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From: Brian {Hamilton Kelly} <bhk@dsl.co.uk>
Newsgroups: demon.ip.support,demon.tech.unix,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Batch FTP and Web Pages
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 96 07:45:17 GMT
Organization: Dragonhill Systems Ltd
Lines: 53
Message-ID: <835343117snz@dsl.co.uk>
References: <31c2e7bd.14691630@news.demon.co.uk> <834878464snz@pair.com> <834921960snz@michaels.demon.co.uk> <835206024.5881.2@diltd.demon.co.uk> <slrn4sgtd6.ds.dom@myrddin.demon.co.uk> <835294223.22071.1@diltd.demon.co.uk>
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In article <835294223.22071.1@diltd.demon.co.uk>
ric@diltd.demon.co.uk "Ric Harwood" writes:
> In demon.ip.support, dom@myrddin.demon.co.uk (Dominic Mitchell),
> Dominic Mitchell wrote:
>
> >What exactly do you mean by batch http?
>
> As batch ftp. We send an email to ftp@demon.net containing the ftp
> URL of the file required. Multiple retrevals can be retreieved by
> putting each url on a new line. Then I can log on to ftp.demon as
> diltd rather than anonymously and ftp the file. A local example,
> would be that I could get:
> ftp://area51.upsu.plym.ac.uk/pub/docs/hackers/hacker.definitions
> by batch ftp, but not:
> http://area51.upsu.plym.ac.uk/~ric/files/flame.txt
It seems that you (like a lot of other people, including the
*administrators*[1] of some http/ftp servers) don't appreciate that anything
whose URL starts with "ftp:" *is* actually fetched by straightforward
anonymous FTP (see the relevant RFCs, or read the code of a http client
or proxy, if you don't believe me).
So the first of those could be fetched *under the present batchftp*
merely by asking for:
area51.upsu.plym.ac.uk:/pub/docs/hackers/hacker.definitions
However, there *are* other methods by which http clients fetch files from
servers, that use parts of the http protocol and *not* ordinary FTP. I
can see the concept of a "batchhttp" server being very useful for these.
When I'm next browsing, I'll see if I can find a suitable URL as an
example, and follow up to this thread.
[1] For example, there is a site that's extremely popular with the
satellite TV hacking fraternity. This has a large archive of files on
it, but the administrator (who ignores all e-mail) has limited the number
of FTP connections to a ridiculously low figure. Nevertheless, apart
from one or two items, the majority of the files on this archive are
referenced through web pages with a URL that starts with "ftp:". The
consequence is that requesting these with a web browser results in an
attempt at anonymous FTP, which is refused. The administrator should
actually try to *encourage* ftp access in preference to http access,
because it's more efficient: once an FTP client has connected, it can
navigate around the structure and fetch a number of files during the same
session; whereas using a web browser, *each* file or directory access
involves creating a *separate* FTP session, with all the associated inetd
overhead.
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"A language is a dialect that has an army and a navy"
-- Samuel Johnson