Re: Specifying file names in SSH File Transfer Protocol

["Jeff P. Van Dyke" <jpv%vandyke.com@localhost>]

> On Fri, Mar 08, 2002 at 10:17:24AM -0700, Dan O'Reilly wrote:
> > Next question: is there a need for a system identifier?  In our work here
> > for VMS, we would have found it useful to know something about the other
> > side of the transaction.  Specifically, if the system is UNIX, there's
> > exactly 1 file structure.  However, on VMS, there are multiple file
> > structures, so knowing the other side is VMS would be important.  I'm not
> > suggesting that be part of the above message, but perhaps something in the
> > initial message exchange could incorporate that functionality.
> Do not complicate things. KISS is still a good moto.  ASN.1 is the
> biggest mess to ever have entered the IETF.
> 
> I am sure that there is a canonical filename transformation from VMS
> to UNIX and vice versa.  This is an application problem and I do not
> see any need to further burden the ssh protocols.

Personally, I'm not convinced changing SFTP is the right solution
(it's widely deployed and very UNIX specific in many ways), but I
do believe there is a need to address this problem without forcing
all of the burden onto the applications.

The problem goes beyond filenames.  I'd like to be able to manipulate
file permissions remotely.  And, the current UNIX model of file
permissions is too simple to map to Windows NT.

Does NFSv3 or WebNFS address the file permissions problem in
a better fashion than SFTP or FTP?

Jeff P. Van Dyke
jpv%vandyke.com@localhost