Posted on 10/20/2021 9:34:06 PM PDT by dayglored
The Chromium team has finally done it – File Transfer Protocol (FTP) support is not just deprecated, but stripped from the codebase in the latest stable build of the Chrome browser, version 95.
It has been a while coming. A lack of support for encrypted connections in Chrome's FTP implementation, coupled with a general disinterest from the majority of the browser's users, and more capable third-party alternatives being available has meant that the code has moved from deprecated to gone entirely.
Support for fetching document resources over FTP was stripped from Chrome 72, proxy support for FTP was removed in Chrome 76, and Chrome 86 introduced a flag to turn it off completely.
In between 76 and 86, Google tinkered with deprecation, backing away in the first half of 2020 in response to the pandemic and the workload faced by hardpressed IT crews. However, the writing was on the wall for the venerable protocol.
By version 88 it was disabled for all users, but still could be switched back on. Now the code to support it has at last been removed once and for all, a little later than hoped.
Mozilla dumped the protocol from its Firefox browser back in July, and Apple doesn't really support it in Safari.
As for Microsoft, while its Edge browser might be based on Chromium, there is always Internet Explorer, which should still do the business should you have a need for a bit of browser-based retro file-transfer action. And few browsers deserve the retro tag as much as IE, even if Microsoft is determined to kill it off in most forms next year.
As for why FTP has attracted such ire – well, the protocol is over 50 years old and comes from more innocent times, when authentication was not what it is today. More secure options now exist (such as FTPS and SFTP) and, frankly, Google and pals would rather users opted for a dedicated transfer app than bother maintaining the code in the browser.
There remain a good few FTP sites out there (such as the US Census Bureau), although many now have alternatives for file transfer. The final ejection of the code from Chrome, which lays claim to a huge userbase, means it really is time to move on. ®
Clickable links in the original article: https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/20/ftp_chrome_95/
Rip your books to usb
It’s been so long since I used FTP that I have lost the memory of what is accomplished
“I still use Windows 7. Never made the upgrade. I’m thinking my next computer should be a Linux Mint Cinnamon.”
You absolutely cannot go wrong, in fact to add Mint Cinnamon as dual boot/along side over Win 7 right now on the machines you already have is a winning combination.
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=288
I still deal with a 3rd party vendor that uses it. I have to go off the domain to get files (our sys admin blocked ftp a looonnng time ago) and then get to it within file explorer.
Yup! I still need to download YUGE files... Virtual Machines and such, and Filezilla is my go to.
Load ‘em up and walk away. By-and-by I have my VMs ready to go.
Same - FTP was the convenient way to transfer files over our networks.
I got rid of Chrome in the Spring; it’s just another spy machine, like all the software is.
# It’s about bloody time.
I disagree. I think ftp is still a useful protocol. You don’t always need secure transmission. I can definitely see a place for anonymous ftp. I don’t particularly care about it being a part of a browser though. It is probably smarter to use a standalone FTP client.
# The name “FTP” became generic (like Kleenex, Scotch tape) years ago, applied to any file transfer protocol including ones that had nothing to do with FTP (e.g. SCP) but now at last FTP can be laid to rest.
This, I would agree with in part. The biggest problem is that people don’t know the difference between the different protocols. (gopher anyone?)
I use SCP internally, and to update my website, (along with rsync) but again, I could easily see a purpose for anonymous ftp. Entering credentials in an FTP session though, is stupid.
One of the really cool features of the “Dolphin” file browser (which is a KDE Linux thing), is that it supports the ‘fish://’ protocol, which is a GUI way of using ssh/scp to get/put files. It =looks= like you are just browsing files locally, but in reality, the ‘far’ side can be anywhere on the planet. MUCH better than samba IMO.
Re: sftp://host.domain.com/path/...
Brave doesn’t appear to support that URI format. I tried hitting
sftp://localhost/Documents
If you’re using Linux, and have the ‘dolphin’ file browser, you can use fish://foo.bar/path/
# mIRC!
OMG, IRC was fun. I still have an IRC client. Actually used it sometime last year to get some support for a broken config. IRC is still out there, and bigger than most would think.
But then, none of the external sites I contact these days use old FTP -and- don't offer a secure alternative. If there was such a site, I'd be on the horn with their IT guys giving them hell.
The one old unencrypted protocol I still use extensively is TELNET, to test a TCP port for a live listener. But I'm not transferring any actual data.
Aside: One of my favorite "So you say you have 5 years of Linux experience" questions when interviewing a candidate for an IT position is: "You have to resurrect a Linux system that won't boot. You diagnose that there's a typo in /etc/fstab. You are at the console and your only available editor is /bin/ed. What is the first command you give ED?" (Answer: A capital 'P' to get a damn prompt! or any actual ED editing command. Extra credit if they use "cat | sed 's/foo/bar/'" and a temp file instead of ED.
Another favorite is: "You need to test whether an SMTP server is working, but you're at a console terminal with no mail client. You run "telnet {server} 25" and you get a response. What are the commands you use to send a test mail message?"
If the candidate can't answer at least one of those, they haven't got the experience needed to work at the level of IT that I do. :-)
Of course not all of my IT work is that bit-pushy; I do most of my work at a much higher level. But I firmly believe that any IT person who doesn’t have some familiarity with the lower levels doesn’t really understand what they’re doing at the higher levels.
The real question is: why does anyone use Chrome? Certainly anyone who knows what FTP is should know better.
Depends on what you're doing. I don't trust Chrome as much as Firefox so I use Firefox for 90% of my web activity. However, if I'm building and testing a new webserver for compatibility, I have to use Chrome -- it's what most of the people who hit my website will be using.
Use this to convert your CDs into MP3s for your USB or phone, etc...
(Or try any open source “CD ripper”; I don’t think Nero Burning ROM is still available, but you could try that too.)
1) It’s true that FTP should be avoided.
* In general maybe but there are plenty of use cases where it’s just fine. Within a trusted LAN environment being one but not the only example.
2) The presence or absence of FTP in a specific program has nothing to do with whether or not the protocol itself is dead.
* 100%
Yeah.. I suppose most Winblows users wouldn’t know what IRC is.. but, as far as I know, most Linux packages come with one version or another of IRC.
Back in the day, it was too addicting though, especially when there were music addons.. ;^)
# Back in the day, it was too addicting though, especially when there were music addons.. ;^)
Yup. Gotta agree with that. I still think IRC is an excellent system. It would be really easy to darknet the hell out of that shit.
# The one old unencrypted protocol I still use extensively is TELNET, to test a TCP port for a live listener. But I’m not transferring any actual data.
Anyone who actually uses telnet to login somewhere is an idiot who deserves a slow death. OTOH, telnet is an indispensible tool for troubleshooting connectivity.
Maybe we should start up an IRC channel for FR.. would be a great way to communicate when the site gets DDOSed.
Maybe we could get the FReepers hooked to it too :D
(also, if the evil ones take down the conservative sites, including here...)
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