Fetch Softworks

Feature request: sftp (15 posts)

• Started 22 years ago by seiz
• Latest reply 22 years ago from seiz

• seiz Member

  Hi,

  i am really impressed with fetch 4 so far. I switched from x-archy because i love the copying from one to another ftp-server.

  However i'd go crazy if fetch would be the first GUI-client on the mac to support SFTP.
  I administer some MacOS X Server boxes where i have SSH installed and SFTP would perfectly meet our security model.

  An alternative would be a step by step guide on how to use any other non-clear-password method to do ftp with a Mac OS X Server/client such as kerberoes (if this is at all possible)...

  Nifty Telnet (ssh) has very basic sftp support built in - maybe you could get in touch with the developer of Nifty Telnet to see if it would be that complicated (if you haven't already looked into sftp):
  http://www.lysator.liu.se/~jonasw/freeware/niftyssh/

  Thanks for a great client (was my favorite ftp-client years ago already and is now again).

  Stefan

  [This message has been edited by seiz (edited 05-28-2001).]

  Posted 22 years ago #

• Jim Matthews Administrator

  SSH/SFTP support is at the top of my list of features for the next major release of Fetch; hopefully that will be available before the end of the year.

  In the meantime it may be possible to tunnel your FTP sessions through a separate SSH application such as MacSSH. For instructions on how they do that at one university, see:

  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biology/computing/instructions/security/portforwarding/

  Jim Matthews
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Thanks Jim,

  just saw SFTP mentioned somewhere on your website - unfortunately after i posted my request. Thanks for considering it.

  The link to the How To is really helpful.

  Thanks again.

  Posted 22 years ago #

• Dan Semaya Member

  Hi Jim. I am one of the many who are anxiously awaiting an sftp client for OS X since our CS department here at Princeton recently went secure. As far as I know the Mac OS terminal doesn't support sftp and even if it did it would be a pain to use. I was wondering if you know of anyone who has gotten ftp to work through ssh on OS X. Being a CS student I find myself in OS X almost full time for obvious reasons.

  I have used Fetch for many years, but about a year ago I decided to try out some of the other FTP clients out there. With the release of Fetch 4.0 I immediately switched back to Fetch and I plan to stay here for good. I'd like to thank you for creating such a great peice of software for the Macintosh community and for keeping it up to date for so many years.

  Dan Semaya
  Apple Campus Rep
  Princeton University

  President
  Princeton Student Macintosh Users Group (P SMUG)

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Hi,

  the link quoted has changed to:
  http://www.bio.upenn.edu/computing/instructions/security/portforwarding/

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Originally posted by Dan Semaya:

  I was wondering if you know of anyone who has gotten ftp to work through ssh on OS X. Being a CS student I find myself in OS X almost full time for obvious reasons.

  3 Possibilities until FETCH supports sftp.

  1) use s/key one time passwords if your ftp-server supports it (i got it running with wu-ftpd on osxs 1.2) which fetch supports fine.

  2) tunnel ftp throgh ssh - see post in this thread for a link on how to.

  3) use rbrowser - nice ssh/scp/sftp GUI-Client - check versiontracker.com for download links.

  you can contact me offline if you have further questions at: talklists AT index-s.de

  Stefan

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Originally posted by Dan Semaya:

  I was wondering if you know of anyone who has gotten ftp to work through ssh on OS X. Being a CS student I find myself in OS X almost full time for obvious reasons.

  Oops, forgot to mention. I am succesfully running ftp tunneled through SSH from a MacOS X 10.1 client to an OSX Server 1.2 if that is what you wanted to know. As mentioned already - contact me if you need more info.

  Stefan

  Posted 22 years ago #

• shacker Member

  Please add me to the list - I'm in an SFTP-only situation with three sites to maintain, and the command line sftp is a major pain in the butt. I'll buy a copy of Fetch the minute SFTP support is there. Great software otherwise, but unfortunately, all GUI clients on OSX are useless to me at the moment !

  Posted 22 years ago #

• harperb Member

  Hi,
  I tried the port forwarding with macSSH, but it seems like it will only securely transmit your authentication info to an ftp server, not an sftp server. I only have sftp enabeled for obvious reasons, not ftp. Am I doing this wrong, or do you have to have an ftp server running on the other side for port forwarding to work?

  --Ben

  Originally posted by seiz:

  Hi,

  i am really impressed with fetch 4 so far. I switched from x-archy because i love the copying from one to another ftp-server.

  However i'd go crazy if fetch would be the first GUI-client on the mac to support SFTP.
  I administer some MacOS X Server boxes where i have SSH installed and SFTP would perfectly meet our security model.

  An alternative would be a step by step guide on how to use any other non-clear-password method to do ftp with a Mac OS X Server/client such as kerberoes (if this is at all possible)...

  Nifty Telnet (ssh) has very basic sftp support built in - maybe you could get in touch with the developer of Nifty Telnet to see if it would be that complicated (if you haven't already looked into sftp):
  http://www.lysator.liu.se/~jonasw/freeware/niftyssh/

  Thanks for a great client (was my favorite ftp-client years ago already and is now again).

  Stefan

  [This message has been edited by seiz (edited 05-28-2001).]

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  No, you absolutely right. Forwarding port 21 to SSH only encrypts the Password exchange. This was absolutely sufficient for me - i don't care people sniffing the files i transfer.

  It might be possible to also tunnel the DATA connection of an ftp session - but that usually happens on other PORTS (which often also are variable).

  Originally posted by harperb:

  Hi,
  I tried the port forwarding with macSSH, but it seems like it will only securely transmit your authentication info to an ftp server, not an sftp server. I only have sftp enabeled for obvious reasons, not ftp. Am I doing this wrong, or do you have to have an ftp server running on the other side for port forwarding to work?

  --Ben

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Oh and - i just took a closer look at your message.

  Of course you can't forward an FTP session to an sFTP Server (IMHO). Portforwarding is NOT EQUAl to on the fly protocol-translation. I am afraid sFtp-servers don't understand ftp-clients and vice versa.

  Posted 22 years ago #

• harperb Member

  When do you think the next version of fetch (with SFTP support) will be out? Still before the end of this year?

  --Ben

  Originally posted by JimMatthews:

  SSH/SFTP support is at the top of my list of features for the next major release of Fetch; hopefully that will be available before the end of the year.

  In the meantime it may be possible to tunnel your FTP sessions through a separate SSH application such as MacSSH. For instructions on how they do that at one university, see:

  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biology/computing/instructions/security/portforwarding/

  Jim Matthews
  Fetch Softworks

  [This message has been edited by harperb (edited 11-27-2001).]

  Posted 22 years ago #

• Jim Matthews Administrator

  The schedule for SFTP support has slipped into next year I'm afraid. I'm expecting to release a minor bug-fix update first, and then the major update with SFTP support.

  Thanks,

  Jim Matthews
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 22 years ago #

• rex Member

  Please hurry. Nobody seems to have an SFTP client for MacOS 8/9, and we need one badly. Plain-text FTP is a huge security liability.

  -- Rex

  Originally posted by JimMatthews:

  The schedule for SFTP support has slipped into next year I'm afraid. I'm expecting to release a minor bug-fix update first, and then the major update with SFTP support.

  Posted 22 years ago #

• seiz Member

  Someone just finished an sftp client for MacOS 9 and X. I didn't have the chance to test it extensively, but it looks not bad at all.

  Check this out: <http://www.macssh.com/download/MacSFTP_Carbon_1.0d5.sit>

  Originally posted by rex:

  Please hurry. Nobody seems to have an SFTP client for MacOS 8/9, and we need one badly. Plain-text FTP is a huge security liability.

  -- Rex

  Posted 22 years ago #