Re: lynx-dev Downloading large files via ftp

[Klaus Weide]

On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, Fiber McGee wrote:

> The message below from Gisli Ottarsson
> <address@hidden> was forwarded by the
> list moderator.
> 
> >Lynx team:
> >
> >I just had an experience with lynx that may be food for thought.
> >
> >I logged on a linux machine running lynx.  This machine automounts my
> >home directory which lives on another machine on a congested network.
> >
> >I used lynx in ftp mode to download a large file (680Mb) which it did,
> >storing the data temporarily in a file named L12120-9789TMP.bin.
> >After successfully completing the download, lynx prompted me for a
> >permanent name for this file.
> >
> >I accepted the default and this is when lynx did something unexpected.
> >Rather than renaming the temporary file, it copied it to a file with
> >the new name, thereby:

This gives you the chance to do something else with it, too - save it
under a second name, too, or perform some other action form your
Download Options menu.

> >   1) sending the 680Mb twice over the network, from my home machine to
> >      the linux machine and back.  This took over 15 minutes during
> >      which lynx appeared to have hung.

You gotta admit that 680Mb AND your remote-mount setup is an unusual
situation... Lynx deals with it, but isn't exactly optimized for
this situation.

> >   2) running the risk of running out of disk space.

True (and I think this still isn't even reliably detected).

> >To add insult to injury, after the copy operation, lynx failed to
> >remove the temporary file, L12120-9789TMP.bin.

It would have removed it eventually, when exiting at the latest.

If you need to do this frequently, consider using a mechanism different
from the default builtin "Save to disk" implementation (which isn't
optimal for your situation).  A DOWNLOADER in lynx.cfg which does a
mv, probably after prompting for a name, should do the trick.


  Klaus


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