Re: [bug-inetutils] ftpd returns 550 to NLST

[Mats Andersson]

onsdag den 13 juli 2011 klockan 11:17 skrev Andrew Stevenson detta:
> 
> 
> M E Andersson <address@hidden> wrote on 12/07/2011 22:53:38:
> 
> > onsdag den  6 juli 2011 klockan 21:25 skrev Andrew Stevenson detta:
> >
> > > If you NLST a non-existent file ftpd returns a 550 error. RFC 959 does
> not
> > > list 550 as a valid return code - IIUC the intended behaviour is to
> return
> > > an empty list.
> >
> > I disagree regarding the last claim, meaning I find the text
> inconclusive.
> >
> > The text states 450 as the only allowed negative reply.
> 
> I was thinking of section 5.4:
> 
> NLST
>                   125, 150
>                      226, 250
>                      425, 426, 451
>                   450
>                   500, 501, 502, 421, 530
> 
> The text suggests to me the section is supposed to be authoritative but I

> [...]

> I do agree it seems more logical to allow 550 but 5.4 suggests to me you
> can't. I'm no expert on this matter - I only came across it because I had
> to debug a problem that turned out to be caused by an FTP client that had a
> similar interpretation of the RFC (that 550 isn't an allowed response) - so
> I'm happy to defer to others if they know better.

The updated standard RFC 3659 explicitely mentions 550 as the preferred
reply to SIZE and MDTM, including examples, for the case of non-existing
files. The new document does not mention NLST at all.

Can we use this as an argument for our present implementation?
After updating with RFC 2428 (EPRT and EPSV), I intend to update
our FTPD server code to follow RFC 3959.

Regards,
  Mats