[sles-beta] FTP

[David Boyes]

> Could you test by using /usr/bin/ftp in your scripts (and not /usr/bin/lftp
> directly) ? It is a wrapper, provided by lftp, to ensure the output is
> compatible with the one from lukemftp.

That's what I was using. Point it at a non-Unix system and try to communicate SITE commands for structured file transfer or directory display options. Fails where a similar SLES 11 system would succeed. Translating to the native lftp commands permits the transfer to work, but that's not acceptable behavior.  

> This should properly handle compatibility required for the ftp tool.

Whoever wrote the wrapper code clearly didn't test it much (if at all) against a non-Unix FTP server. The patterns used in the wrapper ignore important cases, and fail completely in other cases (for example with directories with VMS, z/OS or TOPS-20 syntax). Given that non-Unix systems are the number 1 use case for FTP these days.... It's also unnecessarily complex to create two processes when only one is needed, and a waste of system resources on shared virtual systems. 

Do us all a favor: ship a plain vanilla no frills FTP/FTPS-only FTP client as an installable option and we'll be happy. It's a special case for people who deal primarily with non-Unix systems, and should fit in fine with the "one tool for all jobs" mantra.