FTPd2MacHTTP

About FTPd log to MacHTTP log conversion

FTPd2MacHTTP is a utility I wrote that converts the Gopher, HTTP (Web) and anonymous FTP log entries from Peter Lewis' FTPd program and rewrites them in the format used by MacHTTP/Webstar. You can then run this converted file through a program like Webstat or ServerStat which will analyse your servers traffic.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback you can provide about the software. To this end I am providing a feedback form. I'd greatly appreciate you taking the time to fill it in. Its very short I promise.

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If you use this software please consider adding your name to an email list so that I can inform you of any new versions in future. You can always take your name off the list.

This version and all previous versions of FTPd2MacHTTP software are distributed as freeware. My way of putting a little back into the net.

No version may be included on CD-ROMs or bundled with commercial software without written permission from the author.

Future (Say late 1995) version 1.2 will have been ported to C and compiled with Metrowerks CodeWarrior. Why late 1995? It will only be my second C program so give me a break ;-).

The C version may incorporate any feedback I get on the interface.

I may also add support for USER FTP traffic. There are however problems with dealing with this. For example how do I convert a file that is written or appended? What will Webstat make of it? Webstat after all assumes you only read files from a server. The only idea I had was to prefix written files with WRITTEN- or APPEND- as appropriate. If anybody has a better idea or wants to ask for this facility let me know.

Current Version

Version 1.11 1st of November 1995

Bug Squash

Thanks to Bill who sent me a copy of a LOG file when he couldn't run the program on a non Power Mac :-( a number of SERIOUS bugs have been discovered and squashed.

Noticed in Bill's log that some FTP log entries didn't have any filename/directory information. In these cases a slash is written in the filename field of the output file.

Bugs introduced in version 1.1

In obviously extremely rare occasions the program drops into an infinite loop. You'd have noticed that right ;-) Anyway I'd been a very bad programmer - problem has been fixed.

Due to the change to using %20 instead of an underscore 12 hour format times had an unwelcome trailing %2 - fixed.

Bugs around since version 1.0

Whoops times between midday and the next 59 minutes recorded in 12 hour AM/PM format were converted to 24:xx hours instead of 12:xx hours :-( - fixed.

A much more thorough test file will be created!

See version 1.1 for more general comments about this version.

Version 1.1 22nd of October 1995

After a few approaches and a not surprising slow start to the porting I decided to develop the next version in QuickBasic.

Before you run this program open the FTPd2MacHTTP.config file with your favourite text editor and edit it appropriately

This version still does NOT run on Power Macintosh computers :-(.

N.B. If you are converting anonymous ftp activity FTPd2MacHTTP MUST parse the login session. This is only a concern at the beginning of a log

eg. An anonymous FTP user begins a session in the last minute of a month then gets a file in the first minute of the next month, then logs out. You analyse your logs on a monthly basis. If you ask for logins to be converted using the ANONLOGIN option then the first months login is converted. No problem. However the following month you run the conversion and it sees the get file but has NO way of knowing if its an anonymous file transfer or a user logged in and getting a file :-( It does not see the actual anonymous login line because it was in the previous months file.

The only solution is to manually add a chunck of the end of the previous months file then remove the previous month entries in the converted file.

I'm sorry there isn't much I can do about this. Its a limitation of the FTPd log file and the logic I need to apply to it. :-(

The Date.Format file has been renamed FTPd2MacHTTP.config and its role expanded as outlined below.

FTPd2MacHTTP as well as converting Gopher log entries can now also convert HTTP (Web) and Anonymous FTP log entries. There is a sub-option in converting Anonymous FTP access. The initial FTP login can be recorded in the output file as a file - Anonymous%20Login. This could be useful to tell you if people are logging in but not getting any files.

The supplied configuration file looks like this.

# FTPd 2 MacHTTP v1.1 Conversion Configuration File
# This file MUST be saved as TEXT ONLY!
# Tells FTPd2MacHTTP whether your dates are recorded as d/m/y or m/d/y
# format. To change the DEFAULT format of d/m/y then comment out the line
# beginning with DAY by inserting a hash character # at the beginning of the
# line and uncommenting (delete the #) in front of MONTH to make the format
# m/d/y
#MONTH
DAY
# Tells FTPd2MacHTTP what log entries to convert. Just comment out with a # or
# uncomment out any protocols you do/don't want handled.
Gopher
HTTP
ANONFTP
# Tells FTPd2MacHTTP to convert anonymous FTP logins as a read of the root
# directory with file name Anonymous%20Login
ANONLOGIN

The way File Names with spaces are handled has been changed in this version. Previous versions replaced a space with an underscore. The current version replaces a space with the URL notation of %20

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Previous Versions

Version 1.0 25th of July 1995

I only received notification of one problem regarding version 1.0b1 (thanks Andrew). The problem is that this version does NOT run on Power Macintosh computers unless you start them up with extensions off :-( Sadly this is appears to be compiler error and there is little I can do about within QuickBasic.

Otherwise this version is exactly the same as version 1.0b1 except that the beta out of date warning has been removed and the program renumbered.

Version 1.0b1 27th of June 1995

Added support for 12 hour time stamped log files.
Added support for m/d/y date format as well as default d/m/y by introducing Date.Format file
- The Date.Format file is a simple text file which contains an explanation of how to change the settings - dead simple.
Noted that the Gopher message "local connect failed" is handled as an ERR! record
Changed window type and made small changes to display.
Added Beta age warning from 1/8/95 (Thats the 1st of August for m/d/y types ;-)

Version 0.91 26th of June 1995

Fixed cosmetic bug in progress bar.
Fixed incorrect processing to OK and ERR! statements.

Version 0.9 24th of June 1995

This program is a quick hack done in QuickBasic and should be accepted as such. What it does is read an FTPd log file and write out a MacHTTP version of this file so that you can use a program like Webstat to process and analyse your Gopher usage.

If on any line the fourth field contains the word "Gopher" then

The Date and Time are converted and written into the output file.
the contents of the sixth field are examined:
- If the contents are "get file" or "get dir" then "OK" is written to the output file.
- If the contents are "dir failed", "get failed" or "invalid line" then "ERR!" is written to the output file.
The IP address is written into the output file.
The file or directory name is written into the output file with all spaces being rewritten as an underscore "_"
As FTPd does not log the number of bytes transmitted. Zero is written into this field as a numeral.

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Rees Griffiths (rgriffit@rna.bio.mq.edu.au) Last update 3rd of November 1995