[comment {-*- tcl -*- doctools manpage}] [manpage_begin ftp n 2.4.9] [moddesc {ftp client}] [titledesc {Client-side tcl implementation of the ftp protocol}] [category Networking] [require Tcl 8.2] [require ftp [opt 2.4.9]] [description] [para] The ftp package provides the client side of the ftp protocol as specified in RFC 959 ([uri http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc959.txt]). The package implements both active (default) and passive ftp sessions. [para] A new ftp session is started with the [cmd ::ftp::Open] command. To shutdown an existing ftp session use [cmd ::ftp::Close]. All other commands are restricted to usage in an an open ftp session. They will generate errors if they are used out of context. The ftp package includes file and directory manipulating commands for remote sites. To perform the same operations on the local site use commands built into the core, like [cmd cd] or [cmd file]. [para] The output of the package is controlled by two state variables, [var ::ftp::VERBOSE] and [var ::ftp::DEBUG]. Setting [var ::ftp::VERBOSE] to "1" forces the package to show all responses from a remote server. The default value is "0". Setting [var ::ftp::DEBUG] to "1" enables debugging and forces the package to show all return codes, states, state changes and "real" ftp commands. The default value is "0". [para] The command [cmd ::ftp::DisplayMsg] is used to show the different messages from the ftp session. The setting of [var ::ftp::VERBOSE] determines if this command is called or not. The current implementation of the command uses the [package log] package of tcllib to write the messages to their final destination. This means that the behaviour of [cmd ::ftp::DisplayMsg] can be customized without changing its implementation. For more radical changes overwriting its implementation by the application is of course still possible. Note that the default implementation honors the option [option -output] to [cmd ::ftp::Open] for a session specific log command. [para] [emph Caution]: The default implementation logs error messages like all other messages. If this behaviour is changed to throwing an error instead all commands in the API will change their behaviour too. In such a case they will not return a failure code as described below but pass the thrown error to their caller. [section API] [list_begin definitions] [call [cmd ::ftp::Open] [arg server] [arg user] [arg passwd] [opt [arg options]]] This command is used to start a FTP session by establishing a control connection to the FTP server. The defaults are used for any option not specified by the caller. [para] The command takes a host name [arg server], a user name [arg user] and a password [arg password] as its parameters and returns a session handle that is an integer number greater than or equal to "0", if the connection is successfully established. Otherwise it returns "-1". The [arg server] parameter must be the name or internet address (in dotted decimal notation) of the ftp server to connect to. The [arg user] and [arg passwd] parameters must contain a valid user name and password to complete the login process. [para] The options overwrite some default values or set special abilities: [list_begin definitions] [def "[option -blocksize] [arg size]"] The blocksize is used during data transfer. At most [arg size] bytes are transfered at once. The default value for this option is 4096. The package will evaluate the [cmd {-progress callback}] for the session after the transfer of each block. [def "[option -timeout] [arg seconds]"] If [arg seconds] is non-zero, then [cmd ::ftp::Open] sets up a timeout which will occur after the specified number of seconds. The default value is 600. [def "[option -port] [arg number]"] The port [arg number] specifies an alternative remote port on the ftp server on which the ftp service resides. Most ftp services listen for connection requests on the default port 21. Sometimes, usually for security reasons, port numbers other than 21 are used for ftp connections. [def "[option -mode] [arg mode]"] The transfer [arg mode] option determines if a file transfer occurs in [const active] or [const passive] mode. In passive mode the client will ask the ftp server to listen on a data port and wait for the connection rather than to initiate the process by itself when a data transfer request comes in. Passive mode is normally a requirement when accessing sites via a firewall. The default mode is [const active]. [def "[option -progress] [arg callback]"] This [arg callback] is evaluated whenever a block of data was transfered. See the option [option -blocksize] for how to specify the size of the transfered blocks. [para] When evaluating the [arg callback] one argument is appended to the callback script, the current accumulated number of bytes transferred so far. [def "[option -command] [arg callback]"] Specifying this option places the connection into asynchronous mode. The [arg callback] is evaluated after the completion of any operation. When an operation is running no further operations must be started until a callback has been received for the currently executing operation. [para] When evaluating the [arg callback] several arguments are appended to the callback script, namely the keyword of the operation that has completed and any additional arguments specific to the operation. If an error occurred during the execution of the operation the callback is given the keyword [const error]. [def "[option -output] [arg callback]"] This option has no default. If it is set the default implementation of [cmd ::ftp::DisplayMsg] will use its value as command prefix to log all internal messages. The callback will have three arguments appended to it before evaluation, the id of the session, the message itself, and the connection state, in this order. [list_end] [call [cmd ::ftp::Close] [arg handle]] This command terminates the specified ftp session. If no file transfer is in progress, the server will close the control connection immediately. If a file transfer is in progress however, the control connection will remain open until the transfers completes. When that happens the server will write the result response for the transfer to it and close the connection afterward. [call [cmd ::ftp::Cd] [arg handle] [arg directory]] This command changes the current working directory on the ftp server to a specified target [arg directory]. The command returns 1 if the current working directory was successfully changed to the specified directory or 0 if it fails. The target directory can be [list_begin itemized] [item] a subdirectory of the current directory, [item] Two dots, [const ..] (as an indicator for the parent directory of the current directory) [item] or a fully qualified path to a new working directory. [list_end] [call [cmd ::ftp::Pwd] [arg handle]] This command returns the complete path of the current working directory on the ftp server, or an empty string in case of an error. [call [cmd ::ftp::Type] [arg handle] [opt [const ascii|binary|tenex]]] This command sets the ftp file transfer type to either [const ascii], [const binary], or [const tenex]. The command always returns the currently set type. If called without type no change is made. [para] Currently only [const ascii] and [const binary] types are supported. There is some early (alpha) support for Tenex mode. The type [const ascii] is normally used to convert text files into a format suitable for text editors on the platform of the destination machine. This mainly affects end-of-line markers. The type [const binary] on the other hand allows the undisturbed transfer of non-text files, such as compressed files, images and executables. [call [cmd ::ftp::List] [arg handle] [opt [arg pattern]]] This command returns a human-readable list of files. Wildcard expressions such as [file *.tcl] are allowed. If [arg pattern] refers to a specific directory, then the contents of that directory are returned. If the [arg pattern] is not a fully-qualified path name, the command lists entries relative to the current remote directory. If no [arg pattern] is specified, the contents of the current remote directory is returned. [para] The listing includes any system-dependent information that the server chooses to include. For example most UNIX systems produce output from the command [syscmd {ls -l}]. The command returns the retrieved information as a tcl list with one item per entry. Empty lines and UNIX's "total" lines are ignored and not included in the result as reported by this command. [para] If the command fails an empty list is returned. [call [cmd ::ftp::NList] [arg handle] [opt [arg directory]]] This command has the same behavior as the [cmd ::ftp::List] command, except that it only retrieves an abbreviated listing. This means only file names are returned in a sorted list. [call [cmd ::ftp::FileSize] [arg handle] [arg file]] This command returns the size of the specified [arg file] on the ftp server. If the command fails an empty string is returned. [para] [emph ATTENTION!] It will not work properly when in ascii mode and is not supported by all ftp server implementations. [call [cmd ::ftp::ModTime] [arg handle] [arg file]] This command retrieves the time of the last modification of the [arg file] on the ftp server as a system dependent integer value in seconds or an empty string if an error occurred. Use the built-in command [cmd clock] to convert the retrieves value into other formats. [call [cmd ::ftp::Delete] [arg handle] [arg file]] This command deletes the specified [arg file] on the ftp server. The command returns 1 if the specified file was successfully deleted or 0 if it failed. [call [cmd ::ftp::Rename] [arg handle] [arg from] [arg to]] This command renames the file [arg from] in the current directory of the ftp server to the specified new file name [arg to]. This new file name must not be the same as any existing subdirectory or file name. The command returns 1 if the specified file was successfully renamed or 0 if it failed. [call [cmd ::ftp::Put] [arg handle] ([arg local] | -data [arg data] | -channel [arg chan]) [opt [arg remote]]] This command transfers a local file [arg local] to a remote file [arg remote] on the ftp server. If the file parameters passed to the command do not fully qualified path names the command will use the current directory on local and remote host. If the remote file name is unspecified, the server will use the name of the local file as the name of the remote file. The command returns 1 to indicate a successful transfer and 0 in the case of a failure. [para] If [option -data] [arg data] is specified instead of a local file, the system will not transfer a file, but the [arg data] passed into it. In this case the name of the remote file has to be specified. [para] If [option -channel] [arg chan] is specified instead of a local file, the system will not transfer a file, but read the contents of the channel [arg chan] and write this to the remote file. In this case the name of the remote file has to be specified. After the transfer [arg chan] will be closed. [call [cmd ::ftp::Append] [arg handle] ([arg local] | -data [arg data] | -channel [arg chan]) [opt [arg remote]]] This command behaves like [cmd ::ftp::Puts], but appends the transfered information to the remote file. If the file did not exist on the server it will be created. [call [cmd ::ftp::Get] [arg handle] [arg remote] [opt "([arg local] | -variable [arg varname] | -channel [arg chan])"]] This command retrieves a remote file [arg remote] on the ftp server and stores its contents into the local file [arg local]. If the file parameters passed to the command are not fully qualified path names the command will use the current directory on local and remote host. If the local file name is unspecified, the server will use the name of the remote file as the name of the local file. The command returns 1 to indicate a successful transfer and 0 in the case of a failure. The command will throw an error if the directory the file [arg local] is to be placed in does not exist. [para] If [option -variable] [arg varname] is specified, the system will store the retrieved data into the variable [arg varname] instead of a file. [para] If [option -channel] [arg chan] is specified, the system will write the retrieved data into the channel [arg chan] instead of a file. The system will [emph not] close [arg chan] after the transfer, this is the responsibility of the caller to [cmd ::ftp::Get]. [call [cmd ::ftp::Reget] [arg handle] [arg remote] [opt [arg local]] [opt [arg from]] [opt [arg to]]] This command behaves like [cmd ::ftp::Get], except that if local file [arg local] exists and is smaller than remote file [arg remote], the local file is presumed to be a partially transferred copy of the remote file and the transfer is continued from the apparent point of failure. The command will throw an error if the directory the file [arg local] is to be placed in does not exist. This command is useful when transferring very large files over networks that tend to drop connections. [para] Specifying the additional byte offsets [arg from] and [arg to] will cause the command to change its behaviour and to download exactly the specified slice of the remote file. This mode is possible only if a local destination is explicitly provided. Omission of [arg to] leads to downloading till the end of the file. [call [cmd ::ftp::Newer] [arg handle] [arg remote] [opt [arg local]]] This command behaves like [cmd ::ftp::Get], except that it retrieves the remote file only if the modification time of the remote file is more recent than the file on the local system. If the file does not exist on the local system, the remote file is considered newer. The command will throw an error if the directory the file [arg local] is to be placed in does not exist. [call [cmd ::ftp::MkDir] [arg handle] [arg directory]] This command creates the specified [arg directory] on the ftp server. If the specified path is relative the new directory will be created as a subdirectory of the current working directory. Else the created directory will have the specified path name. The command returns 1 to indicate a successful creation of the directory and 0 in the case of a failure. [call [cmd ::ftp::RmDir] [arg handle] [arg directory]] This command removes the specified directory on the ftp server. The remote directory has to be empty or the command will fail. The command returns 1 to indicate a successful removal of the directory and 0 in the case of a failure. [call [cmd ::ftp::Quote] [arg handle] [arg arg1] [arg arg2] [arg ...]] This command is used to send an arbitrary ftp command to the server. It cannot be used to obtain a directory listing or for transferring files. It is included to allow an application to execute commands on the ftp server which are not provided by this package. The arguments are sent verbatim, i.e. as is, with no changes. [para] In contrast to the other commands in this package this command will not parse the response it got from the ftp server but return it verbatim to the caller. [call [cmd ::ftp::DisplayMsg] [arg handle] [arg msg] [opt [arg state]]] This command is used by the package itself to show the different messages from the ftp sessions. The package itself declares this command very simple, writing the messages to [const stdout] (if [var ::ftp::VERBOSE] was set, see below) and throwing tcl errors for error messages. It is the responsibility of the application to overwrite it as needed. A state variable for different states assigned to different colors is recommended by the author. The package [package log] is useful for this. [def [var ::ftp::VERBOSE]] A state variable controlling the output of the package. Setting [var ::ftp::VERBOSE] to "1" forces the package to show all responses from a remote server. The default value is "0". [def [var ::ftp::DEBUG]] A state variable controlling the output of ftp. Setting [var ::ftp::DEBUG] to "1" enables debugging and forces the package to show all return codes, states, state changes and "real" ftp commands. The default value is "0". [list_end] [section BUGS] [para] The correct execution of many commands depends upon the proper behavior by the remote server, network and router configuration. [para] An update command placed in the procedure [cmd ::ftp::DisplayMsg] may run into persistent errors or infinite loops. The solution to this problem is to use [cmd {update idletasks}] instead of [cmd update]. [section {BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK}] This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category [emph ftp] of the [uri {http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883} {Tcllib SF Trackers}]. Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation. [see_also ftpd smtp pop3 mime] [keywords ftp {rfc 959} internet net] [manpage_end]