[ale] ftping redhat 6.0.tar.gz

[linuxhat at mailandnews.com]

On 28 Jul 1999, hirsch at mathcs.emory.edu wrote:

>> I have recently tried to ftp into metalab.unc.edu in order to download
>> redhat 6.0.  I want to load it onto a sparc 10.  It is anonymous ftp (I
>> thought).  
>> 
>> The good news is I get in.  The bad news is that when I try to "get
>> redhat-6.0.tar.gz it says "permission denied".  
>> 
>> I have tried to get into cc.ga.tech.edu with absolutely no results at all.
>> I thought it was an anonymus ftp server.
>
>This typically means that reverse DNS is broken for your machine.  If you
>machine thinks it's name is other than what DNS thinks then you will have
>trouble.
>
>A few ftp sites don't check for this, but I beleive that gatech one does.
>
>--Michael

Spot on.  My work doesn't do DNS for non-WinDoze machines, so I can't ftp
into gatech directly.... so I just log into here (home),
(MediaOneSlimeVerminDeathstarco does actually do reverse DNS :)
grab the files, then slurp'em back to my werk machine via ssh... then
I've got a spare copy, which is good because most things interesting enough
for work are also things I want on the home box, too.  YMMV.  

IIRC, this can be the result of compling tcp_wrapper with -DPARANOID, 
among other things.... Frankly, if I'm running an otherwise free-access
FTP server and trying to keep the bad guys out, I'd let the undefineds in
and do my restrictions by hard-coded IP address... one can spoof DNS, too. 
Penalizing folks for stupid ISP's/netmanagers is just that.... stupid.

Unless somebody can give me a real good reason why....

-- Glenn