Very Computer

I've got an interesting problem for the FTP server gurus out there...

We want an FTP site that allows tons of users to log into an anonymous
account and submit files.  The files must not overwrite each other, but
we don't want the users to have to worry about specifying a unique
filename.

Ideally, the FTP server would intercept the incoming file and change
its name to a unique identifier.

Is that possible somehow?

I appreciate any insights...

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Before you buy.

My guess is you're going to have to modify an existing
FTP server in order to do what you want.

One place to start might be with a perl FTP daemon; it
should be pretty easy to extend something like that.
I've never tried it, but there seems to be a perl ftp
server at http://www.futuresouth.com/~tomw/todokeru/ .

  - Logan

I think there's some bizzarro option to wuftpd for this.

[ Do NOT email-CC me on posts. Pick one or the other.]

The word of the day is mispergitude

: I've got an interesting problem for the FTP server gurus out there...
:
: We want an FTP site that allows tons of users to log into an anonymous
: account and submit files.  The files must not overwrite each other, but
: we don't want the users to have to worry about specifying a unique
: filename.
:
: Ideally, the FTP server would intercept the incoming file and change
: its name to a unique identifier.
:
There's a new service available as an alternative to FTP that does what
you want: the Internet Kermit Service (RFC2839, RFC2840).  It's like an
FTP server, but uses Kermit protocol over a Telnet connection to a special
socket (1649):

  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/iksd.html

Among its many advantages over FTP is the ability to ensure that incoming
files don't wipe each other out; as the site administrator you can configure
various filename collision preferences: rename the existing file, rename the
incoming file, reject the incoming file, reject the incoming file only if it
is not newer than the existing file, etc.  It can be used by any Telnet
client that includes Kermit protocol.

A publicly accessible Internet Kermit Service is available at Columbia
University if you want to take a look:

  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/cuiksd.html

- Frank