FTP (``file transfer protocol'') allows copying of files (both ASCII and binary) from a remote machine. A very common practice is to place files of general interest in a restricted-access account which allows ``anonymous'' FTP access. The details of using anonymous FTP depend a little on the type of system used, but it consists usually of a command such as ftp remote_system_node_name followed by a login as user anonymous (or as ftp). The password is arbitrary, but network etiquette is to provide the user's e-mail address as the password (and some anonymous FTP installations require this!). This allows the provider of the FTP archive to track usage more easily and contact users should that be necessary.
Anonymous FTP allows restricted access to the contents of certain directories. Often files which are intended for general access are available in subdirectories under a pub directory. For transfer of files, the commands get and put are used (transfer of binary files requires setting FTP into binary mode using the command bin prior to initiating the transfer). In this text we shall refer to relevant data files available via anonymous FTP with nomenclature which combines node name and directory address: node:dir/file. By this we mean that one first has to connect to node by ftp node, then change to directory dir (cd dir), and finally issue the command get file to receive a copy of the file.