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Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem

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Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:

>> If a user wants to send/receive a file, why is this any relevant?
> 
> He does not want it, he is put in a position when all choices are bad. The
> user wants to publish a photo, to modify meeting minutes, to confirm money
> transaction etc. It the OS which forces him to send files rather than
> perform actions he really wants and needs.

I 

>>>> Is there any relevant method to transfer files on the interent?
>>> 
>>> Specifically to transfer files, depending on the topology of the
>>> publishers and subscribers, their coupling, mutual trust, connectivity
>>> QoS etc:
>>> 
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_File_System_%28protocol%29
>> 
>> Unfortunately, neither of those technologies solves the problem of
>> providing a convenient way for user A to transfer a file to user B.
> 
> You didn't describe the setup. If the condition is that none of more or
> less advanced file transfer protocols is available, then, well, none of
> them is.

Read the original post.


>> Rsync is employed
>> to synchronize files from multiple locations, bittorrent is designed to
>> transfer files from multiple servers to multiple clients and NFS is
>> employed to provide remote access to a file system.
> 
> All of them were designed to transfer files.

Read the original post.


>> None of these scenarios are
>> applicable to a simple use case of transfering a file between two users,
>> such as the one described in the xkcd comic.
> 
> I don't know what a "simple use case" is. Are you presuming that E-mail is
> available, but the NFS mount is not? Why? 

I've explained in the original post why email wasn't an option.

Regarding the use of NFS to transfer a file, sending a file to someone 
though a pre-existing NFS service requires that either one is already 
available or that one is made available for the single purpose of 
sending/receiving a single file.  

If a NFS service is already available then it is provided by a third-party 
or it implies that an entire file system is exposed to someone just to be 
able to send them a file.  Suffice to say, this method won't do.


> What if the user has no computer
> at all? No OS installed? etc. You must define the setup. Once you did it,
> e.g. Windows 7, no system administrator on either side etc, then the
> answer will become obvious.

Read the original post.


> Returning to the beginning, transferring files always will be complex,
> because it is a wrong abstraction. The Internet industry circumvents
> files, at least in the user interfaces, you don't see them. Note that this
> requires a very complex environment of browsers, plug-ins, applets,
> servlets etc. Rendering a simple web page involves a huge amount of work
> equivalent to transfer of many files. The user does not see this and does
> not care. He gets what he wants.
> 
> This is the ultimative answer to the cartoon. If you need to transfer a
> file, get a better environment where you would not need to worry about
> files anymore.

It became quite clear that you don't know what you are talking about.  A 
file is a data dump.  Claiming that dumping data through a network "requires 
a very complex environment of browsers, plug-ins, applets, servlets etc." is 
a clear sign that you are oblivious to the issues regarding this.

As a side note, it is possible to send a file between two users by using 
tools such as netcat and telnet, both requiring zero file transfer 
protocols.  One client dumps the data, the other client pipes it to a file.  
Done.


Rui Maciel

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Thread

Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 17:17 +0000
  Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2012-01-15 18:35 +0100
    Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 18:07 +0000
      Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2012-01-15 20:19 +0100
        Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 19:42 +0000
  Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2012-01-15 19:15 +0000
    Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 20:10 +0000
  Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-01-18 09:16 -0600
    Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-19 16:26 +0000
      Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-19 14:59 -0600
        Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-19 21:22 +0000
          Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-19 15:54 -0600
            Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem root <NoEMail@home.org> - 2012-01-19 22:20 +0000
              Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-19 17:43 -0600
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 04:22 +0000
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-19 23:43 -0600
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 12:59 +0000
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-20 02:41 -0800
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 12:45 +0000
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-20 15:41 -0800
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem root <NoEMail@home.org> - 2012-01-21 00:18 +0000
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-20 16:41 -0800
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-20 18:44 -0600
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-20 15:43 -0800
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-20 18:34 -0600
                Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-01-21 10:21 +0000
              Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 03:59 +0000
            Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 03:44 +0000
              Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-19 23:41 -0600
    Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-20 14:07 +1300
      Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem blp@cs.stanford.edu (Ben Pfaff) - 2012-01-19 18:20 -0800
      Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-01-19 20:33 -0600
        Re: Ideas on solving the file transfer problem Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-20 04:08 +0000

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