Synchronize FTP by content?

Vacilando · Post by *Vacilando » 2004-07-15, 10:52 UTC

I have another question to which I can not find answers in the help file or discussions.

Why is comparison by content disabled in the synchronize tool when synchronizing with a FTP site?

I know it generates a lot of traffic - but that can be effectively reduced by using md5 or other hash and compare those instead of files. Besides, you could allow the function and leave it to the user whether they want to put up with the (possibly immense) traffic over the Internet. Or am I missing some reason why this is impossible?

It would be a really welcome function in many cases.

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2004-07-15, 18:54 UTC

Well, you gave the answer yourself - it would cause a LOT of traffic, and be very slow...

Vacilando · Post by *Vacilando » 2004-07-15, 19:06 UTC

Thanks for the answer. But I still think that since you already have that function for local files, you could as well leave it enabled for FTP for those users who need it, and leave the decision on the user whether they want to burden their traffic or not.

Lefteous · Post by *Lefteous » 2004-07-15, 19:25 UTC

2ghisler(Author)
I'm using FTP in my local network. As you can imagine it's anything but slow. Unfortunately I cannot use it to synchronize...Speed cannot be the reason!

Vacilando · Post by *Vacilando » 2004-07-26, 16:52 UTC

The other, related worry I have here is that when sychronizing via FTP some of the files might not get uploaded completely and, without me noticing immediatelly, part of the website can get completely defunct.

So I am thinking maybe it would be a good idea to do a md5 or other hash signature of the uploaded file and compare it with the local file, so that the match is confirmed. And if there is no match, upload the same file again and/or thow an error message.

Or is there another safeguard preventing partial / corrupted FTP transfer in TC?

Post by *Hacker » 2004-07-31, 21:37 UTC

it would be a good idea to do a md5 or other hash signature of the uploaded file

I doubt that can be done with FTP...

Roman

Vacilando · Post by *Vacilando » 2004-07-31, 21:44 UTC

Mas pravdu, Roman. Tiez som si to potom uvedomil.

hammer · Post by *hammer » 2005-02-21, 09:34 UTC

I see the last post in this thread dates from over half a year ago. Total Commander still does not support comparing file-contents over FTP

Thought it might be a good idea to bring the issue back under attention:

I strongly agree to Vacilando's point. Who cares if it's slow?? or causes loads of traffic?? Isn't that up to me to decide whether I find that a problem or not?

I'll tell you what causes a lot of traffic: having to download the entire tree over FTP before being able to do a file-compare, update the files, and upload them back again. Not the mention the enormous waste of time!

Because of the lack of a file-compare-by-FTP function in Total Commander I'm seriously considering to give up using FTP to connect to my Linux-servers, and use Samba instead. This would allow me to simply mount a networkdrive, over which Total Commander can do file-compares...

Let's be clear... Ever since I first discovered it (I believe it was version 3.50), I love Total Commander, that's some mighty fine piece of work Mr. Ghisler

I simply can't stand a PC without it. I use it all the time for my work. It has got everyting I need, except ofcourse...
why not implement this feature? I don't think its very complex to develop, but it's a GREAT feature!

Vacilando · Post by *Vacilando » 2005-02-21, 10:03 UTC

Hammer - I am still waiting for it, too. I agree it should not be complicated to implement.

My early idea of just comparing the hash of the two files would not work because one cannot get the hash of the remote file. TC internally will have to download the file over FTP to do the content-compare.

Let me tell you what I think: if this idea is at all feasible, Christian will implement it one day. Because TC really is one of the finest pieces of software around!

ado · Post by *ado » 2005-02-23, 13:58 UTC

Vacilando wrote:Hammer - I am still waiting for it, too. I agree it should not be complicated to implement.

You cannot tell if it is easy or not untill you know source code, trust me. I found it many times (even on my own code

)

Anyway I vote for this feature. I would like to have it much as well. If I want to compare those files, I have to download file from FTP server anyway, then put it into some temporary dir and afterwards I can compare them