Re: Clients using a GUI to access FTP

In article <1QGCg.1833$lL6.724@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Hoff Hoffman <hoff-remove-this@xxxxxx> writes:
Bill Gunshannon wrote:

How do they differ? "ls" returns a simple list of filenames in both.
"ls -l" returns; file modes, number of links, owner, group, filesize,
last modified time and filename. While beyond that they offer different
options these are the only two generic to a discussion of what FTP
returns. And, while most (all?) unix systems use the ls command and
pipe the output thru the FTP server it seems it would have been rather
trivial for VMS to read the directory and send the information in a
similar (and compatable) format. Whyh they don't is not information
I am privy to.

This then starts to look like the C headers, and all the conditional
logic that builds up in such as the targets move.

I don't see this. I think you have misunderstood what I was suggesting.


And as for mapping OpenVMS names into Unix names (or the other way
'round), there are a gazillion obvious filename translations, and some
really ugly ones. What's ., after all? The corner cases are enough to
drive any sane engineer up the wall.

I wouldn't suggest mapping VMS names to Unix names. Why would you? All
your VMS names are legitimate Unix names any way (even with the ";13").
If the VMS directory doesn't contain a entry called "." you just don't
include one. "ls" doesn't even though there is one.


The only way I can see to reasonably engineer this within TCP/IP
Services likely involves a sniff of the client, and add a flag that
resets the output to look like Unix. (This so we don't bust existing
clients that expect existing formats.)

Now I know I am confused. I thought the problem was GUI Ftp Clients
interpreting the information from a "DIR" command to an FTP Server.
All that means is making the VMS FTP Server send back lines that look
like:
-rw-r--r-- 2 bill 120 3235 Sep 20 2001 test01a.cob
-rw-r--r-- 1 bill 120 3097 Sep 20 2001 test01a.cob;1
-rw-r--r-- 1 bill 120 3227 Sep 20 2001 test01a.cob;2
-rw-r--r-- 2 bill 120 3235 Sep 20 2001 test01a.cob;3
-rwxr-x--- 1 bill 120 4608 Sep 20 2001 test01a.exe

Note that some of these files actually have version numbers. Care to
guess where that came from?

But I've seen cases where this
won't work, because the client sniffs the server, and reacts differently
depending on what it finds. Which leads to ever-lengthening stacks of
hackery, and more control knobs, and more misleading responses when you
ask for identification, and pretty soon you end up with.... SCSI! :-)

Some may do that, but my experience has been that most GUI Ftp Clients
just work with the human readable output and as long as you provide
something that looks like iwhat comes from most servers it will work.


Alternatively, to update the FTP RFC to add a new FTP sequence with a
defined format for the filenames and directory names, and to wait for
everybody to agree to it and to decide to implement and ship it.

Again, I don't think that is the problem. There is nothing in a VMS
filename that is not valid in a Unix filename so no re-mapping of actual
names would be needed.


Yes, I'd like to see a way for Microsoft and TCP/IP Services to play
together better here, but then I also gave up on Internet Explorer and
have been using Mozilla Firefox for eons now. I do need to test-drive
the newest IE7 stuff, to see how much that has improved.

But the fact is the majority of the world is using MS and if you don't
interact with it then you become the odd man out. I am not sure that
is a postion that VMS can effectively work from.

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Zip 3.0g source kit is available.
    ... VMS, I use it all the time. ... directory that the file resides in "beta" can not be read. ... Lacking any useful details, I can only guess, but that FTP server ... 215 UNIX MultiNet Unix Emulation V5.2 ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: Inet1 connecting but cant upload - any help appreciated
    ... It looks like Send and Put are interchangeable with FTP. ... Have you tried just using the filename for the Destination? ... I can upload and download files using MS FrontPage without any trouble. ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: Loop through files on FTP location
    ... What i need is that the filename will be set looping through all the files ... Private WithEvents ftp As FTPClient ... That's the connection to the FTPClient class, which is the bit that does the ...
    (microsoft.public.access.modulesdaovba)
  • Re: Clients using a GUI to access FTP
    ... options these are the only two generic to a discussion of what FTP ... And as for mapping OpenVMS names into Unix names, there are a gazillion obvious filename translations, and some really ugly ones. ... The only way I can see to reasonably engineer this within TCP/IP Services likely involves a sniff of the client, and add a flag that resets the output to look like Unix. ... Alternatively, to update the FTP RFC to add a new FTP sequence with a defined format for the filenames and directory names, and to wait for everybody to agree to it and to decide to implement and ship it. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: Read variable named file from an FTP folder
    ... Do you plan to mirror something like daily logfiles from a ftp server? ... What this is is taking a text file from our system, having it FTP'd to an outside source, who'd then take that file & manipulate & update it on their end, then ftp the updated one back to me. ... use the sqldts dtp task to get the file from your ftp server by using wildcards - if you can't use this extension we have to find a different way to deal with the "unknown" filename for ftp transfer. ...
    (microsoft.public.sqlserver.dts)