Your Internet Consultant - The FAQs of Life Online

6.23. How do I access Archie?

If your Internet host has its own Archie client installed, you should be able to simply type the word Archie to start the program. If your site doesn't have Archie installed, then you can Telnet to one of the Internet's public Archie server sites. They're listed in the next question, but be warned that they can be very busy!

Once you connect, login as Archie (no password is needed) and type prog filename to search for a specific file. Specify an exact program name for it to seek and it will list the matches it finds in the database. For instance, you would type prog Wanda to search for a convenient FTP site for a program that you know is called Wanda. Archie searches can include options, so you can search for your word within other words (for example, edit could match editor or to-edit) or specifically on all uppercase or lowercase letters only. You can type help for detailed instructions from Archie.

In the following example, in just under a minute, Archie found over a thousand files with the name nethack scattered around the Internet. 

$ telnet archie.unl.edu
Trying 129.93.1.14 ...
Connected to crcnis2.unl.edu.
Escape character is '^]'.

SunOS UNIX (crcnis2)

login: archie
Password:

##############################################################################

        #     # ####### ######  ######     #     #####  #    #     #
        ##    # #       #     # #     #   # #   #     # #   #     # #
        # #   # #       #     # #     #  #   #  #       #  #     #   #
        #  #  # #####   ######  ######  #     #  #####  ###     #     #
        #   # # #       #     # #   #   #######       # #  #    #######
        #    ## #       #     # #    #  #     # #     # #   #   #     #
        #     # ####### ######  #     # #     #  #####  #    #  #     #

     Welcome to the ARCHIE server at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln

    If you need further instructions, type help at the unl-archie>
prompt.

##############################################################################


# Bunyip Information Systems, 1993

# Terminal type set to `vt100 24 80'.
# `erase' character is `^?'.
# `search' (type string) has the value `sub'.
unl-archie> prog nethack
# Search type: sub.
# Your queue position: 9
# Estimated time for completion: 00:51
working... -

Host ftp.wustl.edu    (128.252.135.4)
Last updated 10:08 25 Dec 1993

    Location: /mirrors/cabrales.cs.wisc.edu/TOP/USR/GAMES
      FILE    -r--r--r--   50983 bytes  23:00 18 Oct 1989
nh305_NETHACK3DIR.t.Z

    Location: /systems/os9/cabrales/TOP/USR/GAMES
      FILE    -r--r--r--   50983 bytes  23:00 18 Oct 1989
nh305_NETHACK3DIR.t.Z

    Location: /mirrors/cabrales.cs.wisc.edu/TOP/USR/GAMES/CMDS
      FILE    -r--r--r--  228643 bytes  00:00 30 Dec 1988  nethack.Z

    Location: /systems/os9/cabrales/TOP/USR/GAMES/CMDS
      FILE    -r--r--r--  228643 bytes  00:00 30 Dec 1988  nethack.Z

    Location: /mirrors/cabrales.cs.wisc.edu/TOP/USR/GAMES/CMDS
      FILE    -r--r--r--  384212 bytes  23:00 18 Oct 1989  nethack3.Z

    Location: /systems/os9/cabrales/TOP/USR/GAMES/CMDS
      FILE    -r--r--r--  384212 bytes  23:00 18 Oct 1989  nethack3.Z

    Location: /systems/amiga/aminet/fish/ff822
      FILE    -rw-rw-r--  783224 bytes  00:00  8 Mar 1993
NetHack.lha
You can also use Archie via an electronic mail interface. You can get details on using Archie by e-mail by sending mail 
To: archie@archie.mcgill.ca
Subject: <subject line is ignored>
Body: help
Many other Archies that you can Telnet to also have e-mail interfaces.

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