Ftpfs will prompt for a user name and password as ftphost demands. If the FTP host supports `anonymous FTP' (ie, guest access), it will accept the user name anonymous and a conventional password (notionally the user's e-mail address). Given the -a option, ftpfs automatically logs in as anonymous with the password supplied, avoiding prompting.

By default, ftpfs uses a `passive' connection for file transfer: the remote system gives the local system a new address to call to fetch the data. This often works best for local systems behind firewalls that block incoming calls to arbitrary ports, but can fail for instance if the remote system does not support passive mode, or is itself behind such a firewall. The -p option forces `active' connection: the local system gives the remote machine an address on which to call it back to transfer the data.

Other options are:

-/

Mount the remote machine's root directory on mountpoint, not the user's home directory (which is used by default).

-q

Suppress the printing of chatter (`informational messages') from the remote server.

-d

Display all FTP protocol transactions to allow a failure to connect to be debugged.

Ftpfs keeps a limited local cache of remote files and directories. The cache is kept consistent with file and directory operations by the local user through the current connection, but not with changes made by others on the remote site. Cached entries for a given directory can be flushed explicitly by accessing the name .flush.ftpfs in that directory.

mkdir here
ftpfs -a 'bloggs@' ftp.vitanuova.com
cp /n/ftp/package.tgz here
unmount /n/ftp

/tmp/ftp.*

Temporarily cached files