----- Original Message ---- of James B. Byrne

Am I to understand that the ftp client on MPE/iX will NOT transfer
multiple files from any arbitrary directory on a *nix machine into the
current working directory of the ftp client?!!! That the only way to get
an indefinite set of files from a *nix box into say, /SYSTEM/TMP, on an
HP3000 is to have them stored in a directory relative to the ftp daemon
root called /SYSTEM/TMP as well? Tell me this is not true.

The part I'll tell you "isn't true" is that the "only" way to get an indefinite number of files is "mget".

HP's FTP client can be scripted quite well using MPE(X) and/or StreamX. We have a number of jobs that essentially work as follows:

!FTP remote.host
cd some/directory
ls fileset* listfile
!purge cmdfile
!echo open remote.host > cmdfile
!echo user/pass >>cmdfile
!echo cd some/directory >>cmdfile
!comment MPE "CI" or MPEX scripting to read LISTFILE
!comment goes here
!comment (in a loop)
! echo get !currentfile !destination >>cmdfile
! [optional] echo del !currentfile
!comment (end of loop)
!echo exit >>cmdfile
!run ftp.arpa.sys;stdin=cmdfile

The secret is in the fact that the "get" command allows you to specify an alternate filename, and I believe that name can be a "posix" name (if it begins with a . or / ) The "MGET" command, however, does not have that provision. Within the CI "loop", you read each file from LISTFILE into a variable called "currentfile"; you can then use CI scripting to create a suitable "destination" variable

Looking back at your original question (and it's been a while since I've tried this...) I think you can issue an "lcd" command to switch the LOCAL directory to the posix/HFS namespace, then your wildcarded 'nix filenames might come through OK.
