--- Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@rek.tjls.com> wrote: > On Tue, Jul 29,
2003 at 02:22:51PM -0400, Gary Thorpe wrote:
> > Why does an *ftp client* need http/https support? Or does this add
> SSL
> > support to the ftp client? Are there any ftp servers which support
> SSL?
> > If you want to download from HTTP/HTTPS servers, shouldn't you use
> > another tool (like wget), or is there no such tool in the base
> system?
> 
> I have some trouble understanding why we should add wget to the base
> system when ftp handles http URLs just fine, and has done so for
> quite
> literally _years_.
> 
> Thor 

I am not saying wget should be in the base system. What I am saying is
that there is no need for a ftp client to to be able to download from
any urls except ftp. This sound like something a certain Software
Company does with its products to make them "featue rich".

If I want to download files from a HTTP/HTTPs server, I would install
links, lynx, w3m, one of the probably many other text browsers or a gui
web browser: how many people _need_ to access HTTP/HTTPS servers from
the base install who _would not_ install a web browser? I have
installed links/lynx for this purpose.

Personally, I am not going to think of using an ftp client to do this
(can ftp "browse" the web too???? If so, maybe i will uninstall links
and lynx!). In fact, I would not have known that the NetBSD ftp client
was capable of getting HTTP if I had skipped the message at the top of
this thread. If adding loads of code (which means more maintenance) to
add redundant functionality (which is why ftp could access http for
_years_ in the first place) is ok, well then by all means it should be
added. This has already become apparent with the issue of root
certificates, but I'm sure it won't stop it from being incorporated.
Now not only will the issue of certificates affect every SSL-capable
web browser in pkgsrc, but also the base ftp client.

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