427887 - VMS-OpenVMS TCPIP FTP server with long directory or file names -- many not shown

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenVMS COMPAQ_Professional_Workstation; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060506
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenVMS COMPAQ_Professional_Workstation; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060506

Apparently, Mozilla's interpretation of a directory listing (LIST)
provided by an HP VMS (OpenVMS) TCPIP FTP server is defective, if the
listing includes long names, that is, names long enough to cause a
file's listing entry to be split onto two lines.  The problem seems to
be old, and remains in Mozilla 3.0b5 (tested on Mac OS 10.4.11).

Simple tests suggest that the parsing algorithm used needs to see one
complete (one-line) entry before it believes that it's gotten past the
header, and this is not correct.  In my experience
("http://antinode.org/dec/sw/wget.html"), it is sufficient to skip blank
lines, the "Directory" header line, and any blank lines which follow it.
Thereafter, any non-blank lines are actual data, until the next blank
line, which delimits the "Total" trailer.

For example, these directories each contain three files, but Mozilla
shows all, some, or none, depending on where the first short name
appears in the listing:

ftp://antinode.org/moz_test/dir_all
ftp://antinode.org/moz_test/dir_some
ftp://antinode.org/moz_test/dir_none

Visiting the same places with a simple-minded FTP client should show all
the files in each directory.  Alternatively, the same directories may be
inspected using HTTP:

http://antinode.org/ftp/moz_test/dir_all
http://antinode.org/ftp/moz_test/dir_some
http://antinode.org/ftp/moz_test/dir_none


For a different problem, VMS TCPIP FTP servers also have a peculiarly
unfortunate way of displaying ODS5 extended file names (longer names,
multiple dots, funny characters, and so on), and an amazing inability to
accept as input the names they provide in their own listings.  The code
in (my modified) wget src/ftp-ls.c shows how to cope with this annoying
behavior, and I'd be happy to explain the details, if anyone is
interested.  I don't have a convenient test server configured to
demonstrate this problem, but I can arrange one if it would be helpful.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Use Mozilla to visit the FTP URLs provided above.
2. Use a simple (stupid) FTP client (or HTTP) to visit the same places.
3. Compare the files shown in each case.
Actual Results:  
Defective file listings: missing some or all files.

Expected Results:  
Correct file listings.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This is a mass search for bugs that are in the Firefox General component, are
UNCO, and have not been changed for 800 days and have an unspecified version. 

Reporter, can you please update to Firefox 3.6.10, create a fresh profile,
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/managing+profiles, and test again. If you
still see the bug, please update this bug. If the issue is gone, please set the
resolution to RESOLVED > WORKSFORME.

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply from reporter, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.12 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.

Comment 3

[Steven Schweda]

Sorry about the domain name change which disrupted communication on this
problem.  After a year or so of inaction, I stopped paying close
attention.

A recent test using Firefox version 3.6.17 (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U;
PPC Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110420 Firefox/3.6.17)
reveals no improvement.  The old test case is now available at:

ftp://antinode.info/moz_test/dir_all
ftp://antinode.info/moz_test/dir_some
ftp://antinode.info/moz_test/dir_none

A later addition (using ODS5 extended file names) is comparably
disappointing:

ftp://antinode.info/moz_test/ods5

As before, the actual data can be seen using a simple-minded FTP client,
or:

http://antinode.info/ftp/moz_test/dir_all
http://antinode.info/ftp/moz_test/dir_some
http://antinode.info/ftp/moz_test/dir_none
http://antinode.info/ftp/moz_test/ods5

(The Web server does fail to show a couple of files under "ods5" whose
names contain special characters, so a lame FTP client would be better
than a Web browser for that subset.)

Comment 4

[Steven Schweda]

Is anyone paying attention to this, or did I miss my window of
opportunity?

Comment 5

[Steven Schweda]

Note that Firefox 6.0 seems to do nothing to resolve any of these
problems.