usr/bin/ftp default file type varies depending on server

The standard ftp client (usr/bin/ftp) default file type varies depending on which ftp server I connect to. For me this is strange since the TYPE is defined by the client, not the server.

scenarios:

SLES 9 ftp client connects to windows 3cdaemon server and the default type is binary.

SLES 9 ftp client connects to windows filezilla server and the default type is ascii.

*same windows server is used only the ftp server runnning is changed

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That the client can specify ascii or binary is apparent but I do not
believe that overrides the possibility of the server having a default.
Doing a quick LAN trace of an FTP connection I do not see anything about
the transfer type in there by default.

Good luck.

dinplant wrote:
> The standard ftp client (usr/bin/ftp) default file type varies depending
> on which ftp server I connect to. For me this is strange since the TYPE
> is defined by the client, not the server.
>
> scenarios:
>
> SLES 9 ftp client connects to windows 3cdaemon server and the default
> type is binary.
>
> SLES 9 ftp client connects to windows filezilla server and the default
> type is ascii.
>
> *same windows server is used only the ftp server runnning is changed
>
>
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Often the ‘default’ type is dependent on the type of systems on both sites. I have seen systems (especialy of the Unix/Linux) type that have ASCII as default, but revert to BIN as default when they find out that the other system is of the same type.

This is because in that case a binary transfer works also perfect on ASCII type files and has better performance.

When systems are of a different type conversions like CR-LF to LF and vv. and ASCII to EBSDIC and vv. must possibly be done which is cared for by the ASCII type and thus this is taken as the default.

The above means that imho it is not so fixed what happens here. It is the outcome of some negotiation.

In any case I can only comment on the general case. I have no knowledge whatever about the MS software. Nor do I have more initimate knowlegde on the SLES distribution here in the openSUSE Forums.

It’s not actually a file type but a transfer mode. As the default transfer mode is not mandated by any standard different servers do whatever they think might be the best for their users but in any case the client can explicitly request a transfer mode. It might also be possible that a server can detect the client OS and choose what they think is a good default. To be sure of the result, do not rely on any defaults.

The server can specify/negotiate the transfer type during the client/server connection.

You can change your transfer method via the GUI, or via command line.