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Re: Programs for direct friend-to-friend file transfer?



Christofer C. Bell wrote:

That's just it.  Using anything *other* than ssh is a "waste of time
and effort" most of the time as ssh requires no setup and effort to
use out of the box not only in Debian but any modern Linux/Unix.
*Everything else* requires effort to setup and use.

The point, however, is that there is no file transfer method that
meets her requirements.

1. No dedicated server (no web, no sftp, no ftp, NFS, Samba, etc).
2. No usernames/logins (no sftp, scp, no ftp, etc, see above)
3. No chat protocols (no IM, no IRC)
4. No external 3rd party service (dropbox, etc)
5. No email (messages are too large).

There is no way to get a file from her machine to her friend's machine
without violating at least 1 or more of these requirements (at least
over a network).  All I can suggest is a USB stick/CD-R and postal
mail.
exactly!
<snip>

That said, there have been a number of suggestions towards modifying
the OP's requirements and I'm interested in seeing the reasoning
behind the requirements themselves.  Aubrey hasn't replied yet and I
think there's value in giving her an opportunity to respond, clarify
and perhaps narrow her requirements, and allow us to provide better
advice.  The fact is, with the requirements set as they are, there is
no possible solution (see below) to her problem.

As I mentioned earlier - the easiest solution I've found, for both sender and recipient, is a file upload/mail service like yousendit or filemail.

After a LOT of looking, I managed to find a GPL package that does the same thing:
http://fex.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/
- GPL'd source version: http://fex.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/fex.html
- Debian Package: http://packages.debian.org/sid/fex (this is a Debian list after all!)
- hosted version: http://fex.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/fup

And... XKCD captures the whole problem perfectly at http://xkcd.com/949/ (courtesy of the fex site)

Mile Fidelman






--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra



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