lukemftp client was replaced with LFTP in SLES 12, where to find the old one?

This document (7022560) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
 

Situation

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (and older versions) contained an FTP client which was provided by the "lukemftp" package.
 
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 has dropped the "lukemftp" package in favor of the "lftp" package.  Usage syntax for lftp is quite different from lukemftp, so a "wrapper" was provided to improve compatibility of syntax between lftp and lukemftp.
 
However, even with the wrapper, some custom built scripts (which previously worked with lukemftp) do not function as expected with lftp.

Resolution

The official solution is for system administrators to make whatever modifications are necessary to bring their scripts into good functionality with the new FTP client.  This will keep the systems "supportable" from the perspective of SUSE Technical Support.

Alternatively, some administrators may desire to go the unsupported route of manually obtaining a build of lukemftp that can be used on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.  Anyone may download source packages from a variety of locations online, compile them, and use them.  For those who are not comfortable with compiling packages themselves, there are some compiled packages built by SUSE which are available.

This should not be taken as encouragement to install unsupported packages on SUSE Linux Enterprise products.  This information is provided merely as a courtesy.  The collection of packages available at the provided link may change or be removed at any time.  They are not supported and no guarantee of suitability is offered.

If the "lukemftp" client package is desired, various versions are available from the openSUSE Build Service (OBS). 

The first thing to be aware of is that the name of the "lukemftp" project and package has been changed upstream in the open source community.  It's new name is "tnftp".
  1. Go to:  https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/network/tnftp
  2. On the right-hand side, under "Build Results," find the heading which most closely matches the SUSE version in use.  Click that heading.
  3. On the new page which comes up, one or more architectures will be available.  Under the heading with the desired architecture (most often x86_64), several packages may be listed.  Unless source code or debug materials are needed, typically the only package needed will be:   tnftp-<date>-<version>.<arch>.rpm.   Click the "Download" button across from the package name.
  4. Once downloaded to the target system, it can be installed as :
rpm -ihv <package-filename> 

Cause

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (and older versions) contained LukemFTP package
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (and later) contain LFTP package

Additional Information

As background information, the following may be useful:
 
Users (and scripts) typically invoke command-line FTP client with an "ftp" command.  "ftp" is rarely the name of an actual binary.  Typically:
 
  • ftp usually refers to /usr/bin/ftp.  This can be checked with the command "which ftp".
  • /usr/bin/ftp is usually a symbolic link to /etc/alternatives/ftp
  • /etc/alternatives/ftp is usually a symbolic link to the ftp client binary of whichever ftp client package was last installed.
So, for instance:
  • Installation of lukemftp package on SLES 11 will result in this chain of links pointing to /usr/bin/pftp
  • Installation of lftp package on SLES 12 will result in this chain of links pointing to /usr/bin/lftp_wrapper (a binary which will make use of another binary, /usr/bin/lftp)
  • Installation of tnftp package on SLES 12 will result in this chain of links pointing to /usr/bin/tnftp

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7022560
  • Creation Date: 16-Jan-2018
  • Modified Date:06-Mar-2023
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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