# Install c-kermit with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Scriptable network and serial communication for UNIX and VMS. Version 9.0.302 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-25. Also installable with macports: sudo port install kermit.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:c-kermit
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install c-kermit
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install kermit
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: comms/kermit/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#kermit
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ke/kermit/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

- zypper (92%):

```sh
sudo zypper install ckermit
```

  Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: ckermit from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:c-kermit
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 9.0.302
- **Source summary:** Scriptable network and serial communication for UNIX and VMS
- **Homepage:** <https://www.kermitproject.org/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-25T13:37:37+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- ckermit.ini (alias)
- kermit (alias)
- kermit-sshsub (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 9.0.302
## Project history and usage

C-Kermit is the long-running C implementation of the Kermit Project's portable communications software: terminal sessions, file transfer, character-set conversion, and automation across serial lines and network protocols. It is historically important because it survived the modem-to-Internet transition while staying useful as a scriptable Unix and VMS command-line tool.

### Project history

The Kermit Project dates itself to 1981, and the C-Kermit tutorial says C-Kermit was first written at Columbia University's Kermit Project in 1985. The 10.0 tutorial describes ten major releases, while the 9.0 page identifies C-Kermit 9.0.302 as an open-source release from 20 August 2011.

The project moved into a new open-source era after Columbia: the C-Kermit 9.0 page says the New Open-Source Kermit Project hosted by Panix was created on 1 July 2011, and that version 9.0 used the revised 3-clause BSD license. The same page documents continuing 10.0 beta work for Unix, VMS, and Windows, including revived built-in SSH and SSL/TLS support.

### Adoption history

C-Kermit accumulated unusual portability because it targeted real communication environments rather than one operating system. The official 9.0 page lists Unix-like systems, VMS, QNX, Android, and many historical Unix variants, and it points to package availability across BSD and Linux distributions.

The package-manager story is part of its recent history: the Kermit site notes that Debian and Ubuntu dropped C-Kermit in May 2021, that a Snap was created for Ubuntu 20.04 users, and that Debian and Ubuntu were putting a development 9.0.305 package back in their distributions by November 2021.

### How it is used

C-Kermit is used as an interactive terminal program, file-transfer client, protocol toolbox, and automation language. The official tutorial describes serial and network connections, terminal sessions, binary and text transfer, character-set conversion, custom configuration, and a built-in scripting language.

On Unix, the project presents it as an alternative or complement to classic tools such as cu, tip, minicom, uucp, ftp, telnet, ssh wrappers, expect, wget-like retrieval, and shell scripting for communications tasks.

### Why package nerds care

C-Kermit matters to package historians because it is a living fossil of cross-platform communications software: a single command-line program spanning serial ports, modems, Telnet, SSH integration, FTP/HTTP clients, file transfer, and scripting.

It also shows how licensing and distribution policy affect old infrastructure tools. Version 9.0's BSD license made redistribution easier, while security-library churn and distro removals show why mature network packages can still be operationally hard to keep packaged.

### Timeline

- 1981: The Kermit Project begins.
- 1985: C-Kermit is first written at Columbia University's Kermit Project.
- 1997: Using C-Kermit, Second Edition documents C-Kermit 6.0.
- 2011-07-01: New Open-Source Kermit Project hosted by Panix is created.
- 2011-08-20: C-Kermit 9.0.302 is released under the revised 3-clause BSD license.
- 2021-05: Debian and Ubuntu drop C-Kermit from their distributions.
- 2021-11: Debian and Ubuntu begin putting C-Kermit 9.0.305 back into their distributions.
- 2025-03-22: C-Kermit 10.0 Beta.12 is announced as the next release on the official C-Kermit page.

### Related projects

- Kermit Project: the umbrella project for Kermit protocol and implementations.
- E-Kermit: the embedded/smaller Kermit implementation from the same project family.
- Kermit 95 and C-Kermit 10 for Windows: Windows-oriented descendants in the same communications lineage.
- ckermit-snap: a community Snap package referenced by the Kermit Project during the Debian/Ubuntu packaging gap.

### Sources

- <https://www.kermitproject.org/ck90.html>
- <https://www.kermitproject.org/ckbindex.html>
- <https://www.kermitproject.org/ckututor.html>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal


## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: ~/.kermrc
## Other Package-Manager Records

- MacPorts - kermit: installed executable or alias match | MacPorts ports tree: comms/kermit/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Nix - kermit: installed executable or alias match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ke/kermit/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- zypper - ckermit - 9.0.302-20.4: installed executable or alias match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: ckermit from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | A Combined Serial and Network Communication Software Package | https://www.kermitproject.org/


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/c-kermit.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/c-kermit.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph