[tpmx]

Implementing an FTP server from scratch that had to be compatible with lots of clients in 2020 was an interesting choice. Just to have it in javascript? Perhaps security-motivated? There are probably battle tested implementations in e.g. Python, Java or other safe-ish languages to build on?

I learned this lesson in the mid 90s when fixing client compatibility bugs in an FTP server module we had built in an interpreted language, because, how hard could it be...

> The latest curve ball I received this week is that a certain firmware version of a Qualcomm modem chip cannot deal with the size of the IP packets coming from our FTP server... Fun stuff!

Right.

[klodolph]

> There are probably battle tested implementations in e.g. Python, Java or other safe-ish languages to build on?

My experience... there aren't a ton of choices in this space. There are a few FTP servers designed to power B2B backend services. Many of the options are designed only to provide access to the local filesystem.

[axiolite]

> My experience... there aren't a ton of choices in this space. There are a few FTP servers designed to power B2B backend services. Many of the options are designed only to provide access to the local filesystem.

The "local filesystem" doesn't have to be a local file system. It's just a good, common abstraction useful for interoperability. Why not "rclone mount" your Google Drive, or use some other FUSE based file system to get easy interoperability between legacy FTP servers and modern storage options?

[klodolph]

I don't think I agree that the local filesystem is a good, common abstraction. It's a serviceable abstraction most of the time, and a terrible abstraction at other times. This isn't just some contrarian stance I'm taking--I've just spent too much time fighting with filesystem semantics on too many OSs.

Going through FUSE is, in my mind, a last resort.