To: uri@bunyip.com
Subject: Re: FTP URL mapping
In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 03 Mar 1994 11:09:42 +0100.
<9403031009.AA03824@dxmint.cern.ch>
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 1994 07:05:44 -0500
From: John Curran <jcurran@nic.near.net>
Message-Id: <9403031205.aa19800@nic.near.net>
--------
] From: hallam@alws.cern.ch
] Subject: RE:FTP URL mapping
] Date: Thu, 3 Mar 1994 11:09:42 +0100
]
] It is worse than Tim points out! Not only is the mapping from the
] path to directory system different on each machine a sequence of
] CD commands will *NOT* work on certain systems, specifically those
] that do not have a single root to the file structure and those that
] do not require access to intermediate directories in a path to
] use it.
It appears that the "parameter package" for the FTP access method
should distinguish the CWD argument (if any) from the RETR argument.
This is even an issue on unix systems, as I am familiar with at least
one FTP server which requires changing to a particular directory before
allowing access to its contents.
Asthetic arguments about user interpetation of URLs being made more
complicated need to be weighed against having the FTP URL work without
flaw. The common IETF approach to this problem is that interoperability
comes first, and hence clearly delineating the components is encouraged.
/John