Misc Page
The Misc page lets you configure various server and
connection-related settings for a site entry in the FTP Address Book.
The Server Commands section has the following options:
- Use MLST: This option specifies if Opus should attempt to
use the new, more modern MLST command to retrieve directory
listings. If the server doesn't support MLST it will fall
back to the old LIST mechanism controlled by the options
below.
- Use custom LIST command:
- If this option is not enabled then Opus will attempt to determine
the format of LIST command (used for retrieving the remote
directory listing) based on the type of server it is connected to. If the
remote server isn't recognized correctly, you can turn this option on and
provide your own custom LIST command.
- If this option is enabled you can enter a custom LIST
command that will be used to retrieve directory listings from the
FTP server. The value you provide here is the full command that is sent to
the FTP server, including any arguments. For example, LIST -alF
is a very common list command, but you might use this to change to
just LIST with no arguments if the server doesn't support
the -alF mode.
- Use MDTM: Some FTP servers support the MDTM
command to change the timestamps on remote files. Opus uses this when
copying files to the FTP server so that your original timestamps are
preserved.
- This is a three-way checkbox - you can choose from on,
off or automatic mode. When in automatic
mode, Opus will only attempt to modify file dates on servers it recognizes,
even if the server claims to support MDTM. Set this
checkbox to the on state to force the use of
MDTM on all server types.
- Although the FTP standard specifies that the MDTM
command takes a timestamp specified in UTC, some FTP servers have
misinterpreted the standard and expect the timestamp to be given in local
time. The drop-down menu lets you change how Opus sends timestamps to
the server. You can select Automatic to have Opus attempt to
determine the format automatically, or you can choose from
UTC or local time.
- Use FEAT: This specifies whether the server supports the
FEAT command, which is an FTP command that lets clients
determine which other features a server supports. This is a three-way checkbox
- you can choose from on (), off () or automatic mode (). When in this third state, Opus will attempt
to automatically determine if the command is supported.
- Use RESUME: This specifies whether the server supports
the RESUME command, which is an FTP command that lets a
previously started FTP file transfer be resumed from where it left off. This
is also a three-way checkbox, with on, off and automatic settings.
- Use UTF8: This specifies whether the server supports
sending directory listings using UTF8 character-encoding. Historically FTP was
always an ASCII-based protocol; directory listings only supported filenames
that could be encoded using plain 7-bit (or sometimes 8-bit) ASCII, which
meant support for non-Western alphabets was very limited or completely
unavailable. UTF8 is an 8-bit encoding mechanism that allows the full Unicode
character set to be used, which means filenames in languages like Chinese or
Arabic are possible. This is also a three-way checkbox, with on, off and
automatic settings.
The Transfer Mode section lets you control how files are
transferred to and from this FTP site. The FTP protocol allows files to be
transferred either as ASCII (with the idea that they are plain
text files - the FTP server will automatically convert line endings between LF
and CR/LF depending on the computers involved in the transfer), or as
Binary (files are transferred as-is, with no changes to the
data). Normally you would want files transferred as Binary, but
you can use this option to switch to ASCII mode, or also select
Automatic.
In automatic mode, Opus will switch modes automatically based on the file
extension of the file being transferred. You can configure which file extensions
are treated as ASCII in this mode from the Misc page for the Default Settings entry. There
you can configure a list of file extensions that will be recognised as
plain-text files and transferred in ASCII mode.