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I am writing a Linux shell script to copy a local directory to a remote server (removing any existing files).

Local server: ftp and lftp commands are available, no ncftp or any graphical tools.

Remote server: only accessible via FTP. No rsync nor SSH nor FXP.

I am thinking about listing local and remote files to generate a lftp script and then run it. Is there a better way?

Note: Uploading only modified files would be a plus, but not required.

kenorb
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Nicolas Raoul
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  • ncftp is totally out the question ? Would be easiest imho. (and i know it'll do it as i use it that way) – Sirex Jan 11 '11 at 09:30
  • Sirex: I would rather do it with tools that come by default on RedHat. If lftp proves unusable, I will add a requirement for users to install ncftp. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 11 '11 at 09:40
  • The syntax for `wput` (a wget-like ftp-uploader): `wput dir/ ftp://user:pass@host/dir` – kenorb Jun 07 '15 at 12:47

5 Answers5

56

lftp should be able to do this in one step, in particular with lftp mirror:

The lftp command syntax is confusing, original invocation I posted doesn't work. Try it like this:

lftp -e "mirror -R {local dir} {remote dir}" -u {username},{password} {host}

note the quotes around the arguments to the -e switch.

Community
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Phil Hollenback
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    +1 for tipping me that lftp's mirror mode works even if FXP is not available (I was convinced of the opposite after reading http://tutorials.papamike.ca/pub/lftp.html which says "both servers must support this protocol for this operation to succeed"). However, this particular command fails on my Ubuntu server: lftp: mirror: Name or service not known, Unknown command `-R'. – Nicolas Raoul Jan 11 '11 at 08:13
  • I reworded my answer with a better invocation of lftp, hopefully that helps. – Phil Hollenback Jan 11 '11 at 08:47
  • I finally gt it to work! It seems that you must switch remote and local for it to work. Please update and I will accept this answer. Here is a command line that works: lftp -e "mirror -R /tmp/mylocalfiles /var/www" -u remoteuser,remotepassword remoteserver – Nicolas Raoul Jan 12 '11 at 02:24
  • I think I saw in the lftp docs that you had to switch the local and remote dirs when using -R but I must have forgot. Updated my answer. – Phil Hollenback Jan 12 '11 at 02:29
  • How does it fail? Have you tried running 'lftp -vvv' for more verbose output to determine what it's trying to do? – Phil Hollenback Jan 12 '11 at 02:55
  • lftp -c "open -u {username},{password} {host}; mirror -R {local dir} {remote dir}" – amit jha Dec 05 '16 at 14:38
  • add `--parallel=10` after `-R` to speed things up – Thomas Schwärzl Dec 14 '18 at 10:36
3
cd {local_dir}
lftp {server}
cd {remote_dir}
mput {local_dir}/*

This worked for me, many other attempts were failing. Once in lftp, more info available via:

help mput
austin
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1

Rather than the common answer of using mirroring, I often find it preferable to use mput, especially if there are several directories to transfer.

For example, given the following:

lftp> !ls
mydir1
mydir2
mydir3
mydir4
mydir5

... if the goal is to transfer directories mydir[2-4], you can either clunkily use the mirror command:

lftp mirror -R mydir2 mydir2

... and repeat serially for mydir3 and mydir4... or you can use mput as follows:

lftp> mput -d mydir[2-4]/*

... and be done. The -d option is key here:

lftp> help mput
Usage: mput [OPTS] <files>
Upload files with wildcard expansion
...
 -d  create directories the same as in file names and put the
     files into them instead of current directory
...
aoeui
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1

Based on Phil's idea of using lftp's mirror mode, this command does the trick:

lftp -c 'open -e "mirror /tmp/thedir ftp://nico:mypass@remotehost/~/destination/" ftp://nico:mypass@localhost'

A drawback is that it requires the local server to have an FTP server running.

Nicolas Raoul
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0

Finally got the answer!!! Create shell script ftpmirror.sh

#!/bin/bash 
path = /local-dir-path
lftp -e "mirror -R $path /$path" -u username,password ftp-server-ip
  • Path = local directory which we want to copy into ftp server
  • username = ftp server user name
  • password = ftp server password
  • ftp-server-ip = IP address of ftp server

If lftp package is not installed the installed it using yum.

Nicolas Raoul
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Kiran Zinjurde
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