Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!stan!imp
From: imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: File arguments too long!
Keywords: ftp mget
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.195147.9696@solbourne.com>
Date: 11 Jun 91 19:51:47 GMT
References: <1991May31.095227.24060@actrix.gen.nz> <1991Jun7.222936.24697@ucselx.sdsu.edu>
Organization: Solbourne, User Interface Group
Lines: 30

In article <1991Jun7.222936.24697@ucselx.sdsu.edu> syserror@bugs.zoo writes:
>Sometimes when using FTP, after using an 'mget *.xyz'  I get
>the message 'File arguments too long' whereupon none of the get 
>or put commands will function anymore.

It may help to know what system you are getting this on.  I would bet
money that it's a unix box and that you have a LOT of files called
xxx.xyz.  There are fixed limits to the size of the argument list in
unix.  BSD's ftpd just forks a process to get the list.  As part of
the process, the file names get expanded.  In this expansion, there
are so many files that this fixed limit gets exceded, hence the error
message.  I'd say that it is a BUG since there are no arbirary limits
imposed by the FTP protocol.

The reason that none of the get/put comands work anymore is that there
was "garbage" on the FTP command connection, so everything gets out of
sync.  I'd maintain this is also a bug since a conforming server
shouldn't do this either.

A work around?  I'm not sure if there is one.  Maybe you can use
shorter filenames.  Or CD to the directory where the files are (after
all, mget * takes up a lot less space than mget
/usr/home/graphics/imp/foo/bar/bas/bang/* since the path isn't
repeated for each element.  You may try grouping the remote files by
type in some way.

Warner
-- 
Warner Losh		imp@Solbourne.COM
Free to a good home: 10,000 Miller Moths.  Must promise not to breed them.