F*EX Frequently Asked Questions: Meta

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Meta Q1:What is F*EX and how does it work?
Meta Q2:What is so special about F*EX?
Meta Q3:Why not use one of the commercial services like DropLoad, ALLPeers, YouSendIt, etc?
Meta Q4:Why name "F*EX" and not shortly "FEX"?
Meta Q5:Who is the author?
Meta Q6:Why a camel as the logo?
Meta Q7:What do I need to install a F*EX server?
Meta Q8:What means DNS and smtp? What is a tcp port?
Meta Q9:Does F*EX support IPv6 and SSL/TLS?
Meta Q10:Can I run F*EX on Windows?
Meta Q11:Where can I get the F*EX sources?
Meta Q12:I do not want to install a F*EX server of my own, but where can I use it?
Meta Q13:The F*EX server is all in Perl?! Isn't Perl too slow for this job?
Meta Q14:Which licence does F*EX have? And why?
Meta Q15:When has F*EX started?
Meta Q16:Is there a F*EX mailing list?
Meta Q17:Where can I get commercial support for F*EX?
Meta Q18:How big is F*EX?
Meta Q19:Who else is using F*EX?
Meta Q20:Is F*EX secure?
Meta Q21:Feature/design XY is missing.
Meta Q22:I have more/other questions than in this document!

Meta Q1:What is F*EX and how does it work?
Meta A1: F*EX is a service to transfer files of any size to any recipients.
Basic mode of operation:
  1. the sender uploads the file together with the recipient's email address to the F*EX server
  2. the F*EX server sends a notification email to the recipient
  3. the recipient downloads the file
  4. the F*EX server deletes the file
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Meta Q2:What is so special about F*EX?
Meta A2: See feature list [https://fex.belwue.de/features.html]
and use cases [https://fex.belwue.de/usecases/]
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Meta Q3:Why not use one of the commercial services like DropLoad, ALLPeers, YouSendIt, etc?
Meta A3:
  • They have a file size limit of 2 GB or even less.
  • Their security and privacy status is unknown (ever heard of "Snowden & NSA"?).
  • They are not open source based.
  • There are no UNIX (CLI) clients for them.
  • They need java, active-X, flash or other evil plugins.
  • It is unknown how long they will exist - DropLoad and ALLPeers already have terminated their business.
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Meta Q4:Why name "F*EX" and not shortly "FEX"?
Meta A4: At publication time there was already a program named "FEX" listed on freshmeat.net.
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Meta Q5:Who is the author?
Meta A5: The main author is Ulli Horlacher <framstag@rus.uni-stuttgart.de>
But there are also a lot of contributors all around the world, see [https://fex.belwue.de/doc/Contribs]
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Meta Q6:Why a camel as the logo?
Meta A6: The logo was inspired by the Perl camel, but it is based on a Steiff plush camel, which rides with us on our racing tandem.
The logo was drawn by my stoker Beate.
[https://fex.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/Vortrag/tosa.html]
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Meta Q7:What do I need to install a F*EX server?
Meta A7: A UNIX server with a DNS entry, smtp for outgoing email and one open and free incoming tcp port.
You must have administrative rights (root) on this server and a basic understanding of UNIX and networking.
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Meta Q8:What means DNS and smtp? What is a tcp port?
Meta A8: Do not install F*EX. It is beyond your horizon.
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Meta Q9:Does F*EX support IPv6 and SSL/TLS?
Meta A9: Yes.
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Meta Q10:Can I run F*EX on Windows?
Meta A10: On client side all operating systems are supported, even Windows.
To run a F*EX server, you need UNIX.
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Meta Q11:Where can I get the F*EX sources?
Meta A11: F*EX server for UNIX: [https://fex.belwue.de/fex.html]
F*EX clients for UNIX: [https://fex.belwue.de/download/fex.pl]
F*EX client for Windows: [https://fex.belwue.de/fextasy.html]
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Meta Q12:I do not want to install a F*EX server of my own, but where can I use it?
Meta A12: Contact <fex@nepustil.net> [http://www.nepustil.net/] for F*EX hosting.
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Meta Q13:The F*EX server is all in Perl?! Isn't Perl too slow for this job?
Meta A13: F*EX is able to handle uploads with more than 300 MB/s on an office PC.
Try this with an ordinary webserver like Apache!
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Meta Q14:Which licence does F*EX have? And why?
Meta A14: Perl Artistic free software with a special anti-military clause:
[https://fex.belwue.de/doc/Licence]
"I want peace on earth and goodwill towards men"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHU0HinVhYc] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakers_%281992_film%29]
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Meta Q15:When has F*EX started?
Meta A15: - 2010 the first public service on fex.belwue.de
- 2006 the first F*EX server
- 1995 the predecessor sendfile/UNIX
- 1986 the ancient predecessor send/receive on VMS/DECnet
All were developped by the same software author.
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Meta Q16:Is there a F*EX mailing list?
Meta A16: [https://listserv.uni-stuttgart.de/mailman/listinfo/fex]
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Meta Q17:Where can I get commercial support for F*EX?
Meta A17: Contact <fex@nepustil.net> [http://www.nepustil.net/]
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Meta Q18:How big is F*EX?
Meta A18: Server: 6 MB, 25000 lines of code
Clients: 4 MB, 16000 lines of code
Documentation: 300 kB
Localizations: 200 kB
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Meta Q19:Who else is using F*EX?
Meta A19: Several hundred institutions worldwide, for example:
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Meta Q20:Is F*EX secure?
Meta A20: F*EX is written in Perl which does not have common security problems with buffer overruns, segmentation faults, heap and stack corruption.
F*EX does not use an extra web server or a (SQL) database, so no typical web attacks are possible.
F*EX was analyzed by security company revshell.com and labeled as "secure" [https://fex.belwue.de/doc/fex_revshell.pdf]
F*EX comes with source code, so everybody can verify it.
F*EX is not prone by design for most of "The Common Weakness Enumeration Project" dangerous software weaknesses: [https://cwe.mitre.org/top25/archive/2022/2022_cwe_top25.html]
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Meta Q21:Feature/design XY is missing.
Meta A21: Contact the author <framstag@rus.uni-stuttgart.de>
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Meta Q22:I have more/other questions than in this document!
Meta A22: Ask the author <framstag@rus.uni-stuttgart.de>
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