FileZilla a FTP client

FileZilla Client - free & open source FTP client

FileZilla Client (also referred to as FileZilla) is a free, open source, cross-platform FTP client. Binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). As of June 20, 2008, it was the 10th most popular download of all time from SourceForge.net.

FileZilla Server is a sister product of FileZilla Client. It is an FTP server supported by the same project and features support for FTP and FTP over SSL/TLS.

FileZilla's source code is hosted on SourceForge. The project was featured as Project of the Month in November 2003.

Features and limitations

The main features are the site manager, message log, file and folder view, and the transfer queue.

The site manager allows a user to create a list of FTP sites along with their connection data, such as the port number to use, the protocol to use, and whether to use anonymous or normal logon. For normal logon, the username is saved and optionally the password.

The message log is displayed along the top of the window. It displays the console-type output showing the commands sent by FileZilla and the remote server's responses.

The file and folder view, displayed under the message log, provides a graphical interface for FTP. Users can navigate folders and view and alter their contents on both the local and remote machines using an Explorer-style tree interface. Users can drag and drop files between the local and remote computers.

The transfer queue, displayed along the bottom of the window, shows the real-time status of each queued or active file transfer.

As of version 2.2.23, FileZilla uses Unicode internally. As a result, it no longer runs on Windows 9x/ME.

Uploading

FTP mode: Date/timestamps attributes on uploaded files can only be retained if the server supports the MFMT command.

SFTP mode: The said attributes can be retained starting with FileZilla 3.0.8.

Downloading

Date/timestamps on downloaded files can only be retained if the partition whereupon you save them supports timestamps for file creation date and time. E.g. on FAT32/NTFS partitions you can keep in the download folder the original timestamps that the files have on the server. Only newer FileZilla versions support keeping timestamps, and this option has to be enabled from the menu.

History

FileZilla was started as a computer science class project in the second week of January 2001 by Tim Kosse and two classmates. Before they started to write the code, they discussed on which licence they should release the code. They decided to make FileZilla an open-source project, because there were already many FTP clients available and they didn't think that they would sell even one copy if they made FileZilla commercial.

The alpha version was released in late February 2001, and all required features were implemented by beta 2.1.

Version 3 of FileZilla introduced support for operating systems other than Windows, including Linux and Mac OS X.

List of FTP commands

Below is a list of FTP commands that may be sent to an FTP host, including all commands that are standardized in RFC 959 by the IETF. All commands below are RFC 959 based unless stated otherwise. These commands differ in use between clients. For example, GET is used instead of RETR, but most clients parse this into the proper command. In this, GET is the user command and RETR is the raw command.

* ABOR - Abort an active file transfer.
* ACCT - Account information.
* ADAT - Authentication/Security Data (RFC 2228)
* ALLO - Allocate sufficient disk space to receive a file.
* APPE - Append.
* AUTH - Authentication/Security Mechanism (RFC 2228)
* CCC - Clear Command Channel (RFC 2228)
* CDUP - Change to Parent Directory.
* CONF - Confidentiality Protection Command (RFC 697)
* CWD - Change working directory.
* DELE - Delete file.
* ENC - Privacy Protected Channel (RFC 2228)
* EPRT - Specifies an extended address and port to which the server should connect. (RFC 2428)
* EPSV - Enter extended passive mode. (RFC 2428)
* FEAT - Get the feature list implemented by the server. (RFC 2389)
* HELP - Returns usage documentation on a command if specified, else a general help document is returned.
* LAND - Language Negotiation (RFC 2640)
* LIST - Returns information of a file or directory if specified, else information of the current working directory is returned.
* LPRT - Specifies a long address and port to which the server should connect. (RFC 1639)
* LPSV - Enter long passive mode. (RFC 1639)
* MDTM - Return the last-modified time of a specified file. (RFC 3659)
* MIC - Integrity Protected Command (RFC 2228)
* MKD - Make directory.
* MLSD - Provides data about exactly the object named on its command line, and no others. (RFC 3659)
* MLST - Lists the contents of a directory if a directory is named. (RFC 3659)
* MODE - Sets the transfer mode (Stream, Block, or Compressed).
* NLST - Returns a list of file names in a specified directory.
* NOOP - No operation (dummy packet; used mostly on keepalives).
* OPTS - Select options for a feature. (RFC 2389)
* PASS - Authentication password.
* PASV - Enter passive mode.
* PBSZ - Protection Buffer Size (RFC 2228)
* PORT - Specifies an address and port to which the server should connect.
* PWD - Print working directory. Returns the current directory of the host.
* QUIT - Disconnect.
* REIN - Re initializes the connection.
* REST - Restart transfer from the specified point.
* RETR - Retrieve (download) a remote file.
* RMD - Remove a directory.
* RNFR - Rename from.
* RNTO - Rename to.
* SITE - Sends site specific commands to remote server.
* SIZE - Return the size of a file. (RFC 3659)
* SMNT - Mount file structure.
* STAT - Returns the current status.
* STOR - Store (upload) a file.
* STOU - Store file uniquely.
* STRU - Set file transfer structure.
* SYST - Return system type.
* TYPE - Sets the transfer mode (ASCII/Binary).
* USER - Authentication username.

Uploading and downloading

Uploading and Downloading are related terms used to describe the transfer of electronic data between two computers or similar systems. More colloquially, they are sometimes applied to transfers to/from removable media such as CDs.

Download

To download is to receive data from a remote or central system, such as a webserver, FTP server, mail server, or other similar systems. A download is any file that is offered for downloading or that has been downloaded. The word's primary usage comes in the form of a verb. Increasingly, websites that offer streaming media or media displayed in-browser, such as YouTube, and which place restrictions on the ability of users to save these materials to their computers after they have been received, say that downloading is not permitted. That is, "download" is used to mean "receive and save" instead of simply "receive".

Upload

The opposite operation, to upload, is to send data from a local system to a remote system, FTP server, or website. For example, "Uploading a video to Wikipedia" means sending a video to the website. The difference between uploading and downloading is downloading means to receive and uploading means to send.