OS X/setting up FTP server/Unicode file name issues
October 6, 2005 6:50 AM Subscribe
OS X/setting up FTP server/Unicode file name issues
I just made the switch from Windows to OS X. I have practically no experience with OS X or Unix-like things, so everything I've Googled goes over my head.
Yesterday I tried setting up my new iMac to act as an FTP server so a friend could upload some files to my computer. I figured out how to set up a new account and got my friend (on Chinese language WinXP) to log in. She was able to upload files with English names, but files with Chinese names gave her 要求的操作未執行(如，檔案或目錄找不到，無法存取) i.e. "The action could not be completed, the file or the folder could not be found. Unable to save." Moreover, she was able to see a whole bunch of directories, which I think is less than ideal.
My questions:
1.) Is setting up a FTP server the best way to transfer these sort of files across platforms?
2.) How do I set it up so that it's an SFTP server?
3.) How do I set it up so that she can only see certain directories and that when she logs in, she automatically goes to a certain directory?
4.) Why can't files with Chinese filenames be transferred? I'm assuming this is some sort of Unicode issue.
Secondly, what's a good OS X/Unix resource for beginners? I found this site and I now know how to change directories and file permissions. What should I learn how to do next? I used to be computer literate (i.e. used to write CONFIG.SYS files by hand) but those days have long passed.
I just made the switch from Windows to OS X. I have practically no experience with OS X or Unix-like things, so everything I've Googled goes over my head.
Yesterday I tried setting up my new iMac to act as an FTP server so a friend could upload some files to my computer. I figured out how to set up a new account and got my friend (on Chinese language WinXP) to log in. She was able to upload files with English names, but files with Chinese names gave her 要求的操作未執行(如，檔案或目錄找不到，無法存取) i.e. "The action could not be completed, the file or the folder could not be found. Unable to save." Moreover, she was able to see a whole bunch of directories, which I think is less than ideal.
My questions:
1.) Is setting up a FTP server the best way to transfer these sort of files across platforms?
2.) How do I set it up so that it's an SFTP server?
3.) How do I set it up so that she can only see certain directories and that when she logs in, she automatically goes to a certain directory?
4.) Why can't files with Chinese filenames be transferred? I'm assuming this is some sort of Unicode issue.
Secondly, what's a good OS X/Unix resource for beginners? I found this site and I now know how to change directories and file permissions. What should I learn how to do next? I used to be computer literate (i.e. used to write CONFIG.SYS files by hand) but those days have long passed.
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2) If you enable "Remote Login", sftp comes with - it's essentially just ftp tunneled through an ssh session.
3) There's no configuration you can do with the built-in FTP server. You can't chroot, which is the process of locking people into the folders you want them to be in.
4) Probably because the built-in FTP server is a piece of junk.
Potential solution to all of these problems: PureFTPd Manager. Much better server, much better configuration front end.
posted by Remy at 7:06 AM on October 6, 2005