Lftp

Infobox Software
name = lftp



caption =
author = Alexander V. Lukyanov
developer =
latest release version = 3.7.4
latest release date = release date|2008|08|06
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
operating system = UNIX-like
platform =
genre = FTP client
license = GNU GPL
website = http://lftp.yar.ru

lftp is a command-line file transfer program (FTP client) for UNIX and Unix-like systems. It was written by Alexander Lukyanov, and is made available under the GNU General Public License.

Besides FTP, it also supports FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, HFTP, FISH, and SFTP by specifying the desired protocol in a location URL. One feature which is especially handy is support for FXP i.e. data transfers between two FTP servers, bypassing the client machine.

In addition to features common in advanced FTP clients, such as recursively mirroring entire directory trees, location bookmarks and resuming downloads, lftp also supports more advanced functionality. Transfers can be scheduled for execution at a later time, bandwidth can be throttled, transfer queues can be set up, and Unix shell-like job control is supported. The client can be fully scripted, instead of being used interactively.

Development history

Lftp was initially developed as part of ftpclass package (announced August 1 1996 in [http://groups.google.com/group/relcom.tcpip/browse_thread/thread/ba1bd296592a407a/0dd5fe8f983455a4 relcom.tcpip] ). Later it has grown and become an advanced program, thus the package was renamed to lftp in February 1997. The initial goals of development were robustness, automatic resuming of transfers and increasing transfer speed by transferring parts of a file in parallel using several connections and also by protocol pipelining. A bit later mirroring capability was added.

See also

*Ncftp
*Comparison of FTP client software

External links

* [http://lftp.yar.ru/ lftp website]
* [http://www.thelinuxblog.com/linux-man-pages/1/lftp lftp man page]
* [http://michael.stapelberg.de/lftp_vi.php lftp-vi: a module that adds editing capability to lftp]
* [http://lftpfs.sf.net/ LftpFS - filesystem based on FUSE and lftp]