Unix to Unix Copy

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Unix to Unix Copy Protocol ( UUCP ) is a protocol for transferring files between different computers , especially those with the Unix operating system . There is also the Unix shell command uucp= U nix to U nix C o P y .

The connection between the computers is only established when required or at regular intervals; this is called polling . Originally, ordinary telephone lines via modems or acoustic couplers were mainly used. However, UUCP supports almost every type of transport medium such as serial lines, X.25 or also TCP / IP (UUCP-over-IP). As UUCP nodes forward files to other UUCP nodes, computers can also be reached - similar to a mailbox network - to which no direct connection is established. E-mail can also be transmitted via UUCP . In addition, the Usenet was initially created on the basis of UUCP.

With the increasing popularity of the Internet at the end of the 1990s , UUCP lost more and more importance; it was mostly replaced by the POP and SMTP protocols . Today it is still used occasionally to connect computers that have no direct connection to the Internet. The format of e-mails when transmitted via UUCP is described in RFC 976 . The protocol itself is not the subject of an RFC.

UUCP was characterized by the relative addressing of computers, which was visually similar to what is common on the Internet today, but usually had to be specified as a path to the target computer, i.e. including all intermediate nodes. These were separated from one another by exclamation marks (slang bang ), which is why this was also referred to as bang path or bang addressing . Example: ersterknoten!zweiterknoten!dritterknoten!anwender. This form of addressing was error-prone and cumbersome. It was therefore quickly superseded by DNS- based addressing after the availability of UUCP over TCP / IP .

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