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+Network Working Group M.A. Padlipsky
+Request for Comments #506 MIT-Multics
+NIC #16157 6/26/73
+
+
+ An FTP Command-Naming Problem
+
+In using the File Transfer Protocol, I've noticed that the choice of
+names for two crucial commands is faulty. The commands are STOR, which
+tell the Server to take a file in, and RETR, which tells the Server to
+send a file out. The trouble is that telling the Server to "retrieve" a
+file sounds like a desire for the file to be taken in by the Server
+rather than be sent out. For that matter, telling the Server to "store"
+the file sounds like it could be either a command to send it out or a
+command to take it in. The names of the commands, then, are both
+connotatively ambiguous and not very mnemonic if they are thought of as
+commands to the Server. (If they're thought of as commands to the User
+Host, they make more sense -- but they're not commands to the Use
+(Host.)
+
+Of course, memorizing the denotations -- despite the connotations -- is
+a solution. But it would probably be easier for users if the names were
+more suggestive of the functions named. Therefore, I propose that PUSH
+and PULL be added to the FTP as synonyms for RETR and STOR, respectively
+(I hope). Even GIVE and TAKE would be an improvement. At the very
+least, SEND should be a synonym for RETR. (1)
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+---------------------
+(1) Note that by specifying synonyms rather than replacement, existing
+correct reflexes -- and "automata" -- are not disturbed, while newcomers
+to FTPing are given a better chance of choosing right.
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+ [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
+ [ into the online RFC archives by Alex McKenzie with ]
+ [ support from GTE, formerly BBN Corp. 9/99 ]
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+Padlipsky [Page 1]
+