Hello Friends @ 3000-L,
Re: Thoughts on FTP/iX enhancements - Responses [5/12/99]
1. A new "site" command SITE POSIX ON | OFF
2. POSIX behavior of DIR (LIST) "ls -al" format.
3. POSIX PWD response
4. POSIX PUT
5. POSIX GET
6. ASCII GET of bytestream files = BINARY GET
------------------------------------------------------------Mark Wilkson says--
Points 4/5 and (especially) the last paragraph in point 1 address all my current
issues with the 3K FTP Server. I think though that maybe a command line switch
could be implemented (in the server program) to "force" the default behavior to
be POSIX or MPE. This could be overridden by the SITE POSIX command as and when
necessary.
------------------------------------------------------------Mark Wilkson says--
If we default all 3000 client to 3000 server connections to default "POSIX OFF"
MPE mode and default all non-3000 client to 3000 server connections to default
"POSIX ON" POSIX mode the only value I see in being able to "force" the 3000
server to "POSIX OFF" configuration is to support existing functionality for
non-3000 client users and/or applications.
My question to the folks out here at the 3000-L is "specifically" do we know of
concerns with this change from a client user perspective and/or an application
perspective and if so what are they ? Do we know of specific applications which
may break with all non-3000 client to 3000 server connections to default "POSIX
ON" ? Please think about all client applications you use to connect to the 3000
FTP server today.
------------------------------------------------------------Mark Wilkson says--
Also, I think we need to make sure that any "ls -al" picks up symbolic links too
(which it should do really..)
------------------------------------------------------------Mark Wilkson says--
Yes, I expect it would see the symbolic link, I have no concerns with this.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
Fine, provided this works around the "filename.ext" ambiguity with
filename.groupname we have now.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
I believe the changes under investigation in the POSIX mode PUT & GET would
address this concern.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
Not sure I follow here, at least the binary get part; that's the problem (binary
transfer) isn't it, getting the newline terminator in a supposedly flat text
file?
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
Today we use Binary transfer mode for all 3000 to 3000 file transfers of ASCII
and BINARY files since we do not want the FTP Ascii file transfer mode
interpreting any of the record delimiters it finds in a data file.
What we are concerned about in item #6 is when performing a FTP Ascii GET of a
ByteStream file to an ASCII file on the 3000 you end up with "CR-LF" after each
character. Performing a FTP Binary GET of a ByteStream file avoids this problem.
I have not seen the problem where with a FTP Binary file transfer mode that we
get a newline terminator in a ASCII or BINARY file on the 3000.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
I'd like posix mode ASCII gets/puts to create a bytestream file.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
How about the Bytestream command/mode in the 3000 FTP Client ?
ftp> help bytestream
BYTESTREAM
Set the file transfer type to byte-stream.
----------------------------------------------------------------Chris Bartram--
I'll even beta test!
-Chris Bartram
----------------------------------------------------------------Chris Bartram--
Ah yes, another victim! We obviously are not at that stage "yet" in this
"investigation". We are really trying to understand the environment that FTP/iX
is used in so that when we work towards new solutions we assure our self's we
are not breaking today's functionality.
Don't worry Chris, we know where you live and you will be the first one we call
;~) I am sure you are all well aware, the 3000-L is my favorite place to look
for Alpha Testers and I appreciate those who have participated in the past.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
One more thing on the FTP/iX enhancement... doesn't this need to go in both the
client and server? e.g., if I'm using the FTP client on MPE to grab files I
want in posix namespace, I don't want to have to posix-ify the names going that
way either. SITE POSIX is a server-side attribute that should also have a
client-side attribute.
---------------------------------------------------------------Jeff Kell says--
Oh, you want to get rid of that "./" all together... I have not been thinking
about this functionality from a 3000 client perspective. OK, I/we will think
about it.
-------------------------------------------------------------Stan Sieler says--
> Syntax: SITE POSIX ON | OFF
I'd prefer:
SITE POSIX [ON | OFF]
with the results:
SITE POSIX ON
Returned: 200 POSIX command ok, ON
SITE POSIX OFF
Returned: 200 POSIX command ok, OFF
-------------------------------------------------------------Stan Sieler says--
Thanks again for all of the good input. As I said before, I am really
interested from a non-3000 client perspective (but Jeff had a good point about
the 3000 FTP client). First, will these changes if implemented address the
needs and concerns we have heard providing 'POSIX' inbound FTP/iX Server
connectivity?. Do you see other changes which are necessary? Second, will these
changes if implemented break existing functionality with the current 'MPE'
inbound FTP/iX server connectivity? If so, please reply with specific examples &
specific applications (yes I am repeating my self). Thanks again.
--
Best regards,
Raghuram,
CSY R & D, Bangalore, INDIA
James Hofmeister,
Worldwide Technology Network Expert Center
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