data channel must be resynchronized after the FILEPOS is
   accomplished, in order to identify the start of the new data.  The
   resync-uid is a unique identifier associated with the
   resynchronization of the data channel; it is unique with respect to
   this dialogue.  resync-uid must be supplied if handle is an input
   handle, but it is not supplied otherwise.  For more information on
   the resynchronization procedure:  See the section "NFILE Data
   Connection Resynchronization", section 9.2.

   In the output case, the user must somehow indicate to the server, on
   the output data channel, when there is no more data.  The user side
   sends the keyword token EOF to do so.  Upon receiving that control



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   token, the server is required to position the file pointer according
   to the position given.  When the new file position is established,
   the server resumes accepting data at the new file position.

   In most cases, using the direct access mode of transfer is more
   convenient and efficient than repeated use of FILEPOS with a data
   stream opening.

   There are problems inherent in trying to set a file position of a
   character-oriented file on a foreign host, if one machine is a
   Symbolics computer and the other is not.  For example, character set
   translation must take place.  See the section "NFILE Character Set",
   section 6.  Because of these difficulties, FILEPOS might not be
   supported in the future on character files.  FILEPOS is not
   problematic for binary files.

8.15.1  Implementation Hint for FILEPOS Command

   The server processing of this command (by the control connection
   handler) must not attempt to wait for the resynchronization procedure
   to complete.  It is possible that the user could abort between
   sending the FILEPOS command and reading for the mark and
   resynchronization identifier.  That scenario could leave the sender
   of the resynchronization identifier, on the server side, blocked for
   output indefinitely.

   Only two commands received on the control connection can break the
   data channel out of the blocked state described above:  CLOSE with
   abort-p supplied as Boolean truth, and RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL.
   Therefore, the control connection must not wait for the data channel
   to finish performing the resynchronization procedure.  This wait
   should instead be performed by the process managing the data channel.

8.16  FINISH Command

   Command:  (FINISH tid handle)

   Response: (FINISH tid truename binary-p other-properties)

   FINISH closes a file and reopens it immediately with the file
   position pointer saved, thus leaving it open for further I/O.  If
   possible, the implementation should do the closing and opening in an
   indivisible operation, such that no other process can get access to
   the file.







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   The arguments, results, and their meaning are identical to those of
   the CLOSE command.  See the section "CLOSE Command", section 8.3.
   FINISH requires a handle, which has the same meaning as the handle of
   the CLOSE command.

   In the output case, for both direct mode and data stream mode of
   openings, the server writes out all buffers and sets the byte count
   of the file.  The user sends the keyword token EOF on the data
   channel, to indicate that the end of data has been reached.  The
   server leaves the file in such a state that if the system or server
   crashes anytime after the FINISH command has completed, it would
   later appear as though the file had been closed by this command.
   However, the file is not left in a closed state now; it is left open
   for further I/O operations.  FINISH is a reliability feature.

   FINISH is somewhat pointless in the input case, but valid.  The
   native Symbolics file system (LMFS) implements FINISH on an output
   file by an internal operation that effectively goes through the work
   of closing but leaves the file open for appending.

   ERRORS ON FINISH

   After writing every last bit sent by the user to disk, and before
   closing the file, the server checks the data channel specified by
   handle to see if an asynchronous error is outstanding on that
   channel.  That is, the server must determine whether it has sent an
   asynchronous error to the user, to which the user has not yet
   responded with a CONTINUE command.  If so, the server is unable to
   finish the file, and it must send a command error response response,
   indicating that an error is pending on the channel.  The appropriate
   three-letter error code is EPC.  See the section "NFILE Errors and
   Notifications", section 10.

8.17  HOME-DIRECTORY Command

   Command:  (HOME-DIRECTORY tid user)

   Response: (HOME-DIRECTORY tid directory-pathname)

   HOME-DIRECTORY returns the full pathname of the home directory on the
   server machine for the given user.

   user is a string that should be recognizable as a user's login name
   on the server operating system.  directory-pathname is a string in
   the directory pathname format.  See the section "Syntax of File and
   Directory Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.





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8.18  LOGIN Command

   Command:  (LOGIN tid user password FILE-SYSTEM USER-VERSION)

   Response: (LOGIN tid keyword/value-pairs)

   LOGIN logs the given user in to the server machine, using the
   password if necessary.  Both user and password are string arguments;
   user is required, password is optional.  An omitted password is valid
   if the host allows the specified user to log in without a password.
   Depending on the operating system and server, it might be necessary
   to log in to run a program (in this case the NFILE server program) on
   the host.  LOGIN establishes a user identity that is used by the
   operating system to establish the file author and determine file
   access rights during the current session.

   The server has the option to reject with an error any command except
   LOGIN if a successful LOGIN command has not been performed.  This is
   recommended.  Many operating systems perform the login function in a
   different process and/or environment than user programs.  The portion
   of the NFILE server running in the special login environment could
   conceivably be capable only of processing the LOGIN command; this is
   the reason for having the LOGIN command in NFILE.

   FILE-SYSTEM and USER-VERSION are optional keyword/value pairs.  The
   FILE-SYSTEM keyword/value pair selects the identity of the file
   system to which all following commands in this session are to be
   directed.  This argument has meaning only if the server host machine
   has multiple file systems, and the targeted file system is other than
   the default file system that a user would get by initiating a
   dialogue with that host.  The FILE-SYSTEM argument is an arbitrary
   token list.  If the server does not recognize it, the server gives an
   appropriate command error response.

   Currently, the only use of FILE-SYSTEM is for Symbolics servers to
   select one of the front-end processor hosts instead of the LMFS,
   which is the default.  In this case, the first element in the token
   list is the keyword FEP, and the second element in the token list is
   an integer, indicating the desired FEP disk unit number.  If the
   server discovers there is no such file system, the server gives a
   command error response including the three-letter code NFS, meaning
   "no file system".  See the section "NFILE Errors and Notifications",
   section 10.








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   The user tells the server what version of NFILE it is running by
   including the optional USER-VERSION keyword/value pair.  The value
   associated with USER-VERSION can be a string, an integer, or a token
   list.  This document describes NFILE user version 2 and server
   version 2.

   Upon receiving the representation of the user version, the server can
   either adjust certain parameters to handle this particular version,
   or simply ignore the user version altogether.  Currently, the only
   released versions of NFILE are user version 2 and server version 2.

   LOGIN RETURN VALUES:  keyword/value-pairs

   The keyword/value-pairs is a token list composed of keywords followed
   by their values.  The server includes any or all of the following
   keywords and their values; they are all optional.  The following
   keywords are recognized:

   NAME

   The value associated with NAME is a string specifying the user
   identity, in the server host's terms.

   PERSONAL-NAME

   The value associated with PERSONAL-NAME is a string representing the
   user's personal name, last name first.  For example:  "McGillicuddy,
   Aloysius X.".

   HOMEDIR-PATHNAME

   The value associated with HOMEDIR-PATHNAME is a string in the
   pathname as directory format, indicating the home directory of the
   user.  See the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname
   Arguments", section 7.4.

   GROUP-AFFILIATION

   The value associated with GROUP-AFFILIATION is a string specifying
   the group to which the user belongs, when this concept is
   appropriate.

   SERVER-VERSION

   The value associated with SERVER-VERSION can be a string, an integer,
   or a token list.  The value is a representation of the version of the
   server is running.  Upon receiving the server version, the user can:
   adjust certain parameters to handle this particular version; accept



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   the version; or close the connection.  Currently, the only released
   versions of NFILE are user version 2 and server version 2.

   PROPERTY-INDEX-TABLE

   The value associated with PROPERTY-INDEX-TABLE is a token list of
   keywords.  This return value enables the server to inform the user
   which file properties are meaningful on its file system.  The
   keywords in PROPERTY-INDEX-TABLE can be used by the DIRECTORY command
   (a user request for information on file properties of a specified
   directory or directories).  The server can specify a certain property
   by giving an integer that is the index of that file property into the
   PROPERTY-INDEX-TABLE.  This reduces the volume of data sent during
   directory listings.  The first element in PROPERTY-INDEX-TABLE is
   indexed by the number 0.  See the section "DIRECTORY Command",
   section 8.11.

8.19  MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS Command

   Command:  (MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS tid input-handle paths
              characters properties)

   Response: (MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS tid)

   MULTIPLE-FILE-PLISTS returns file property information of one or more
   files.  The server sends the information in a data structure (the
   format is described later in this section) on the given input-handle.
   paths is an embedded token list composed of the pathnames in which
   the user is interested.  Each pathname in this list is a string in
   the full pathname syntax of the server host.  Unlike for the
   DIRECTORY command, wildcards are not allowed in these pathnames.  See
   the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments",
   section 7.4.

   characters is either Boolean truth (indicating that each file is a
   character file), the empty token list (each file is a binary file),
   or the keyword DEFAULT.  DEFAULT indicates that the server itself is
   to figure out whether a file is a character or binary file.  For more
   information on the meaning of the DEFAULT keyword:  See the section
   "OPEN Command", section 8.20.  The value of characters can influence
   some servers' idea of a file's length.

   properties is a token list of keywords indicating which properties
   the user wants returned.  The server is always free to return more
   properties than those requested in the properties argument.  If
   properties is supplied as the empty token list, the server should
   transmit all known properties on the files.




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   The server transmits as much of the requested information as possible
   on the given input-handle.  The information is contained in a top-
   level token list of elements.  Each element corresponds with a
   supplied pathname; the order of the original pathlist must be
   retained in the returned token list.  An element is an empty token
   list if the corresponding file or any of its containing directories
   does not exist.  The elements that correspond to successfully located
   files are lists composed of truename followed by any properties.
   properties are keyword/value pairs.  truename is a string in the full
   pathname syntax of the server host.

   The following example shows TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN and TOP-LEVEL-LIST-
   END as parentheses, and LIST-BEGIN and LIST-END with square brackets.

   For example, the user supplied a pathlist argument resembling:

                            [file1 file2 file3]

   The server could not locate file1 or file3, but did locate file2, and
   found the length and author of file2.  The top-level token list
   transmitted by the server is:

        ( [] [ truename-of-file2 LENGTH 381 AUTHOR williams ] [] )

   For further detail on how file properties and values are expressed:
   See the section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs", section
   7.5.

8.20  OPEN Command

   Command:  (OPEN tid handle pathname direction binary-p
                TEMPORARY RAW SUPER-IMAGE DELETED PRESERVE-DATES
                SUBMIT DIRECT-FILE-ID ESTIMATED-LENGTH BYTE-SIZE
                IF-EXISTS IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST)

   Response: (OPEN tid truename binary-p other-properties)

   OPEN opens a file for reading, writing, or direct access at the
   server host.  That means, in general, asking the host file system to
   access the file and obtaining a file number, pointer, or other
   quantity for subsequent rapid access to the file; this is called an
   "opening".  See the section "NFILE File Opening Modes", section 5.

   The OPEN command has the most complicated syntax of any NFILE
   command.  The OPEN command has required arguments, an optional
   argument, and many optional keyword/value pairs.  For details on the
   syntax of each of these parts of the OPEN command:  See the section
   "Conventions Used in This Document", section 7.



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   The following arguments are required:  pathname, direction, and
   binary-p.  handle is an optional argument, which must either be
   supplied or explicitly omitted by means of substituting in its place
   the empty token list.

   The OPEN command has many optional keyword/value pairs, which encode
   conceptual arguments to the server file system for the OPEN
   operation.  A detailed description of all the supported OPEN optional
   keywords is given below.

   The OPEN return values reflect information about the file opened,
   when the opening is successful.  In the case of a probe-type opening,
   this information is returned when the given file (or link, or
   directory) exists and is accessible, even though the file (or link,
   or directory) is not actually opened.  For detail on the OPEN return
   values: See the section "NFILE OPEN Response Return Values", section
   8.20.2.

   THE pathname OPEN ARGUMENT

   The pathname is a required argument specifying the file to be opened.
   pathname is a string in the full pathname syntax of the server host.
   See the section "Syntax of File and Directory Pathname Arguments",
   section 7.4.

   For some purposes (for example, when the OPEN argument direction is
   supplied as PROBE-DIRECTORY), only the directory specified by this
   pathname is utilized.  See the section "NFILE OPEN Optional
   Keyword/Value Pairs", section 8.20.1.

   THE handle OPEN ARGUMENT

   The handle argument of the OPEN command specifies a data channel to
   be used for the transfer.  Subsequent commands in this session use
   the same handle to specify this opening.  It is the user side's
   responsibility to ensure that handle refers to an existing and free
   data channel that does not require resynchronization before use.  A
   handle must be supplied, unless a probe-type opening is desired (that
   is, the direction is supplied as PROBE, PROBE-DIRECTORY, or PROBE-
   LINK) or a direct access opening is being requested (that is, a
   DIRECT-FILE-ID is supplied).  In those cases, the empty token list is
   supplied for handle.

   THE direction OPEN ARGUMENT

   The direction argument must be supplied as one of these keywords:
   INPUT, OUTPUT, IO, PROBE, PROBE-DIRECTORY, and PROBE-LINK.  The
   meanings of the direction keywords are as follows:



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   INPUT

      Specifies that the file is to be opened for input server-to-user
      transfer).  To request a direct access opening, supply a value for
      DIRECT-FILE-ID. If no DIRECT-FILE-ID is supplied, the opening is a
      data stream opening.

   OUTPUT

      Specifies that the file is to be opened for output user-to-server
      transfer).  To request a direct access opening, supply a value for
      DIRECT-FILE-ID. If no DIRECT-FILE-ID is supplied, the opening is a
      data stream opening.

   IO

      Specifies that interspersed input and output will be performed on
      the file.  This is only meaningful in direct access mode.  A
      DIRECT-FILE-ID must also be supplied.  See the section "NFILE OPEN
      Optional Keyword/Value Pairs", section 8.20.1.

   If direction is supplied as PROBE, PROBE-LINK, or PROBE-DIRECTORY,
   the opening is said to be a probe-type opening.  The DIRECT-FILE-ID
   option is meaningless and an error for probe-type openings.  The file
   handle must be supplied as an empty token list for probe-type
   openings.

   PROBE

      Specifies that the file is not to be opened at all, but simply
      checked for existence.  If the file does not exist or is not
      accessible, the error indications and actions are identical to
      those that would be given for an INPUT opening.  If the file does
      exist, the successful command response contains the same
      information as it would have if the file had been opened for
      INPUT.  If it is a link, the link is followed to its target.

   PROBE-LINK

      Like PROBE, with one difference.  PROBE-LINK specifies that if the
      pathname is found to refer to a link, that link is not to be
      followed, and information about the link itself is to be returned.









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   PROBE-DIRECTORY

      PROBE-DIRECTORY requests information about the directory
      designated by the pathname argument.  In the PROBE-DIRECTORY case,
      the pathname argument refers to the directory on which information
      is requested.  In all other cases, the pathname refers to a file
      to be opened.  If pathname contains a file name and file type,
      these parts of the pathname are ignored for PROBE-DIRECTORY
      openings as long as they are syntactically valid.

   THE binary-p OPEN ARGUMENT

   The value of binary-p affects the mode in which the server opens the
   file, as well as informing it whether or not character set
   translation must be performed.

   If binary-p is supplied as the empty token list, the opening is said
   to be a character opening.  The server performs character set
   translation between its native character set and the NFILE character
   set.  The data is transferred over the data connection one character
   per eight-bit byte.  See the section "NFILE Character Set", section
   6.

   If binary-p is supplied as Boolean truth, the opening is said to be a
   binary opening.  The user side supplies the byte size via the BYTE-
   SIZE option; if not supplied, the default byte size is 16 bits.  If
   byte size is less than 9, the file data is transferred byte by byte.
   If the byte size is 9 or greater, the server transfers each byte of
   the file as two eight-bit bytes, low-order first.

   binary-p can also be supplied as the keyword DEFAULT.  DEFAULT
   specifies that the server itself is to determine whether to transfer
   binary or character data.  DEFAULT is meaningful only for input
   openings; it is an error for OUTPUT, IO, or probe-type openings.  For
   file systems that maintain the innate binary or character nature of a
   file, the server simply asks the file system which case is in force
   for the file specified by pathname.

   When binary-p is supplied as DEFAULT, on file systems that do not
   maintain thisinformation, the server is required to perform a
   heuristic check for Symbolicsobject fileson the first two 16-bit
   bytes of the file.  If the file isdetermined to be aSymbolics object
   file, the server performs a BINARY openingwith BYTE-SIZE of16;
   otherwise, it performs a CHARACTER opening.







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   The details of the check are as follows: if the first 16-bit byte is
   the octal number170023 and the second 16-bit byte is any number
   between 0 and 77 octal(inclusive), the file is recognized as a
   Symbolics object file.  In any othercase, it is not.

8.20.1  NFILE OPEN Optional Keyword/Value Pairs

   The OPEN command has many optional keyword/value pairs that encode
   conceptual arguments to the file system for the OPEN operation.

   The following options are used often:

   BYTE-SIZE

      Must be followed by an integer between 1 and 16, inclusive, or the
      empty token list.  BYTE-SIZE is meaningful only for binary
      openings.  BYTE-SIZE can be ignored for probe-type openings.  It
      can be omitted entirely for character openings, but if supplied,
      must be followed by the empty token list.  If binary-p is supplied
      as DEFAULT, BYTE-SIZE can be omitted entirely, or followed by the
      empty token list.

      If a binary opening is requested and BYTE-SIZE is not supplied,
      the assumed value is 16 for output openings. For input binary
      openings, the default is the host file system's stored conception
      of the file's byte size (for those hosts that natively support
      byte size).  For file systems that do not natively support
      natively byte size, the default byte-size on binary input is 16.

      For file systems that maintain the innate byte-size of each file,
      the server should supply this number to the appropriate operating
      system interface that performs the semantics of opening the file.
      For other operating systems, a file written with a given byte size
      must produce the same bytes in the same order when read with that
      byte size.  In this case, the server or host operating system can
      choose any packing scheme that complies with this rule.

      Operating systems that do not support byte size must ensure that
      binary files written from user ends of the current protocol can be
      read back correctly.  However, the server can choose packing
      schemes that allow all bits of the server host's word to be
      accessed and concur with other packing schemes used by native host
      software.

      For example, Multics supports 36 bit words and 9 bit bytes.  A
      packing scheme appropriate for a Multics NFILE server is:





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               Byte Size                Packing Scheme

               7, 8, or 9 bits          four per 36-bit word
               10, 11, or 12 bits       three per 36-bit word
               13, 14, 15, or 16 bits   two per 36-bit word

      In the first packing scheme in the table, native Multics
      character-oriented software can access each logical byte
      sequentially.  In the last packing scheme, each Symbolics byte is
      in a halfword, easily accessible and visible in an octal
      representation.  To achieve maximum data transfer rate and access
      all bits of a Multics word, a byte size of 12 must be specified.

   DELETED

      If supplied as Boolean truth, DELETED specifies that deleted"
      files are to be treated as though they were not "deleted".
      DELETED is meaningful only for operating systems that support
      "soft deletion" and subsequent "undeletion" of files.  Other
      operating systems must ignore this option.  Normally, deleted
      files are not visible to the OPEN operation; this option makes
      them visible.

      DELETED can also be followed by the empty token list, which has
      the same effect as omitting the DELETED keyword/value pair
      entirely.  For output openings, DELETED is meaningless and an
      error if supplied.

   DIRECT-FILE-ID

      If supplied, the DIRECT-FILE-ID indicates that the opening is to
      be a direct access mode opening.  If not supplied, the opening is
      a data stream opening.  The value of DIRECT-FILE-ID is a string
      generated by the user, that has not been used as a DIRECT-FILE-ID
      in this dialogue, and does not designate any data channel.  The
      DIRECT-FILE-ID is a unique identifier for the direct access
      opening.  It is used for all operations that identify an opening
      rather than a data channel.  The DIRECT-FILE-ID is used to
      identify a direct access opening, just as a file handle is used to
      identify a data stream opening.  The PROPERTIES, CLOSE, and RENAME
      commands use the DIRECT-FILE-ID in this way.  There are only two
      NFILE commands applicable to direct access openings (ABORT and
      CONTINUE) that do not use the DIRECT-FILE-ID, but use a data
      channel handle instead.

   PRESERVE-DATES

      If supplied as Boolean truth, PRESERVE-DATES specifies that the



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      server is to attempt to prevent the operating system from updating
      the "reference date" or date-time used" of the file.  This is
      meaningful only for input openings, and is an error otherwise.

      The Symbolics operating system invokes this option for operations
      such as View File in the editor, where it wishes to assert that
      the user did not "read" the file, but just "looked at it".
      Servers on operating systems that do not support reference dates
      or users revising or suppressing update of the reference dates
      must ignore this option.

   ESTIMATED-LENGTH

      The value of ESTIMATED-LENGTH is an integer estimating the length
      of the file to be transferred. This option is meaningful and
      permitted only for output openings.  ESTIMATED-LENGTH enables the
      user end to suggest to the server's file system how long the file
      is going to be.  This can be useful for file systems that must
      preallocate files or file maps or that accrue performance benefits
      from knowing this information at nthe time the file is first
      opened.  This estimate, if supplied, is not required to be exact.
      It is ignored by servers to which it is not useful or interesting.
      The units of the estimate are characters for character openings,
      and bytes of the agreed-upon byte size for binary openings.  The
      character units should be server units, if possible, but since
      this is only an estimate, NFILE character units are acceptable.
      See the section "NFILE Character Set", section 6.

   IF-EXISTS

      Meaningful only for output openings, ignored otherwise, but not
      diagnosed as an error.  The value of IF-EXISTS is a keyword that
      specifies the action to Be taken if a file of the given name
      already exists.  The semantics of the values are derived from the
      Common Lisp specification and repeated here for completeness.  If
      the file does not already exist, the IF-EXISTS option and its
      value are ignored.

      If the user side does not give the IF-EXISTS option, The action to
      be taken if a file of the given name already exists depends on
      whether or not the file system supports file versions.  If it
      does, the default is ERROR (if an explicit version is given in the
      file pathname) or NEW-VERSION (if the version in the file pathname
      is the newest version).  For file systems not supporting versions,
      the default is SUPERSEDE.  These actions are described below.






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      IF-EXISTS provides the mechanism for overwriting or appending to
      files.  With the default setting of IF-EXISTS, new files are
      created by every output opening.

      Operating systems supporting soft deletion can take different
      actions if a "deleted" file already exists with the same name (and
      type and version, where appropriate) as a file to be created.  The
      Symbolics file system (LMFS) effectively uses SUPERSEDE, even if
      not asked to do so.  Other servers and file systems are urged to
      do similarly.  Recommended action is to not allow deleted files to
      prevent successful file creation (with specific version number)
      even if an IF-EXISTS option weaker than SUPERSEDE, RENAME, or
      RENAME-AND-DELETE is specified or implied.

      Here are the possible values and their meanings:

      ERROR

         Reports an error.

      NEW-VERSION

         Creates a new file with the same file name but with a larger
         version number.  This is the default when the version component
         of the filename is newest.  File systems without version
         numbers can implement this by effectively treating it as
         SUPERSEDE.

      RENAME

         Renames the existing file to some other name and then creates a
         new file with the specified name.  On most file systems, this
         renaming happens at the time of a successful close.

      RENAME-AND-DELETE

         Renames the existing file to some other name and then deletes
         it (but does not expunge it, on those systems that distinguish
         deletion from expunging).  Then it creates a new file with the
         specified name.  On most file systems, this renaming happens at
         the time of a successful close.

      OVERWRITE

         Output operations on the opening destructively modify the
         existing file.  New data replaces old data at the beginning of
         the file; however, the file is not truncated to length zero
         upon opening.



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      TRUNCATE

         Output operations on the opening destructively modify the
         existing file.  The file pointer is initially positioned at the
         beginning of the file; at that time, TRUNCATE truncates the
         file to length zero and frees disk storage occupied by it.

      APPEND

         Output operations on the opening destructively modify the
         existing file.  New data is placed at the current end of the
         file.

      SUPERSEDE

         Supersedes the existing file.  This means that the old file is
         removed or deleted and expunged.  The new file takes its place.
         If possible, the file system does not destroy the old file
         until the new file is closed, against the possibility that the
         file will be close-aborted.  This differs from NEW-VERSION in
         that SUPERSEDE creates a new file with the same name as the old
         one, rather than a file name with a higher version number.

         There are currently no standards on what a server can do if it
         cannot implement some of these actions.

   IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST

      Meaningful for input openings, never meaningful for probe-type
      openings, and sometimes meaningful for output openings.  IF-DOES-
      NOT-EXIST takes a value token, which specifies the action to be
      taken if the file does not already exist.  Like IF-EXISTS, it is a
      derivative of Common Lisp.  The default is as follows: If this is
      a probe-type opening or read opening, or if the IF-EXISTS option
      is specified as OVERWRITE, TRUNCATE, or APPEND, the default is
      ERROR.  Otherwise, the default is CREATE.

      These are the values for IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST:

      ERROR

         Reports an error.

      CREATE

         Creates an empty file with the specified name and then proceeds
         as if it already existed.




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   The following optional keyword/value pairs are rarely used, if ever:

   RAW

      If supplied as Boolean truth, RAW specifies that character set
      translation is not to be performed, but that characters are to be
      transferred intact, without inspection.  This option is meaningful
      only for character openings; it is an error otherwise.  It is also
      an error to supply RAW as Boolean truth for probe-type openings.
      RAW can also be followed by the empty token list, which has the
      same effect as if the RAW keyword/value pair were omitted
      entirely.  See the section "RAW Translation Mode", Appendix B.

   SUPER-IMAGE

      If supplied as Boolean truth, SUPER-IMAGE specifies that Rubout
      quoting is not to be performed.  This operation is meaningful only
      for character openings; it is an error otherwise.  It is also an
      error for probe-type openings.  SUPER-IMAGE can also be followed
      by the empty token list, which has the same effect as if the
      SUPER-IMAGE keyword/value pair were omitted entirely.

      SUPER-IMAGE mode causes the server to read or write character
      files where ASCII Rubout characters are a significant part of the
      file content, not where they are an escape for this protocol.
      However, other translations must still be performed:  See the
      section SUPER-IMAGE Translation Mode", Appendix C.

   TEMPORARY

      Used by the TOPS-20 server only.  TEMPORARY says to use GJ%TMP in
      the GTJFN.  This is useful mainly when writing files, and
      indicates that the foreign operating system is to treat the file
      as temporary.  See TOPS-20 documentation for more about the
      implications of this option.  Other servers can ignore it.  This
      option is meaningless and an error for input or probe-type
      openings.  TEMPORARY can also be followed by the empty token list,
      which has the same effect as if the TEMPORARY keyword/value pair
      were omitted entirely.

   SUBMIT

      SUBMIT is meaningful for output only.  If supplied as Boolean
      truth, SUBMIT causes the server to submit the contents of the file
      being written to the operating system as a job, after the file is
      closed.  VMS is an example of an operating system that could
      conveniently support SUBMIT.  SUBMIT can also be followed by the
      empty token list, which has the same effect as if the SUBMIT



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      keyword/value pair were omitted entirely.  Servers that do not
      implement this option should give an error response if requested
      to submit a file to the operating system.

8.20.2  NFILE OPEN Response Return Values

   The results of a successful OPEN operation are reported in the
   command response.  Here is the specification of the OPEN response
   format:

   Response Format:

      (OPEN tid truename binary-p other-properties)

   The return values for OPEN and CLOSE are syntactically identical, but
   the values can change in the time interval between open and close.

   truename is a string representing the pathname of the file in the
   full pathname syntax of the server host.  It should be determined by
   the server once it has opened the file, via some request to its
   operating system.  The request can be of the form:  "What file
   corresponds to this JFN, file number, pointer, etc.?"  If the
   operating system supports version numbers, this string always
   contains an explicit version number.  It always contains a directory
   name, a file name, and so on.

   Some operating systems might not know the truename of an output file
   until it is closed.  It is permissible not to supply an explicit
   version number in the pathname in the OPEN response in this specific
   case.  On these systems the truename when the file is opened is
   different than the truename after it has been closed.

   The return value binary-p indicates whether the opening is a binary
   or character opening.  For binary openings, binary-p is supplied as
   Boolean truth; for character openings it is the empty token list.

   other-properties is a list of keyword/value pairs.  other-properties
   must contain CREATION-DATE and LENGTH.  AUTHOR should be included if
   the server operating system has a convenient mechanism for
   determining the author of the sfile.  The other properties described
   here can be included if desired.

   AUTHOR

   The value of AUTHOR is a string representing the name of the author
   of the file.  This is some kind of user identifier, whose format is
   system-specific.  As with CREATION-DATE (see below), AUTHOR is
   supposed to represent the logical determinor of the current data



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   content of the file, not necessarily the agency that actually created
   the file.

   BYTE-SIZE

   The byte-size agreed upon via the rules described for the BYTE-SIZE
   option.  The value of BYTE-SIZE is an integer.  For details on the
   ramifications of BYTE-SIZE:  See the section "NFILE OPEN Optional
   Keyword/Value Pairs", section 8.20.1.  This parameter is only
   meaningful for BINARY openings.  However, if FILEPOS is returned in
   the other-properties list, BYTE-SIZE should also be included, even
   for character openings.

   CREATION-DATE

   The creation date of the file.  The date is expressed in Universal
   Time format, which measures a time as the number of seconds since
   January 1, 1900, at midnight GMT.  Creation date does not necessarily
   mean the time the file system created the directory entry or records
   of the file.  For systems that support modification or appending to
   files, it is usually the modification date of the file.  Creation
   date can mean the date that the bit count or byte count of the file
   was set by an application program.

   Some types of file systems support a user-settable quantity
   (CREATION-DATE) which the user can set to an arbitrary time, to
   indicate that the contents of this file were written a long time ago
   by someone else on another computer.  The default value of this
   quantity, if the user has not set it, is the time someone last
   modified the information in the file.  This quantity, in the OPEN
   response for an output file, is disregarded by the user side, but
   nevertheless must be present.

   The Symbolics computer system software uses this quantity as a unique
   identifier of file contents, for a given file name, type, and
   version, to prove that a file has not changed since it last recorded
   this quantity for a file.

   FILEPOS

   An integer giving the position of the logical file pointer, in
   characters or bytes as appropriate for the type of opening.  This is
   always zero for an input opening and for an output opening creating a
   new file.  For an output opening appending to an existing file,
   FILEPOS is the number of characters or bytes, as appropriate,
   currently in the file.  This number, for character openings, is
   measured in server units: See the section "NFILE Character Set",
   section 6.



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   LENGTH

   An integer reporting the length of the file, in characters for
   character openings and in bytes of the agreed-upon size for binary
   openings.  LENGTH should be reported as zero for output openings,
   even if appending to an existing file.  The server usually only knows
   the length for a character opening in server units; thus, it reports
   length in server units.

8.21  PROPERTIES Command

   Command:  (PROPERTIES tid handle pathname control-keywords
   properties)

   Response: (PROPERTIES tid property-element settable-properties)

   PROPERTIES requests the property information about one file.  The
   file is identified by the pathname argument or the handle argument,
   but not both.  If pathname is supplied, it is a string in the full
   pathname syntax of the server host.  See the section "Syntax of File
   and Directory Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.

   If handle is supplied, its value is a string identifying an opening,
   which implicitly identifies a file.  For direct access mode openings,
   handle must be a direct file identifier.

   control-keywords is reserved in the current design.  However, it is a
   required argument, and must be supplied as the empty token list.  Its
   presence in the NFILE specification allows for future expansion.  In
   the future the value of control-keywords might affect the listing
   mode.

   properties is a token list of keywords indicating the properties the
   user wants returned.  (In command arguments, properties cannot be
   specified with integers, such as indices into the Property Index
   Table).  For a list of keywords associated with file properties:  See
   the section "Format of NFILE File Property/Value Pairs", section 7.5.

   The server is always free to return more properties than those
   requested in the properties argument.  If properties is supplied as
   the empty token list, the server transmits all known properties of
   the file.









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   PROPERTIES COMMAND RESPONSE

   The server returns the property information for the given file in the
   command response.  The PROPERTIES command does not use any data
   channels.  If the specified file does not exist or is not accessible,
   the server signals an error and includes an appropriate three-letter
   error code in the command error response.  See the section "NFILE
   Errors and Notifications", section 10.

   The return value property-element is a token list.  The first element
   in that token list is the pathname of the file, in the full pathname
   syntax of the server host.  The following elements of the property-
   element token list are property/value pairs.  The server is expected
   to return several property/value pairs; the number of pairs is not
   constrained.  For further details on file properties and their
   associated values:  See the section "Format of NFILE File
   Property/Value Pairs", section 7.5.

   The return value settable-properties is a token list of keywords.
   The number of keywords is not constrained.  (Note that integers
   cannot be used in settable-properties to indicate the file property;
   keywords are to be used instead.)  Each keyword supplied in
   settable-properties identifies a property considered settable by the
   server.  The server is implicitly guaranteeing a mechanism for
   changing the properties reported as settable.  The user can change
   any of the settable properties for this file by using the CHANGE-
   PROPERTIES command.  See the section "CHANGE-PROPERTIES Command",
   section 8.2.

   The following example shows the format of the PROPERTIES command
   response.  Remember that the number of property/value pairs and
   keywords is not constrained; this example has two property/value
   pairs and three settable-properties keywords returned:


















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             TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN
             PROPERTIES         - name of the command
             tid                - transaction identifier
             LIST-BEGIN
             pathname of file
             prop1 value1       - file's property/value pairs
             prop2 value2
             LIST-END
             LIST-BEGIN
             keyword-1          - file's settable properties
             keyword-2
             keyword-3
             LIST-END
             TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END

   The following example is designed to better show the structure of the
   top-level token list by depicting TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN and TOP-
   LEVEL-LIST-END by parentheses and LIST-BEGIN and LIST-END by square
   brackets.  The indentation and newlines in the example are not part
   of the token list, but are used here to make the structure of the
   token list clear.

             (PROPERTIES tid [ pathname prop1 value1 prop2 value2 ...]
                             [ keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 ... ]

8.22  READ Command

   Command: (READ tid direct-file-id input-handle count FILEPOS)

   Response: (READ tid)

   READ requests input data flow for direct access openings.  The
   direct-file-id is the same as the DIRECT-FILE-ID argument that was
   given when opening the file; it designates the opening from which the
   characters or bytes are to be transferred.  The input-handle
   specifies which data channel should be used for the transfer of data
   from server to user.  The data channel should have been already
   established, cannot have been disestablished, and must not currently
   be in use.

   count is an integer specifying how many bytes (or NFILE characters,
   as appropriate) to read.  count can be supplied as the empty token
   list, meaning read to the end of the file.  If the user specifies the
   empty token list or a count greater than the number of bytes
   remaining in the file, the server sends the keyword EOF to mark the
   end of the file.





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   FILEPOS is an optional keyword/value pair.  If the keyword FILEPOS is
   supplied, it must be followed by an integer.  Before data is
   transferred, the opening is positioned to the point specified by the
   value of FILEPOS.  The position of the point is measured in server
   units for character openings; for binary openings it is measured in
   binary bytes.  See the section "FILEPOS NFILE Command".

   Upon receiving the READ command, the server binds the data channel to
   the opening and immediately begins transferring data.  The server
   stops when all data has been transferred.  After the server sends the
   last requested byte, it unbinds the data channel, freeing it for
   other use.  When the user side has processed the last byte, the user
   side assumes that the data channel can now be reused for another data
   transfer.

8.23  RENAME Command

   Command:  (RENAME tid handle pathname to-pathname)

   Response: (RENAME tid from-pathname to-pathname)

   RENAME requests the server to give a file a new name.  This is
   NFILE's interface to the system's native rename operation, with all
   of its system-specific semantics and constraints.

   Either a handle or a pathname (but not both) specifies the file that
   is to receive a new name.  The argument to-pathname designates that
   new name.  The return value from-pathname gives the full original
   name of the file, and to-pathname gives the full new name of the
   file.  For systems that support version numbers, the return values
   can differ in version number from the values of the arguments given
   to RENAME.

   The arguments pathname and to-pathname and the return values from-
   pathname and to-pathname are strings in the full pathname syntax of
   the server host.  See the section "Syntax of File and Directory
   Pathname Arguments", section 7.4.

   If the file to be renamed is specified by a pathname, the file should
   be renamed immediately.  If the file is specified by handle, it is
   acceptable to wait until close-time to rename the file.

   Some operating systems can rename only within a directory.
   Nevertheless, the to-pathname of the RENAME must be fully specified;
   the server on these systems must check for and reject an attempted
   cross-directory rename.





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8.24  RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL Command

   The command and response format for this command varies, depending on
   whether the handle argument indicates an input or output data
   channel.

   For an Input Handle:

   Command:  (RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL tid handle)

   Response: (RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL tid identifier)

   For an Output Handle:

   Command:  (RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL tid handle identifier)

   Response: (RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL tid)

   RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL begins a prescribed procedure between user
   and server over the unsafe data channel specified by handle.  The
   resynchronization procedure clears the data channel of any unwanted
   data, and restores the data channel to a safe state, ready to
   transfer data again.

   All arguments to RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL are required.

   For a detailed description of how the user and server coordinate the
   resynchronization of data channels:  See the section "NFILE Data
   Connection Resynchronization", section 9.2.

8.24.1  Implementation Hints for RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL Command

   In general, both the user and server should should be implemented
   with the knowledge that a transmission can be aborted.  That is, the
   receiving side must be careful not to act upon a transmission (that
   is, to perform any action or side effect) until the transmission has
   been successfully received in entirety.  This protects the user
   program from the possibility that an abort can occur after a
   transmission has been partially sent.












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   RESYNCHRONIZING AN OUTPUT DATA CHANNEL

   The server will probably want to dispatch the looping and reading to
   the logical data process.  Looping reading for the resynchronization
   identifier in the control connection handler is not a viable option.
   If the user side fails to send the resynchronization identifier (for
   example, due to a user abort) the control connection handler can
   never be broken out of this loop.

   Should the user side send the control connection handler command
   first, or send the marks and identifiers first?

   Sending the marks first is problematic, because the data channel at
   the other end might not be reading them (for it has not yet been so
   instructed by the control connection handler).  The user might then
   become blocked for output, thus prohibiting sending of the
   RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command.

   On the other hand, sending the control connection handler command
   first requires that the user side can send the marks and identifiers
   between sending the control connection handler command and receiving
   a response for it.  The response will never come until the marks and
   identifiers have been successfully received.  The user implementation
   must allow for this one case of a command where a subroutine that
   "sends a command and waits for a response" is inapplicable.

   RESYNCHRONIZING AN INPUT DATA CHANNEL

   The server control process should dispatch the data process to send
   the mark, and not wait, lest the data process become blocked for
   output due to a user abort.  The control process must go back to its
   command loop, to possibly receive a command that might break the data
   process out of that block.

8.25  UNDATA-CONNECTION Command

   Command:  (UNDATA-CONNECTION tid input-handle output-handle)

   Response: (UNDATA-CONNECTION tid)

   UNDATA-CONNECTION explicitly disestablishes a data connection from
   the user side.  The user side has the option of disestablishing data
   connections at its discretion.  There is no place in the protocol
   where disestablishment of data connections is required, other than at
   the end of the session, where it is implicit.






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   The data connection to be disestablished is the one designated by the
   input-handle and output-handle arguments.  These two handles must
   refer to the same data connection.

   It is not permitted to explicitly disestablish a data connection
   either of whose channels is active.  If the session is terminated by
   the breaking of the control connection, all file handles become
   meaningless, and the server must close all data connections known to
   it and close-abort all files opened on behalf of the user during the
   dialogue.

   In the Symbolics implementation, the user side disestablishes data
   connections that have not been used for a long time, such as twenty
   minutes or so.

   For more information about data connections:  See the section "NFILE
   Control and Data Connections", section 4.

9.  NFILE RESYNCHRONIZATION PROCEDURE

   Ordinarily, the user side sends NFILE commands to the server side
   over the control connection; the server side responds to every user
   command, and file data is transmitted over the data channels.  This
   section describes a resynchronization procedure that takes place when
   something disturbs the usual course of events.

   First, if the server side aborts while sending or receiving data,
   nothing can be done to salvage the connection between the two hosts.
   The control connection and any data channels associated with this
   connection are broken.  This happens rarely, if at all.

   It is not unusual for the user side to abort file operations, either
   commands or data transfer.  On a Symbolics computer, the user can do
   this by pressing CONTROL-ABORT.  An important aspect of any file
   protocol is the way it handles the situation when the user side
   aborts file operations.

   An NFILE user side reacts to user side aborts by immediately marking
   the connection unsafe.  When a control connection is unsafe, it must
   be resynchronized before it can be used again.  Data channels can
   also be marked unsafe, and must also be resynchronized before further
   use.  The resynchronization process rids the connection (whether
   control or data connection) of bytes of data that are now unwanted,
   and thus cleans up the channel so it can be used again.

   The resynchronization procedure is somewhat complex, but it fulfills
   a genuine need.  For those interested, a brief design discussion is
   included as note <3>.



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9.1  NFILE Control Connection Resynchronization

   NFILE requires any unsafe control connection to undergo a
   resynchronization procedure before further use.  Therefore, the
   resynchronization does not necessarily occur immediately after the
   control connection is marked unsafe.  The user side initiates the
   control connection resynchronization when another operation on the
   control connection is attempted.

   A "mark" is defined in the context of Byte Stream with Mark:  See the
   section "Discussion of Byte Stream with Mark", section 12.1.

   USER SIDE STEPS:  CONTROL CONNECTION RESYNCHRONIZATION

       1. The user side sends a mark over the control connection to
          the server.

       2. The user side sends the ASCII characters USER-RESYNC-DUMMY
          (as a data token) to the server.

       3. The user side sends a second mark to the server.

       4. The user side declares the control connection safe (at the
          token list level).

       5. The user side generates and sends a unique data token to
          the server.

       6. The user side then waits, expecting to detect a mark
          followed by the unique data token.  The user side reads and
          discards all tokens and marks until the desired match is
          found.

   Once the user side detects the mark and unique data token, the
   control connection has been fully resynchronized, and can be used
   again.


   SERVER SIDE STEPS:  CONTROL CONNECTION RESYNCHRONIZATION

        1. The server side detects a mark.  The server is thus alerted
           that the control connection is unsafe, and that
           resynchronization is in progress.

        2. The server continues to read data coming from the user side
           until it detects the second mark, and the token following
           it.




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        3. The server checks to see if the token following the mark is
           USER-RESYNC-DUMMY.  This rare situation occurs if the user
           aborts during the course of the resynchronization itself.
           If so, the server side discards the USER-RESYNC-DUMMY
           token.  The control connection is still unsafe, and the
           user side restarts the resynchronization procedure; the
           server side therefore begins at Step 2 again.

        4. If the token following the mark is not USER-RESYNC-DUMMY
           (this is the expected circumstance), the server should have
           received a single data token that is the unique data token
           generated by the user side.

               a. The server sends a mark to the user side.

               b. The server declares the control connection safe (at
                  the token list level).

               c. The server sends the unique data token to the user
                  side.

        5. If the server detects something following the mark that was
           neither USER-RESYNC-DUMMY nor a single data token, a
           protocol error has occurred.

9.2  NFILE Data Connection Resynchronization

   The NFILE data channel resynchronization procedure is similar to the
   NFILE control connection resynchronization.  Both procedures are
   based on a mark signalling the unsafe condition, then a second mark
   followed by a unique identifier.  One important difference between
   the two procedures is the circumstances in which they occur.  Control
   connections are put into unsafe states only when the user aborts
   during control connection I/O operations.  Data channels are made
   unsafe by a larger set of circumstances:
















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       - User aborts occur during the file protocol operations that
         assign and deassign data channels.  This is the most common
         cause of data channels becoming unsafe.

       - A server receives a CLOSE command (with abort-p supplied as
         Boolean truth) specifying an open file that has not finished
         transmitting data.  That is, file reading is aborted.

       - The ABORT command is issued, causing data channels to be
         made unsafe.

       - The FILEPOS command is issued, causing the input data
         channel to become unsafe.

   The resynchronization clears the data channel of unwanted data from
   aborted operations and puts the data channel in a known state.  The
   data channel resynchronization procedure is invoked when the user
   side gives the RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command over the control
   connection.

   The following policies can be used to improve response time, but are
   not required by the NFILE protocol:  The user side can initiate
   resynchronization only if it needs the data channel, having first
   tried to use a free data channel that does not require
   resynchronization.  Also, the user side can periodically
   resynchronize all unsafe data channels.

   In giving the RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command, the user side
   indicates which data channel should be resynchronized.  Data channels
   are unidirectional, which means that depending on the direction
   (either input or output) of the data channel, either the user side or
   the server side sends the resynchronization data.  This is another
   difference from the resynchronization of the control connection, in
   which the resynchronization data is always sent by the user side.
   The resynchronization steps for input data channels are different
   than the steps for output data channels.















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   INPUT DATA CHANNEL RESYNCHRONIZATION

      1. The user side gives the RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command
         on the control connection, with only one argument, the
         handle of the data channel to be resynchronized.

      2. The server side of the data channel generates a unique
         identifier, and sends that data token in its regular
         command response to the user side.

      3. The server side sends a mark over the data channel.

      4. The server side sends the unique identifier token over the
         data channel.

      5. The user side reads until it detects a mark followed by the
         unique identifier token.  The resynchronization is then
         complete.  The data channel is no longer in an unsafe
         state.

   OUTPUT DATA CHANNEL RESYNCHRONIZATION

      1. The user side gives the RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command
         on the control connection, with two arguments: the handle
         of the data channel to be resynchronized, and a unique
         identifier that it has just generated.

      2. The user side of the data channel sends a mark.

      3. The user side of the data channel sends a dummy identifier
         token.  The dummy identifier can be any token that the
         server could not interpret as being the unique identifier.
         One suggestion is the data token DUMMY-IDENTIFIER.

      4. The server side of the data channel was alerted by the
         RESYNCHRONIZE-DATA-CHANNEL command that resynchronization
         is in progress.  The server side now reads the data,
         seeking the first mark.

      5. The server side reads and discards the first mark and the
         dummy identifier.

      6. The user side sends a second mark.

      7. The user side sends the unique identifier.

      8. The server side recognizes the mark and the unique
         identifier that follows, and the resynchronization is



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         complete.  The data channel is no longer in the unsafe
         state.

10.  NFILE ERRORS AND NOTIFICATIONS

   NFILE recognizes two types of errors:  command response errors and
   asynchronous errors.  In addition to errors, NFILE supports
   notifications.

   Command response errors:

       - Signify an error that prevented the successful completion of
         the command; when such an error occurs, a command response
         error is sent instead of a normal command response.
       - Occur frequently in normal operations

   Asynchronous errors:

       - Are not related to any specific command
       - Are associated with an erring data channel
       - Typically indicate a problem in the transfer, such as
         running out of disk space or allocation, or an unreadable
         disk record
       - Occur rarely in normal operations

   Notifications:

       - Are not associated with an error
       - Are sent at the server's discretion
       - Provide general information, such as a warning that the
         system is going down

10.1  Notifications From the NFILE Server

   The NFILE server can send asynchronous notifications to the user side
   over the control connection.  The text of the notification contains
   information of interest to the person using NFILE, such as a warning
   that the server's operating system will be going down soon.
   Notifications can come from the server side at any time that the
   server is not sending something else.

   The format of NFILE notifications is:

             (NOTIFICATION "" text)

   The empty string "" takes the place of a transaction identifier.
   Notifications are initiated by the server, and are not associated
   with any transaction originated by the user side.n



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10.2  NFILE Command Response Errors

   When an error prevents the successful completion of an NFILE command,
   a command response error is sent instead of the normal command
   response.  A normal command response indicates success; a command
   response error indicates failure of the command.

   NFILE command response errors are sent from the server to the user
   across the control connection as top-level token lists, in this
   format:

             (ERROR tid three-letter-code error-vars message)

   ERROR is a keyword.  The tid is the transaction identifier of the
   command that encountered this error.  The arguments three-letter-
   code, error-vars, and message are all required.

   The three-letter-code provides the information on what kind of an
   error was encountered.  For a table of the three-letter codes and
   their meanings:  See the section "NFILE Three-letter Error Codes",
   section 10.4.

   message is a string that is displayed to the human user of the
   protocol.

   error-vars is a keyword/value list.  The three possible keywords are:
   PATHNAME, OPERATION, and NEW-PATHNAME.  Before transmitting an error,
   the server looks at the type of error to see if it can easily
   determine the value of any of the keywords.  If so, the server
   includes the keyword/value pair in its error.  If not, the
   keyword/value pair is omitted.  The value associated with OPERATION
   is the keyword naming the NFILE command that failed.  The values
   associated with PATHNAME and NEW-PATHNAME are strings in the full
   pathname syntax of the server host.

   For example, suppose the server on a file system with hierarchical
   directories could not access a file because its containing directory
   did not exist.  The command error response would use the PATHNAME
   keyword to indicate the first directory level that did not exist,
   instead of the full pathname which was supplied as the command
   argument.  This gives the user side valuable information that it
   otherwise would not have known.









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10.3  NFILE Asynchronous Errors

   When a data channel process, in either direction, encounters an error
   condition, the server sends an asynchronous error description. An
   asynchronous error description consists of a top-level token list.
   Typically, asynchronous errors indicate error conditions in the
   transfer, such as running out of disk space or allocation, or a
   unreadable disk record.

   The format of asynchronous error descriptions is:

         (ASYNC-ERROR handle three-letter-code error-vars message)

   ASYNC-ERROR is a keyword.  The handle argument identifies the erring
   data channel.  The arguments three-letter-code, error-vars, and
   message are all required.  Their meanings are the same as in NFILE
   command error responses: See the section "NFILE Command Response
   Errors", section 10.2.

   When the server detects an asynchronous error on an input data
   channel, the server sends an asynchronous error description on that
   data channel itself.  When an asynchronous error occurs on an output
   data channel, the asynchronous error description is sent on the
   control connection.

   Some asynchronous errors are restartable.  In this context,
   restartable means it makes sense to try to resume the operation.  One
   example of a restartable error is an attempt to write a file to a
   file system that is out of room.  The server side indicates whether
   an asynchronous error is restartable by prepending the keyword
   RESTARTABLE and the associated value Boolean truth to the error-vars
   list.  To proceed from a restartable error, the user side sends a
   CONTINUE command over the control connection.

   On any asynchronous error, either input or output, the data channel
   on the server side enters an "asynchronous error outstanding" state.
   The server can exit that state in one of two ways:  by receiving a
   CONTINUE command or a CLOSE command with the abort-p argument
   supplied as Boolean truth.

   On a normal CLOSE (not a close-abort), the server side checks the
   channel it was requested to close.  If an asynchronous error
   description has been sent on the data channel, but not yet processed
   by CONTINUE, the server side does not close the channel, but sends a
   command error response.  The same thing happens on a FINISH command
   received on a channel that has an asynchronous error pending.  In
   both cases, the three-letter code included in the command error
   response is EPC, for Error Pending on Channel.



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10.4  NFILE Three-letter Error Codes

   Usually the server's operating system provides some description of an
   error that occurs.  NFILE has a mechanism for conveying that
   information to the user side.  Upon detecting an error, the NFILE
   server should characterize the error by choosing the three-letter
   code that best describes the error.  The three-letter code is an
   argument in both the command response error and asynchronous error
   messages from the server to the user.

   Each of the NFILE three-letter codes represents some system error.
   The set of codes enables all operating systems to use one error-
   reporting mechanism.  Some operating systems will never encounter
   certain of the error conditions.

   Some errors fit logically into two error codes.  For example, suppose
   the server could not delete a file because the file was not found.
   This error could be considered either CDF (Cannot Delete File) or FNF
   (File Not Found).  In this case, File Not Found gives more specific
   and valuable information than Cannot Delete File.  Since the protocol
   does not allow more than one error code to be reported when an error
   occurs, the server must choose the most appropriate error code, given
   the information available to it from the operating system.

   This is the set of three-letter codes:

     ACC   Access error.  This indicates a protection-violation error.

     ATD   Incorrect access to directory.  A directory could not be
           accessed because the user's access rights to it did not
           permit this type of access.

     ATF   Incorrect access to file.  A file could not be accessed
           because the user's access rights to it did not permit this
           type of access.

     BUG   File system bug.  This includes all protocol violations
           detected by the server, as well as by the host file system.

     CCD   Cannot create directory.  An error occurred in attempting to
           create a directory.

     CDF   Cannot delete file.  The file system reported that it cannot
           delete a file.

     CCL   Cannot create link.  An error occurred in attempting to
           create a link.




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     CIR   Circular link.  An operation was attempted on a pathname that
           designates a link that eventually links back to itself.

     CRF   Cannot rename file.  An error occurred in attempting to
           rename a file.

     CSP   Cannot set property.  An error occurred in attempting to
           change the properties of a file.  This could mean that you
           tried to set a property that only the file system is allowed
           to set, or a property that is not defined on this type of
           file system.

     DAE   Directory already exists.  A directory could not be created
           because a directory or file of this name already exists.

     DAT   Data error.  The file system contains unreadable data.  This
           could mean data errors detected by hardware or inconsistent
           data inside the file system.

     DEV   Device not found.  The device of the file was not found or
           does not exist.

     DND   "Do Not Delete" flag set.  An attempt was made to delete a
           file that is marked by a "Do Not Delete" flag.

     DNE   Directory not empty.  An invalid deletion of a nonempty
           directory was attempted.

     DNF   Directory not found.  The directory was not found or does not
           exist.  This refers specifically to the containing directory;
           if you are trying to access a directory, and the actual
           directory you are trying to access is not found, FNF (for
           File Not Found) should be indicated instead.

     EPC   Error pending on channel.  The server cannot close the
           channel in attempting to close or finish the channel.

     FAE   File already exists.  The file could not be created because a
           file or directory of this name already exists.

     FNF   File not found.  The file was not found in the containing
           directory.  The TOPS-20 and TENEX "no such file type" and "no
           such file version" errors should also report this condition.

     FOO   File open for output.  Opening a file that was already opened
           for output was attempted.

     FOR   Filepos out of range.  Setting the file pointer past the



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           end-of-file position or to a negative position was attempted.

     FTB   File too big.  File is larger than the maximum file size
           supported by the file system.

     HNA    Host not available The file server or file system is
           intentionally denying service to user.  This does not mean
           that the network connection failed; it means that the file
           system is explicitly not available.

     IBS    Invalid byte size.  The value of the "byte size" option was
           not valid.

     ICO   Inconsistent options.  Some of the options given in this
           operation are inconsistent with others.

     IOD   Invalid operation for directory.  The specified operation is
           invalid for directories, and the given pathname specifies a
           directory, in directory pathname as file format.

     IOL   Invalid operation for link.  The specified operation is
           invalid for links, and this pathname is the name of a link.

     IP?   Invalid password.  The specified password was invalid.

     IPS   Invalid pathname syntax.  This includes all invalid pathname
           syntax errors.

     IPV   Invalid property value.  The new value provided for the
           property is invalid.

     IWC   Invalid wildcard.  The pathname is not a valid wildcard
           pathname.

     LCK   File locked.  The file is locked.  It cannot be accessed,
           possibly because it is in use by some other process.

     LIP   Login problems.  A problem was encountered while trying to
           log in to the file system.

     MSC   Miscellaneous problems.

     NAV   Not available.  The file or device exists but is not
           available.  Typically, the disk pack is not mounted on a
           drive, the drive is broken, or the like.  Operator
           intervention is probably required to fix the problem, but
           retrying the operation is likely to succeed after the problem
           is solved.



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     NER   Not enough resources.  For example, a system limit on the
           number of open files or network connections has been reached.

     NET   Network problem.  The file server had some sort of trouble
           trying to create a new data connection, or perform some other
           network operation, and was unable to do so.

     NFS   No file system.  The file system was not available.  For
           example, this host does not have any file systems, or this
           host's file system cannot be initialized or accessed for some
           reason, or the file system simply does not exist.

     NLI   Not logged in.  A file operation was attempted before logging
           in.  Normally the file system interface always logs in before
           doing any operation, but this problem can occur in certain
           unusual cases in which logging in has been aborted.


     NMR   No more room.  The file system is out of room.  This can mean
           any of several things:

                      - The entire file system is full.
                      - The particular volume involved is full.
                      - The particular directory involved is full.
                      - The user's allocated quota has been exceeded.

     RAD   Rename across directories.  The devices or directories of the
           initial and target pathnames are not the same, but on this
           file system they are required to be.

     REF   Rename to existing file.  The target name of a rename
           operation is the name of a file that already exists.

     UKC   Unknown operation. An unsupported file system operation was
           attempted, or an unsupported command was attempted.

     UKP   Unknown property.  The property is unknown.

     UNK   Unknown user.  The specified user name is unknown to this
           host.

     UUO   Unimplemented option.  An option to a command is not
           implemented.

     WKF   Wrong kind of file.  This includes errors in which an invalid
           operation for a file, directory, or link was attempted.

     WNA   Wildcard not allowed.



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11.  TOKEN LIST TRANSPORT LAYER

   PURPOSE:  The Token List Transport Layer is a protocol that
   facilitates the transmission of simple structured data, such as
   lists.

11.1  Introduction to the Token List Transport Layer

   The Token List Transport Layer is a general-purpose protocol.  The
   Token List Transport Layer sends "tokens" through its underlying
   stream.  Each token usually represents a simple quantity, such as a
   string or integer.

   Tokens can be organized into "token lists".  Special tokens are
   provided to denote the starting and ending point of lists.  The token
   list transport layer differentiates between "top-level token lists",
   which are not contained in other lists, and "embedded token lists",
   which are contained in other lists.  Using lists makes it convenient
   to send structured records, such as commands and command responses of
   the client protocol.  The top-level token lists provide robustness.

   The Token List Transport Layer is a general term that includes two
   separate but related subjects:  the "token list stream" and the
   "token list data stream".  The token list stream is commonly used for
   applications that can easily organize the information to be
   transmitted into tokens and lists.  The token list data stream is
   more appropriate for transmitting a large volume of data that cannot
   easily be structured into tokens and lists, such as file data, which
   is simply a sequence of characters or bytes.

   The following table illustrates the main differences between token
   list streams and token list data streams:

                     Token List Data Stream      Token List Stream
                     ----------------------      -----------------

     Built on:     token list stream           Byte Stream with Mark

     Transmits:    stream data                 tokens, token lists

     Example
     of use:       NFILE data channels         NFILE control
                                               connection








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   NFILE uses the the Token List Transport Layer, and provides an
   excellent example of its usefulness.  The NFILE commands and command
   responses are sent over the control connection in a token list
   stream.  File data is sent across each data channel in a token list
   data stream.

11.2  Token List Stream

11.2.1  Types of Tokens and Token Lists

   All numbers in the token list documentation are represented in
   decimal notation.  Bytes are 8 bits long.

   TYPES OF TOKENS

   Tokens are of the following types:

            1. Atomic tokens.

               Atomic tokens are of the following subtypes:

              - Data tokens.  A data token consists of a sequence of
                bytes with an effectively infinite maximum length.  In
                some contexts a data token represents a string; in
                other contexts, a data token is other arbitrary data.

                Each data token is preceded in the token list stream
                by a representation of its length in bytes.

                Data tokens that are under 200 bytes long are preceded
                by one byte containing their length in bytes.  That
                is, a data token of 34 bytes is preceded by one byte
                of value 34.

                Data tokens 200 bytes or over are preceded by the byte
                known as PUNCTUATION-LONG, of value 201.  After the
                201 comes a four-byte-long number (least significant
                byte first) containing the length of the data token
                that follows.

              - Numeric tokens.  A sequence of bytes that represent
                and encode a nonnegative binary integer.  The largest
                valid integer is 2^63 - 1.

                Numeric tokens are either short integers (less than
                256) or long integers (greater than or equal to 256).
                Short integers are preceded by the byte known as
                PUNCTUATION-SHORT-INTEGER, of value 206.



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                Long integers are begun by PUNCTUATION-LONG-INTEGER,
                of value 207.  One byte follows, containing the length
                (in bytes) of the long integer.  The integer itself is
                next, least significant byte first.

              - Keyword tokens.  A sequence of bytes that represent
                and encode a named identifier of the implemented
                protocol.  Keyword tokens are used by the client
                protocol to convey a name; the only significance of a
                keyword token is in its name.

                Each keyword is preceded by the byte known as
                PUNCTUATION-KEYWORD, of value 208.  The data token
                following PUNCTUATION-KEYWORD represents the name of
                the keyword as a string.  The characters are in
                upper-case standard ASCII.

              - Boolean truth.  A special token that represents the
                Boolean truth value.  This token is known as
                BOOLEAN-TRUTH, of value 209 <4>.

   2. Control tokens.

   The token list stream supports four control tokens to delimit token
   lists, and one padding token.

               TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN  202   This control token
                                           appears at the start of
                                           each top-level token list.

               TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END    203   This control token
                                           appears at the end of
                                           each top-level token list.
               LIST-BEGIN            204   This control token
                                           appears at the start of
                                           each embedded token list.

               LIST-END              205   This control token
                                           appears at the end of
                                           each embedded token list.

               PUNCTUATION-PAD       200   This padding token should
                                           be ignored by the token
                                           list stream.  It can be
                                           sent to fill buffers.






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   TOKEN LISTS

   A token list consists of a sequence of atomic tokens or token lists.
   Token lists are begun and ended by control tokens that delimit the
   token lists.  There are three types of token lists:

         1. Top-level token lists.

            Top-level token lists begin with TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN and
            end with TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END.  Top-level token lists are not
            contained in other lists.

         2. Embedded token lists.

            These token lists occur inside other token lists.  They
            begin with LIST-BEGIN and end with LIST-END.

         3. The empty token list.

            This is a special example of the embedded token list.  In
            some contexts, the empty token list represents Boolean
            falsity.  An embedded empty token list is composed of a
            LIST-BEGIN followed immediately by a LIST-END.  A top-level
            empty token list is composed of TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN
            followed immediately by TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END.

11.2.2  Token List Stream Example

   This section contains an example of some data that can appear on a
   token list stream.  The example is a top-level token list encoding an
   NFILE DELETE command.

   The DELETE command is composed of the following pieces:  a TOP-
   LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN, the keyword DELETE, a data token containing the
   transaction identifier, a LIST-BEGIN, a LIST-END, a data token
   containing a pathname of a file to be deleted, and a TOP-LEVEL-LIST-
   END.  This example uses t105 as the transaction identifier, and
   /usr/max/temp as the pathname.

   All numbers in this section are expressed in decimal notation.

   The pieces of the command are displayed here in order:

            1. TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN
            2. The keyword token whose name is DELETE
            3. The data token containing the characters:  t105
            4. LIST-BEGIN
            5. LIST-END



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            6. The data token containing the characters:  /usr/max/temp
            7. TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END

   Now, let's translate each piece of the command into the bytes that
   are transmitted through the token list stream.

        1. TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN

           202     represents TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN

        2. The keyword token whose name is DELETE.

           A keyword token is introduced by PUNCTUATION-KEYWORD, which
           is represented in the token list stream as the byte 208.

           A data token follows, containing the string "DELETE".  A
           data token under 200 bytes long is introduced by one byte
           containing its length in bytes.  The length of this data
           token is 6 bytes.

           The data token continues with the standard ASCII character
           set representation of each character in the string DELETE:

               208     represents PUNCTUATION-KEYWORD
               006     represents the length of this data token
               068     represents "D"
               069     represents "E"
               076     represents "L"
               069     represents "E"
               084     represents "T"
               069     represents "E"

        3. The data token containing the characters:  t105

           This data token is begun by its length in bytes (4), and
           continues with the NFILE character set representation of
           each character in the string:

               004     represents the length of this data token
               116     represents "t"
               049     represents "1"
               048     represents "0"
               053     represents "5"

        4. LIST-BEGIN

               204     represents LIST-BEGIN




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        5. LIST-END

               205     represents LIST-END

        6. The data token containing the characters:  /usr/max/temp

               013     represents length of this data token
               047     represents "/"
               117     represents "u"
               115     represents "s"
               114     represents "r"
               047     represents "/"
               109     represents "m"
               097     represents "a"
               120     represents "x"
               047     represents "/"
               116     represents "t"
               101     represents "e"
               109     represents "m"
               112     represents "p"

        7. TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END

               203     represents TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END

11.2.3  Mapping of Lisp Objects to Token List Stream Representation

   The Symbolics interface to the token list stream sends Lisp objects
   through the underlying Byte Stream with Mark and produces Lisp
   objects on the other end.  Not all Lisp objects can be sent in this
   way.  For example, compound objects other than lists are not handled.
   An appropriate analogy is the sending and reconstruction of list
   structure via printed representation.  These are the types of objects
   that can be sent, and their representations:

        - Lisp strings are represented as data tokens in the NFILE
          character set.  Only 8-bit strings can be sent <5>.

        - Keyword symbols are represented as keyword tokens.  Although
          identifiable and reconstructable as keyword symbols, only
          their names are sent.  Any properties, bindings, and the
          like are not sent.

        - T is represented as BOOLEAN-TRUTH.

        - NIL is represented as the empty token list.

        - Lists are represented as token lists.  Circular lists cannot



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          be sent.  See the footnote related to the ambiguity between

          NIL and the empty list:  See the section "Types of Tokens
          and Token Lists", section 11.2.1.

        - Integers are represented as numeric tokens.  Only
          nonnegative integers less than 2^63 can be sent.

11.2.4  Aborting and the Token List Stream

   A token list stream accrues the benefits of the abort management
   policy of the Byte Stream with Mark on which it is built.  In order
   to fully realize this benefit, some simple rules must be obeyed by
   any implementation of the token list stream.

   The term "transmission" means either an atomic token or a complete
   top-level token list. A transmission starts with the control token
   TOP-LEVEL-BEGIN and ends with TOP-LEVEL-END.  The top-level token
   list can contain embedded token lists.

   The interface that writes to the token list stream must be capable of
   writing the representation of entire transmissions.  When this
   interface is called, it must effectively lock the token list stream,
   and exclude access by other processes until the entire transmission
   has been encoded and sent.

   If the sending is aborted while the stream is locked, the stream
   enters an "unsafe" state.  Trying to send data while the stream is
   unsafe signals an error.  The application and the token list stream
   must send a mark to cause resynchronization, and allow the token list
   stream to be used again.  When the reading side encounters this mark,
   it resynchronizes itself according to whatever client protocol is in
   use.

   Similarly, the interface that reads from the token list stream must
   be capable of reading entire transmissions.  When this interface is
   called, it must lock the stream, excluding access by other processes
   until the entire transmission has been read.

   If the reading is aborted while the stream is locked, the stream
   enters an unsafe state.  The only exit from this unsafe state is by
   means of receiving a mark.  When the stream is unsafe, the only valid
   operation that can be performed upon it is "read and discard all
   tokens until a mark is encountered; read and discard that mark;
   declare the stream safe again".






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   Depending on the client protocol, the receipt of a mark might cause
   the reading side to read for further marks.  NFILE implements the
   resynchronization of token list streams, and serves as a useful
   example: See the section "NFILE Control Connection
   Resynchronization", section 9.1.

   The Symbolics implementation provides the two mark-handling
   primitives in this way:


      1. Send token (or list) preceded by a mark.  When the stream
         is in the unsafe state (on the output side), this is the
         only permitted output operation (other than closing).

      2. Read through to a mark and read the token (or list)
         following the mark.  When the stream is in the unsafe state
         (on the input side), this is the only permitted input
         operation (other than closing).

11.3  Token List Data Stream

   The token list data stream is a facility to transmit stream data
   through a token list stream.  The token list data stream imposes the
   following protocol on the data transmitted:

            - Data is sent in the format of loose data tokens, not
              contained in token lists.

            - The keyword token EOF indicates that the end of data has
              been reached.

            - Token lists can be transmitted through the token list
              data stream.

            - No loose tokens other than data tokens or the keyword
              token EOF can be sent.

            - Boundaries between data tokens are not signification.
              The data is considered to be a continuous stream, with
              the possible exception of marks.

   The token list data stream is most appropriate for sending file data.
   It is expected (but not required) that its typical mode of use is to
   send a large number of data tokens, with an occasional token list.
   The design intent was that token lists would be used by the
   application program to indicate exceptional situations.

   Data tokens, the keyword token EOF, and token lists are defined in



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   the token list stream documentation:  See the section "Types of
   Tokens and Token Lists", section 11.2.1.

   The NFILE file protocol provides a good example of the use of token
   list data streams.  NFILE sends file data through token list data
   streams; each NFILE data channel is a token list data stream.  Errors
   such as disk errors during the reading of a file are conveyed as
   token lists through the token list data stream.

12.  BYTE STREAM WITH MARK

   PURPOSE:  Byte Stream with Mark is a simple layer of protocol that
   guarantees that an out-of-band signal can be transmitted in the case
   of program interruption.  Byte Stream with Mark is designed to
   provide end-to-end stream consistency in the face of user program
   aborts.

12.1  Discussion of Byte Stream with Mark

   INTRODUCTION

   Byte Stream with Mark is a reliable, bidirectional byte stream with
   one out-of-band (but not out-of-sequence) signal called a "mark".
   The design of Byte Stream with Mark ensures that the mark is always
   recognizable on the receiving end.  The Byte Stream with Mark is
   built on an underlying stream, which must support the transmission of
   8-bit bytes.  Byte Stream with Mark has been implemented to run on
   TCP and Chaos.  Marks are implemented differently on the two
   protocols.

   Marks are used to resynchronize the stream when something has
   occurred to interrupt normal operations.  For example, an application
   layer sending data over the Byte Stream with Mark can abort in the
   middle of sending that data.  Recovery is handled by sending a mark.

   In the context of this document, "aborting" is defined as follows:
   Aborting the current execution of a program means to halt that
   execution and to abandon it, never to complete it.  The data
   representing the state of the execution are irrevocably discarded.

   EXAMPLE OF USE

   Byte Stream with Mark is the layer of protocol underlying NFILE.
   NFILE uses the marks implemented in Byte Stream with Mark to
   resynchronize control connections or data channels whose
   synchronization has been lost.  For a description of NFILE's use of
   marks to resynchronize streams:  See the section "NFILE
   Resynchronization Procedure", section 9.



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   BYTE STREAM WITH MARK ON CHAOSNET

   A mark is recognized on Chaosnet by a packet bearing the opcode 201
   (octal).  There is no data in a mark packet, so the data portion of
   the packet is ignored.  Byte Stream with Mark transmits all data in
   packets bearing opcode 200 (octal).

   If Byte Stream with Mark is implemented on another (non-Chaos) stream
   that supports opcode-bearing packets, the recommended implementation
   is the reservation of an opcode for the mark.

   BYTE STREAM WITH MARK ON TCP:  RECORD MODE

   The purpose of Byte Stream with Mark is to guarantee that marks can
   always be unambiguously identified.  Therefore, for TCP (and for any
   transport layer that does not implement packets natively) a simple
   record stream is imposed on the stream.  The record boundaries serve
   only to distinguish where a mark can occur.  A record consists of a
   two-byte byte count, most significant byte first, followed by that
   many bytes of data.  A byte count of zero is recognized as a mark.

   Both the sending side and the receiving side must rigorously maintain
   the integrity of the record boundaries.  A writer to the stream must
   never output a byte count without that number of data bytes
   following.  Similarly, a reader of the stream, after reading a byte
   count, has effectively contracted to read that many bytes from the
   encapsulated stream, regardless of whether those bytes are requested
   by the application layer.

   MAINTAINING RECORD INTEGRITY

   This subsection deals with maintaining record integrity on non-Chaos
   networks.  Since Chaos implements packets natively, no special care
   is required to maintain record integrity on the Chaos network.

   The design discussed here guarantees record integrity; the underlying
   stream must guarantee data integrity.

   The basic design of Byte Stream with Mark on TCP (and other transport
   layers that do not implement packets natively) is to preserve record
   integrity by putting clearly demarcated, byte-counted records in the
   natural records of the encapsulated stream.  Therefore, when the
   outer stream requests a buffer's worth of file data from the
   encapsulated stream, it expects to receive a buffer containing one
   entire, ntegral, record of that stream, complete with byte count.

   Because of diverse network implementations on different operating
   systems, the software that implements the encapsulated stream might



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   not be able to provide integral record buffers to the Byte Stream
   with Mark implementation.  For example, the writing stream could have
   written records that are much longer than available buffers on the
   receiving system.  In this case, a request to read from the
   encapsulated stream returns some buffer or some amount of data
   representing less than an entire Byte Stream with Mark record.  The
   input subroutine of the Byte Stream with Mark implementation must
   therefore return a region of this (smaller) buffer, representing less
   than the full Byte Stream with Mark record.  Nevertheless, the Byte
   Stream with Mark must extract the count of the full Byte Stream with
   Mark record from the first such buffer of each Byte Stream with Mark
   record, and maintain and update this count as succeeding component
   buffers are read.

   In this case, if the program reading from the Byte Stream with Mark
   aborts while reading data, the implementation of Byte Stream with
   Mark must continue to read through the remaining buffers of the Byte
   Stream with Mark record that has been subdivided in this fashion.

   The user side program will have determined that an abort has
   occurred, and will request the Byte Stream with Mark to read up to
   and through the next mark.  The Byte Stream with Mark will have
   processed a fractional record, and must discard the remaining buffers
   of the record now being read.

12.2  Byte Stream with Mark Abortable States

   Byte Stream with Mark is designed to provide end-to-end stream
   consistency in the face of user program aborts.  This section
   describes user program aborts, and how Byte Stream with Mark handles
   them.  In the context of this document, "aborting" is defined as
   follows:  Aborting the current execution of a program means to halt
   that execution and to abandon it, never to complete it.  The data
   representing the state of the execution are irrevocably discarded.

   USER PROGRAM ABORTS AND I/O STREAMS

   Aborting the execution of the code that manipulates I/O streams, in
   general, poses significant problems.  Given that a stream is a static
   data object, and is intended to be used over and over again, aborting
   the execution of any routine manipulating a stream can leave it in an
   inconsistent, unusable state.

   Many operating systems solve this problem by manipulating a large
   subset of streams within the confines of the supervisor or executive
   program, which is not vulnerable to aborts, short of system or
   network failure.  Nevertheless, the need still exists to implement
   streams outside of the boundaries of the supervisor.  Furthermore,



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   the Symbolics computer environment has no supervisor or executive
   program, and is thus vulnerable to aborts everywhere.

   BYTE STREAM WITH MARK HANDLING OF USER PROGRAM ABORTS

   Byte Stream with Mark is designed to be nearly impervious to the
   aborting of programs using it.  Its design is based on careful
   analysis of all possible states of the stream, and of the effect of
   aborts of the programs using the stream in each of these states.
   This section provides that analysis.

   A "transmission" is a collection of user data sent by the application
   level through the Byte Stream with Mark whose end is well-defined,
   once its start has been recognized.  For instance, the token list
   stream, when using Byte Stream with Mark, sends token lists.  When a
   TOP-LEVEL-LIST-BEGIN has been sent, the containing transmission is
   not considered complete until the corresponding TOP-LEVEL-LIST-END is
   read.  See the section "Token List Transport Layer", section 11.

   The following cases are possible states of the stream when an abort
   occurs:

         1. Abort occurs when the user program is not manipulating the
            stream.

            This case presents no problem.

         2. Abort occurs after a transmission has been partially sent,
            at a packet or record boundary.

            This implies that the datum that would indicate the
            successful complete sending of that transmission has been
            not yet been sent.

            The Byte Stream with Mark state is consistent, but the
            application level state is not.  The application level must
            determine that the execution of the code composing and
            sending its transmission was, in fact, aborted, and
            initiate resynchronization via marks.

            The receiving side must be careful not to act upon a
            transmission (that is, to perform any action or side
            effect) until the transmission has been successfully
            received in entirety.  This protects the user program from
            the possibility that an abort can occur after a
            transmission has been partially sent.





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         3. Abort occurs during the sending or receiving of a record.

            This is the most vulnerable state of the mechanism.  This
            case does not occur on packet-oriented media; it is
            subsumed by the next case.

            This case is handled by minimizing the extent of this
            window, and killing the connection when and if the
            situation is detected.  Depending on the operating system
            involved, this window could be minimized by using
            interrupt-disabling mechanisms, auxiliary processes or
            tasks, or some other technique.

            For buffered streams, input and output waiting can be done
            in consistent states, thus minimizing the amount of time
            manipulating the actual encapsulated stream.  For
            unbuffered streams, a lot of time can be spent in this
            window.  It is expected that unbuffered streams will be
            exceedingly uncommon.  Nevertheless, the implementation of
            Byte Stream with Mark must detect this case.

         4. Abort occurs during the sending or receiving of fundamental
            units of the lowest-level underlying stream (packets,
            buffers, or bytes).

            This case is usually handled by inhibiting interrupts, or
            other forms of masking, in the code implementing the
            encapsulated stream, since no waiting is possible at
            unexpected times.

13.  POSSIBLE FUTURE EXTENSIONS

   NFILE was designed to be extended as the needs of its clients grow,
   or as new clients with different needs appear.  Currently it meets
   the needs of the Symbolics Genera 7.0 operating system, although its
   design is intentionally general.  If users of other operating systems
   identify new features that would be useful, they could be added to
   NFILE.  This section illustrates some areas areas where the design of
   NFILE intentionally accommodates extensions.

         - The NFILE protocol encodes commands and responses as text,
           rather than using prearranged numbers.  This means that new
           commands and responses can be added without having to obtain
           a new number from a central registry.

         - The Token List Transport Layer provides a general substrate
           for the value-transmission portion of network protocols.  In
           fact, it has been used at Symbolics for other protocols



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           besides NFILE.  The Token List Transport Layer could
           conveniently be extended to support transmission of other
           types of values besides those it currently supports.

         - The character set to be used for file transfer could be made
           negotiable.

         - The command character set could be made negotiable.
           Currently there is no negotiation sequence, but one could be
           added.

         - Greater support for more complex file organizations could be
           added, such as record files, databases, and so on.  This
           could be an extension to the direct access mode facility.

         - Currently, the LOGIN command allows the user side to inform
           the server which version of NFILE it is running.  This
           feature is included in NFILE so that a server can continue
           to support older versions of the protocol even after new,
           extended versions have been implemented.  However, the
           specification is currently somewhat vague as to how the
           server can make use of the version.

         - NFILE is not restricted to using TCP or Chaos as its
           underlying protocol.  NFILE can be built on any byte stream
           protocol that supports reliable transmission of 8-bit bytes
           and multiple connections.

   In addition to the possible future extensions, we would like to
   mention a known limitation of NFILE.

   Currently NFILE requires multiple connections for a single session.
   That is, the control connection must be separate from the data
   connections.  If NFILE is to be used over a telephone, this
   requirement poses an inconvenient restriction.  It is possible to
   implement a multiplexing scheme as a level between NFILE and the
   communication medium.














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                                APPENDIX A
                          NORMAL TRANSLATION MODE


   NORMAL translation mode guarantees the following:

         - A file containing characters in the NFILE character set can
           be written to any NFILE server and read back intact
           (containing the same characters).

         - A file written by NFILE should not appear as "foreign" to a
           server operating system unless the file contains NFILE's
           extended characters.  That is, a server file that uses only
           the subset of the NFILE character set limited to standard
           ASCII characters (the 95 printing characters, and the native
           representation of return, linefeed, page, backspace, rubout,
           and tab) can be read and written, with the result being the
           same data in NFILE characters as exists in server
           characters.

   In this section, all numbers designating values of character codes
   are to be interpreted in octal.  The notation "x in c1..c2" means
   "for all character codes x such that c1 <= x <= c2."

   The NFILE character set is an extension of standard ASCII.  The 95
   ASCII printing characters have the same numerical codes in the NFILE
   character set.  Five ASCII non-printing characters have counterparts
   in the NFILE character set, as shown in the following table.  The
   NFILE character set includes a single Return character, rather than
   the carriage-return line-feed sequence typically used in ASCII.  The
   NFILE character set does not include the ASCII control characters,
   other than the five shown in the following table, but does include
   some additional printing and formatting characters that have no
   counterparts in ASCII.

                             NFILE     Standard ASCII

         Rubout:             207       177
         Backspace:          210       10
         Tab:                211       11
         Linefeed:           212       12
         Page:               214       14

   Note that the NFILE Return character is of code 215.  This character
   includes "going to the next line".  This is a notable difference from
   the convention used in PDP-10 ASCII in which lines are ended by a
   pair of characters, "carriage return" and "line feed".




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   NORMAL TRANSLATION TO UNIX SERVERS

   The translation given in this table is appropriate for use by UNIX
   servers, or other servers that use 8-bit bytes to store ASCII
   characters.  Machines with 8-bit bytes usually place the extra NFILE
   characters in the top half of their character set.

       TABLE 1.   TRANSLATIONS FROM NFILE CHARACTERS TO UNIX CHARACTERS


            NFILE character       UNIX character

            x in 000..007         x
            x in 010..015         x + 200
            x in 016..176         x
            177                   377
            x in 200..207         x
            x in 210..211         x - 200
            212                   015
            x in 213..214         x - 200
            215                   012
            x in 216..376         x
            377                   177

       TABLE 2.   TRANSLATIONS FROM UNIX CHARACTERS TO NFILE CHARACTERS


            UNIX character        NFILE character

            x in 000..007         x
            x in 010..011         x + 200
            012                   215
            x in 013..014         x + 200
            015                   212
            x in 016..176         x
            177                   377
            x in 200..207         x
            x in 210..215         x - 200
            x in 216..376         x
            377                   177

   NORMAL TRANSLATION TO PDP-10 FAMILY SERVERS

   The translation given in this table is appropriate for use by PDP-10
   family servers, or other servers that use 7-bit bytes to store ASCII
   characters.  On the PDP-10 the sequence CRLF, 015 012, represents a
   new line.




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   The mechanism for this translation on machines with 7-bit bytes is to
   use the RUBOUT character (octal code 177) as an escape character.

         TABLE 3.   TRANSLATIONS FROM NFILE TO PDP-10 CHARACTERS


            NFILE character       PDP-10 character(s)

            x in 000..007         x
            x in 010..012         177 x
            013                   013
            x in 014..015         177 x
            x in 016..176         x
            177                   177 177
            x in 200..207         177 x - 200
            x in 210..212         x - 200
            213                   177 013
            214                   014
            215                   015 012
            x in 216..376         177 x - 200
            377                   no corresponding code

   These tables might seem confusing at first, but there are some
   general rules about it that should make it clearer.  First, NFILE
   characters in the range 000..177 are generally represented as
   themselves, and x in 200..377 is generally represented as 177
   followed by x - 200.  That is, 177 is used to quote the second 200
   NFILE characters.  It was deemed that 177 is a more useful and common
   character than 377, so 177 177 means 177, and there is no way to
   describe 377 with PDP-10 ASCII characters.  In the NFILE character
   set, the formatting control characters appear offset up by 200 with
   respect to standard ASCII.  This explains why the preferred mode of
   expressing 210 (backspace) is 010, and 010 turns into 177 010.  The
   same reasoning applies to 211 (Tab), 212 (Linefeed), 214 (Formfeed),
   and 215 (Return).

   More special care is needed for the Return character, which is the
   mapping of the system-dependent representation of "the start of a new
   line".  The NFILE Return (215) is equivalent to 015 012 (CRLF) in
   some ASCII systems.  In the NFILE character set there is no
   representation










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     TABLE 4.   TRANSLATIONS FROM PDP-10 CHARACTERS TO NFILE CHARACTERS


            PDP-10 character      NFILE character

            x in 000..007         x
            x in 010..012         x + 200
            013                   013
            014                   214
            015 012               215
            015 not-012           115
            x in 016..176         x
            177 x in 000..007     x + 200
            177 x in 010..012     x
            177 013               213
            177 x in 014..015     x
            177 x in 016..176     x + 200
            177 177               177

   of a carriage that doesn't go to a new line, so if there is one in a
   server file, it must be translated to something else.  When
   converting ASCII characters to NFILE characters, an 015 followed by
   an 012 therefore turns into a 215.  A stray CR is arbitrarily
   translated into a single M (115).



























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                                APPENDIX B
                           RAW TRANSLATION MODE


   RAW mode means no translation should be performed.  In RAW mode the
   server operating system should treat the file as a character file and
   use the same data formatting that would be appropriate for a
   character file, but transfer the actual binary values of the
   character codes.










































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                                APPENDIX C
                       SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION MODE


   SUPER-IMAGE mode is intended for use by PDP-10 family machines only.
   It is included largely as an illustration of a system-dependent
   extension.  A server machine that has 8-bit bytes should treat
   SUPER-IMAGE mode the same as NORMAL mode.

   In this section, all numbers designating values of character codes
   are to be interpreted in octal.  The notation "x in c1..c2" means
   "for all character codes x such that c1 <= x <= c2."

   SUPER-IMAGE mode suppresses the use of the 177 character as an escape
   character.  Character translation should be done as in NORMAL mode,
   with one exception.  When a two-character sequence beginning with 177
   is detected, the 177 should not be output at all.

   In this section, all numbers designating values of character codes
   are to be interpreted in octal.  SUPER-IMAGE mode is intended for use
   by PDP-10 machines only.

   SUPER-IMAGE suppresses the use of Rubout for quoting.  That is, for
   each entry beginning with a 177 in the PDP-10 character column in the
   NORMAL translation table, the NFILE character has the 177 removed.

         TABLE 5.   SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION FROM NFILE TO ASCII


            NFILE character   PDP-10 character(s)


            x in 000..177     x
            x in 200..214     <x - 200>
            215               015 012
            x in 216..376     <x - 200>
            377               no corresponding code














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         TABLE 6.   SUPER-IMAGE TRANSLATION FROM ASCII TO NFILE


            PDP-10 character  NFILE character


            x in 000..007     x
            x in 010..012     x + 200
            013               013
            014               214
            015 012           215
            015 not-012       115
            x in <016..176>   x
            177               177





































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                                   NOTES

   1. NFILE's requirement for using the NFILE character set is
      recognized as a drawback for non-Symbolics machines.  A useful
      extension to NFILE would be a provision to make the character set
      negotiable.

   2. Implementation note:  Care must be taken that the freeing is done
      before the control connection is allowed to process another
      command, or else the control connection may find the data channel
      to be falsely indicated as being in use.

   3. The Symbolics operating system has the policy that whenever the
      user side is waiting for the server side, a user abort can occur.
      This user side waiting can occur in any context, such awaiting a
      response, waiting in the middle of reading network input, or
      waiting in the middle of transmitting network output.  Thus there
      are no "hung" states.

   4. Note that the Token List Transport Layer supplies a special token
      to indicate Boolean truth, but no corresponding token to indicate
      Boolean falsity.  NFILE uses an empty token list to indicate
      Boolean falsity.  The historical reason for this asymmetry is the
      inability of the Lisp language to differentiate between the empty
      list and NIL, which is traditionally used to mean Boolean falsity.
      If the flexibility of both a Boolean falsity and an empty token
      list were allowed, it would create problems for an operating
      system that cannot distinguish between the two.  This aspect of
      the protocol is recognized as a concession to the Lisp language.
      The unfortunate effect is to disallow operating systems to
      distinguish between Boolean falsity and an empty list.

   5. No so-called "fat strings" can be sent.


















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