Re: ftp URL stuff (was MIME multipart/* vs HTTP)

Josh Cohen <josh@netscape.com> wrote:
>> [ about Netscape proxy ]
>
>> But all this probably hasn't much to do with the HTTP protocol...
>yes and no.
>When the client is speaking to the proxy, technically, it
>is speaking HTTP, not FTP.
>
>Additionally, I knew if I posted this here, Id be sure
>to get informed answers from bright individuals like yourself :)
>*duck*
>
>> 
>>   Klaus

	Certainly, if proxying weren't an http issue, then why are
thousands of line and the majority of the HTTP/1.1 RFC devoted
directly or indirectly to that topic?

	The more important point though, is that when ftp is being
proxied, then as far as the browser is concerned, its *always* getting
a file from the proxy.  If the original URL (before being appended
to the http://proxy_address/) corresponds to an ftp directory, then
the proxy returns a text/html file concocted from the raw listing
returned by the ftp server.  What the other proxies do is include
the last symbolic element of the original path, then a slash, then
the file or subdirectory names from the ftp server's raw listing.

	For example, if you proxy

	ftp://[user:password@]ftp_address/public_html/patches

(without *or* with a slash after patches), the CERN proxy will
                                 ^^^^^^^
return a text/html stream (pseudo-HTML "file") like this:

<TITLE>Index of /public_html/patches</TITLE><H1>
Index of /public_html/patches</H1><PRE>
<IMG ALT="     "
SRC="http://www.wfbr.edu/httpd-internal-icons/blank.xbm"> Name             Last modified     Size
<HR>
<IMG
ALT="[UP ]" SRC="http://www.wfbr.edu/httpd-internal-icons/back.xbm"> <A
HREF="patches/..">Parent directory</A>
<IMG ALT="[BIN]"
SRC="http://www.wfbr.edu/httpd-internal-icons/binary.xbm"> <A
HREF="patches/fotemods.zip">fotemods.zip</A>     05-May-97 18:06   412K
      ^^^^^^^^
[...]

	If you do that with your proxy server too, you won't be at odds
with all the others, and what the great majority of browsers since
"Web-time" 0000-00-00 are expecting, and there is *no* problem when
the browser resolves those partial HREFs.

	Try it, you'll like it!!! :) :)

				Fote

=========================================================================
 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
 MACRIDES@SCI.WFBR.EDU         222 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
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Received on Tuesday, 6 May 1997 14:24:35 UTC