Bug #18259 for libnet: Net::FTP Passive mode as the default is insufficiently documented

Mon Mar 20 15:03:54 2006 whatever [...] davidnicol.com - Ticket created

Subject:

Net::FTP Passive mode as the default is insufficiently documented

When working against a server that does not support passive mode, it is necessary to include Passive=>0 in the constructor. The documentation seems to say that active is the default, but to get active trasnfers one must explicitly set Passive to a zero value.

Mon Mar 20 16:22:15 2006 whatever [...] davidnicol.com - Correspondence added

Subject:

docpatch

For instance, had these words been in there I would have saved some time today

--- /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6/Net/FTP.pm 2005-12-14 13:22:16.000000000 -0600 +++ FTP.pm 2006-03-20 15:18:51.000000000 -0600 @@ -1335,7 +1335,8 @@ B<Passive> - If set to a non-zero value then all data transfers will be done using passive mode. This is not usually required except for some I<dumb> servers, and some firewall configurations. This can also be set by the -environment variable C<FTP_PASSIVE>. +environment variable C<FTP_PASSIVE>. Set Passive => 0 to work with +broken servers that cannot provide passive mode directory listings. B<Hash> - If given a reference to a file handle (e.g., C<\*STDERR>), print hash marks (#) on that filehandle every 1024 bytes. This

Mon Mar 20 16:22:23 2006 whatever [...] davidnicol.com - Status changed from 'new' to 'open'

Tue Mar 21 02:54:01 2006 gbarr [...] pobox.com - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #18259] Net::FTP Passive mode as the default is insufficiently documented
Date:	Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:53:41 -0600
To:	bug-libnet [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	Graham Barr <gbarr [...] pobox.com>

On Mar 20, 2006, at 2:03 PM, via RT wrote: Show quoted text

> When working against a server that does not support passive mode, > it is necessary to include Passive=>0 in the constructor. The > documentation seems to say that active is the default, but to get > active trasnfers one must explicitly set Passive to a zero value.

active is the default for Net::FTP. However that can be changed if during installation Net::Config has ftp_ext_passive set to true or if there is an environment variable FTP_PASSIVE set. However passive will likely become the default in future as most server do support it and it is needed for ftp through most firewalls Graham.

Tue Mar 21 17:18:06 2006 davidnicol [...] gmail.com - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #18259] Net::FTP Passive mode as the default is insufficiently documented
Date:	Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:17:30 -0600
To:	bug-libnet [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	"David Nicol" <davidnicol [...] gmail.com>

On 3/21/06, Graham Barr via RT <bug-libnet@rt.cpan.org> wrote: Show quoted text

> active is the default for Net::FTP. However that can be changed if > during installation Net::Config has ftp_ext_passive set to true or if > there is an environment variable FTP_PASSIVE set. > > However passive will likely become the default in future as most > server do support it and it is needed for ftp through most firewalls > > Graham.

I did not install Net::FTP, it came with my operating system distribution, and apparently this distribution jumped the gun in making passive the default, through whatever means. If the Net::FTP documentation had mentioned this possibility directly, it would have saved me some time. On the other hand, I would now have less experience with tcpdump.

Tue Mar 21 17:26:08 2006 davidnicol [...] gmail.com - Correspondence added

Subject:	Re: [rt.cpan.org #18259] Net::FTP Passive mode as the default is insufficiently documented
Date:	Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:25:44 -0600
To:	bug-libnet [...] rt.cpan.org
From:	"David Nicol" <davidnicol [...] gmail.com>

--- /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6/Net/FTP.pm 2005-12-14 13:22:16.000000000 -0600 +++ FTP.pm 2006-03-20 15:18:51.000000000 -0600 @@ -1335,7 +1335,9 @@ B<Passive> - If set to a non-zero value then all data transfers will be done using passive mode. This is not usually required except for some I<dumb> servers, and some firewall configurations. This can also be set by the -environment variable C<FTP_PASSIVE>. +environment variable C<FTP_PASSIVE>. Set Passive => 0 to work with +broken servers that cannot provide passive mode directory listings when +your Net::FTP has been configured with passive as the default.

Sat Feb 09 20:20:16 2008 GBARR [...] CPAN.ORG - Status changed from 'open' to 'resolved'