SMYGC@CUNYVM (Steve Yoman) (10/22/90)
There is a confusing, misleading and erroneous feature in RISC Ultrix 4.0 (others ?) FTP. In the process of trying to automate a file transfer procedure using the .netrc file, the error: "unknown .netrc option" would appear when the "macdef" option was encountered. The same .netrc file ran without a problem on an RT running BSD 4.3. Further investigation revealed a different command procedure was required (see man netrc). In man ftp, it clearly states that macdef is an acceptable .netrc option. DEC(?) has altered the format to require "command" as the option for passing commands to ftp. Apparently, it is also necessary to place all options on the same line for each machine defined. This would be fine (obscure) if it worked. Redirecting a command file into ftp from the command line works.