ncftp

A better ftp client.

You can get the client (free) for many platforms from http://www.ncftpd.com/ncftp/. They also sell a ncftpd server, but you don't need that to use the client.

The advantages of ncftp include automatic resumption of failed downloads. Recently I needed an iso image from IBM, but the connection kept timing out on me - I'd get 20% of the file or so and lose my connection. Very frustrating, but easy to fix with the companion ncftpget:

ncftpget ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com//pc/pccbbs/pc_servers/90p3123.iso
 

That will automatically resume the download wherever it left off. There is, of course, ncftpput also.

Another way to do it is to take advantage of the background daemon:

apl$ ncftp ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com//pc/pccbbs/pc_servers/
NcFTP 3.1.6 (Aug 25, 2003) by Mike Gleason (http://www.NcFTP.com/contact/).
Connecting to 207.25.253.40...                                                  
peak1 FTP server (Version wu-2.6.2(1) Sat Aug 9 12:15:03 MDT 2003) ready.
Logging in...                                                                   
Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
Logged in to ftp.software.ibm.com.                                              
Current remote directory is /pc/pccbbs/pc_servers.
ncftp /pc/pccbbs/pc_servers > bgget 90p3123.iso
  + Spooled: get 90p3123.iso
  ncftp /pc/pccbbs/pc_servers > quit
apl$ ncftpbatch -l
---Scheduled-For-----Host----------------------------Command--------------------
   2003-12-19 07:18  ftp.software.ibm.com            GET 90p3123.iso
apl$ ncftpbatch -d
 

That will set off a background daemon that will just keep trying until it gets the entire file.

There are other features, including ease of working through firewalls and proxies, and more.

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