Possible buffer overflow in BTM / FTP download from list

[Mirco]

Possible buffer overflow in BTM / FTP download from list. Bug?

I tried to download a series of data files from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website using "FTP download from list..." and suddenly TC crashed without any noise and/or error message.

I have tested versions 6.56 and 7.0 and I discovered that the problem seems to be connected with the length of the URL.

1. URL length 0-303 chars: OK (at least regarding the download)
2. URL length 304-315: TC displays an error message:
   • TC6.56 - Fatal error in ftp thread, aborting!
   • TC7.0 - Fatal error in BTM thread, aborting!
3. URL length 316+: TC crashes (dies) without any error message

It seems that there is 259 (260) character limit for downloaded URLs. But this applies only to URLs entered manually - using the "+" button of the Background Transfer Manager (Menu | Commands | BTM). This limit does not apply when the downloads are invoked via "FTP download from list" and it looks like somethings gets overwritten by the URL string.

Unlike NTFS file names, URLs can be much longer than 259 characters (I have found some having 600-700 chars), so I think this limit should not apply to URLs. I could use an external download manager, but I would still prefer TC.

P.S. argghhhh, I'm not allowed to post a sample link, even that I meet the following criteria:

In order to try to prevent spammers, we do not allow our users to post URLs in any form until they have posted at least 1 legitimate posts and have been with us for more than 3 days.

[Mirco]

Here is a sample URL (containing 361 chars) to reproduce the error (right-click, copy the link address to clipboard and save to a file of your choice, then Menu | Net | FTP Download from list...)

[Clo]

2Mirco

Hello !

• I tested in 7.0xx, I can confirm using your URL as a text-list : TC is killed immediately, not any message.
- TC is not even in a background thread, I checked too.

- I pasted this URL in the address-bar of Opera 9.21 browser, it works.

But it shows only a page, not a transfer¦download to perform…

 Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[ghisler(Author)]

I can confirm that. The BTM URL length is limited when the paths are added to the list, not later. I will add an additional check.

[Flint]

Fixed in 7.01.