[Zope] FTP problems using emacs

[Rob Page]

David:

> I've noticed that I can FTP DTML methods and documents 
> between Zope and emacs, but not other types of objects, 
> as SQL methods. emacs complains that the file exists, 
> but can't be read, which is born out by the fact that 
> the emacs 'dired' listing shows no rwx permissions at 
> all set for these types of objects. Any explanation 
> for this behavior?

Sure, there's an explanation!  :^)

Each type of object needs to know (i.e., be told) what its behavior
under ftp is.  Check lib/python/OFS/FTPInterface.py and
lib/python/OFS/DTMLMethod.py for a simple example.

For DTML docs/methods this is relatively straightforward since the
apparent filename is the id and the content is the file.

However, other Zope objects have more complex metadata (e.g., ZSQL
Methods).  Exactly how that metadata (e.g., argument list, database
connection, etc) should be represented to a low-tech ftp client is not
clear.  Additional questions about the target client for this capability
also come to mind.

In the next few weeks we will start iteratively publishing a roadmap for
Zope's mid-term future.  I suspect that improved FTP integration will be
included.  I also suspect that there will be an RFC on much of the
roadmap.  A note to the list, please save your comments for now, we are
still recovering from the Z2 push and we aren't ready to capture
comments as yet.

--Rob