Gopher was a system that existed before the World Wide Web to organize and view files on Internet servers.
The Gopher Protocol
A Gopher server presents its content as a hierarchically structured file list. With the development of the Web, many databases have become more easily accessible Web sites through Web search engines.
This protocol was developed at the University of Minnesota. Later, Veronica and Jughead explored ways that resources stored in systems access global directories.
Gopher History
The original Gopher system was launched in 1991 by Mark McCahill, Anklesaria Farhad, Pablo Lindner, Torrey Daniel, Huminsky Adam, Bob, and Alberti of the University of Minnesota.
The main objectives of the system are, as stated in RFC 1436, the users know the hierarchical order of files, a simple syntax, a system that can be created quickly and cheaply, and ways to expand the file system, such as searches.
It combined document hierarchies with collections of services, including the WAIS, Archie, and Veronica search engines, and gateways to other information systems such as FTP protocol and Usenet.
At the time, CWIS was very popular in higher education. Moreover, configuring a Gopher server to create CWIS was simple. As a result, Gopher expanded rapidly due to its ease of use.
In 1992, the standard method of finding someone’s email address was to query the nameserver for their organization’s CCSO entry.
In the late 1990s, Gopher largely stopped expansion. The University of Minnesota announced that it will charge a license fee for the use of the server application.
The University of Minnesota later re-licensed the Gopher application under the GNU GPL. It was then quickly replicated by Web browsers such as Mosaic, which took it as part of client protocol functions.
Gopher has a more rigid structure compared to the HTML format on the Web.
Each document has a defined format, and the typical user navigates through a single defined server menu system to access a specific document. This can be very different from the way a typical user navigates documents on the Web.
Gopher Specifications
As part of the design goals, the global network incorporated the read-only network of the file system. Anything a person could do with data files on a CD-ROM could be done using Gopher.
The Gopher system consisted of a series of linkable hierarchical menus. The server administrator controlled the selection of menu items and titles.
Like a file on a web server, a file on one server could be linked to a menu item on another server.
Many servers took advantage of this server-to-server connection to provide a directory of other servers that the user could access.
This protocol was first described in RFC 1436, and IANA designated 70 as the TCP port. This protocol is easy to understand, so it’s possible to navigate without using a client.
They have made some improvements to increase its use on modern platforms and mobile devices. They developed an Overbite project that includes various browser extensions and contemporary clients.
In 2010, Veronica-2 created approximately 100 servers. Gopherspace switched to BitTorrent as early as 2007.
Compatibility
Browsers that do natively support Gopher can still access existing HTTP servers.
It was turned off in Internet Explorer 5 and 6 for Winturned in June 2002 due to a patch aimed at fixing a security vulnerability in the browser. In Internet Explorer 7, support was removed at the WinINET level.
If a user wants to enable this protocol, they can do so in the Windows Register.
Add-ons
OverbiteFF for Mozilla Firefox tool and SeaMonkey enhances Gopher’s browsing.
It includes support for accessing servers and queries from OSCs that are not on port 70 using a whitelist.
It also allows versions of Firefox and SeaMonkey that do not natively support access servers. There are also add-ons for Konqueror and a proxy-based extension for Google Chrome.
Mobile Device Support
It was anticipated that Gopher’s bandwidth interface would be suitable for cell phones and PDAs. However, mobile adaptations of HTML, XML, and other modern content have become more popular.
The PyGopherd server provides a WML interface embedded in the sites. A Java ME client is also available for other compatible devices.
TolgaBagci
Hi, I'm Tolga, a computer expert with 20 years of experience. I help fix computer issues with things like hardware, systems, networks, virtualization, servers, and operating systems. Check out my website for helpful info, and feel free to ask me anything. Keep yourself in the loop about the newest technologies!
