On 2007-08-03, mtice wrote:
: I'm trying to ftp into an i/5 to retrieve a file. I'm getting an
: error however. These are the commands:
:
: # kermit
: C-Kermit>ftp 10.5.0.13
: Connected to 10.5.0.13.
: Name (10.5.0.13:root): cmc
: Password:
: C-Kermit>cd /qsys.lib/eom063007.lib
: C-Kermit>bin
: C-Kermit>get DATAAZ.file
: Subcommand SIZE not valid.
: C-Kermit>quit
:
: However, if I use the shell's (bash, suse linux 10.0) built-in ftp
: client I'm able to retrieve the file just fine. If anyone could shed
: some light on this problem I'd appreciate it greatly.
:
When you give a GET command, Kermit sends a SIZE command to get the file's
size so (for example) it can give a progress indication during the transfer.

C-Kermit>set ftp debug on
C-Kermit>get msk315.txt
---> SIZE msk315.txt
213 16220
GET msk315.txt (text) (16220 bytes)---> PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (128,59,29,214,130,34)
---> RETR msk315.txt
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for msk315.txt (15814 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
C-Kermit>

If the server does not understand the SIZE command, Kermit is supposed to say
(to itself), "OK, fine, I don't know the size but I will still ask for the
file", and then it sends a RETR command. I don't see anyplace in the code
where Kermit would fail to send the RETR command upon getting an error in
response to the SIZE command. I would be interested to find out how this
happened. In the meantime, however, you can always work around the
problem by giving the following command before you do a GET or MGET:

ftp disable size

- Frank