overused term that refers to one of: the action pop-up menu (in the status bar of many windows, labeled with a gear and a down arrow); the desired task to be performed given a Protocol and other information in the Connect to Server window; or an Automator Action.
Address Book
Apple’s Address Book utility stores information on people. Interarchy retrieves the URLs from the Address Book so you can access them directly.
Administrative Permissions
permissions required to perform certain actions, beyond those allowed by a normal user. see the Administrative Permissions section.
Amazon S3
a web service that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data which gives developers access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites.
ASCII
an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It defines the characters for codes 0-127, which in turn match the codes 0-127 of Unicode and ISO-8859-1. see the Character Sets section.
Auto Upload
An Auto Upload defines a mapping from a local folder to a remote directory. Once defined, you can drop a file or folder within the defined local folder on to Interarchy and it will automatically be uploaded to the appropriate location in the remote directory.
Automator
an application for building sequences of actions, similar to a high level, graphical, Script Editor. Interarchy provides several Automator Actions, see the Automator Actions section.
Automator Action
an action used by the Automator application. Applications can make actions available to Automator and Interarchy provides a number of actions, see the Automator Actions section.
Bonjour
Apple’s name for Zero Configuration Networking, a way of discovering nearby services.
Bookmark Bar
The list of bookmarks shown across the top of a Listing window to allow rapid navigation to preset locations.
CGI
an acronym for Common Gateway Interface, used by web servers to talk to other applications in response to a web request.
Classic Mac OS
Apple’s operating system version 8.0 through 9.x. The last version of Interarchy to support Classic Mac OS is Interarchy Classic 6.3 which is free for use on Classic Mac OS but still requires a version 6 or 7 serial number for use on Mac OS X.
Column View
one of the three display views in a Listing window, this view displays the remote directories as columns, showing the current directory and its ancestors, each in its own column.
control connection
refers to the initial FTP connection from Interarchy to the server on which control commands are sent, for example to login, change directory, or instruct the server as to which file to upload or download. Actual data is transferred on the data connection. For more information, see the FTP section.
Dashboard
home to widgets (mini-applications) that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information. Introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
Dashboard Widgets
mini-applications that live on the Dashboard that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information.
data connection
refers to the connections opened in FTP to transfer files or listings. The connections can be opened from Interarchy to the server (Passive Mode) or from the server to Interarchy (Port Mode). Data can be transferred in either direction irrespective of the direction of connection. One data connection has to be opened for each file or listing transferred. For more information, see the FTP section.
DNS
an acronym for Domain Name System. This is the system that maps host names (like www.interarchy.com) to IP addresses (like 199.254.168.243).
Download
The act of transferring files from another machine on the Internet to your Mac. This is the reverse of Upload.
Drag and drop
the action of clicking on an item and moving the mouse while keeping the mouse button down to ‘drag’ the item to a new location. Interarchy uses this metaphor to allow you to upload or download files by dragging file icons between Interarchy and the Finder or between Listing windows.
Dry Run
executes a mirror, reporting the results, but without actually performing any of the changes. This allows you to try a mirror and see what changes will happen. The “Dry Run” preference in the Mirroring panel of the Preferences window controls this application wide modal setting, which is reflected in the Dry Run menu displayed in the menu bar.
File Converter
a tool used to encode and decode files transparently when they are uploaded/downloaded. These tools could be used to archive files, compress them, encrypt them, or whatever you desire. You can use the tools included with Interarchy or write your own.
File Mapping
a mapping from an extension to information about that file type, including what Transfer Mode to use and what application to view or edit it with. For more information, see the File Mappings section.
a virtual disk which automatically mirrors your remote directory allowing you to edit and organize your files and allowing Interarchy to take care of updating the other side with any changes you make.
is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol. FTP was created in 1985 and remains a primary way of transferring files on the Internet and supports both anonymous and authenticated logins. It is not secure. For more information, see the FTP section.
FTP/SSH
is a way of adding security to FTP by tunneling the control connection through an SSH tunnel so that your username and password remain secure. For more information, see the FTP over SSH section.
Growl
a notification system for Mac OS X, allowing you to receive notifications from other applications without you having to switch from the current application.
host
a computer on the Internet. Machine and server are often used as synonyms.
HTML
an acronym for HyperText Markup Language. This is the standard language for web pages.
HTTP Listing
a view of an HTTP web page that displays a list of links without any formatting or pop-up windows to trouble you.
HTTP
is an acronym for HyperText Transport Protocol. It is primarily designed as a way of retrieving information, and can be used to download web pages and files.
HTTPS
a secure version of HTTP, typically used when sending sensitive information such as passwords or bank transactions.
an acronym for Internet Control Message Protocol. This is a very low level protocol used to control Internet packets.
Icon View
one of the three display views in a Listing window, this view displays the remote directory as icons.
iDisk
the storage solution that is part of the .Mac package from Apple. iDisks are accessed using the WebDAV protocol.
Interarchy Classic
Interarchy Classic 6.3 is a special version of Interarchy 6 which will is free for use on Classic Mac OS. It will not run in Classic under Mac OS X.
Intel
the processor series used on Macintosh computers from 2006.
Internet Config
a system wide service that we helped to write initially, later adopted by Apple. It has since fallen from favor and is no longer well supported. We have moved most of our preferences away from Internet Config in favor of providing our own interfaces to allow more functionality and avoid problems caused by other misbehaving applications.
is an acronym for Internet Protocol. It is used to describe the lower level facilities of the Internet, such as IP addresses.
ISO-8859-1
a standard character set used by Latin languages such as English. It was the de facto standard for Unix, and it became the de facto standard for the Internet even though it is different to both the Windows and Mac character sets. It has been superseded by Unicode, which has the same codes for characters 0-255, but encompasses almost all languages, especially in the UTF-8 encoding, which can both encode all characters, but is compact for ASCII characters. see the Character Sets section.
ISP
an acronym for Internet Service provider. This is the company that provides your Internet services, such as your website hosting. You may have more than one ISP, or if you are in a large company, your own company might fulfill some of the rolls of your ISP.
List View
one of the three display views in a Listing window, this view displays the remote directory as a list, showing information about each item in columns, such as name, modification date, permissions, and so forth.
Mac OS X
Apple's new operating system versions 10.0 and up. Interarchy only supports version 10.2.4 and up, and 10.2.6 and up is recommended.
Mac OS
Apple’s operating system we've all come to know and mostly love.
machine
a computer on the Internet. See also host
Mirror Both Ways
a mirroring mode where files may be changed on either side and changes propagate to the other side. Only use this mirror mode if you want to allow changes in both directions - it is safer to use Mirror Upload if you want to make only local changes and Mirror Download if you never change files locally.
Mirror Download
a mirroring mode where files are downloaded, but never uploaded. The local side will be changed to make it look like the remote side. Use this mode if the remote server is always definitive, for example to mirror a log directory to your Mac for ease of parsing.
Mirror Place Holder
a file with no data fork or resource fork, file creator “Arch” and file type “APLC”. You can create a Mirror Place Holder file by choosing Mirror Place Holder from the Help menu and saving it locally with a name and location to match the remote file or folder. That remote file or folder will be excluded from any mirroring. For more information, see the How do I avoid mirroring certain files or folders? section.
a mirroring mode where files are uploaded, but never downloaded. The remote side will be changed to make it look like the local side. Use this mode if the local files are always definitive, for example to mirror your website from your local Mac to your web server on your ISP.
MX
an acronym for Mail Exchange. This is an entry in the DNS that indicates which host to send email to.
NAT
is an acronym for Network Address Translation. It is a way of dealing with the relative scarcity of IP addresses by allowing different hosts to have the same IP addresses and then to translate between public and private addresses. Unless that translation is done carefully it will play havoc with FTP which sends IP numbers through the control connection.
refers to the use of the PASV command in a control connection of FTP to instruct the server to open a passive port and wait for Interarchy to connect a data connection in order to transfer a file or listing. For more information, see the Passive Mode/Port Mode section.
password
the secret code you use to prove you are a specific user. You should try to use complex passwords containing mixed case and numbers, and you should never use dictionary words or people’s names as passwords. You should try to use different passwords on each server so that if one server or password is compromised all your other accounts will remain secure. Be especially careful with financial passwords (such as with your bank). You should never tell anyone your password, especially anyone who should not need it like anyone claiming to be your ISP.
Ping
a method of determining if a remote host and the network between you and it is currently functioning. For more information, see the Network Host Info Window section.
Port Mode
refers to the use of the PORT command in a control connection of FTP to instruct the server to connect a data connection back to your Mac to a port which Interarchy is listening on in order to transfer a file or listing. For more information, see the Passive Mode/Port Mode section.
Port Scan
the act of looking at all ports on a machine to see which ones will accept a connection. This can be useful for determining firewall weaknesses. It can also be used for nefarious purposes which we do not condone. For more information, see the Port Scan Window section.
PowerPC
the processor series used on Macintosh computers from 1994 through 2006.
Protocol
one the different types of connections Interarchy can perform, including FTP, SFTP, WebDAV (and iDisk), HTTP, HTTPS and File. Each protocol has its own pros and cons. Generally, the required protocol will be specified based on your server, although in general, SFTP is the best protocol for accessing remote sites, since it is both well standardized and secure.
Resume
A failed or aborted transfer can sometimes be resumed, that is, the transfer can be restarted from where it left off, rather than restarted from the beginning. This can be important for large files on slow links, or on links prone to many errors. Resuming a transfer is somewhat fragile, depending on how the error occurred and whether the server fully supports resumable transfers. Interarchy can resume FTP, SFTP and HTTPupload and download transfers.
Remote Login
Apple’s term for SSH access, as well as a general term for describing connecting and authenticating to a remote server.
a computer on the Internet that is providing some sort of service, for example an FTPserver. See also host.
SFTP
is an acronym for Secure File Transfer Protocol. It is a completely different protocol to FTP which uses a single connection entirely encrypted in an SSH tunnel. For more information, see the SFTP section.
System 7
Apple's operating system version 7.0. This was the last major change of Mac OS prior the Mac OS X change.
Tabbed Browsing
a method of browsing multiple locations in a single window by providing ‘tabs’ along the top of the display to switch between locations.
TCP
an acronym for Transport Control Protocol, this is the stream protocol for the Internet, generally used whenever a reliable stream of data needs to be sent from one host to another.
a method of tracing the route Internet packets will take between your Mac and the remote host. This can be used to determine where a problem lies if you cannot Ping a host. For more information, see the How Trace Route Works section or see the Trace Route Window section.
Traffic Watching
the act of watching packets as they go through (or past) your network interface. This can be useful for diagnosing problems. It can also be used for nefarious purposes which we do not condone. For more information, see the Network Traffic Window section.
Transfer Mode
the way in which a file should be transferred, Text or Binary. You may also choose to have this decision made based on the File Mapping for the extension. For more information, see the Transfer Mode section.
UDP
an acronym for Unreliable Datagram Protocol, this is the datagram protocol for the Internet, generally used for connectionless protocols where low volumes of packeted information are transmitted, such as DNS.
Universal Binary
the term used for an application (like Interarchy 8) that is native for both PowerPC and Intel Macs.
Upload
The act of transferring files from your Mac to another machine on the Internet. This is the reverse of Download.
URL
an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator, this is the standard way of specifying a location on the network. It starts with a protocol, followed by a colon and then the location. For example, “http://www.interarchy.com/”.
username
the identification you use when you log into a service. Often shorted to user.
UTF-8
an 8-bit encoding of the Unicode character set. Interarchy uses UTF-8 throughout, although it can convert to/from other character sets when dealing with FTP or HTTP. see the Character Sets section.
Unicode
a standard character set that encompasses pretty much all languages. see the Character Sets section.
WebDAV
Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, an extension to the HTTP protocol to implement a file system-like view.
Interarchy