Re: Patch to LWP::Protocol::ftp to return last modified time
Charles C. Fu (ccwf@bacchus.com)
Sun, 5 Jul 1998 17:35:42 -0700 (PDT)
I wrote:
>> Unfortunately, there are some FTP servers which incorrectly return
>> time using the local time zone instead of UCT
Gisle Aas writes:
> I say we just ignore this problem. Let's trust the servers to give
> us correct information. If you do a mirror application it will
> probably not matter as the server give you the same wrong numbers
> each time (unless DST status has changed since last fetch.)
Agreed. Situations where it matters are rare.
>> One day, last modification time (and a lot of other information
>> like file listings, MIME type, and maybe canonicalized pathnames
>> and unique file IDs) should be retrieved via the new proposed MLST,
>> MLSD, and other commands.
> I wish there was some nice way to implement HEAD request towards FTP
> servers. If I remember correctly the problem was that MDTM will
> return the same response if you try in on a directory as if you try
> it on an non-existing file. Will MLST/MLSD help that?
Yes, that is one of the many problems the new MLST/MLSD commands are
supposed to fix.
MLST on a non-existent file returns an error. MLST on a directory
should return something along the lines of
size=1024;perm=el;modify=19970214165800;type=dir directory-name
except with a lot more random information.
Again, I don't know of any servers that implement the new MLST/MLSD
commands (and the draft mentions some open issues with them), so this
is all theoretical at the moment.
-ccwf