Problems with downloading files whose names have non-ANSI characters

[grzegorj]

I have been downloading music module files from ftp.modland.com. Some of the files there have non-standard names and may be really good for testing. Here are my observations:

1. FileZilla sometimes can download files with national characters, and sometimes it cannot. I am not sure why the bug is not always reproducible but it seems to depend on the fact if the file is downloaded as the first one, or not. FileZilla seems to set itself to the codepage - but if the codepage is already set, there is no way to download a file except when after restarting the program. Examples: /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/tehdastyöläinen.xm Note ä, ö letters in the name of the file. I would expect that FileZilla behaviour would be more stable or possible to be set manually.

2. Such files are sometimes downloaded with correct names, and sometimes not. For example: /pub/modules/Ad Lib/AdLib Tracker 2/Nula/gummi björnarna.a2m or gummi björnarna.a2m . I have tried downloading them twice, and I have two versions now.

3. Yet more serious problems have been spotted with ANSI-named files in non-ANSI named folders. Example: /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Roger Skagerström/time files away.xm (note "o umlaut")or /pub/modules/Maniacs Of Noise Old/Johannes Bjerregård/tusker title.xm (note "a ring" that is not even prestnt in Windows 1250 codepage used on my OS in its native version). Such a file is listed as unsuccessful transfer, or the file can be downloaded with no contents (i.e. it is 0 bytes long on my computer). Files like those are not listed as errors, so the only way to find them is to check your disk manually, searching for zero-length files.

4. Sometimes the FileZilla behaviour is even destructive. I can download the file like in point 2 manually (e.g. with a browser) and place it in the right place in the folder tree on my disk. When I run FileZilla and set it to download only files that differs in length or are newer, then it replace the correct file with a new version of 0 bytes length. In other words, FileZilla works destructively - destroys good files with bad ones. It seems that FileZilla tries to download such files even if they are neither newer nor with different size - and because the downloaded file is 0 bytes long, the program treats it as a different length.

5. FileZilla is completely helpless with files whose names start from a dot. Examples: "/pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/. s e.xm" or even mor bizarre: "/pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Cosmic Eclipse/. . . - - - . . .xm" - it is good that FileZilla can see this file at all (ex. Mozilla Firefox cannot see them), but it is bad that FileZilla cannot download them under any conditions. To tell the truth, I have no program that would do it. All I can to obtain such strange-named-files is to use mirrors like ​http://ftp.amigascne.org/cgi-bin/search_archive.cgi - but I would like to download them with FileZilla.

[Alexander Schuch]

Can you please provide logs?

I tried your case 5 first and it does not seem to be a problem with FileZilla but with the FTP server:

Command: RETR . s e.xm
Response: 553 Prohibited file name: . s e.xm
Error: Critical file transfer error

The server replies with code 553, which is an error.

[grzegorj]

Here is the log:

Status: Resolving address of ftp.modland.com
Status: Connecting to 195.24.224.79:21...
Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response: 220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [privsep] [TLS] ----------
Response: 220-You are user number 2 of 50 allowed.
Response: 220-Local time is now 13:27. Server port: 21.
Response: 220-IPv6 connections are also welcome on this server.
Response: 220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Command: USER anonymous
Response: 230 Anonymous user logged in
Command: SYST
Response: 215 UNIX Type: L8
Command: FEAT
Response: 211-Extensions supported:
Response: EPRT
Response: IDLE
Response: MDTM
Response: SIZE
Response: MFMT
Response: REST STREAM
Response: MLST type*;size*;sizd*;modify*;UNIX.mode*;UNIX.uid*;UNIX.gid*;unique*;
Response: MLSD
Response: AUTH TLS
Response: PBSZ
Response: PROT
Response: UTF8
Response: TVFS
Response: ESTA
Response: PASV
Response: EPSV
Response: SPSV
Response: ESTP
Response: 211 End.
Status: Connected
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/" is your current location
Command: TYPE I
Response: 200 TYPE is now 8-bit binary
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,215,147)
Command: MLSD
Response: 150 Accepted data connection
Response: 226-Options: -a -l
Response: 226 11 matches total
Status: Directory listing successful
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD pub
Response: 250 OK. Current directory is /pub
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/pub" is your current location
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,218,150)
Command: MLSD
Response: 150 Accepted data connection
Response: 226-Options: -a -l
Response: 226 9 matches total
Status: Directory listing successful
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD modules
Response: 250 OK. Current directory is /pub/modules
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/pub/modules" is your current location
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,217,150)
Command: MLSD
Response: 150 Accepted data connection
Response: 226-Options: -a -l
Response: 226 330 matches total
Status: Directory listing successful
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD Fasttracker 2
Response: 250 OK. Current directory is /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/pub/modules/Fasttracker 2" is your current location
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,215,106)
Command: MLSD
Response: 150 Accepted data connection
Response: 226-Options: -a -l
Response: 226 5767 matches total
Status: Directory listing successful
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD Walkah
Response: 250 OK. Current directory is /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah" is your current location
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,218,114)
Command: MLSD
Response: 150 Accepted data connection
Response: 226-Options: -a -l
Response: 226 24 matches total
Status: Directory listing successful
Status: Resolving address of ftp.modland.com
Status: Connecting to 195.24.224.79:21...
Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response: 220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [privsep] [TLS] ----------
Response: 220-You are user number 3 of 50 allowed.
Response: 220-Local time is now 13:31. Server port: 21.
Response: 220-IPv6 connections are also welcome on this server.
Response: 220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Command: USER anonymous
Response: 230 Anonymous user logged in
Status: Connected
Status: Starting download of /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/. s e.xm
Command: CWD /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah
Response: 250 OK. Current directory is /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah" is your current location
Status: Skipping download of /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/. s e.xm
Status: File transfer skipped
Status: Starting download of /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/. s e.xm
Command: TYPE A
Response: 200 TYPE is now ASCII
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,24,224,79,216,138)
Command: RETR . s e.xm
Response: 553 Prohibited file name: . s e.xm
Error: Critical file transfer error

I do not know why FileZilla sees the name as prohibited, or why the server responses this way, but the file is really present there.

Which is more, I have downloaded it from a mirror as described, and placed it on my disk in the proper place. And now, when I am trying to re-download the file with FileZilla (to the location where I have already had the file), the response is:

Status: Skipping download of /pub/modules/Fasttracker 2/Walkah/. s e.xm
Status: File transfer skipped

So, the program can see the file on the server, and can compare file dates and sizes, and this is why it skips the transfer. But when I try to download the same file to a different location on my disk, where there is no such file, the answer is that the file name is prohibited.

To tell the truth, maybe it is prohibited. But the file is present on the server, and it is impossible to be downloaded. The only idea I have is to find a way to download files with prohibited names as well.

BTW., even if the file name is prohibited, it is present on my local disc with this strange name, and Windows XP has no problems with dealing with this file. The file is also present on ftp.modland.com under this "prohibited" name. The only problem is how to download it. There must be a way to do it, as it is available on mirrors.

[Alexander Schuch]

Maybe you have FileZilla configured to automatically skip files in case they have same time and size. That's why it skips it.

You can try to download the file using another FTP client. But as it is a server error, it very likely won't work either - if it does, please re-open this issue.

Assumption: The FTP server is configured to disallow file name starting with a dot, or starting with dot and space or whatever. So this file name is NOT allowed, neither for upload, nor for download, nor for anything - when given as parameter to a command. MLSD does not use the name as parameter, but simply returns it as reply, so it is no issue there.

The file was either upload before that rule was in place, or it was added to the FTP storage by other means than FTP.

Again, it is not an issue with FileZilla, but an issue with the FTP server. You can try to reach the FTP server administrator, try another FTP client (report back if it then works), or use other transfer programs than FTP.