Hm, a problem with the ftp server

Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Jason Molenda]

I've gotten spurious reports from users that the ftp server was
requiring a password to log in.  I just got another and tried to
do it myself via my browser (Internet Explorer) -- and sure enough,
it prompts for a password.

It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
because of an acct/password mismatch.

Unfortunately, the message from the ftp server (saying that it is
full and listing mirrors) is not displayed to the IE user.

Keep in mind that just about 50% of the people who browse sourceware
are using Internet Explorer, so it's not a marginal group of people who
are getting these.

Maybe we can change the error code returned for the "Site is full"
messages or something (although IIRC that number is emitted by
ftpd).  Maybe we should just bring this up on the wuftpd mailing lists
(and watch them point and IE and say it is broken :-/ ).

Sigh.

J

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Jim Kingdon]

> It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
> is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
> because of an acct/password mismatch.

Netscape 4.61 mildly misunderstands (it does say "login incorrect")
but it does display the server full messages.

As for IE5, shrug.  If anyone wants to do some digging and find a
solution, please propose it here.  If no solution exists or no one
gets around to finding out, then I'm not going to lose much sleep over
it.

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Andrew Cagney]

Thanks for this.  I thought it was something to do with my squid proxy.

	Andrew

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Andrew Cagney]

Excerpts from mail: 16-Mar-100 Re: Hm, a problem with the .. Jim
Kingdon@redhat.com (498*)

> > It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
> > is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
> > because of an acct/password mismatch.

> Netscape 4.61 mildly misunderstands (it does say "login incorrect")
> but it does display the server full messages.

> As for IE5, shrug.  If anyone wants to do some digging and find a
> solution, please propose it here.  If no solution exists or no one
> gets around to finding out, then I'm not going to lose much sleep over
> it.

I don't think a shrug is reasonable (ok, so I've no idea how to fix it
...).  Does the same problem occure when an IE user tries to get at Red
Hat's FTP site?  We're trying to make it as easy as possible for people
to get to the source, not as difficult as possible.

After all, an IE user downloading cygwin today, could well be taking
that first shaky step towards downloading an entire free OS tomorrow.

	Andrew

Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Jason Molenda]

I've gotten spurious reports from users that the ftp server was
requiring a password to log in.  I just got another and tried to
do it myself via my browser (Internet Explorer) -- and sure enough,
it prompts for a password.

It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
because of an acct/password mismatch.

Unfortunately, the message from the ftp server (saying that it is
full and listing mirrors) is not displayed to the IE user.

Keep in mind that just about 50% of the people who browse sourceware
are using Internet Explorer, so it's not a marginal group of people who
are getting these.

Maybe we can change the error code returned for the "Site is full"
messages or something (although IIRC that number is emitted by
ftpd).  Maybe we should just bring this up on the wuftpd mailing lists
(and watch them point and IE and say it is broken :-/ ).

Sigh.

J

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Jim Kingdon]

> It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
> is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
> because of an acct/password mismatch.

Netscape 4.61 mildly misunderstands (it does say "login incorrect")
but it does display the server full messages.

As for IE5, shrug.  If anyone wants to do some digging and find a
solution, please propose it here.  If no solution exists or no one
gets around to finding out, then I'm not going to lose much sleep over
it.

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Andrew Cagney]

Thanks for this.  I thought it was something to do with my squid proxy.

	Andrew

Re: Hm, a problem with the ftp server

[Andrew Cagney]

Excerpts from mail: 16-Mar-100 Re: Hm, a problem with the .. Jim
Kingdon@redhat.com (498*)

> > It looks like the "Server is full, use a mirror" message we emit
> > is misunderstood by IE5, and it thinks that anonftp has failed
> > because of an acct/password mismatch.

> Netscape 4.61 mildly misunderstands (it does say "login incorrect")
> but it does display the server full messages.

> As for IE5, shrug.  If anyone wants to do some digging and find a
> solution, please propose it here.  If no solution exists or no one
> gets around to finding out, then I'm not going to lose much sleep over
> it.

I don't think a shrug is reasonable (ok, so I've no idea how to fix it
...).  Does the same problem occure when an IE user tries to get at Red
Hat's FTP site?  We're trying to make it as easy as possible for people
to get to the source, not as difficult as possible.

After all, an IE user downloading cygwin today, could well be taking
that first shaky step towards downloading an entire free OS tomorrow.

	Andrew