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Re: [LUG] OT ftp problem

 

On 24/02/11 17:19, James Kilty wrote:
> 
> If I can get additional info from it that would be great.
> 
> I will look up the man pages

There are tutorials and the like but typically it is:

ftp hostname
 Prompt for user name....
 Prompt for password....

 Command prompt.

Here you hit your first (and main gotcha), as anything beyond this point
will open a connection from server to FTP client. Since most people are
behind FTP ignorant NAT boxes it is probably wise to type the command:
"pass" as the first command.

"pass" enabled passive mode which avoid firewall/NAT complications, and
should probably always be used (most browsers use it by default).

"help" is usually a valid command!

But the main things to try are "ls" (or "dir" on some systems), "cd" (to
change directory), and "get fromfile tofile" and "put fromfile tofile"
(in both cases omitting the "tofile" name creates a file with the same
name), there are also local commands "lcd" which change from the
directory you were sending files from locally.

Basically the command line gets the GUI out of the way of displaying
error messages, and also breaks it down into steps so you know at which
point it failed. Also some FTP servers send explanatory text with the
contents, and many browsers (and gui clients) simply ignore this.



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