THE FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (RFC0265)
Original Publication Date: 1971-Nov-17
Included in the Prior Art Database: 2000-Sep-13
Publishing Venue
Internet Society Requests For Comment (RFCs)
Related People
A. Bhushan: AUTHOR [+9]
Abstract
The file transfer protocol (FTP) is a userlevel procotocol for file transfer between host computers (including terminal IMPs), on the ARPA computer network (ARPANET). The primary function of FTP is to facilitate transfer of files between hosts and to allow convenient use of storage and file handling capabilities of remote hosts. FTP uses the Data Transfer Protocol described in RFC 264 to achieve transfer of data. This paper assumes knowledge of RFC 264.
Network Working Group 17 November 1971
Request for Comments #265 Abbay Bhushan, MIT
NIC 781 Bob Braden, UCLA
Categories D.4, D.5, and D.7 Will Crowther, BBN
Eric Narslem, Rand
Obsoletes: 172 John Heafner, Rand
Alex McKenzie, BBH
John Melvin, SRI
Bob Sundberg, Harvard
Dick Watson, SRI
Jim White, UOSB
THE FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL
This Paper is a revision of RF 172, Mic 6794. The changes
to RFC 172 are given below. The protocol is then restated for
your ocnvenience.
CHANGES TO RFC 172
1) Two new file transfer requests have been added. These are
2) The op code assignements in control transactions have been
changed to include the above requests.
3) Two new error codes indicating 'incorrect or missing
indentifier' and 'file already exists' have been added. New error
code assignements reflect this change.
4) Editorial changes to clarify specifications.
File Transfer Protocol RFC 265 17 November 1971
I. INTRODUCTION
The file transfer protocol (FTP) is a userlevel procotocol for
file transfer between host computers (including terminal IMPs), on the
ARPA computer network (ARPANET). The primary function of FTP is to
facilitate transfer of files between hosts and to allow convenient use
of storage and file handling capabilities of remote hosts. FTP uses
the Data Transfer Protocol described in RFC 264 to achieve transfer of
data. This paper assumes knowledge of RFC 264.
The objectives of FTP are to promote sharing of files (computer
programs and/or data) encourage implicit (without explicit login) use
of computers, and shield the user from variations in file and storage
systems of different hosts. These objetives are achieved by specifying
a standard file transfer socket and initial connection protocol for
implicit use, and using standard conventions for file transfer and
related operations.
II. DISCUSSION
A file is considered here to be an ordered set of arbitrary
length, consisting of computer data (including programs). Files are
uniquely identified in a system by their pathnames. A pathname is
(loosely) defined to be the data string which must be input to the
file system by a network user in order to identify a file. Pathname
...