cftp 0.2.1a0

FTP-like client for interacting with cloud storage

Introduction

The cftp package provides an ftp-like interface to cloud-based storage services. It is basically a wrapper. It abstracts the user from the particulars of specific cloud storage services by exposing a common interface. Accessing the interface is simple. Instantiate a class corresponding to a desired cloud storage service (eg, Amazon S3). The class has methods corresponding to common ftp client commands.

The current version includes the four files noted below.

1. base.py - abstract base class for cloud ftp client

2. base_exceptions.py - exceptions raised by base.py

3. s3.py - ftp-like client interface to Amazon’s S3 service

4. s3_exceptions.py - exceptions raised by s3.py

5. __main__.py - shim for s3ftp command line script (console script)

Over time, this package may be extended to include an ftp-like client interface to the DropBox storage services. That functionality would be implemented as a sub-class of base.py, just as s3.py is a sub-class. The same is true for other cloud-based storage services that offer an API.

Installation

Install using pip or easy_install. The cftp package does require Amazon’s boto3 package, which exposes an API for controlling AWS objects using python. The boto3 package will be automatically installed (via pip or easy_install), since it is listed as a dependency in this package.

This package also includes a tool called s3ftp that provides command line, ftp-like access to the Amazon S3 service.

Configuration

Before using this package, you will need to setup AWS authentication credentials as required by boto3. See the following URL:

https://boto3.readthedocs.org/en/latest/guide/quickstart.html#configuration

Using the s3ftp Command Line Utility

The following illustrates using the interactive s3ftp command line utility. It assumes the existence of an Amazon S3 bucket, in this this case a notional bucket named com.s3ftp.test.

The following connects to a bucket, lists its contents, changes the remote working directory (in the bucket), changes the local working directory, creates a directory in the bucket, uploads a file to it, multiple gets several files, deletes a file from the bucket, closes the bucket, opens a new bucket, lists its contents, and quits. Below does not show s3ftp output.

s3ftp com.s3ftp.test

ls

cd dir1/dir2

lcd ~

mkdir dir3

put file1

mget f*.txt

delete file2

close

open com.s3ftp2.test2

ls

close

quit

Note

The Amazon S3 client above does not support creation or deletion of S3 buckets. It assumes the bucket already exists. This is consistent with behavior of a traditional ftp client in that it is accessing existing storage (on an ftp server).

This software has been tested on Linux but not Windows or Mac OS platforms.

Changes in this Release

Fixed some minor formatting issues in README.rst and added a note indicating cftp has not been tested on Windows and Mac platforms.