This page documents MacSFTP for Mac OS 8/9. It can be downloaded at this location:
http://pro.wanadoo.fr/chombier/
MacSFTP cost $25.00 and comes with a free 15 day trial period.
Because the Macintosh computers in our labs are running the newer OS X operating system, they have Fugu installed in our labs for your use.
How to Connect with MacSFTP
Open the MacSFTP Program by double-clicking on the application.
The login window should open when the program is launched. If it does not come up, pull down the File/Open Connection menu command.
Fill in the connection information and click the Connect button to initiate the connection.
Host Name: - This is the name of the machine in our unix lab that you want to connect to. This example shows losaltos.fhda.edu, but you really can use any of the hosts listed below. It really doesn't matter which host you connect to, it only matters that the machine is turned on and ready to communicate :)
If you are unable to connect to losaltos.fhda.edu, try one of the following:
losaltos.fhda.edu
kyoto.fhda.edu
paris.fhda.edu
london.fhda.eduLogin: - Replace smithbob with YOUR username that you obtained from the accounts server... remember that it is case-sensitive!
Password: - Enter YOUR password that you obtained from the accounts server... it is also case-sensitive!
Path: - This specifies the path to the directory of files on the remote host. You should leave this blank and when you connect you should be placed into your home directory... which is exactly where you want to be.
If you cannot connect to losaltos.fhda.edu try one of the following:
If this is the first time that you have connected to this host, you will see a dialog similar to the example below:
Click the YES button to accept the encryption key.
Assuming that you provided the correct username and password, the following example screen should appear displaying the files in your home directory.
The first time that you connect you will only see one folder that has been made for you named public_html. All of your web published files should be placed into the public_html folder... that is your default web directory.
So prior to uploading a web file, ensure that you double-click on the folder named public_html.
To copy a file to the server pane on the right, simply click on a file or folder in the pane on the left and drag it to the right... but, you can also drag and drop files from anywhere on your hard drive to the pane on the right... like you might have done in Fetch!
Transferring Files
If you are uploading web published files, remember that they should be uploaded to your public_html web directory.
Double-click on the public_html folder to open it. After doing so the folder name above the file listing will then indicate public_html.
Drag and drop a file from your hard drive to the remote file listing window to copy the file/folder.
Another way of copying files is to use the Remote/Put Files menu command... drag and drop is easier.
Deleting Files and Folders
Select a file or folder and use the Remote/Delete File menu command. A confirmation dialog will be displayed.
Folder/File Permissions
MacSFTP seems to set the permission of folders that are uploaded or created properly for students who are doing web publishing. The illustration below shows the correct permissions for web published files. The owner of the folder (you) should have all permissions, while the web server should only be able to read and execute a folder containing web files.
Folders belonging to UNIX students, which are not being published, needed to be locked down so that only the owner can do anything to the folder!
To set the permissions of a file or folder:
Single-click on the folder.
Pull down the Remote/Set Permissions... menu command.
Set the correct permissions.
Click the Save button in the window.
Accessing Your Web Files via a Web Browser
Either of the following should get you to your web files. The top example uses the tilde character which our web server assumes you mean you want the web directory (public_html) for the specified user. The lower example spells out the complete path to the user's web directory.
What can go Wrong?
Do the File Names Match the Links?
Remember all that harping we do in the lecture about file name conventions?? Not following that advice may be coming back to haunt you now. Here are some things to look for:
Space and Weird Characters - There should not be any spaces in the names of the files. Sure it worked at home or in the lab, but it won't work once you transfer your HTML files to the UNIX server!
Truth be told, UNIX does allow spaces in file names, but you don't know how to code your HTML files to tell the server there is a space in the name... so no spaces, ever!
Delete the files from the server using your FTP tool, change the file names, and change any links in the code to match the new file names, then re-FTP the files back to the server and test.
There should also be no special characters in the filename. The only acceptable characters are letters, numbers, and the underscore character. If you've got things like " & + = ... then you're going to have trouble because Browsers and Servers use those special characters!
Same solution as above!
Case Sensitivity - UNIX servers are case sensitive (where have you heard that before:) This means that if your code points to a file named foo.html and you upload a file named FOO.HTML... those are not the same to UNIX. Sure it worked on your Mac or PC, but...
Either change the name of the file to match the link, or change the code to match the filename and then re-FTP the files back and test.
Wrong Delimiters - Did you incorrectly use the IBM-PC delimiter of \ This will work on a PC using Internet Explorer, but not in Navigator and certainly not on the UNIX platform! Examples of wrong delimiters are:
PC Delimiter, a backward slash - images\logo.gif
Mac Delimiter, a colon - images:logo.gifWhen coding HTML you should always use the UNIX delimiter / (yes even on a PC or Mac), so that it looks like images/logo.gif
Fix the delimiters to / and re-FTP the files and test!