Kermit File Transfer Protocol Gets Modern C Rewrite on Its 45th Anniversary

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The Kermit file transfer protocol, originally developed by Frank da Cruz and Bill Catchings at Columbia University in 1981, is marking its 45th anniversary in 2026 with a brand-new open-source implementation. Known for its portability across incompatible systems and reliability over low-quality serial connections, Kermit became widely used in academic, government, and military environments during the 1980s and 1990s. A new project called kermit-c rewrites the protocol from scratch in ISO C11, replacing the original monolithic codebase with a modular, thread-safe, and cross-platform design. The new implementation targets modern operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and macOS, as well as embedded real-time operating systems. Its simplicity and minimal overhead continue to make Kermit relevant for embedded systems, industrial controllers, and legacy hardware applications.

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