This is Info file ../info/efs.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.68
from the input file efs.texi.

START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* EFS::		Transparent remote file access via FTP.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY


File: efs.info,  Node: Top,  Next: What is EFS?,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)

EFS
***

   This file documents EFS, a system for transparent file-transfer
between remote hosts using the FTP protocol within Emacs.

   This info is for version 1.15 of EFS.

   Documentation version: 1.0

   Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

* Menu:

* What is EFS?::
* Installing EFS::              Where to find it, and how to use it.
* Using EFS::                   EFS - a users' guide.
* Getting help::                Mailing lists and newsgroups.
* Bugs::                        Known bugs, and a wish list.

Indices:
* Concept Index::
* Variable and function index::


File: efs.info,  Node: What is EFS?,  Next: Installing EFS,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Introducing EFS
***************

   EFS is a system for transparent file-transfer between remote UNIX,
Guardian, DOS, Macintosh, KA9Q, Netware, NOS/VE, Plan 9, TI Explorer,
Twenex, TOPS 20, VOS, MPE, MVS, VMS, CMS or MTS hosts using FTP. This
means that you can edit, copy and otherwise manipulate files on any
machine you have access to from within Emacs as if it were a local
file. EFS works by introducing an extended filename syntax, and
overloading functions such as `insert-file-contents' so that accessing
a remote file causes appropriate commands to be sent to an FTP process.
EFS includes and enhanced version of Dired to facilitate directory
browsing and multiple file transfer from remote hosts.

   The authors of EFS are Sandy Rutherford (`sandy@math.ubc.ca') and
Andy (Ange) Norman (`ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com').  EFS is partly based on an
earlier package called ange-ftp.  The integration of EFS 1.15 into
XEmacs and numerous bug fixes were done by Mike Sperber
(`sperber@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de').

   Many people have sent in enhancements for ange-ftp and EFS.  Members
of the ange-ftp and EFS Hall of Fame include:

   * Many thanks to Roland McGrath for improving the filename syntax
     handling, for suggesting many enhancements and for numerous
     cleanups to the code.

   * Thanks to Jamie Zawinski for bugfixes and for ideas such as
     gateways.

   * Thanks to Ken Laprade for improved `.netrc' parsing and password
     reading, and Dired/shell autoloading.

   * Thanks to Sebastian Kremer for tree dired support and for many
     ideas and bugfixes.

   * Thanks to Joe Wells for bugfixes, non-UNIX system support, VOS
     support, and hostname completion.

   * Thanks to Nakagawa Takayuki for many good ideas,
     filename-completion, help with file-name expansion, efficiency
     worries, stylistic concerns and many bugfixes.

   * Also, thanks to Rob Austein, Doug Bagley, Andy Caiger, Jim
     Franklin, Noah Friedman, Aksnes Knut-Havard, Elmar Heeb, John
     Interrante, Roland McGrath, Jeff Morgenthaler, Mike Northam, Jens
     Petersen, Jack Repenning, Joerg-Martin Schwarz, Michael Sperber,
     Svein Tjemsland, Andy Whitcroft, Raymond A. Wiker and many others
     whose names have been forgotten who have helped to debug and fix
     problems.

   Finally, this info file was put together by Mike Sperber
(`sperber@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de') from an ange-ftp info file
written by Dave Smith (`dsmith@stats.adelaide.edu.au') and the EFS
source code.


File: efs.info,  Node: Installing EFS,  Next: Using EFS,  Prev: What is EFS?,  Up: Top

Installing EFS
**************

   At the time of writing of this documentation, the version of EFS
distributed with XEmacs (this means the EFS running on XEmacs
19.15/20.1) is the latest version available.  It includes many bugfixes
and some enhancements over the last separately released version of EFS,
1.15.  This situation will change once a new version of EFS is
available.

   Generally, EFS is pretty easy to get hold of. FTP is the probably the
simplest method, but other options such as mail are available.

   Once you have the Emacs-Lisp source, there are a few customisations
you might need to make. The ideal configuration is to have the FTP
process running on the same machine as you are running Emacs on, but
this is not always possible since some machines cannot access hosts
outside the local network. In this case, the FTP process needs to be
run on a machine which *does* have access to the local world -- this is
called the *gateway host*. EFS has facilities to make use of a gateway
host when accessing remote hosts.

* Menu:

* Obtaining source code::       Where to find the EFS source.
* Installing source::           Where to put it, how to load it.
* Using a gateway::             If your local machine has limited access.
* Setting up a gateway::
* Gateway types::
* Gateway problems::
* Other options::               More user variables to twiddle.


File: efs.info,  Node: Obtaining source code,  Next: Installing source,  Prev: Installing EFS,  Up: Installing EFS

How to get the EFS source code
==============================

   The latest separately distributed version of EFS should always be
available from Andy Norman's home page at
     http://www-uk.hpl.hp.com/people/ange/efs

   There are also some ftp locations:

Switzerland
          /anonymous@itp.ethz.ch:/sandy/efs/

Massachusetts, USA
          /anonymous@alpha.gnu.ai.mit.edu:/efs/

California, USA
          /anonymous@ftp.hmc.edu:/pub/emacs/packages/efs/

   Failing these, someone on the EFS mailing list (*Note Getting
help::) may be able to help you find the latest version.


File: efs.info,  Node: Installing source,  Next: Using a gateway,  Prev: Obtaining source code,  Up: Installing EFS

Installing the source
=====================

   For byte compiling the EFS package, a `Makefile' is provided.  You
should follow the instructions at the top of the `Makefile'.  If you
have any problems, please let us know so that we can fix them for other
users. Don't even consider using eFS without byte compiling it. It will
be far too slow.

   If you decide to byte compile efs by hand, it is important that the
file `efs-defun.el' be byte compiled first, followed by `efs.el'.  The
other files may be byte compiled in any order.

   To use EFS, simply put the byte compiled files in your load path and
add

     (require 'efs)

   in your `.emacs' file.  Note this takes awhile, and some users have
found this to be unbearably slow.  Therefore ...

   If you would like efs to be autoloaded when you attempt to access a
remote file, put

     (require 'efs-auto)

   in your `.emacs' file. Note that there are some limitations
associated with autoloading EFS. A discussion of them is given at the
top of `efs-auto.el'.

   Note that, in XEmacs, EFS automatically loads `efs-auto' when the
user accesses a remote file.  Therefore, no additional `require'
statements should be necessary to use EFS.  Just fire away ...

   The above instructions should allow you to access all hosts that your
local machine can access. If your local host has limited access,
however, you may wish to have EFS working through a gateway machine. If
so, read on. Otherwise, *Note Using EFS:: to get started using EFS.


File: efs.info,  Node: Using a gateway,  Next: Setting up a gateway,  Prev: Installing source,  Up: Installing EFS

Using a gateway
===============

   Sometimes it is necessary for the FTP process to be run on a
different machine than the machine running Emacs.  This can happen when
the local machine has restrictions on what hosts it can access.

   Suppose you are running Emacs (and EFS, of course) on a machine X
(let's call it the `local host') and you want to access a file on a
machine Z (which we will call the `remote host'). Unfortunately, X does
not have FTP access to Z: when you try a manual FTP something like the
following happens:
     X$ ftp Z.foo.bar.com
     ftp: connect: Host is unreachable

However, X *does* have access to a machine Y (the `gateway machine')
which *can* access Z. Fortunately, you have an account on the gateway
machine, and so the solution is to login to Y, ftp to Z, download the
file you want from Z to Y, and then copy it from Y to the local host,
X. This can get a bit tedious, to say the least, but fortunately EFS
can do all the hard work for you.


File: efs.info,  Node: Setting up a gateway,  Next: Gateway types,  Prev: Using a gateway,  Up: Installing EFS

Setting up a gateway
====================

  1. Set the variable `efs-gateway-host' to the name of a machine that
     doesn't have the access restrictions.  If you need to use a
     nonstandard port to access this host for gateway use, then specify
     `efs-gateway-host' as `<hostname>#<port>'.

  2. Set the variable `efs-ftp-local-host-regexp' to a regular
     expression that matches hosts that can be contacted from running a
     local ftp process, but fails to match hosts that can't be accessed
     locally.

     For example:

               "\\.hp\\.com$\\|^[^.]*$"

     will match all hosts that are in the .hp.com domain, or don't have
     an explicit domain in their name, but will fail to match hosts with
     explicit domains or that are specified by their ip address.

  3. Set the variable `efs-local-host-regexp' to machines that you have
     direct TCP/IP access.  In other words, you must be able to ping
     these hosts.  Usually, `efs-ftp-local-host-regexp' and
     `efs-local-host-regexp' will be the same.  However, they will
     differ for so-called transparent gateways.  See below for more
     details.

  4. Set the variable `efs-gateway-tmp-name-template' to the name of a
     directory plus an identifying filename prefix for making temporary
     files on the gateway.  For example: `"/tmp/hplose/ange/efs"'

  5. If the gateway and the local host share cross-mounted directories,
     set the value of `efs-gateway-mounted-dirs-alist' accordingly. It
     is particularly useful, but not mandatory, that the directory of
     `efs-gateway-tmp-name-template' be cross-mounted.

  6. Set the variable `efs-gateway-type' to the type gateway that you
     have.  This variable is a list, the first element of which is a
     symbol denoting the type of gateway.


File: efs.info,  Node: Gateway types,  Next: Gateway problems,  Prev: Setting up a gateway,  Up: Installing EFS

Supported gateway types
=======================

`local'
     This means that your local host is itself the gateway.  However,
     it is necessary to use a different FTP client to gain access to
     the outside world.  If the name of the FTP client were xftp, you
     might set `efs-gateway-type' to

          (list 'local "xftp" efs-ftp-program-args)

     If xftp required special arguments, then give them in place of
     efs-ftp-program-args.

`proxy'
     This indicates that your gateway works by first FTP'ing to it, and
     then issuing a `USER' command of the form

          USER <username>@<host>

     In this case, you might set `efs-gateway-type' to

          (list 'proxy "ftp" efs-ftp-program-args)

     If you need to use a nonstandard client, such as iftp, give this
     instead of ftp.  If this client needs to take special arguments,
     give them instead of efs-ftp-program-args.

`remsh'
     For this type of gateway, you need to start a remote shell on your
     gateway, using either remsh or rsh.  You should set
     EFS-GATEWAY-TYPE to something like

          (list 'remsh "remsh" nil "ftp" efs-ftp-program-args)

     If you use rsh instead of remsh, change the second element from
     `"remsh"' to `"rsh"'.  Note that the symbol indicating the gateway
     type should still be `'remsh'.  If you want to pass arguments to
     the remsh program, give them as the third element.  For example,
     if you need to specify a user, make this `(list "-l" "sandy")'.
     If you need to use a nonstandard FTP client, specify that as the
     fourth element.  If your FTP client needs to be given special
     arguments, give them instead of `efs-ftp-program-args'.

`interactive'
     This indicates that you need to establish a login on the gateway,
     using either telnet or rlogin.  You should set `efs-gateway-type'
     to something like

          (list 'interactive "rlogin" nil "exec ftp" efs-ftp-program-args)

     If you need to use telnet, then give `"telnet"' in place of the
     second element `"rlogin"'.  If your login program needs to be
     given arguments, then they should be given in the third slot.  The
     fourth element is for the name of the FTP client program.  Giving
     this as `"exec ftp"', instead of `"ftp"', ensures that you are
     logged out if the FTP client dies.  If the FTP client takes
     special arguments, give these instead of `efs-ftp-program-args'.
     Furthermore, you should see the documentation at the top of
     `efs-gwp.el'.  You may need to set the variables
     `efs-gwp-setup-term-command', and `efs-gwp-prompt-pattern'.

`raptor'
     This is a type of gateway where efs is expected to specify a
     gateway user, and send a password for this user using the
     `ACCOUNT' command.  For example, to log in to `foobar.edu' as
     sandy, while using the account ange on the gateway, the following
     commands would be sent:

          open raptorgate.com
          quote USER sandy@foobar.edu ange
          quote pass <sandy's password on foobar>
          quote account <ange's password on raptorgate>

     For such a gateway, you would set `efs-gateway-type' to

          (list 'raptor efs-ftp-program efs-ftp-program-args <GATEWAY USER>)

     where `<GATEWAY USER>' is the name of your account on the gateway.
     In the above example, this would be `"ange"'.  You can set your
     gateway password by simply setting an account password for the
     gateway host.  This can be done with either efs-set-account, or
     within your .netrc file.  If no password is set, you will be
     prompted for one.

`interlock'
     This is a type of gateway where you are expected to send a PASS
     command after opening the connection to the gateway.  The precise
     login sequence is

          open interlockgate
          quote PASS <sandy's password on interlockgate>
          quote USER sandy@foobar.edu
          quote PASS <sandy's password on foobar.edu>

     For such a gateway, you should set `efs-gateway-type' to

          (list 'interlock efs-ftp-program efs-ftp-program-args)

     If you need to use a nonstandard name for your FTP client, then
     replace `efs-ftp-program' with this name.  If your FTP client
     needs to take nonstandard arguments, then replace
     `efs-ftp-program-args' with these arguments.

     If your gateway returns both a 220 code and a 331 code to the
     `"open interlockgate"' command, then you should add a regular
     expression to `efs-skip-msgs' that matches the 220 response.
     Returning two response codes to a single FTP command is not
     permitted in RFC 959.  It is not possible for efs to ignore the
     220 by default, because than it would hang for interlock
     installations which do not require a password.

`kerberos'
     With this gateway, you need to authenticate yourself by getting a
     kerberos "ticket" first.  Usually, this is done with the kinit
     program.  Once authenticated, you connect to `foobar.com' as user
     sandy with the sequence: (Note that the `"-n"' argument inhibits
     automatic login.  Although, in manual use you probably don't use
     it, EFS always uses it.)

          iftp -n
          open foobar.com
          user sandy@foobar.com

     You should set `efs-gateway-type' to something like

          (list 'kerberos "iftp" efs-ftp-program-args "kinit" <KINIT-ARGS>)

     If you use an FTP client other than iftp, insert its name instead
     of `"iftp"' above.  If your FTP client needs special arguments,
     give them as a list of strings in place of `efs-ftp-program-args'.
     If the program that you use to collect a ticket in not called
     `"kinit"', then give its name in place of `"kinit"' above.
     `<KINIT-ARGS>' should be any arguments that you need to pass to
     your kinit program, given as a list of strings.  Most likely, you
     will give this as nil.

     See the file `efs-kerberos.el' for more configuration variables.
     If you need to adjust any of these variables, please report this
     to us so that we can fix them for other users.

     If EFS detects that you are not authenticated to use the gateway,
     it will run the kinit program automatically, prompting you for a
     password.  If you give a password in your `.netrc' file for login
     the value of `efs-gateway-host' and user kerberos, then EFS will
     use this to obtain gateway authentication.

`Transparent gateways'
     If your gateway is completely transparent (for example it uses
     socks), then you should set `efs-gateway-type' to `nil'.  Also, set
     `efs-ftp-local-host-regexp' to `".*"'.  However,
     `efs-local-host-regexp', must still be set to a regular expression
     matching hosts in your local domain.  EFS uses this to determine
     which machines that it can open-network-stream to.  Furthermore,
     you should still set `efs-gateway-host' to the name of your
     gateway machine.  That way EFS will know that this is a special
     machine having direct TCP/IP access to both hosts in the outside
     world, and hosts in your local domain.


File: efs.info,  Node: Gateway problems,  Next: Other options,  Prev: Gateway types,  Up: Installing EFS

Common Problems with Gateways
=============================

Spurious 220 responses
----------------------

   Some proxy-style gateways (eg gateway type `'proxy' or `'raptor'),
return two 3-digit FTP reply codes to the `USER' command.  For example:

     open gateway.weird
     220 Connected to gateway.weird
     quote USER sandy@foobar
     220 Connected to foobar
     331 Password required for sandy

   This is wrong, according to the FTP Protocol.  Each command must
return exactly one 3-digit reply code.  It may be preceded by
continuation lines.  What should really be returned is:

     quote USER sandy@foobar
     331-Connected to foobar.
     331 Password required for sandy.

   or even

     quote USER sandy@foobar
     331-220 Connected to foobar.
     331 Password required for sandy.

   Even though the `"331-220"' looks strange, it is correct protocol,
and EFS will parse it properly.

   If your gateway is returning a spurious 220 to `USER', a work-around
is to add a regular expression to `efs-skip-msgs' that matches this
line.  It must not match the 220 line returned to the open command.
This work-around may not work, as some system FTP clients also get
confused by the spurious 220.  In this case, the only solution is to
patch the gateway server.  In either case, please send a bug report to
the author of your gateway software.

Case-sensitive parsing of FTP commands
--------------------------------------

   Some gateway servers seem to treat FTP commands case-sensitively.
This is incorrect, as RFC 959 clearly states that FTP commands are
always to be case-insensitive.  If this is a problem with your gateway
server, you should send a bug report to its author.  If efs is using a
case for FTP commands that does not suit your server, a possible
work-around is to edit the efs source so that the required case is
used.  However, we will not be making any changes to the standard EFS
distribution to support this type of server behaviour.  If you need
help changing the efs source, you should enquire with the efs-help
mailing list.


File: efs.info,  Node: Other options,  Prev: Gateway problems,  Up: Installing EFS

Other user options
==================

   Here are other user options available in EFS:

   `efs-netrc-filename': The name of a file in `netrc(5)' format that
EFS will use to match hostnames, users and their respective passwords.
Hostnames specified here are also used for hostname completion.  The
default is `"~/.netrc"'.

   `efs-default-user': If this is a string, it is the username to use
when none is specified in a filename. If `nil', then the name under
which the user is logged in is used. If non-`nil' but not a string, the
user is prompted for the name. The default is `nil'.

   `efs-default-password': The password to use when the user is the
same as `efs-default-user'. The default is `nil'.

   `efs-default-account': Account password to use when the user is the
same as `efs-default-user'. The default is `nil'.

   `efs-dumb-unix-host-regexp': The FTP servers on some machines have
problems if the `ls' command is used. The usual indication that
something is wrong is when EFS erroneously thinks that a directory is
just a plain file. The routine `efs-add-host' can be called to tell EFS
to limit itself to the `DIR' command and not `ls' for a given host (but
this change will take effect for the current Emacs session only) when
called like this:

     (efs-add-host 'dumb-unix "hostname")

   If a large number of machines with similar hostnames have this
problem then it is easier to change the value of this variable to a
regexp which matches hostnames which have this problem, particularly
since EFS cannot automatically detect such hosts. The default is `nil'.

   `efs-binary-file-name-regexp': By default EFS will transfer files in
ASCII mode. If a file being transferred matches the value of this
regexp then the FTP process will be toggled into BINARY mode before the
transfer and back to ASCII mode after the transfer. The default is:
       (concat "\\." ; the dot
     	  ;; extensions
     	  "\\([zZ]\\|t?gz\\|lzh\\|arc\\|zip\\|zoo\\|ta[rz]\\|dvi\\|sit\\|"
     	  "ps\\|elc\\|gif\\|Z-part-..\\|tpz\\|exe\\|[jm]pg\\|TZ[a-z]?\\|lib\\)"
     	  "\\(~\\|~[0-9]+~\\)?$" ; backups
     	  "\\|"
     	  ;; UPPER CASE LAND
     	  "\\."
     	  "\\(ARC\\|ELC\\|TAGS\\|EXE\\|ZIP\\|DVI\|ZOO\\|GIF\\|T?GZ\\|"
     	  "[JM]PG\\)"
     	  "\\([.#;][0-9]+\\)?$" ; versions
     	  )

   `efs-hash-mark-size': EFS by default requests that the FTP process
sends hash marks (just `#' characters) during transfers to keep track
of how much data has been sent or received. This variable, if
non-`nil', should be the number of kilobytes represented by the FTP
client's hash mark. The default value of 1 doesn't work for me -- I use
2 instead.

   `efs-verbose': If this is `t' then EFS will be chatty about
interaction with the FTP process. The default is `t'.

   `efs-ftp-program-name': This should be the name of the FTP program
to run on the local host. The default value of `"ftp"' should be fine
for most systems.

   `efs-make-backup-files': A list of operating systems for which EFS
will make Emacs backup files on the remote host. For example, `'(unix)'
makes sense, but `'(unix vms)' or `'(vms)' would be silly, since VMS
makes its own backups.  The host type is determined by the function
`efs-host-type'.  Possible host types are: `dumb-unix'; `vos'; `vms';
`mts'; and `unix'. The default of `nil' means make no backups on remote
hosts.

   `efs-skip-msgs': A regular expression matching messages from the ftp
process that can be ignored. The default is
       (concat
        "^110 \\|" ; Restart marker reply.
        "^125 \\|" ; Data connection already open; transfer starting.
        "^150 ") ; File status OK; about to open connection.

but you might need to tweak it if EFS is giving up when it shouldn't.

   `efs-fatal-msgs': A regular expression matching messages from the
FTP process that indicate something has gone drastically wrong
attempting the action that was initiated and that the FTP process should
(or already has) been killed. The default is
     (concat
        ;; RFC959 codes
        "^221 \\|" ; Service closing control connection.
        "^421 \\|" ; Service not available.
        "^425 \\|" ; Can't open data connection.
        "^426 \\|" ; Connection closed, transfer aborted.
        "^451 \\|" ; Requested action aborted, local error in processing.
        ;; RFC959 non-compliant codes
        "^552 Maximum Idle Time Exceded\\.$\\|" ; Hellsoft server uses this to
     					   ; indicate a timeout. 552 is
     					   ; supposed to be used for exceeded
     					   ; storage allocation. Note that
     					   ; they also misspelled the error
     					   ; message.
        ;; client problems
        "^ftp: \\|^Not connected\\|^rcmd: \\|^No control connection\\|"
        "^unknown host\\|: unknown host$\\|^lost connection\\|"
        "^[Ss]egmentation fault\\|"
        ;; Make sure that the "local: " isn't just a message about a file.
        "^local: [^/]\\|"
        ;; Gateways
        "^iftp: cannot authenticate to server\\b"
        )

   `efs-gateway-fatal-msgs': Regular expression matching messages from
the rlogin / telnet process that indicates that logging in to the
gateway machine has gone wrong. The default is
     "No route to host\\|Connection closed\\|No such host\\|Login incorrect"

   `efs-tmp-name-template': This should be a directory and a filename
prefix indicating where EFS should make temporary files.  The default
of `"/tmp/efs"' should be fine for most systems.

   `efs-retry-time': Number of seconds to wait before retrying if a
file or listing doesn't arrive. For slow connections, you might get a
"listing unreadable" error messages or an empty buffer for a file that
you know has something in it.  The solution is to increase the value of
`efs-retry-time'.  Its default value is 5 which is plenty for
reasonable connections.  However, for some transatlantic connections 20
might be a better value.


File: efs.info,  Node: Using EFS,  Next: Getting help,  Prev: Installing EFS,  Up: Top

Using EFS
*********

   Once installed, efs operates largely transparently. All files
normally accessible to you on the internet, become part of a large
virtual file system. These files are accessed using an extended file
name syntax. To access file `<path>' on remote host `<host>' by logging
in as user `<user>', you simply specify the full path of the file as
`/<user>@<host>:<path>'. Nearly all Emacs file handling functions work
for remote files. It is not possible to access remote files using shell
commands in an emacs *shell* buffer, as such commands are passed
directly to the shell, and not handled by emacs.

   FTP is the underlying utility that efs uses to operate on remote
files.

   For example, if `find-file' is given a filename of:

     /ange@anorman:/tmp/notes

   then EFS will spawn an FTP process, connect to the host 'anorman' as
user 'ange', get the file `/tmp/notes' and pop up a buffer containing
the contents of that file as if it were on the local file system.  If
efs needed a password to connect then it would prompt the user in the
minibuffer. For further discussion of the EFS path syntax, see the
paragraph on extended file name syntax *Note Remote filenames::.

   Full file-name completion is supported on every type of remote host.
To do filename completion, EFS needs a listing from the remote host.
Therefore, for very slow connections, it might not save any time.
However, the listing is cached, so subsequent uses of file-name
completion will be just as fast as for local file names.

* Menu:

* Ports::                       Using nonstandard ports.
* Remote filenames::            The EFS extended filename syntax.
* Passwords::
* Using Dired::                 Browsing directories.
* Using a .netrc::              Preventing password pestering.
* EFS commands::                Interactive commands supplied by EFS.
* FTP processes::               How EFS does its work
* Tips::                        Some stuff to help you use EFS
* DL support::                  Descriptive directory listings
* Non-Unix Hosts::              Some of what you want to know
* Completion::                  Works but has its price
* Accessing the FTP process::   ... manually


File: efs.info,  Node: Ports,  Next: Remote filenames,  Prev: Using EFS,  Up: Using EFS

Using nonstandard ports
=======================

   EFS supports the use of nonstandard ports on remote hosts.  To
specify that port `<port>' should be used, give the host name as
`host#<port>'. Host names may be given in this form anywhere that efs
normally expects a host name. This includes in the `.netrc' file.
Logically, EFS treats different ports to correspond to different remote
hosts.


File: efs.info,  Node: Remote filenames,  Next: Passwords,  Prev: Ports,  Up: Using EFS

Extended filename syntax
========================

   The default full EFS path syntax is

     /<user>@<host>#<port>:<path>

   Both the `#<port>''and `<user>@' may be omitted.

   If the `#<port>' is omitted, then the default port is taken to be 21,
the usual FTP port. For most users, the port syntax will only very
rarely be necessary.

   If the `<user>@' is omitted, then EFS will use a default user.  If a
login token is specified in your `.netrc' file, then this will be used
as the default user for `<host>'.  Otherwise, it is determined based on
the value of the variable `efs-default-user'.

   This EFS path syntax can be customised to a certain extent by
changing a number of variables.  To undertake such a customization
requires some knowledge about the internal workings of EFS.


File: efs.info,  Node: Passwords,  Next: Using Dired,  Prev: Remote filenames,  Up: Using EFS

Passwords
=========

   A password is required for each host / user pair.  This will be
prompted for when needed, unless already set by calling
`efs-set-passwd', or specified in a *valid* `~/.netrc' file.

   When EFS prompts for a password, it provides defaults from its cache
of currently known passwords.  The defaults are ordered such that
passwords for accounts which have the same user name as the login which
is currently underway have priority. You can cycle through your list of
defaults with `C-n' to cycle forwards and `C-p' to cycle backwards. The
list is circular.

Passwords for anonymous user
----------------------------

   Passwords for the user anonymous (or ftp) are handled specially.
The variable `efs-generate-anonymous-password' controls what \vindex
efs-generate-anonymous-password happens. If the value of this variable
is a string, then this is used as the password; if non-`nil', then a
password is created from the name of the user and the hostname of the
machine on which Emacs is running; if `nil' (the default) then the user
is prompted for a password as normal.

Account passwords
-----------------

   Some FTP servers require an additional password which is sent by the
`ACCOUNT' command.  EFS will detect this and prompt the user for an
account password if the server expects one.  Also, an account password
can be set by calling `efs-set-account', or by specifying an account
token in the `.netrc' file.

   Some operating systems, such as CMS, require that `ACCOUNT' be used
to give a write access password for minidisks.  `efs-set-account' can be
used to set a write password for a specific minidisk. Also, tokens of
the form

     minidisk <minidisk name> <password>

   may be added to host lines in your `.netrc' file. Minidisk tokens
must be at the end of the host line, however there may be an arbitrary
number of them for any given host.


File: efs.info,  Node: Using Dired,  Next: Using a .netrc,  Prev: Passwords,  Up: Using EFS

Using Dired
===========

   This feature of EFS is particularly useful when file transfers, as
opposed to file editing, are the order of the day. Simply run
`find-file' on a directory to get a listing of the files in that
directory. For example, you might run `find-file' on
     /anonymous@archive.site.com:pub

to see what's in the `pub' directory of your favourite archive site.
This brings up a Dired buffer of all the files in that directory.  The
`f' command is useful for looking at `README' files -- if you then
decide to save it `C-x C-w' is useful. You can also use this method to
copy files, but the `c' command is easier. The `f' command can also be
used to descend the directory tree by applying it to directories.

   You can also use Dired to refresh EFS's internal cache. If you (or
anybody else) has changed a remote directory since you first accessed it
with EFS, completion is not provided on any new files that EFS does not
know about. If you have (or create) a Dired buffer which contains the
modified directory, executing `revert-buffer' with a prefix argument
(`C-u g' in the Dired buffer) will force a refresh of both the the
buffer *and also EFS's internal cache*. If you find that filename
completion isn't working on a file that you *know* is there, this is
how to fix the problem.

   Dired provides facilities for maintaining an entire directory tree
in a Dired buffer, for marking files which match a certain regexp (or
you can select files interactively) and then copying all those files to
your local host (or even a different remote host).  Another useful
feature is Virtual Dired, which allows you to save Dired buffers of
remote hosts, allowing you to browse them at a later date without
actually needing to connect to the host.


File: efs.info,  Node: Using a .netrc,  Next: EFS commands,  Prev: Using Dired,  Up: Using EFS

Using a .netrc file
===================

   Being prompted for passwords all the time can get rather annoying,
but there is a way to fix the problem -- a `.netrc' (but *Note Other
options:: and `efs-netrc-filename' if you want another filename) file
in your home directory. Basically, this is a file (in the format of
Unix `netrc(5)') which contains the names of all the machines you
regularly login to, as well as the username and password you use for
that machine. You can also supply an account password, if required.

   Your `.netrc' file consists of lines of the form
     machine <machine-name> login <user-name> password <password>

It doesn't all have to be on the one line, though: any `login' or
`password' commands in the file refer to the previous `machine'
command. You can also have `account <account-passwd>' commands if you
need special account passwords.

   For example, you might have the following line in your `.netrc':
     machine Y.local.lan.edu login myname password secret

Then if you run `find-file' on the file `/Y.local.lan.edu:somefile' you
will automatically be logged in as user `myname' with password
`secret'. You can still login under another name and password, if you
so desire: just include the `user@' part of the filename.

   You may also include a default option, as follows:
     default login <user-name> password <password>

which applies to any other machines not mentioned elsewhere in your
`.netrc'. A particularly useful application of this is with anonymous
logins:
     default login myname password myname@myhost.edu

so that accessing `/anyhost:anyfile' will automatically log you in
anonymously, provided the host is not mentioned in the `.netrc'.  Note
also that if the value of `efs-default-user' is non-`nil', its value
will have precedence over the username supplied in the default option
of the `.netrc'.

   The `.netrc' file is also useful in another regard: machines
included in it are provided with hostname completion. That is, for any
machine in the `.netrc', you need only type a slash and the first few
characters of its name and then press <TAB> to be logged in
automatically with a username and password from the `.netrc' file.  So
it's a good idea to put hosts you use regularly in your `.netrc' as
well:
     machine archive.site.com login anonymous password myname@X.local.lan.edu


File: efs.info,  Node: EFS commands,  Next: FTP processes,  Prev: Using a .netrc,  Up: Using EFS

EFS commands
============

   EFS supplies a few interactive commands to make connecting with
hosts a little easier.

Command `efs-set-user': Prompts for a hostname and a username.  Next
time access to the host is attempted, EFS will attempt to log in again
with the new username.

Command `efs-set-passwd': Prompts for a hostname, user and password.
Future logins to that host as that user will use the given password.

Command `efs-set-account': Prompts for a hostname, user and account.
Future logins to that host as that user will use the given account.

   Note that the effects of the above three commands only last the
duration of the current Emacs session. To make their effects permanent,
you may include them as lisp code in your `.emacs':
     (efs-set-user HOST USER)
     (efs-set-password HOST USER PASSWORD)
     (efs-set-account HOST USER ACCOUNT)

This is an alternative to using a `.netrc'; *Note Using a .netrc::.

Command `efs-kill-ftp-process': kill the FTP process associated with a
given buffer's filename (by default the current buffer). This is an
easy way to achieve a resynch: any future accesses to the remote host
will cause the FTP process to be recreated.


File: efs.info,  Node: FTP processes,  Next: Tips,  Prev: EFS commands,  Up: Using EFS

FTP processes
=============

   When EFS starts up an FTP process, it leaves it running for speed
purposes.  Some FTP servers will close the connection after a period of
time, but EFS should be able to quietly reconnect the next time that
the process is needed.

   The FTP process will be killed should the associated `*ftp
user@host*' buffer be deleted.  This should not cause efs any grief.

Showing background FTP activity on the mode-line
------------------------------------------------

   After EFS is loaded, the command `efs-display-ftp-activity' will
cause background FTP activity to be displayed on the mode line. The
variable `efs-mode-line-format' is used to determine how this data is
displayed.  efs does not continuously track the number of active
sessions, as this would cause the display to change too rapidly.
Rather, it uses a heuristic algorithm to determine when there is a
significant change in FTP activity.

File types
----------

   By default EFS will assume that all files are ASCII. If a file being
transferred matches the value of `efs-binary-file-name-regexp' then the
file will be assumed to be a binary file, and EFS will transfer it
using "type image". ASCII files will be transferred using a transfer
type which efs computes to be correct according to its knowledge of the
file system of the remote host. The command
`efs-prompt-for-transfer-type' toggles the variable
`efs-prompt-for-transfer-type'. When this variable is non-`nil', EFS
will prompt the user for the transfer type to use for every FTP
transfer.  Having this set all the time is annoying, but it is useful
to give special treatment to a small set of files.  There is also a
variable `efs-text-file-name-regexp'.  This is tested before
`efs-binary-file-name-regexp', so if you set
`efs-text-file-name-regexp' to a non-trivial regular expression, and
`efs-binary-file-name-regexp' to `".*"', the result will to make image
the default tranfer type.

   Also, if you set `efs-treat-crlf-as-nl', then EFS will use type image
to transfer files between hosts whose file system differ only in that
one specifies end of line as CR-LF, and the other as NL.  This is useful
if you are transferring files between UNIX and DOS machines, and have a
package such as `dos-mode.el', that handles the extra <^M>'s.

Status reports
--------------

   Most EFS commands that talk to the FTP process output a status
message on what they are doing.  In addition, efs can take advantage of
the FTP client's `HASH' command to display the status of transferring
files and listing directories.  See the documentation for the variables
`efs-hash-mark-size', `efs-send-hash' and `efs-verbose' for more
details.

Caching of directory information
--------------------------------

   EFS keeps an internal cache of file listings from remote hosts.  If
this cache gets out of synch, it can be renewed by reverting a dired
buffer for the appropriate directory (`dired-revert' is usually bound
to `g').

   Alternatively, you can add the following two lines to your `.emacs'
file if you want `C-r' to refresh EFS's cache whilst doing filename
completion.

     (define-key minibuffer-local-completion-map "\C-r" 'efs-re-read-dir)
     (define-key minibuffer-local-must-match-map "\C-r" 'efs-re-read-dir)


File: efs.info,  Node: Tips,  Next: DL support,  Prev: FTP processes,  Up: Using EFS

Tips for using EFS
==================

  1. Beware of compressing files on non-UNIX hosts. EFS will do it by
     copying the file to the local machine, compressing it there, and
     then sending it back. Binary file transfers between machines of
     different architectures can be a risky business. Test things out
     first on some test files. *Note Bugs:: Also, note that EFS
     sometimes copies files by moving them through the local machine.
     Again, be careful when doing this with binary files on non-Unix
     machines.

  2. Beware that dired over ftp will use your setting of
     `dired-no-confirm' (list of dired commands for which confirmation
     is not asked).  You might want to reconsider your setting of this
     variable, because you might want confirmation for more commands on
     remote direds than on local direds. For example, I strongly
     recommend that you not include compress in this list. If there is
     enough demand it might be a good idea to have an alist
     `efs-dired-no-confirm' of pairs `( TYPE . LIST )', where `TYPE' is
     an operating system type and `LIST' is a list of commands for which
     confirmation would be suppressed.  Then remote dired listings
     would take their (buffer-local) value of `dired-no-confirm' from
     this alist. Who votes for this?

  3. Some combinations of FTP clients and servers break and get out of
     sync when asked to list a non-existent directory.  Some of the
     ai.mit.edu machines cause this problem for some FTP clients. Using
     `efs-kill-ftp-process' can be used to restart the ftp process,
     which should get things back in synch.

  4. Some ftp servers impose a length limit on the password that can be
     sent. If this limit is exceeded they may bomb in an
     incomprehensible way. This sort of behaviour is common with MVS
     servers. Therefore, you should beware of this possibility if you
     are generating a long password (like an email address) with
     `efs-generate-anonymous-password'.

  5. Some antiquated FTP servers hang when asked for an `RNFR' command.
     EFS sometimes uses this to test whether its local cache is stale.
     If your server for `HOST' hangs when asked for this command, put

          (efs-set-host-property HOST 'rnfr-failed t)

     in your `efs-ftp-startup-function-alist' entry for `HOST'.

  6. The FTP servers on some Unix machines have problems if the `ls'
     command is used.  EFS will try to correct for this automatically,
     and send the `dir' command instead.  If it fails, you can call the
     function `efs-add-host', and give the host type as `dumb-unix'.
     Note that this change will take effect for the current Emacs
     session only. To make this specification for future emacs
     sessions, put

          (efs-add-host 'dumb-unix "hostname")

     in your `.emacs' file. Also, please report any failure to
     automatically recognize dumb unix to the "bugs" address given
     below, so that we can fix the auto recognition code.



File: efs.info,  Node: DL support,  Next: Non-Unix Hosts,  Prev: Tips,  Up: Using EFS

Descriptive directory listings
==============================

   Some hosts (such as `cs.uwp.edu') now use descriptive directory
listings (which in fact contain *less* information than the standard
listing!) when issued the `ls' command, and EFS has been modified to
cope with this. EFS can detect such listings, but if you regularly use
a remote host which uses this extended listing format you should set
the variable `efs-dl-dir-regexp' to a regular expression which matches
directories using the extended listing format. You shouldn't anchor the
regexp with `$' - that way the regexp will match subdirectories as
well.  Alternatively, you can use the interactive command
`efs-add-dl-dir' to temporarily add a remote directory for this Emacs
session only.

   Dired has been modified to work with such descriptive listings.


File: efs.info,  Node: Non-Unix Hosts,  Next: Completion,  Prev: DL support,  Up: Using EFS

Using EFS with non-Unix hosts
=============================

   EFS also works with some non-Unix hosts, although not necessarily
with all the features available with Unix hosts. VMS, CMS, and MTS
systems will all now work with EFS and Dired.  It also works with a
whole bunch of others, but documentation for that has not been written
yet.  This section was taken straight from the ange-ftp manual, and is
therefore in all likelihood out-of-date.

   EFS should be able to automatically detect which type of host you
are using (VMS, CMS or MTS), but if it is unable to do so you can fix
the problem by setting the appropriate `efs-TYPE-host-regexp' variable
(where `TYPE' is one of `vms', `cms' or `mts') - see below. If EFS is
unable to automatically detect any VMS, CMS or MTS host, please report
this as a bug: *Note Bugs::.

   In all cases the file-name conventions of the remote host are
converted to a UNIX-ish format, and this is the format you should use
to find files on such hosts.

* Menu:

* VMS support::                 Using EFS with VMS systems
* CMS support::                 Using EFS with CMS systems
* MTS support::                 Using EFS with MTS systems


File: efs.info,  Node: VMS support,  Next: CMS support,  Prev: Non-Unix Hosts,  Up: Non-Unix Hosts

VMS support
-----------

   VMS filenames are of the form `FILE.TYPE;##', where both `FILE' and
`TYPE' can be up to 39 characters long, and `##' is an integer version
number between 1 and 32,767. Valid characters in filenames are `A'-`Z',
`0'-`9', `_', `-' and `$', however `$' cannot begin a filename and `-'
cannot be used as the first or last character.

   Directories in VMS are converted to the standard UNIX `/' notation.
For example, the VMS filename
     PUB$:[ANONYMOUS.SDSCPUB.NEXT]README.TXT;1
   would be entered as

     /PUB$$:/ANONYMOUS/SDSCPUB/NEXT/README.TXT;1

(The double `$' is required to prevent Emacs from attempting to expand
an environment variable.)  Similarly, to anonymously FTP the file
`[.CSV.POLICY]RULES.MEM;1' from `ymir.claremont.edu' you would type
`C-x C-f /anonymous@ymir.claremont.edu:CSV/POLICY/RULES.MEM;1'. You can
always drop off the `;##' part at the end of the filename to get the
latest version.

   Sandy Rutherford provides some tips for using VMS hosts:
   * Although VMS is not case sensitive, EMACS running under UNIX is.
     Therefore, to access a VMS file, you must enter the filename with
     upper case letters.

   * To access the latest version of file under VMS, you use the
     filename without the `;' and version number. You should always
     edit the latest version of a file. If you want to edit an earlier
     version, copy it to a new file first. This has nothing to do with
     EFS, but is simply good VMS operating practice. Therefore, to edit
     `FILE.TXT;3' (say 3 is latest version), do `C-x C-f
     /ymir.claremont.edu:FILE.TXT'. If you inadvertently do
          C-x C-f /ymir.claremont.edu:FILE.TXT;3

     you will find that VMS will not allow you to save the file because
     it will refuse to overwrite `FILE.TXT;3', but instead will want to
     create `FILE.TXT;4', and attach the buffer to this file. To get
     out of this situation, `M-x write-file
     /ymir.claremont.edu:FILE.TXT' will attach the buffer to latest
     version of the file. For this reason, in Dired `f'
     (`dired-find-file'), always loads the file sans version, whereas
     `v', (`dired-view-file'), always loads the explicit version
     number. The reasoning being that it reasonable to view old
     versions of a file, but not to edit them.

   * VMS filenames often contain `$' characters: make sure you always
     quote these as `$$' and watch out for the Emacs bug which fails to
     quote `$''s when defaults are presented in the minibuffer: see
     *Note Bugs::.

   EFS should automatically detect that you are using a VMS host. If it
fails to do so (which should be reported as a bug) you can use the
command `efs-add-vms-host' to inform EFS manually. For a more permanent
effect, or if you use a VMS host regularly, it's a good idea to set
`efs-vms-host-regexp' to a regular expression matching that host's
name. For instance, if use use `ymir.claremont.edu' a lot, place the
following in your .emacs:
     (setq efs-vms-host-regexp "^ymir.claremont.edu$")


File: efs.info,  Node: CMS support,  Next: MTS support,  Prev: VMS support,  Up: Non-Unix Hosts

CMS support
-----------

   EFS has full support, including Dired support, for hosts running CMS.

   CMS filenames are entered in a UNIX-y way. Minidisks are treated as
UNIX directories; for example to access the file `READ.ME' in minidisk
`*.311' on `cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu', you would enter
     /anonymous@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu:/*.311/READ.ME
   If `*.301' is the default minidisk for this account, you could access
`FOO.BAR' on this minidisk as
     /anonymous@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu:FOO.BAR
   CMS filenames are of the form `FILE.TYPE', where both `FILE' and
`TYPE' can be up to 8 characters. Again, beware that CMS filenames are
always upper case, and hence must be entered as such.

   Sandy Rutherford provides some tips on using CMS hosts:
   * CMS machines, with the exception of anonymous accounts, nearly
     always need an account password. To have EFS send an account
     password, you can either include it in your `.netrc' (*Note Using
     a .netrc::), or use `efs-set-account'.

   * EFS cannot send "write passwords" for a minidisk. Hopefully, we
     can fix this.

   EFS should automatically detect that you are using a CMS host. If it
fails to do so (which should be reported as a bug) you can use the
command `efs-add-cms-host' to inform EFS manually. For a more permanent
effect, or if you use a CMS host regularly, it's a good idea to set
`efs-cms-host-regexp' to a regular expression matching that host's name.


File: efs.info,  Node: MTS support,  Prev: CMS support,  Up: Non-Unix Hosts

MTS support
-----------

   EFS has full support, including Dired support, for hosts running the
Michigan terminal system, and should be able to automatically recognise
any MTS machine.

   MTS filenames are entered in a UNIX-y way. For example, if your
account was `YYYY', the file `FILE' in the account `XXXX:' on
`mtsg.ubc.ca' would be entered as
     /YYYY@mtsg.ubc.ca:/XXXX:/FILE
   In other words, MTS accounts are treated as UNIX directories. Of
course, to access a file in another account, you must have access
permission for it.  If `FILE' were in your own account, then you could
enter it in a relative path fashion as
     /YYYY@mtsg.ubc.ca:FILE
   MTS filenames can be up to 12 characters. Like UNIX, the structure
of the filename does not contain a type (i.e. it can have as many `.''s
as you like.) MTS filenames are always in upper case, and hence be sure
to enter them as such! MTS is not case sensitive, but an EMACS running
under UNIX is.

   EFS should automatically detect that you are using an MTS host. If
it fails to do so (which should be reported as a bug) you can use the
command `efs-add-mts-host' to inform EFS manually. For a more permanent
effect, or if you use an MTS host regularly, it's a good idea to set
`efs-mts-host-regexp' to a regular expression matching that host's name.


File: efs.info,  Node: Completion,  Next: Accessing the FTP process,  Prev: Non-Unix Hosts,  Up: Using EFS

File- and host-name completion
==============================

   Full filename completion is supported on all remote UNIX hosts and
some non-Unix hosts.  Hostnames also have completion if they are
mentioned in the `.netrc' and no username is specified. However using
the filename completion feature can be a bit of a two edged sword.

   To understand why, we need to discuss how EFS works. Whenever EFS is
asked to find a remote file (or directory) an `ls' command is sent to
the FTP process to list all the files in the directory. This list is
maintained in an internal cache, to provide filename completion for
later requests on that directory. EFS keeps this cache up-to-date by
monitoring Emacs commands which affect files and directories, but if a
process outside Emacs (such as another user) changes a directory (e.g.
a new file is added) completion won't work on that file since EFS
doesn't know about it yet. The solution if to force EFS to reread the
directory and update it's cache, and the easiest way to do that is with
Dired -- *Note Using Dired:: to see how.

   Another problem is that the `ls' command can take a long time,
especially when dealing with distant hosts over slow links. So if you're
after a file in the `pub/images' directory but nothing else, it's a
better idea to type `pub/images/file <TAB>' than `pub/im <TAB>' which
will force a read of the `pub' directory (since EFS needs to know how
to complete `im'). A little extra typing can often save a lot of
waiting. Don't be afraid to use the <TAB> key once the directory is
cached, though.


File: efs.info,  Node: Accessing the FTP process,  Prev: Completion,  Up: Using EFS

Accessing the FTP process buffer
================================

   The FTP process used to access the remote files is available for
access if you wish. It will be in a buffer called `"*ftp
REMOTE-FILE-NAME*"', i.e. if you found the file
     /anonymous@archive.site.com:pub/README

there will be a buffer
     *ftp anonymous@archive.site.com*

where all the transfers are taking place. You can have a look at the
buffer using `C-x b' as usual, and even type in commands to the FTP
process under an interface very much like `shell-mode'. There are two
instances when doing this can be very useful: one is accessing non-UNIX
hosts, where Dired and filename completion may not work (if EFS even
works at all).  If you are going to use `mget' or `mput', make sure you
type `glob' first: EFS turns globbing off by default. Don't be afraid
of changing directories, either -- EFS always uses absolute pathnames
when communicating with the FTP process.

   You can kill the FTP process at any time simply by killing this
buffer.  You can also call `efs-kill-ftp-process'.  This won't cause
EFS any grief whatsoever -- if you later make another request to that
host, EFS will simply fire up another process and create a new buffer
to hold it.


File: efs.info,  Node: Getting help,  Next: Bugs,  Prev: Using EFS,  Up: Top

Getting help
************

   EFS has its own mailing list called efs-help.  All users of EFS are
welcome to subscribe (see below) and to discuss aspects of EFS.

   To [un]subscribe to efs-help, or to report mailer problems with the
list, please mail one of the following addresses:

     efs-help-request@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com
   or
     efs-help-request%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com

   Please don't forget the -request part.

   For mail to be posted directly to efs-help, send to one of the
following addresses:

     efs-help@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com
   or
     efs-help%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com

   Alternatively, there is a mailing list that only gets announcements
of new EFS releases.  This is called efs-announce, and can be
subscribed to by e-mailing to the -request address as above.  Please
make it clear in the request which mailing list you wish to join.

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File: efs.info,  Node: Bugs,  Next: Concept Index,  Prev: Getting help,  Up: Top

Bugs and Wish List
******************

   If you find any bugs or problems with this package, *please* e-mail
the authors. Ideas and constructive comments are especially welcome. So
are any enhancements to EFS, preferably debugged and documented. Also
welcome are any typo fixes, corrections or additions to this manual.

   Here is a list of known bugs:

   If you hit a bug in this list, please report it anyway. Most of the
bugs here remain unfixed because they are considered too esoteric to be
a high priority. If one of them gets reported enough, we will likely
change our view on that.

  1. EFS does not check to make sure that when creating a new file, you
     provide a valid filename for the remote operating system.  If you
     do not, then the remote FTP server will most likely translate your
     filename in some way. This may cause EFS to get confused about
     what exactly is the name of the file.

  2. For CMS support, we send too many `cd''s. Since `cd''s are cheap,
     I haven't worried about this too much. Eventually, we should have
     some caching of the current minidisk. This is complicated by the
     fact that some CMS servers lie about the current minidisk, so
     sending redundant cd's helps us recover in this case.

  3. The code to do compression of files over ftp is not as careful as
     it should be. It deletes the old remote version of the file, before
     actually checking if the local to remote transfer of the
     compressed file succeeds. Of course to delete the original version
     of the file after transferring the compressed version back is also
     dangerous, because some OS's have severe restrictions on the
     length of filenames, and when the compressed version is copied
     back the `"-Z"' or `".Z"' may be truncated. Then, EFS would delete
     the only remaining version of the file.  Maybe EFS should make
     backups when it compresses files (of course, the backup `"~"'
     could also be truncated off, sigh...).  Suggestions?

  4. If a dir listing is attempted for an empty directory on (at least
     some) VMS hosts, an ftp error is given. This is really an ftp bug,
     and I don't know how to get EFS work to around it.

  5. EFS gets confused by directories containing file names with
     embedded newlines. A temporary solution is to add `"q"' to your
     dired listing switches. As long as your dired listing switches
     also contain `"l"' and either `"a"' or `"A"', EFS will use these
     switches to get listings for its internal cache. The "q" switch
     should force listings to be exactly one file per line. You still
     will not be able to access a file with embedded newlines, but at
     least it won't mess up the parsing of the rest of the files.

  6. EFS cannot parse symlinks which have an embedded `" -> "' in their
     name. It's alright to have an embedded `" -> "' in the name of any
     other type of file. A fix is possible, but probably not worth the
     trouble. If you disagree, send us a bug report.

  7. EFS doesn't handle context-dep. files in H-switch listings on
     HP's. It wouldn't be such a big roaring deal to fix this. I'm
     waiting until I get an actual bug report though.

  8. If a hard link is added or deleted, EFS will not update its
     internal cache of the link count for other names of the file.
     This may cause file-nlinks to return incorrectly. Reverting any
     dired buffer containing other names for the file will cause the
     file data to be updated, including the link counts.  A fix for
     this problem is known and will be eventually implemented. How it
     is implemented will depend on how we decide to handle inodes. See
     below.

  9. EFS is unable to parse R-switch listings from remote Unix hosts.
     This is inefficient, because EFS will insist on doing individual
     listings of the subdirectories to get its file information.  This
     may be fixed if there is enough demand.

 10. In file-attributes, EFS returns a fake inode number. Of course
     this is necessary, but this inode number is not even necessarily
     unique.  It is simply the sum of the characters (treated as
     integers) in the host name, user name, and file name. Possible
     ways to get a unique inode number are:

       1. Simply keep a count of all remote file in the cache, and
          return the file's position in this count as a negative number.

       2. For unix systems, we could actually get at the real inode
          number on the remote host, by adding an `"i"' to the ls
          switches.  The inode numbers would then be removed from the
          listing returned by `efs-ls', if the caller hadn't requested
          the `"i"' switch. We could then make a unique number out of
          the host name and the real inode number.

 11. EFS tries to determine if a file is readable or writable by
     comparing the file modes, file owner, and user name under which it
     is logged into the remote host. This does not take into account
     groups.  We simply assume that the user belongs to all groups. As
     a result we may assume that a file is writable, when in fact it is
     not.  Groups are tough to handle correctly over FTP. Suggestions?
     (For new FTP servers, can do a `"QUOTE SITE EXEC groups"' to
     handle this.)


File: efs.info,  Node: Concept Index,  Next: Variable and function index,  Prev: Bugs,  Up: Top

Concept Index
*************

* Menu:

* anonymous FTP:                         Using a .netrc.
* archive sites:                         Using Dired.
* backup files:                          Other options.
* buffers:                               Accessing the FTP process.
* CMS filenames:                         CMS support.
* descriptive directory listings:        DL support.
* extended directory listings:           DL support.
* filename completion:                   Using Dired.
* FTP processes:                         Accessing the FTP process.
* hostname completion:                   Using a .netrc.
* listing unreadable error:              Other options.
* MTS filenames:                         MTS support.
* process buffers:                       Accessing the FTP process.
* processes:                             Accessing the FTP process.
* temporary files:                       Other options.
* virtual dired:                         Using Dired.
* VMS filenames:                         VMS support.


File: efs.info,  Node: Variable and function index,  Prev: Concept Index,  Up: Top

Variable and function index
***************************

* Menu:

* dired-find-file:                       VMS support.
* dired-no-confirm:                      Tips.
* dired-view-file:                       VMS support.
* efs-add-cms-host:                      CMS support.
* efs-add-dl-dir:                        DL support.
* efs-add-host <1>:                      Tips.
* efs-add-host:                          Other options.
* efs-add-mts-host:                      MTS support.
* efs-add-vms-host:                      VMS support.
* efs-binary-file-name-regexp <1>:       FTP processes.
* efs-binary-file-name-regexp:           Other options.
* efs-cms-host-regexp:                   CMS support.
* efs-default-account:                   Other options.
* efs-default-password:                  Other options.
* efs-default-user <1>:                  Using a .netrc.
* efs-default-user <2>:                  Remote filenames.
* efs-default-user:                      Other options.
* efs-display-ftp-activity:              FTP processes.
* efs-dl-dir-regexp:                     DL support.
* efs-dumb-unix-host-regexp:             Other options.
* efs-fatal-msgs:                        Other options.
* efs-ftp-local-host-regexp:             Setting up a gateway.
* efs-ftp-program-args:                  Gateway types.
* efs-ftp-program-name:                  Other options.
* efs-ftp-startup-function-alist:        Tips.
* efs-gateway-fatal-msgs:                Other options.
* efs-gateway-host:                      Setting up a gateway.
* efs-gateway-mounted-dirs-alist:        Setting up a gateway.
* efs-gateway-tmp-name-template:         Setting up a gateway.
* efs-gateway-type:                      Gateway types.
* efs-generate-anonymous-password:       Tips.
* efs-gwp-prompt-pattern:                Gateway types.
* efs-gwp-setup-term-command:            Gateway types.
* efs-hash-mark-size <1>:                FTP processes.
* efs-hash-mark-size:                    Other options.
* efs-kill-ftp-process <1>:              Accessing the FTP process.
* efs-kill-ftp-process <2>:              Tips.
* efs-kill-ftp-process:                  EFS commands.
* efs-local-host-regexp:                 Setting up a gateway.
* efs-make-backup-files:                 Other options.
* efs-mode-line-format:                  FTP processes.
* efs-mts-host-regexp:                   MTS support.
* efs-netrc-filename <1>:                Using a .netrc.
* efs-netrc-filename:                    Other options.
* efs-process-verbose:                   Other options.
* efs-prompt-for-transfer-type:          FTP processes.
* efs-retry-time:                        Other options.
* efs-send-hash:                         FTP processes.
* efs-set-account <1>:                   CMS support.
* efs-set-account <2>:                   EFS commands.
* efs-set-account:                       Passwords.
* efs-set-passwd <1>:                    EFS commands.
* efs-set-passwd:                        Passwords.
* efs-set-user:                          EFS commands.
* efs-skip-msgs <1>:                     Other options.
* efs-skip-msgs:                         Gateway problems.
* efs-text-file-name-regexp:             FTP processes.
* efs-tmp-name-template:                 Other options.
* efs-treat-crlf-as-nl:                  FTP processes.
* efs-verbose:                           FTP processes.
* efs-vms-host-regexp:                   VMS support.
* revert-buffer:                         Using Dired.



Tag Table:
Node: Top191
Node: What is EFS?1285
Node: Installing EFS3873
Node: Obtaining source code5341
Node: Installing source6043
Node: Using a gateway7665
Node: Setting up a gateway8765
Node: Gateway types10684
Node: Gateway problems17913
Node: Other options20092
Node: Using EFS26085
Node: Ports28380
Node: Remote filenames28867
Node: Passwords29754
Node: Using Dired31735
Node: Using a .netrc33595
Node: EFS commands36048
Node: FTP processes37336
Node: Tips40700
Node: DL support43812
Node: Non-Unix Hosts44730
Node: VMS support46007
Node: CMS support49148
Node: MTS support50687
Node: Completion52079
Node: Accessing the FTP process53762
Node: Getting help55087
Node: Bugs56155
Node: Concept Index61564
Node: Variable and function index62686

End Tag Table
