wviewweather.com

loonsailor · Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 15

I've got wview pretty much up and working, except that ftp doesn't work. It winds up just putting some zero length files in my remote image directory, with names like .pureftpd-upload.44c6f056.15.5845.e0b6d7f8. When I try to ftp "manually" with the following command (as specified in the user manual)
ftp -AiV -u ftp://name:passwd@svr.inmotionhosting.com/public_html/wview/ img/*.*
it pauses for about 10 seconds and comes back with no error message but no success either. When I change the switches from -AiV to -iV or simply -V, it works fine. So, I suspect that there is a problem with "active mode" on my hosting service (inmotion hosting). In poking around this forum, I've seen a few other people that seem to have the same problem.

When I look at the source, the following line is hard-coded into ftp/ftpUtils.c
args[1] = "-AiV";
I think that I could fix my problem by modifying this line and rebuilding. However, I'm hesitant to do so, because once I start mucking with the source code it makes it that much harder to maintain my system when a new rev comes out. It seems to me that the right way to solve this problem is for these switches to be a configuration parameter in wviewftp.conf, and have the program pick them up.

So, since I'm new to this community, what I'd like to know is, what's the protocol here. Should I modify the source, try it, and submit the changed file back somehow? If so, how? If I do modify it, I'd simply change the hard-coded switches so it works for me, since I don't have time to learn radlib and the configuration system right now, so it might not really be an improvement for everyone.

What do wview-ers do in a circumstance like this?

Thanks

loonsailor · Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 15

After posting this, I decided that I was being a bit silly not to try it out. So, I modified the line in ftpUtils.c to
args[1] = "-iV";
then did a "make" and a "sudo make install".

It works fine for me now.

How does this get absorbed into the system, or am I stuck with a custom source file?

bhnb · Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 127

Hi loonsailor

In response to your earlier 'what do other wview-ers do in a situation like this?', I have a problem in that my hosting provider requires that I log in with user@domainname@host. The two @s break tnftp. Originally, like you I tinkered with the source to get it to work for me, but releases were coming thick and fast and this got a bit tedious, so I created a script at /usr/bin/ftp which does the upload using commands which work for me. This way I don't need to modify the source. There are other positive benefits e.g. I also have greater control over what gets uploaded.

Jon

loonsailor · Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 15

So you don't use wviewftpd at all? That makes sense - I was a little surprised that it's a C program rather than a script. I guess it was done that way in order to have it fit into the same radlib / conf style as everything else.

I've got it working fine with the changed source code, but if it becomes a nuisance I may do the same thing that you did. Is wview still evolving? I see that it hasn't changed since March.

mteel · Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 435 Location: Collinsville, TX

Not at the present time, no (because it's developer got hijacked by life for a while Wink

).

As far as protocol for getting changes incorporated:
Absolutely yes, you should try out your changes before suggesting them if at all possible. They are more likely to be incorporated if I know they have been tested (and they make sense). Then submit them to the Wish List forum...

Yes, wviewftpd was written in C to conform to the overall development model. Nothing ever stops you from taking a different approach, such as Jon has done several times.

Mark