Re: lynx-dev something wrong with ftp directory listing?

[Klaus Weide]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2000, Leonid Pauzner wrote:

> Is it possible to keep FTP connection open with lynx?
> At least when the next request goes to the same ftp host
> as the previous request was, and close the connection
> when we start visiting another host or exit lynx finally.

There are remnants of ancient code, or rather data structures and some
comments, in HTFTP.c, that seem to indicate that, at one time, the code 
was used in that way.  That may have been before that part of libwww
was used in Lynx.

But keeping a connection would really violate the specs, as I understand
it.  Not the FTP protocol, but the specification for ftp: URLs.  Accessing
an ftp: URL is defined in terms of starting from a fresh login each time.
RFC 1738 (is there a newer text for ftp: URLs?) has this:

   For example, the URL <URL:ftp://address@hidden/%2Fetc/motd> is
   interpreted by FTP-ing to "host.dom", logging in as "myname"
   (prompting for a password if it is asked for), and then [...]

If the (control) connection were kept open, commands from a previous
access might have some side effects that influence how the next
access is interpreted.  To avoid that, one would have to reset the
state to a well-defined one between accesses.  Probably REIN could
be used, but that would require a new login for each new access (on
the same control connection), so the advantage wouldn't be that big
anyway.

   Klaus