2002.10_Easy Ftp Downloads with Kbear.pdf

LINUX USER

Ktools

Bear Necessities

If you are looking to use FTP for software downloads, specialized client

programs offer considerable advantages in comparision to using a web

browser. KBear can access several servers simultaneously, for example.

A fter first introducing the GUI

based FTP program KBear over 18

months ago in this column [1], it

looked as though program development

had come to a complete standstill. The

latest version (1.2.1) was from April the

previous year – and all has been quiet on

the bear-front since then.

Thank goodness that seems to have

changed now, and the first pre-release of

version 2.0 sees the program making the

jump to KDE 3.0. So, if you want to try

out the latest version of KBear from the

homepage at kbear.sourceforge.net , you

will need KDE 3.0 and Qt 3.0.x.

Updating is particularly easy for any

Mandrake users who can download a

pre-configured package from prdown U

loads.sourceforge.net/kbear/kbear-2. U

0alpha1-1mdk.i586.rpm. Users of other

systems will need to extract the source

code archive using

line in comparison to other FTP clients.

Before you get started, this second

generation program confronts you with a

so-called configuration wizard designed

to provide you with support while

configuring the program.

Keep the default settings in the first

two windows iView Settings and

Window Settings for the time being, and

click on the button marked Next> in

both cases to continue. Later you will be

able to access any items the wizard

presents at this stage, and even call the

wizard itself via the Settings / Run

Wizard … or Settings / Configure KBear

menu items.

If the “useful” tips provided when you

launch the program start to get on your

nerves, you will probably want to access

Mixed Settings and disable Run “Tip of

today” at startup.. If you forget to enter

your email settings in Network/Email in

the KDE control center, you can also use

this window to inform KBear of your

email address.

The last wizard window is used for

firewall settings (Figure 1). The default

value here is Do not use a firewall (most

users will use this) . You will definitely

want to keep this setting, as the firewall

configuration is still experimental. You

can then click on the Finish button to

launch the FTP client proper.

A Completely New Point of

View

The first time you start KBear (Figure 2),

you will not see the typical two-framed

window that you are familiar with from

tar -xIvf kbear-2.0alpha1.tar. U

bz2

and then launch their compiler (Box 1).

Figure 2: The initial window

First time out

The first time that you launch KBear by

typing kbear in your favorite terminal

emulation, or via the KDE menu entry

Internet / KBear , you will probably

notice that KBear steps somewhat out of

KTOOLS

In this column we present tools, month by

month, which have proven to be especially

useful when working under KDE, solve a

problem which otherwise is deliberately

ignored, or are just some of the nicer things

in life, which – once discovered – you

wouldn’t want to do without.

Figure 1: Omit the Firewall in the Alpha-Version

Figure 3: Free choice of FTP servers

October 2002

www.linux-magazine.com

KBear FTP Client

BY STEFANIE TEUFEL

Ktools

LINUX USER

other clients, where you have your home

directory on one side and the FTP server

on the other.

KBear uses a different approach even

here. You will still find your home

directory as expected, but most of the

window is reserved for the various FTP

servers that you might want to access in

future.

Compilation Tricks and Traps

Alpha versions always have a few rough edges – this is particularly true of the installation and

defnitely the case for KBear: Extreme caution and some resilience to setbacks should help.

The default setting for KBear will place the client in the /usr/local/kde/bin , /usr/local/kde/lib

directories, etc. This would mean the program crashing immediately on Red Hat 7.3. The solution is

to install the program in the directory reserved by Red Hat for KDE under /usr .To do so, we simply

called ./configure in the source directory kbear-2.0alpha1 and added --prefix=/usr .

If you have several KDE and Qt versions (including header files) ,you will need to point the

variables in KDEDIR and QTDIR to the correct version in the KBear source directory before you call

configure ,as in:

export QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt3

Outgoing

Bells and whistles are fine but an FTP

client is no use, unless you can convince

it to talk to FTP servers of your choice.

KBear provides you with two ways of

doing this: You can click on FTP / Quick

Connect (or use the keyboard shortcut

[Ctrl-N]) and type the address of the

required server in the dialog box that

then appears (Figure 3).

You will normally want to access

public FTP servers where you do not

possess an account . In this case you will

need to check Anonymous Login to

access that part of the server reserved for

anonymous logins.

After you enter your email address via

the wizard, KBear automatically uses

this email address as your password for

anonymous login – and this is what most

FTP servers expect. Note: Servers will

sometimes prompt you for a password

despite anonymous login . In this case

you should type anonymous in the

dialog box that pops up on your screen –

after doing so you should be able to log

on without any difficulty.

Are you ready? Just one more click on

export KDEDIR=/opt/kde3

The right directory differs from system to system. But even if configure seems to work, you should

not assume you have successfully compiled the tool. The compilers on SuSE 7.2 and Qt 3.0.3

refused to cooperate and instead issued a message to the effect of:

kbeardeletejob.cpp: In method `void KBearDeleteJob::slotEntries U

(KIO::Job *, const KIO::UDSEntryList &)':

kbeardeletejob.cpp:121: implicit declaration of function `int U

assert(...)'

make[3]: *** [kbeardeletejob.lo] Error 1

If a compiler complains about an implicity declared function, it normally means that the

programmer has forgotten to include a header file. If you add the following line at the beginning

of the kbearlistjob.cpp , kbearcopyjob.cpp , and kbearfilecopyjob.cpp files in kbear-2.0alpha1/kbear U

/base

#include <assert.h>

you should be able to compile the KBear sources without any problem.

the Connect button (provided you are

online) separates you from opening a

connection to the server of your choice

with a little help from KBear.

The Save to Sitemanager box in Figure

4 gives you an idea of the second

method of contacting FTP servers. Björn

Sahlströhm, KBear’s developer, used the

Sitemanager to organize a whole bunch

of FTP servers – neatly and tidily by type

and content – including their logins. If

you decide to access one of the servers in

this list, you simply click on the list

entry. You can use the above mentioned

box to add entries to the list.

Easy to import

KBear 1.2.1 veterans will be familiar

with [Ctrl-O] as a shortcut to opening the

Sitemanager configuration. The current

version now provides the additional

enhancement of allowing you to import

FTP bookmarks from other programs.

As you can see in Figure 4 this dialog

box not only

contains a bunch of

nicely organized

servers but also an

Import button. A

single click on this

button allows you

to use the dialog

box that pops up

(as you can see

in Figure 5) to

integrate your book-

marks from KBear

1.x, the GNOME

FTP program, the

ncFTP command

GLOSSARY

FTP: The “File Transfer Protocol” controls the

transfer of files from one computer to

another across the Internet. FTP allows

comprehensive file management after

logging on to the host system. Depending on

your access privileges, you can transfer,

delete, copy or move files and directories.

Header file: Files ending in .h contain

descriptions of how to call functions written

in the C or C++ programming languages.

They are essential for compiling programs. If

you use a package manager to install a

library, they are normally found in a separate

archive with the “dev” or “devel” suffix and

need to be added specifically.

Account: Access privilege for a Unix

computer. A user who possesses a user name

and password for this system and also has a

home directory based on this system, is said

to possess an account on the host.

Figure 4: Add a server of your choice to the Sitemanager!

www.linux-magazine.com

October 2002

www.linux-magazine.com

LINUX USER

Ktools

/ Configure KBear / Views to view the

files in the folders on display as icons or

as a detailed list including rights, time-

stamps, and so on. This is also the place

to opt for a tree view, to display the

taskbar and the like.

After configuring the environment you

simply use drag & drop for your down-

loads, as one would expect from KDE.

Just click on the file you want to down-

load from a directory on the FTP source

server and drag your mouse to the target

directory on your local machine. Let go

of the mouse button and select copy in

the context menu that then appears –

finished. Now you can lean back and

watch the transfer progress indicator in

the bottom frame (Figure 8).

You can even take a peek at a file

before you download it. To do so, right-

click on the file and select View in the

drop-down menu. Depending on the file

type KBear will then offer you a selection

of programs to view the file contents in

advance and at your own pace.

Figure 5: Thanks to the new import function, you

can keep your bookmarks

INFO

[1] Stefanie Teufel:“Different Views”, Linux

Magazine Issue 5, p112

line tool, WS-FTP and the Windows-

Commander from the Windows

environment (which no doubt took years

to compile) into KBear 2.0.

Of course you can open connections

manually in the KBearSiteManagerBase

window. To do so, simply select the FTP

server you need, click on Connect , and

you’re up and running. This is useful for

users who prefer a more sophisticated

approach: The protocol option allows you

to select the more secure sftp variant from

the Secure Shell family instead of simple

ftp . You can also click on the Advanced…

button to define additional options, such

as the number of retries, or toggle Passive

Mode (Figure 6) on and off.

Gimme, gimme!

After connecting to one or more FTP

servers there is nothing to stop you

downloading to your heart’s desire. But

connections to multiple servers will tend

to clutter the main KBear window. To

prevent this, you might like to organize

the layout of your windows by selecting

Window / Tile .

If you really want to revert to the

look & feel of more traditional FTP

clients, the Tile vertically option is

probably your best bet. More

horizontally

minded users

can also opt for

tile overlapped

(Figure 7) or tile

non-overlapped .

Everyone else

will just have to

discover their

favorite option

by trial and

error. You can

also use Settings

Figure 7: Multiple servers tiled to give some order to the window

Figure 6: Active or

passive?

Figure 8: Making progress with KBear. The bottom panel is indicating the rate of transfer and the

percentage completed.

October 2002

www.linux-magazine.com

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