* * * * *
                                        
                         The other SFTP that never was
                                        
For reasons, I'm doing some research into the history of FTP (File Transport
Protocol) when I come across an RFC (Request For Comments) for SFTP. Only
this isn't the SFTP (Secure File Transport Protocol) [1] that is used today,
but instead the Simple File Transfer Protocol [2] from 1984. Unlike TFTP
(Trivial File Transport Protocol), it uses TCP (Transmission Control
Protocol), and unlike FTP, it only uses a single network connection.

But this bit is why I'm writing about this:

> Random Access
> 
> Pro: Wouldn't it be nice if (WIBNIF) SFTP had a way of accessing parts of a
> file?
> 
> Con: Forget it, this is supposed to be SIMPLE file transfer. If you need
> random access use real FTP (oops, real FTP doesn't have random access
> either – invent another protocol?).
> 
> Resolution: I have not made any provision for Random Access.
> 

That “other protocol” would take several more years to be invented, and then
take over the networking world.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_File_Transfer_Protocol
[2] https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc913.txt

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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