Serif Blog

After having problems with RapidWeaver publishing my site over FTP, I searched the net looking for solutions.  After looking for an answer to why my FTP client is uploading files of size zero, a quote from the movie Zoolander came to mind.  Will Ferrel as the evil Mr. Mugatu in response to his feelings about fashion model Derick Zoolander being famous for his many modeling facial expressions all of which are exactly the same says “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”  These quotes will help you understand:

National Instruments
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4D5B0EF024E178B386256DF2007A6909

Situation:
After you install Norton Internet Security for Macintosh 2.0.x, when you upload a file to an FTP server using an FTP client in passive mode, the file you upload is empty or contains 0 bytes.

Solution:
In some cases when uploading files to an FTP server with an FTP client in passive mode, the files uploaded are empty or contain 0 bytes.
To avoid uploading empty files, disable passive mode in your FTP client and use active mode to transfer files. To disable passive mode in your FTP client, see the documentation for the FTP application that you are using. You may also need to disable passive mode in Mac OS X if it is enabled.

OK, so I should FTP in active mode? National Instruments seems to be so sure.

Symantic
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/num.nsf/pfdocs/2003013010180811

Problem:
When I use the FTP Put File VI to upload a file to an FTP server, why does the file appear on the FTP server as an empty file with 0 bytes size? The VI does not report an error.

Solution:
You must send the passive command before you can upload files to an FTP server that does not allow anonymous logins but requires you specify a username and password. The passive command requests the FTP server to listen on a data port that is not the default data port and to wait for a connection instead of initiating one when it receives a transfer command.

Wire a FALSE constant to the active input of an FTP Put VI to send a passive command to an FTP server, as shown in the following image…

Wait, my problem must be solved in active mode! Hmm… why doesn’t my client have an indecisive mode? The real answer depends on your individual situation so you must read up here to get a clue: