rfc2389.txt

来自「RFC 的详细文档！」· 文本 代码 · 共 507 行 · 第 1/2 页

Network Working Group                                         P. Hethmon
Request for Comments: 2389                              Hethmon Brothers
See Also: 959                                                     R. Elz
Category: Standards Track                        University of Melbourne
                                                             August 1998


      Feature negotiation mechanism for the File Transfer Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   The File Transfer Protocol is, from time to time, extended with new
   commands, or facilities.  Implementations of the FTP protocol cannot
   be assumed to all immediately implement all newly defined mechanisms.
   This document provides a mechanism by which clients of the FTP
   protocol can discover which new features are supported by a
   particular FTP server.


























Hethmon & Elz               Standards Track                     [Page 1]

RFC 2389             Feature negotiation mechanism           August 1998




Table of Contents

          Abstract  ................................................   1
    1     Introduction  ............................................   2
    2     Document Conventions  ....................................   2
    2.1   Basic Tokens  ............................................   3
    2.2   Server Replies  ..........................................   3
    3     Knowledge of Extra Capabilities - the FEAT Command  ......   3
    3.1   Feature (FEAT) Command Syntax  ...........................   4
    3.2   FEAT Command Responses  ..................................   4
    3.3   Rationale for FEAT  ......................................   6
    4     The OPTS Command  ........................................   6
    5     Security Considerations  .................................   7
    6     References  ..............................................   8
          Acknowledgements  ........................................   8
          Editors' Addresses  ......................................   8
          Full Copyright Statement  ................................   9




1. Introduction

   This document amends the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) [1].  Two new
   commands are added: "FEAT" and "OPTS".

   These commands allow a client to discover which optional commands a
   server supports, and how they are supported, and to select among
   various options that any FTP command may support.

2. Document Conventions

   This document makes use of the document conventions defined in BCP14
   [2].  That provides the interpretation of some capitalized words like
   MUST, SHOULD, etc.

   Terms defined in [1] will be used here as defined there.  These
   include ASCII, reply, server-FTP process, user-FTP process, server-
   PI, user-PI, and user.

   Syntax required is defined using the Augmented BNF defined in [3].
   Some general ABNF definitions are required throughout the document,
   those will be defined here.  At first reading, it may be wise to
   simply recall that these definitions exist here, and skip to the next
   section.




Hethmon & Elz               Standards Track                     [Page 2]

RFC 2389             Feature negotiation mechanism           August 1998


2.1. Basic Tokens

   This document imports the definitions given in Appendix A of [3].
   There definitions will be found for basic ABNF elements like ALPHA,
   DIGIT, VCHAR, SP, etc.  To that, the following terms are added for
   use in this document.

        TCHAR          = VCHAR / SP / HTAB    ; visible plus white space

   The TCHAR type, and VCHAR from [3], give basic character types from
   varying sub-sets of the ASCII character set for use in various
   commands and responses.

        error-response = error-code SP *TCHAR CRLF
        error-code     = ("4" / "5") 2DIGIT

   Note that in ABNF, strings literals are case insensitive.  That
   convention is preserved in this document.  However note that ALPHA,
   in particular, is case sensitive, as are VCHAR and TCHAR.

2.2. Server Replies

   Section 4.2 of [1] defines the format and meaning of replies by the
   server-PI to FTP commands from the user-PI.  Those reply conventions
   are used here without change.  Implementors should note that the ABNF
   syntax (which was not used in [1]) in this document, and other FTP
   related documents, sometimes shows replies using the one line format.
   Unless otherwise explicitly stated, that is not intended to imply
   that multi-line responses are not permitted.  Implementors should
   assume that, unless stated to the contrary, any reply to any FTP
   command (including QUIT) may be of the multiline format described in
   [1].

   Throughout this document, replies will be identified by the three
   digit code that is their first element.  Thus the term "500 Reply"
   means a reply from the server-PI using the three digit code "500".

3. Knowledge of Extra Capabilities - the FEAT Command

   It is not to be expected that all servers will necessarily support
   all of the new commands defined in all future amendments to the FTP
   protocol.  In order to permit clients to determine which new commands
   are supported by a particular server, without trying each possible
   command, one new command is added to the FTP command repertoire.
   This command requests the server to list all extension commands, or
   extended mechanisms, that it supports.  That is, all defined and
   specified commands and features not defined in [1], or this document,
   must be included in the FEAT command output in the form specified in



Hethmon & Elz               Standards Track                     [Page 3]

RFC 2389             Feature negotiation mechanism           August 1998


   the document that defines the extension.

   User-FTP PIs must expect to see, in FEAT command responses, unknown
   features listed.  This is not an error, and simply indicates that the
   server-FTP implementor has seen, and implemented, the specification
   of a new feature that is unknown to the user-FTP.

3.1. Feature (FEAT) Command Syntax

        feat            = "Feat" CRLF

   The FEAT command consists solely of the word "FEAT".  It has no
   parameters or arguments.

3.2. FEAT Command Responses

   Where a server-FTP process does not support the FEAT command, it will
   respond to the FEAT command with a 500 or 502 reply.  This is simply
   the normal "unrecognized command" reply that any unknown command
   would elicit.  Errors in the command syntax, such as giving
   parameters, will result in a 501 reply.

   Server-FTP processes that recognize the FEAT command, but implement
   no extended features, and therefore have nothing to report, SHOULD
   respond with the "no-features" 211 reply.  However, as this case is
   practically indistinguishable from a server-FTP that does not
   recognize the FEAT command, a 500 or 502 reply MAY also be used.  The
   "no-features" reply MUST NOT use the multi-line response format,
   exactly one response line is required and permitted.

   Replies to the FEAT command MUST comply with the following syntax.
   Text on the first line of the reply is free form, and not
   interpreted, and has no practical use, as this text is not expected
   to be revealed to end users.  The syntax of other reply lines is
   precisely defined, and if present, MUST be exactly as specified.

        feat-response   = error-response / no-features / feature-listing
        no-features     = "211" SP *TCHAR CRLF
        feature-listing = "211-" *TCHAR CRLF
                          1*( SP feature CRLF )
                          "211 End" CRLF
        feature         = feature-label [ SP feature-parms ]
        feature-label   = 1*VCHAR
        feature-parms   = 1*TCHAR

   Note that each feature line in the feature-listing begins with a
   single space.  That space is not optional, nor does it indicate
   general white space.  This space guarantees that the feature line can



Hethmon & Elz               Standards Track                     [Page 4]

RFC 2389             Feature negotiation mechanism           August 1998


   never be misinterpreted as the end of the feature-listing, but is
   required even where there is no possibility of ambiguity.

   Each extension supported must be listed on a separate line to
   facilitate the possible inclusion of parameters supported by each
   extension command.  The feature-label to be used in the response to
   the FEAT command will be specified as each new feature is added to
   the FTP command set.  Often it will be the name of a new command
   added, however this is not required.  In fact it is not required that
   a new feature actually add a new command.  Any parameters included
   are to be specified with the definition of the command concerned.
   That specification shall also specify how any parameters present are
   to be interpreted.

   The feature-label and feature-parms are nominally case sensitive,
   however the definitions of specific labels and parameters specify the
   precise interpretation, and it is to be expected that those
   definitions will usually specify the label and parameters in a case
   independent manner.  Where this is done, implementations are
   recommended to use upper case letters when transmitting the feature
   response.

   The FEAT command itself is not included in the list of features
   supported, support for the FEAT command is indicated by return of a