Can't access winxp (unicode) files from linux FTP server...

NikhilC <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Files placed on the server over smb from windows clients sometimes
> contain accents and other non-ASCII characters, which I didn't have
> problems with when using WarFTPD with NT4.

What if you create the file using other means? (not SMB).

> ProFTPD, however, isn't liking the unicode filenames. I've read
> through the gentoo guides without much luck (setting locales to UTF-8,
> etc).

I don't have any experience with this, but do you have the correct
character map(s) installed for SMB filesystems in your kernel
configuration?

Also, what version of ProFTPD are you running?

And what configuration/compilation options is Gentoo using to compile
ProFTPD?

> On the user level, I can still only view unicode filenames correctly
> after logging into the console as root and running unicode_start,
> despite having a UTF-8 locale.

Hmm, are you using a frame-buffer console, or not?

> I have a feeling that I need to do this
> globally for all running processes in order to make proftpd work with
> unicode, but no idea how.

What client(s) are you using to view the FTP list? If you sniff the
network, and use ethereal's Follow TCP Stream functionality, is it going
across the wire in Unicode or ASCII?

> At this point, using a windows ftp client to access proftpd will
> result in a correct display of filenames - proftpd seems to be sending
> the client the filename exactly as it is on disc, so the windows
> client correctly displays the accents, etc.

So it seems that it may not be ProFTPds fault at all, at least for the
LS command.

> Attempting to access the file is another matter - the windows client
> sends a request to access the filename and proftpd doesn't recognize
> it at all.

What _exactly_ is the client sending? (Don't bother posting it, Usenet
isn't typically Unicode friendly) Turn on debugging mode in your client
to see if it's sending the unicode version, or an ASCIIrised version.

> Is there any way for proftpd to work with these files, or any linux
> FTP daemon?

Honestly, I've no idea. I've never really dealt with Unicode. One must
also realise that FTP is a 7-bit ASCII protocol, although there are RFCs
that update it for I18N. Both client and server would need to support
this.

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2640.txt

In particular, does ProFTPd respond with a UTF8 in its feature set (use
the feat command in your client. (see the RFC)

--
Cameron Kerr
(E-Mail Removed) : http://nzgeeks.org/cameron/
Empowered by Perl!

I'm looking to replace a NT4 server box with a gentoo installation -
pretty much all services (apache/php/mysql/samba) are working well,
with the exception of proftpd. Files placed on the server over smb
from windows clients sometimes contain accents and other non-ASCII
characters, which I didn't have problems with when using WarFTPD with
NT4.

ProFTPD, however, isn't liking the unicode filenames. I've read
through the gentoo guides without much luck (setting locales to UTF-8,
etc).

On the user level, I can still only view unicode filenames correctly
after logging into the console as root and running unicode_start,
despite having a UTF-8 locale. I have a feeling that I need to do this
globally for all running processes in order to make proftpd work with
unicode, but no idea how.

At this point, using a windows ftp client to access proftpd will
result in a correct display of filenames - proftpd seems to be sending
the client the filename exactly as it is on disc, so the windows
client correctly displays the accents, etc. Attempting to access the
file is another matter - the windows client sends a request to access
the filename and proftpd doesn't recognize it at all.

Is there any way for proftpd to work with these files, or any linux
FTP daemon?

The sad alternative is to upgrade the hardware and use windows 2003
server, but surely this is something that Linux is capable of....

Thanks,
Nikhil