Keep file-modified-date/time on upload?

How to preserve files' modified-date/time on upload?

The 'Transfer/Files/Keep File Time' option only seems to affect downloads.

I'm uploading to Fasthost.co.uk's Matrix FTP server which allegedly supports the MDTM command.

Thanks

MDTM is not implemented in SmartFTP to change the file time of the remote file. The reason is that most FTP servers don't follow the RFC and therefore the syntax/behavior of the MDTM command is inconsistent.

Hmmmm. I haven't read the RFC in detail but my understanding is that FTP software producers began implementing MDTM before the RFC was finalised andt hat's where the problems started. e.g. the command is ambiguous:

MDTM filename<SPACE>time

doesn't work if the filename contains a space.

The reason they implemented it prematurely was that customers (like me) wanted it. Your main competition, FTP Voyager and WS_FTP Pro implement it.

Why not implement it in such a way that it works with the FTP servers that you have access to, and give users the option to switch it on/off?

If you would like to add the proprietory FTP server of FastHosts www.Fasthost.co.uk Matrix FTP to your list of test servers then I can make an account available to you.

Thanks
Julian
www.inCharge.co.uk

Hello everyone!

I am the author of SlimFTPd, a somewhat popular FTP server for Windows with a very small footprint.

SlimFTPd supports setting of file timestamps through use of the MDTM command. This capability, though not presently allowed by the existing RFC, is also supported in many of the other popular FTP servers out there. I know of several FTP clients which take advantage of this capability as well.

However, SmartFTP, my FTP client of choice 8), does not. I would really like to see this option added. It would be a very simple addition. Add a checkbox to the options page TransferFiles in the Post Transfer Action group for "Keep File Time" on Upload.

Here is how this unofficial extension to MDTM works in every case where I have seen it implemented:
MDTM<sp>YYYYMMDDHHMMSS<sp>filename
Just for reference/amusement, here is how the as-of-yet unreleased SlimFTPd 4.0 decides what to do when it sees the MDTM command. Other servers probably do something similar.
  • foobar" and the other is named "foobar" and you are trying to set the modification timestamp of the latter to the exact same timestamp as in the former's file name. This would in practice never occur, but if it did, SlimFTPd would follow the RFC spec and return the modified date of the former file rather than altering the modified date of the latter file.

    In all other cases, this usage of MDTM is completely acceptable and unambiguous. I would strongly encourage the developers of SmartFTP to add this useful and simple feature.

    Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Thank you.

We will consider adding this feature.

Wow, quick response! Thanks for considering the addition.

By the by, I have been working night and day on SlimFTPd 4.0 and hope to release a working beta publicly very soon. SlimFTPd 4.0 already supports FEAT, OPTS, SIZE, MDTM, LANG, and UTF8, and will soon support MLSD and MLST, too, hopefully making it one of the most feature-advanced and current FTP servers out there. I use SmartFTP exclusively for testing it during development, so you know when I release it, it will work perfectly with SmartFTP.

That sounds great. Hope your release is ready soon.

If you have a beta tester / announcement list please add one of our email addresses to the list.

Thanks
-Mat

Implementation is almost done.

We need a list of FTP servers (including the FEAT reply) supporting the MDTM command to set the date/time of the remote file.

Please post all servers and don't forget the FEAT reply which support the MDTM command.

Thank you

Check out the latest build
https://www.smartftp.com/download

Hi, I'm new on SmartFTP, but the first thing i notticed was that it didn't keep file time on upload. I come from FTP Voyager, which makes it fine. After looking allaround I found this forum and finally tested your last build that seems to work fine except because it puts server file time 2 hours less than local file time... this is: local=15:53, server=13:53, for example. This happens on every uploaded file.

SmartFTP use the UTC time in the MDTM command. You are probably using an old Servu version with a buggy MDTM implementation.

If no time zone is specified in the MDTM command (or if the server does not support such a specification), the time stamp is assumed to be in UTC.

Hi again,
i've checked out ftp servu server version and, sure enough, it isn't the last version. Last one is 5.0 and i'm running 4.0.0.4. I've tried to find a list of reported bugs, enhancements in new version, etc., but didn't find it at all, so I can't say that it isn't really a server bug. Anyway, what i can do say is that with ftp voyager MDTM command seems to work fine. Any ideas?