Re: lynx-dev FTP sort criteria

[Klaus Weide]

On Sat, 1 Jan 2000, Frederic L. W. Meunier wrote:

> Hi. I have set FTP sort criteria -> By Date, but it doesn't
> seem to work (at least it's not what I expect).
> 
> Say, I connect to Tom's ftp site:

That's <ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey> - please give URLs when
you give examples.

> Current directory is /pub/dickey                                              
>  
> 
>    Up to pub
> Dec  2 07:02  Directory        vile
> Aug 10 21:10  Directory        bcpp
> Mar 13  1999  Directory        vms
> Feb  9  1999  Directory        autoconf
> Dec 31 21:10  Directory        ded
[snip]
> Where's the Sort by Date? Dec 31 should not be on top etc?

Let me guess.  This is taken on Jan 1st from a lynx session that was
started the day before (or earlier).  Right?

There are some problems with the date comparison logic.  Comments
from HTFTP.c:

**      Bug:
**              This code is for sorting listings by date, if that option
**              is selected in Lynx, and doesn't take into account time
**              zones or ensure resetting at midnight, so the sort may not
**              be perfect, but the actual date isn't changed in the display,
**              i.e., the date is still correct. - FM

Improvements are possible, completley eliminating the problems isn't
since there is no standardized way to get the timezone (or even the
file modification times).  (Using the extended FTP command MDTM would
require an additional FTP command for each file - not accepatable
IMO.)

Try again with a new Lynx session - things should be right now.

Btw this isn't a Y2K problem, rather (if I understand the problem right)
an Every-Jan-1st problem (or even a "let Lynx run across midnight at any
day and some files may be ordered wrongly" problem.)

> it's possible to add sort criteria for HTTP too? Like if you
> connect to http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming/.

No - that would be up to the server.  To Lynx that's just a HTML
document like any other.

If you look at the first links on that page, you'll notice that the
server already does provide a way for specifying the order!
Well, it doesn't provide a link for *reverse* ordering by last-modified.
Some experimentation reveals that
    <http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming/?M=R>
seems to do just that.

   Klaus