Re: [Bug-wget] download a list of files from Mainframe

[Steven M. Schweda]

> I think that wget with ftp try to separate directory and
> subdirectories with a slash "/" and MVS have datasets separated by
> periods "."

   Wget certainly does use slash-separated ("a/b/c") directory
specifications in its CWD commands.  (See src/ftp-basic.c: ftp_cwd().) 
This works for very many FTP servers, even when the underlying file
system does not use slash-separated directory specs (including, for
example, those on VMS (generally)).

> ... this is one of the things that bugs me about Wget's current FTP
> operation; it doesn't follow the RFC. It ought to just perform a series
> of CWDs, rather than trying to figure out the system type.  [...]

   As I recall, the previous maintainer didn't want to waste the extra
time required for all the one-step CWD operations.  It (that is, doing
it right) could be made an option, however.  And/or, it could be done
automatically for some class of FTP servers.

   I don't know enough about this FTP server to say what the best
solution would be.

   The first real question is, how does this FTP server work?  What does
it expect?  If, to get "MY.PREFERRED.DIRECTORY(MYFILE)", you could do
commands like these:
      CWD MY
      CWD PREFERRED
      CWD DIRECTORY
      RETR MYFILE
then, after the CWD code gets fixed, I'd expect an URL like
"ftp://host.name/MY/PREFERRED/DIRECTORY/MYFILE"; to work.

> if i try normally to connect to ftp i can reach on MVS my 'USER'
> folderr/dataset, then with a cd 'MY.PREFERRED.DIRECTORY' and with get
> 'MYFILE'

   That's close.  I suppose that ftp_cwd() could also be changed to put
out a dot-separated directory spec (for this FTP server type), but that
wouldn't be my first choice.

   The second real question is, what does this FTP server provide for a
file listing ("LIST")?  If it doesn't look like a UNIX "ls -l" listing,
then src/ftp-ls.c may need a new ftp_parse_XXX_ls() function (and the
code to use it).

   The third question would be, how does this FTP server identify
itself?  (Response to a "SYST" command?)

   Or, where is there an FTP server like this which someone could play
with (and not cause any trouble)?  (I have VMS systems at home, but not
MVS.)

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   Steven M. Schweda               address@hidden
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